Air Force generals try to use counter-terrorism funds to build flying luxury hotels for top brass

Regular seating was deemed adequate for fighting men and most military officers, but a team of four top generals got personally involved in making minute design decisions on so called "luxury pods" -- private on-plane luxury accommodations with couches, beds, big screen entertainment centers and full length mirrors, presumably so that the generals could admire themselves as they fly far above the men and women dying on the ground -- luxury accommodations that drove the cost overruns so high that the Pentagon tried to use counter-terrorism funds to make up the 16 million-plus dollar shortfall.

The Washinton Post explains in part:

The Air Force's top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on "comfort capsules" to be installed on military planes that ferry senior officers and civilian leaders around the world, with at least four top generals involved in design details such as the color of the capsules' carpet and leather chairs, according to internal e-mails and budget documents.

Production of the first capsule -- consisting of two sealed rooms that can fit into the fuselage of a large military aircraft -- has already begun.

Air Force officials say the government needs the new capsules to ensure that leaders can talk, work and rest comfortably in the air. But the top brass's preoccupation with creating new luxury in wartime has alienated lower-ranking Air Force officers familiar with the effort, as well as congressional staff members and a nonprofit group that calls the program a waste of money.

Air Force documents spell out how each of the capsules is to be "aesthetically pleasing and furnished to reflect the rank of the senior leaders using the capsule," with beds, a couch, a table, a 37-inch flat-screen monitor with stereo speakers, and a full-length mirror.

Who's responsible and how is he being punished, reasonable minds may ask?

Air Force officials say the program dates from a 2006 decision by Air Force Gen. Duncan J. McNabb that existing seats on transport planes, including some that match those on commercial airliners, may be fine for airmen and troops but inadequate for the top brass. McNabb was then the Air Mobility commander; he is now the Air Force's vice chief of staff, and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates nominated him in June to become head of the military's Transportation Command.

Damn... that'll teach him.