Bye Bye National Guard?

[vegasGPfan]

Jackson/McCollum amendment to cut military sponsorship of major sporting events (including #NASCAR) goes down to defeat 216-202.

[brickyard1911]

I actually have a very difficult time believing this - at least the 20 in 24,800 part. That seems mathematically impossible based on the basic requirements. I would think if someone didn't meet the age requirement they wouldn't let them fill out an application. I have no doubt the NASCAR sponsorship isn't worth anything close to $25m but have a very difficult time believing there were only 20 people who qualified and none that signed up. I think this is fuzzy political math.

Those numbers are complete BS. No way in heck only 20 out of 24,800 with 0 signing.

[rrrr]

Those numbers are complete BS. No way in heck only 20 out of 24,800 with 0 signing.

Maybe Junior fans are a little out of shape and didn't get that GED.

[irlracingfan]

John Barnes had stated that their sponsorship situation was not about recruiting, but paying homage and assisting in re-employment, etc. for vets of the National Guard.

[vegasGPfan]

^ don't tell Betty McCollum & that kingston guy that they will call you liars and DEMAND proof

[#7batmobile]

What the......? How quickly some forget. Dan Wheldon drove the National Guard car in the Indy 500 2009/2010, and finished 2nd both times. I'd say he represented the National Guard quite well. Dan: "I can't tell you how proud I am to be wearing the colors of the National Guard and representing those who go into foreign lands and fight, and some gave their life for freedom." Then again, there's ALWAYS something to P & M about, eh? The constant complaining/bashing about this,that or the other thing often gets in the way of the bottom line: Dan Wheldon, the National Guard, and the respectful relationship they enjoyed. Whatever happens with The National Guard, some good things came out of their support--regardless of whose car, in whatever series, that they flew their colors.

[lddk24fan]

glad to see they voted against it because reportedly all it would have done was eliminate sponsorship and not money from the budget. That mccollum lady is just ignorant as all the drivers backed by govt. have invited her to the races and she refused to go.

[Nigel Red5]

John Barnes had stated that their sponsorship situation was not about recruiting, but paying homage and assisting in re-employment, etc. for vets of the National Guard.

I don't doubt that one second, but $100M+ on JR nation? Typical stupid military spending. Hell, I love a good low level fly-by, but I wonder what the National budget is just for NASCAR, let alone all of the others all across the country. We lost our fly over by the local National Guard attack helicopter company we had for years for our local 4th of July parade. First it was a deployment, then budget cuts but we could start a decent skirmish with all the equipment still in the parade.

The minimum age to express interest at their attractions was 16 I believe (since you can begin the enlistment process prior to age 18) and there was no upper age limit that I recall. I've no problem at all with the Guard's need to spend money to recruit but how, where and particualrly HOW MUCH some of it is done is questionable to say the lease. I guarantee Panther recieved not a 10th of what JR recieved over the past 5 years.

[Antoneli]

I refuse to believe that only 20 of 24,000 people they found "qualified." The NG will take LITERALLY ANYONE! Boyfriend's ex-unit (he is out now, thank goodness) had 85 pound girls who couldn't lift anything, 250 pound girls who couldn't lift anything, guys who couldn't even do 40 push-ups, people who couldn't even run a couple miles. It was pathetic. When they couldn't pass their PT test, they were moved to another unit instead of being discharged like they were supposed to be.

I also don't think they should be sponsoring anything - I am a huge fan of racing, obviously, but these are our tax dollars "at work" and they should be scaling back, if anything.

[smuff76]

Those numbers are absurd if true and the Dale Jr program should definitely be canned. Rate-card for a big cup team is about 20mil a year and you'll pay 6mil for a 'name' driver. Okay Hendrick can charge a premium and Dale Jr a larger salary. BUT NATIONAL GUARD IS ONLY A CO-SPONSOR. Mt Dew is on the car in a big way. Hell the livery when he won Michigan was mainly to promote the new Batman movie.

