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Tops in Blue (TIB) - WTF?


Steve Davies

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Read an article today saying the military spend $500 Million a year on military bands...that is more than the budget of NPR and PBS....combined.

What's the number for that Fraud, Waste, and Abuse hotline?

[/sarcasm]... sorta.

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And they question this?

I read a quote from an Army general saying 1/3 of recruits had come from the motor sports arena (could not find the reference). That included NASCAR and NHRA.

$100 Million for sponsoring multiple motor sports over years compared to the $500 Million a year for military bands.

I know what I would cut!

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So, I saw TIB perform last night. It was every bit as horrific as I thought it would be.

One of the industry guys at my table asked "Is this the Air Force's response to the repeal of DADT?" Another said, "when does the death from above begin?"

What a colossal waste of money, and an embarrassment to the USAF.

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The cost of all the worthless deployment gear that I get issued,... plus the fact that our contract "supply" store, IBExpress, is charging a ripoff amount on said gear,... is certainly more significant than these military bands.

Get rid of the Marine Corps' President's Own, and the White House will hire someone else. No cost savings.

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The cost of all the worthless deployment gear that I get issued,... plus the fact that our contract "supply" store, IBExpress, is charging a ripoff amount on said gear,... is certainly more significant than these military bands.

Get rid of the Marine Corps' President's Own, and the White House will hire someone else. No cost savings.

Speaking of deployment gear, imagine how much we could save if we got rid of reflective belts?!?

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Speaking of deployment gear, imagine how much we could save if we got rid of reflective belts?!?

Sadly, you know the response. A thousand reflective belts are cheaper than the life of a service member run over by a vehicle at the salad bar in the chow hall at noon.

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  • 2 months later...

Thread bump. Got an e-mail via the squadron "All Personnel" distro today saying that the upcoming TIB Barksdale tour stop -- and the rest of their 2011 tour -- has been cancelled due to "budget issues." I seem to recall that when the budget deal between the GOP and the White House/Senate, one of the sweeteners was that certain additional cuts would come from the DoD rather than domestic discretionary. I wonder if this is one of those cuts. If so, that is how you cut the defense budget ladies and gentlemen.

Edited by Disco_Nav963
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Thread bump. Got an e-mail via the squadron "All Personnel" distro today saying that the upcoming TIB Barksdale tour stop -- and the rest of their 2011 tour -- has been cancelled due to "budget issues." I seem to recall that when the budget deal between the GOP and the White House/Senate, one of the sweeteners was that certain additional cuts would come from the DoD rather than domestic discretionary. I wonder if this is one of those cuts. If so, that is how you cut the defense budget ladies and gentlemen.

If this is indeed true, there should be much rejoicing in the streets as someone, somewhere recognizes frivolous programs when they see 'em... And gives them the ax they deserve.

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Thread bump. Got an e-mail via the squadron "All Personnel" distro today saying that the upcoming TIB Barksdale tour stop -- and the rest of their 2011 tour -- has been cancelled due to "budget issues." I seem to recall that when the budget deal between the GOP and the White House/Senate, one of the sweeteners was that certain additional cuts would come from the DoD rather than domestic discretionary. I wonder if this is one of those cuts. If so, that is how you cut the defense budget ladies and gentlemen.

Tell me you aren't bullshitting or got bullshitted. Please!

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I hope not! Discus has seen the e-mail too, so he can confirm that part of it. There hasn't been any official acknowledgment of it on the TIB website, Facebook page, blog, or Twitter account, but I did notice the PA release about the end of their 2010 tour (dated eight days ago) gave a date of 30 April at KBAD for the start of their 2011 tour, but the 2011 tour schedule on the TIB page was updated two days ago and reads "We are working to confirm our 2011 Tour dates. Updates will be posted as soon as they become available." So in six days they went from a firm date to no published dates. Maybe they're hoping to get funded in the FY 2012 budget and have an abbreviated season starting in October (like the NFL, snicker). There have been no posts to the TIB alums wannabe Baseops.net since April 2.

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Okay, here's a non-TIB source. Fingers crossed that this is the real deal and not a momentary hiccup. From the 2 FSS public site:

Tops in Blue Cancelled

Due to budgetary constraints, the Tops in Blue 2011 tour has been postponed until further notice. The tour was scheduled to begin at Barksdale AFB on April 30, 2011 at Hoban Hall. This show has been cancelled. Be sure to watch 2 FSS Happenings. We will let you know as soon as future dates are announced.

What can I say, TIB is my White Whale.

Disco...WTF are you doing adding page hit counts to TIB's facebook, twitter, and "official" sites? Just let TIB die and move along...move along...

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  • 2 weeks later...
“I didn’t think it was going to be this hard,” said 2nd Lt. Robert Doyle, the only officer on this year’s Tops in Blue team. “But when you take a group of amateurs and hold them to professional standards, you have to push.”
:vomit:

That article makes it sound like their budgeting issues are no longer a problem... what a shame.

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I remember back in the day some AF group called "Blue Steel" or something like that. They were like a 4 piece band and actually pretty good from what I remember. I remember one black guy who played guitar and was funny as hell. I say we ditch the 35 piece and go for a 4 piece. Part of the government downsizing. Then again I was only 10 at the time so who knows.

Oh yeah. TIB sucks.

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300,000 people over 120 performances?! So they have 2,500 people per show? Sounds like typical AF number skewing to me (for example, when submitting an award nom for a mission, take the caliber of AAA you were engaged with and add 10mm minimum). Maybe they played at an AFA game once or twice to spin their importance to the check writers. Who knows.

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