Report Questions Costs Of Villas And Mansions For Top Military Brass

[Purveyor]

Last edited Sun Jul 21, 2013, 08:01 PM - Edit history (1)

By David S. Cloud
July 20, 2013, 5:45 p.m.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Marine Gen. John F. Kelly works in a fortress-like headquarters near the Miami airport. Starting this fall, he will live in Casa Sur, an elegant home with a pool and gardens on one of the area's swankiest streets.

The five-bedroom residence, across the street from the famed Biltmore Golf Course, is provided rent-free to Kelly as head of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in the Caribbean Latin America.

The cost to taxpayers? $160,000 a year, plus $402,000 for renovations and security improvements now underway.

Casa Sur is one of hundreds of high-end homes, villas and mansions where senior generals and admirals are billeted, according to a Pentagon report prepared for Congress last month but not publicly released.

Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, the Air Force four-star who commands NATO, gets a 15,000-square-foot, 19th century chateau in Belgium. Lt. Gen. Steven A. Hummer, head of Marine Forces Reserve, enjoys a 19th century plantation house in New Orleans listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Joint Chiefs of Staff and their deputies inhabit historic quarters in and around Washington — all staffed with chefs, drivers, gardeners and security teams.

MORE...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-military-mansions-20130721,0,5484414.story

[byeya]

1. I don't think anyone is surprised. The Officer corps takes care of itself first with golf courses,

servants, and expensive housing and expenses covered.
They are an overpaid class unto themselves and no one will tackle this issue.
Nice to see the documentation you provided.

[Link Speed]

2. My business partner grew up in European castles.

Her father was Army Intel.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

3. Did this Marine General tick off someone with power and connections to the MSM? The house,

although larger than many middle-class homes, is hardly equivalent to the type of houses occupied by executives at corporations.

Opulent? In a swanky neighborhood? Not exactly.

http://www.trbimg.com/img-51eb2c64/turbine/la-la-na-military-mansions01-jpg-20130720/600

[elehhhhna]

6. pic here. not a mansion...

http://www.trbimg.com/img-51eb2c64/turbine/la-la-na-military-mansions01-jpg-20130720/600

[Tx4obama]

4. Kick. Btw, why does the subject line say: Fillas? It should be Villas. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

5. Villas may be expensive, but you don't even wanna KNOW what the FILLAS cost

[Jim Lane]

7. It was a clever ploy to generate views.

I clicked through to this thread just to find out what a filla was.