26mil anywhere else sponsors a driver full time. A good one. 26mil gets you Matt Kenseth at JGR. Or Trevor Bayne at Penske and a lot left over.

Spend 10 and do an endorsement deal with Jr and limited branding on the car. Because it's more about generating leads at the track and you don't need to fully sponsor the car for a full season to tap into 'Junior Nation'.

It's a complete over-pay. The Army were only paying about 8mil with Newman at Stewart/Haas.

They simply aren't telling you what all the money goes towards. For instance, last I had seen, the N-G spent about $10m at Panther......... somewhere between 2-3m of that was budgeted directly to hospitality. In Dale's case you talking about $26 minus 6 for Jr. = 20. 20 minus another 6 for hospitality and your at 14. $14m for half a season is pretty much the going rate at Hendrick...... which is why they are kind of good.

[Big Mo]

A national correspondent this morning said the McCollum bill did not affect the National Guard. Whatever. The bill was voted down so the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard can continue sponsoring sports.

[Hardscrabble]

glad to see they voted against it because reportedly all it would have done was eliminate sponsorship and not money from the budget. That mccollum lady is just ignorant as all the drivers backed by govt. have invited her to the races and she refused to go.

Maybe we can send her to Guam to investigate the Island Tip-Over situation...

[neti1]

Didn't Maldonado pay US$25m to drive in Williams F1?

$45m.

[Formula Indy]

I believe the branches of our military need to advertise, and they should be able to advertise however they see fit.

[Nigel Red5]

I believe the branches of our military need to advertise, and they should be able to advertise however they see fit.

As a federal employee, military family and an admitted fiscal conservative, I wish it was that easy. We have to account for every nickel, no penny actually thanks to the inadequate budgets the public is demanding we work under without dimininshing a dime of the free handouts. Right now, I'd be happy with something softer than 220 grit in the bathrooms, air set below 80 degrees for the first three hours of my work day, oh, maybe a telephone that works on a regular basis and to not have to scour the office for a pen once and a while. I suppose asking to replace the three other people that are supposed to be in the 4 positions I fill, working less than a ten hour day 5-6 days a week with no overtime and absolutely $#itty health benefits is too much to ask............. If we're buying and celebrating Patriotism and our military, I'm good, but I'm sure we can spend that money better actually supporting the tens of thousands of injured troops coming home to no job and bargain basement medical care. Strapping National guard logos to a mediocre third generation nascar driver driving around in 20th place in a first place car isn't my idea of effective recruiting or advertising.

[Jakester]

I suppose asking to replace the three other people that are supposed to be in the 4 positions I fill, working less than a ten hour day 5-6 days a week with no overtime and absolutely $#itty health benefits is too much to ask.............

Sorry if I sound rude (and OT), but as a federal employee your health benefits are equal or superior to 80% of the private sector, and your retirement benefits are superior to 90% of the private sector. And the 'doing more with less' isn't that much difference from a good portion of the private sector either.

[Mr.]

Pastor paid $29 million - not sure if it was pounds or dollars though.

If the goal of the National Guard's sponsorship was to take soldiers out for a good time and reward them, that would be perfect. Barnes does a hell of a job giving the heroes a good time. However, that money is supposed to be a recruitment tool for the National Guard. From my perspective, their initiative of hiring a hero is awesome. The part that is fishy is when you strip the glamour off of it, it's a back door into Panther recruiting additional sponsorship.

Panther receives roughly $14mil for NG and from what I can see it's enough for Panther to run 2 cars a year. He and his friends realize this is probably the best way to make money and not have to be lumped in with most of the teams and say they do not have a "buyrider".

Sorry for the rant, but I've never seen actual recruits or people interested in joining the National Guard at either Panther or Hendrick (I'm around both often). If the money that both teams receives is going to non-recruitment activation and for entertaining the troops - give it to the USO and have USO sponsored cars.

