General Dynamics Publishes Op-Ed: Cut Military Benefits and Pay to Keep our Contracts Rolling

General Dynamics Land Systems is such a kooky fun military weapons corporation.

Funding for GDLS’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle went up for a vote on February 18 after decades of cost overruns and technical failures. The EFV program survived the vote, but that wasn’t enough for General Dynamics.

Using corporate computers funded by all those over-budget government military contracts, General Dynamics employees have been planting fake-grassroots astroturf demands that we bullies here at Irregular Times lay off the poor li’l defenseless megacontractor, which raked in $729 million in profit in the last three months of 2010. One of their management consultants needs to advise the astroturfers to run their campaigns from the Starbucks around the corner, or at least start using Anonymouse to mask the GDLS-registered IP address.

The plucky band at General Dynamics has got another load of PR fireworks up its sleeve. General Dynamics Land Systems has published an op-ed piece written by Gannett on the media relations portion of its website. That op-ed made a surprising judgment about Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ call to cancel the EFV:

His cancellation of the Marines’ Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle is more problematic. While the Marines got to keep their cherished forced-entry mission, they lost the vehicle they saw as key to their future.

But if cancelling the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle is “problematic,” where in the military budget could savings be realized?

Pay, personnel and benefit reforms are vital to avoid being left with a smaller military of ever more highly compensated personnel.

Protect the EFV, cut military pay and benefits. What an interesting pair of policy proposals. How civic-minded of that scrappy bunch at General Dynamics to promote them.