As a relative novice in the political community, allow me to express some shock and awe as to exactly how our government works. Today I found myself perusing the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004. This is where our august Congress sets aside monies for our armed services to operate. In it, I found such mundane and seemingly reasonable things as:

Funds are hereby authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2004 for procurement for the Army as follows:

(1) For aircraft, $2,158,485,000.

(2) For missiles, $1,553,462,000.

(3) For weapons and tracked combat vehicles, $1,658,504,000.

(4) For ammunition, $1,363,305,000.

(5) For other procurement, $4,266,027,000.

Seems innocent enough. My company approves the next year’s budget for capital expenditures in a similar manner. Monies are allocated for missle defense R&D, which makes sense – we don’t want run-away costs nor do we want to underfund vital research. Even $1,661,307,000 for DOD working capital and $65,279,000 for running military retirement homes appear reasonable enough.

Under section 321 (general definitions applicable to facilities and operations) I am relieved to find that highly technical terms are laid out, by Congressional Decree, such as:

The term `unexploded ordnance’ means military munitions that–

(A) have been primed, fused, armed, or otherwise prepared for action;

(B) have been fired, dropped, launched, projected, or placed in such a manner as to constitute a hazard to operations, installations, personnel, or material; and

(C) remain unexploded either by malfunction, design, or any other cause..

Whew! I’m sure glad we got that straightened out!

Then we start getting into a little more detail. Wetlands management. The rules governing how naval vessels can be used for artificial reefs (i.e., scuttled in shallow waters). Rules for transferring equipment between ships. Bonus increases (e.g., hostile fire and imminent danger pay went up from $150 to $225 – I hope that’s per week and not per month).

I grew in a military family and I often heard the phrase, “It would take an act of Congress to get that changed!” I heard it so often and in relation to such mundane matters that I never took it seriously. But in this act of Congress we have:

SEC. 632. PAYMENT OR REIMBURSEMENT OF STUDENT BAGGAGE STORAGE COSTS FOR DEPENDENT CHILDREN OF MEMBERS STATIONED OVERSEAS.

Section 430(b)(2) of title 37, United States Code, is amended in the first sentence by inserting before the period at the end the following: `or during a different period in the same fiscal year selected by the member’.

Congress controls accumulation of leave time, shipment of military personnel’s vehicles, and medical and dental screenings for reserve units that have been mobilized. They set bonuses and incentives, lay out ‘disciplinary actions…for misuse of defense travel cards’, approve funds for improving housing in specific locations, and, in Subtitle B – Education and Training (8) they make certain that Section 3142 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 is:

(D) amended in the section heading by adding a period at the end.

Wow – glad we caught that missing period!

It seems to me that at some point we should hire good people, give them general guidelines, and say, “Make it so!”