[Cooper5]

If Hildebrand can get some good finishes, they will stay. I think they will anyways

[Rossfeld]

Panther receives roughly $14mil for NG and from what I can see it's enough for Panther to run 2 cars a year.

7mil for one car would be a very competitive effort. What's their excuse for being midpack with the biggest per-car budget in the series? Too busy spending the profit margin on gold lined swimming pools?

[Parnelli64]

Sponsoring Dale Jr was a total waste of moneyWashington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) expressed her outrage and disbelief at the level of waste in the National Guard’s recruitment budget.

In 2012, the National Guard is spending $26.5 million to sponsor Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #88 car in NASCAR races for the purposes of recruitment. Over the past five years Earnhardt’s racing team has received over $136 million in taxpayer funds from the National Guard – making him the highest paid military contractor in professional sports.

Total Cost of National Guard Sponsorship of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #88 Car
Fiscal Year 2008: $18.12 million
Fiscal Year 2009: $27.35 million
Fiscal Year 2010: $35.27 million
Fiscal Year 2011: $28.86 million
Fiscal Year 2012: $26.54 million
5 Year Total: $136.14 million

Today, an online USA Today story by Dustin Long cites the National Guard’s contracts manager for recruitment, Maj. Brian Creech, explaining the effectiveness of this taxpayer investment in military recruiting.

“In fiscal year 2012, the National Guard has been contacted by more than 24,800 individuals interested in joining because of the race sponsorship. Of those, Creech said 20 were qualified candidates and that none joined,” according to the USA Today story.

That’s right, ZERO RECRUITS JOINED. The National Guard spent $26.5 million for ZERO recruits.

“The Pentagon’s NASCAR sponsorship program is an outrageous waste of taxpayer money and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta should terminate these sponsorship programs immediately. Spending $26 million on a NASCAR racing team – in the name of national security – for zero recruits tells me the Pentagon can painlessly absorb some serious budget cuts,” McCollum said.

“This Pentagon failure is particularly outrageous in light of the fact that last week House Republicans voted to kick 200,000 low-income kids out of the school lunch program and eliminate funding for “Meals on Wheels” for home-bound seniors in order to add $55 billion to the defense budget.”

Yesterday, an amendment to stop funding Pentagon sponsorship of NASCAR and other professional sports was offered by Rep. McCollum and Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) to fiscal year 2013 Defense appropriations bill. The amendment passed on a voice vote and will now go to the House floor as part of the $608 billion defense spending bill. http://mccollum.house.gov/press-rele...rdt-jr-results

when you publish figures like that.... I don't care what type of intangible benefits like you claim to gain from the sponsorships, it's toast.

I was a military recruiter for 5 years. most of this sounds like complete BS. first, I don't see a Major being in charge of a multi-million dollar recruitment budget. second, how do they collect the data that these guys were directed from NASCAR ads? do they tattoo their asses when they first apply? and going from 24K plus down to ZERO is totally bogus. Most guys get disqualified in the first 5 minutes. if a guy is too old or too fat, he should never even be counted as an applicant.

[Rossfeld]

Well they say 24,000 contacts, but how are we counting a contact?

Is someone walking up to the booth, asking a few questions, and finding out they don't meet the requirements a 'contact'?

[Jsieczka]

Well they say 24,000 contacts, but how are we counting a contact?

Is someone walking up to the booth, asking a few questions, and finding out they don't meet the requirements a 'contact'?

when you get free merch or play around with their sims you have to fill out a basic form saying you are interested in the Guard, Army, Navy. 99% of the people have no interest in joining the guard they are just filling the form out for free stuff, or to have fun, at an Airshow myself and three co-workers "Displayed Interest" and not one of us had any interest in joining.

[Nigel Red5]

Sorry if I sound rude (and OT), but as a federal employee your health benefits are equal or superior to 80% of the private sector, and your retirement benefits are superior to 90% of the private sector. And the 'doing more with less' isn't that much difference from a good portion of the private sector either.

