Morons

Okay. Here's one reason why I hate watching TV news.

Just saw a story on a prominent 24 hour cable news station about how U.S. soldiers traveling to the middle east have to pay the airlines the extra bag fee for their bags. The VFW is angry about this, saying that a young soldier heading off to war shouldn't have to pay such a fee, and I would be too. In fact, I think I have more right, since I have been deploying for 5 years, and I've been paying overweight and extra bag fees the whole time. Except for one thing: The military reimburses us for all legitimate travels costs, including those fees. Everyone, when they travel on the government dime, has to file a travel voucher. So whether you get charged a fee (on your legally required government credit card) or not, you're still filing paperwork.

Clearly no one involved in publishing this story bothered to have even a 5 minute conversation about it with any military member. If you really want to find out about what you should be angry about, study up on the DTS system for filing travel vouchers and what a waste of time it is for all of us.


Baggage fee story