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Been going on for decades and will never end. Air Force Gen. Duane Cassidy and his wife were the center of scrutiny in the late 80's for the lavish lifestyle and tax payer funded perks that were prevalent with the higher ups in the military. In the mid 90's, there was another scandal with a high ranking officer and his high society wife decorating their off base mansion with gold plated accessories and crystal chandeliers at the tax payers expense. The scandals were just as quickly buried and nothing ever came of it. Until the American public wakes up, until military spending is gone over with a fine tooth comb, and until the right quits writing blank checks for the military, this kind of stuff will NEVER END.

I can't quite imagine General's Eisenhower and Douglas getting such perks. I'm sure they had their share but not to this degree. I don't think those enlisted personal joined the service to cut someone's lawn either. Let them do what they signed up for, protecting our country, not weeding a lawn. Maybe we have found a way to cut the military budget.

Hey. He's a 1-percenter.

I am not convinced that what they get is not appropriate for their sacrifices. Actually, I would look down the chain quite aways and there I think is where the excess is found. There just seems to be a lot of forty year olds that get benefits as "retired" that most people would find excesive for their service.

I'm in the military and I see the waste every day. It is such an inefficient organization. Our nation could still field the world's best military with 3/4 of our current budget. The military should be audited!

The problem is that there's no accountability. They're at the top, can simply order up the perks and no one watching. What would you expect them to do? Even major corporations have executive compensation committees that report to the shareholders. While I think that many of the CEOs are overcompensated, at least someone's watching. I'd like to see Congress (assuming that they can DO anything) establish something similar for the military.

I wrote a long long comment and then deleted it. It wasn't worth it. I think I can paraphrase this pretty good by saying there are perks at the top of the military all the time. Even a M.A.S.H. episode addressed that issue in the officers' club episode. But now a days, we have added insult to injury. What do the enlisted guys get? The common phrase now is "thank you for your service." And I know a lot of friends who are in the military, that are saying that ranks right up there with "have a nice day."

Birdman Cometh's comment is very accurate. Most of the tax-paying public doesn't realize this. We would all like to think that 100% of the defense budget is being carefully apportioned into vital measures for protecting our nation and its citizens, but it isn't. Rather, there is a lot of waste and inefficient use of funds. A private-sector corporation operating under the same level of fiscal irresponsibility would crumble.

Truly disgusting...But if we the public are willing to tolerate it they are willing to abuse it. I have often wondered why we pay these guys to get all dressed up and go to dinner parties and other events when the enlisted folks are out in the trenches facing danger. Sometimes you gotta question if this is leadership. By example?

Barry and Michelle could set a good example to follow. Barry could cut back on his golf outings by 90 percent .... say to the levels of Bush. Maybe cut the number of White House parties by half. Michelle and her posse could cut down on their number of world wide plane flights by 90 percent.