As the one that actually HAS the benefits, I can tell you that isn't the case. If I get sick, there is no short term disability. I accumulate 10 days of sick leave a year. That's it. If I'm injured, no disability unless I file for social security. I can beg fellow wokers to donate leave. My medical coverage is mediocre. Sure, I can pay almost 50% of the premium if I want BCBS which I did have, then it's huge copays on top. Zero dental insurance coverage unlss I pay 100% of the premium and then it's maxed at guesswhat, exactly the amount of premium I pay in my pharmacy coverage is virtually worthless. Don't compare Federal employees to CONGRESS, they are vastly different. I won't see a dime of retirement until im 67. My actual pay and my ability to save money is the only good benefit I have.

[goldie19]

Love the "Hiring our Heroes" bit. So do these guys!!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...count=1&ref=nf

[Hardscrabble]

As the one that actually HAS the benefits, I can tell you that isn't the case. If I get sick, there is no short term disability. I accumulate 10 days of sick leave a year. That's it. If I'm injured, no disability unless I file for social security. I can beg fellow wokers to donate leave. My medical coverage is mediocre. Sure, I can pay almost 50% of the premium if I want BCBS which I did have, then it's huge copays on top. Zero dental insurance coverage unlss I pay 100% of the premium and then it's maxed at guesswhat, exactly the amount of premium I pay in my pharmacy coverage is virtually worthless. Don't compare Federal employees to CONGRESS, they are vastly different. I won't see a dime of retirement until im 67. My actual pay and my ability to save money is the only good benefit I have.

Best job I ever had (benefits wise) only had 5 "sick" days per year...

Every job I've had that had medical insurance I paid 50% of the premium...

I won't get to see a dime of my "retirement" until I'm 65 unless I want to take a massive penalty (i.e., the "Gub'ment" gets to confiscate a portion of "my" retirement fund)...

Short term disability? Sure, I can purchase that if I want it...

You have it better than you think...

[goldie19]

Insurance....it's what you buy if you want it...if your employer provides it to you, it's income they are deferring FROM you to pay the bill.

Everyone thinks they are entitled to "coverage" or perks....don't like what you have? Do something different! The Ntional Guard and Army and all the forces help you keep that right! Enjoy it

[Antoneli]

Love the "Hiring our Heroes" bit. So do these guys!!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...count=1&ref=nf

I'll give you a different perspective of that.

Boyfriend came home from Afghanistan last year. He is working on completing his Bachelor's degree. His thoughts on "Hiring our Heroes" is one that I agree with - it is nothing more than "affirmative action", which neither of us believe should be happening. If someone is qualified for a job, they should get the job. We shouldn't be handing out jobs to people who were in the military any more than we should be just handing them out to people of a certain race or gender based SOLELY on that. Also his own words - "Neither I nor anyone in my unit did anything remotely heroic, so why the hell do they keep calling us heroes? It's annoying. We did a job we signed up to do, like anyone else. That is all."

[Rossfeld]

It's an insanely tough job market. If someone wants to give you one for whatever reason, my advice is to say thank you.

[rrrr]

As the one that actually HAS the benefits, I can tell you that isn't the case. If I get sick, there is no short term disability. I accumulate 10 days of sick leave a year. That's it. If I'm injured, no disability unless I file for social security. I can beg fellow wokers to donate leave. My medical coverage is mediocre. Sure, I can pay almost 50% of the premium if I want BCBS which I did have, then it's huge copays on top. Zero dental insurance coverage unlss I pay 100% of the premium and then it's maxed at guesswhat, exactly the amount of premium I pay in my pharmacy coverage is virtually worthless. Don't compare Federal employees to CONGRESS, they are vastly different. I won't see a dime of retirement until im 67. My actual pay and my ability to save money is the only good benefit I have.

No health insurance plan covers disability...a separate policy must be purchased.

Ten days of sick leave is more than most people have...what would you like? A month?