Article

2013-11-26 Government

DoD Considers Closing CONUS Commissaries

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Posted by Besoeker 2013-11-26 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11126 views ] Top

#1 That news is just so-o-o yesterday - today the Pentagon has changed it to ALL Comissaries.

Ditto as per shutting down STARS-N-STRIPES, + making new changes to AFN Programming.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2013-11-26 00:54|| 2013-11-26 00:54|| Front Page Top

#2 ...DOD is absolutely denying this and I think they're safe for now. My guess, however, is this was a trial balloon. They'll be back.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2013-11-26 05:14|| 2013-11-26 05:14|| Front Page Top

#3 Not certain which ones will close, but I'm quite certain that the Fort Belvoir commissary will be the LAST to close. Used to be almost comical to watch the beltway foreign embassy crowd shop [for the folks back home] at Fort Belvoir.

Posted by Besoeker 2013-11-26 05:25|| 2013-11-26 05:25|| Front Page Top

#4 For some places it might make sense, but for others, no way. Hell, they'd do better if they would just outsource the whole thing to Walmart, put the thing inside the fence and keep the taxes (state and federal) outside the fence.

Posted by OldSpook 2013-11-26 05:58|| 2013-11-26 05:58|| Front Page Top

#5 As for shutting down the Stars-n-lies, meh. It aint the same Army I was in. Same goes for AFN. I still remember when it had some splash. Desert Shield? Rock the Casbah, by The Clash, memorable. Trivia note: one AFN Vietnam DJ was Pat Sajak. Zoomies pretty much run the show these days, I think.

Posted by OldSpook 2013-11-26 06:06|| 2013-11-26 06:06|| Front Page Top

#6 Pat Sajak was an US Army enlisted man and AFN radio announcer in Vietnam.

Posted by Besoeker 2013-11-26 06:26|| 2013-11-26 06:26|| Front Page Top

#7 He also has a hospital wing named after him in Annapolis. I assumed he was a big donor.

Posted by Bobby 2013-11-26 08:28|| 2013-11-26 08:28|| Front Page Top

#8 Grocers have been pushing this for many generations. Now with Crony Capitalism the rage of the Beltway, I suspect it's just another trading card in gathering PAC and reelection monies on the campaign trail (like when did 'you know who' give a real frig about the troops?). My weekly experience is that the local commissary is anywhere about 50 cents to over a dollar cheaper per item than at Walmart. Walmart supplements with a few items that the commissary discontinued or on a very limited lists beats the commissary (why is a jug of water 89 cents at Wallysworld and 99 cents at the commissary?).

Posted by Procopius2k 2013-11-26 08:33|| 2013-11-26 08:33|| Front Page Top

#9 Makes no sense, there is a 5% surcharge added to costs to cover expenses, and staff is non appropriated, meaning not a budget line item.
but then again coming from Champ and his SecDef butt buddy, anything to negatively impact the military is one thing he is good at.

Posted by USN, Ret. 2013-11-26 11:20|| 2013-11-26 11:20|| Front Page Top

#10 I don't have a problem with this - I never understood why it was necessary after about 1955. Walmart can do it cheaper and faster. As far as AFN and Stars n Stripes - who the hell listens or uses those? We didn't utilize them when i was in and that was almost 20 years ago. They served their purpose but they have always been and are still nothing more than money pits. Troops today can find faster ways to get info, music etc via the internet, satellite phones, skype, email.

Posted by Yosemite Sam 2013-11-26 12:05|| 2013-11-26 12:05|| Front Page Top

#11 How about merging the commissaries and the exchanges? The exchanges don't use appropriated funds, IIRC. There might be some increases in prices, though.

Posted by Rambler in Virginia 2013-11-26 12:53|| 2013-11-26 12:53|| Front Page Top

#12 ..yep. The army used to operate quartermaster clothing sales stores. Same logic used to move the function to AAFES. Strange how the old generic clothing items disappeared and the higher priced commercial alternative dominated the shelves.

Posted by Procopius2k 2013-11-26 14:22|| 2013-11-26 14:22|| Front Page Top

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