DOD/IG Finding: Susan Davis International was paid by America Supports You.mil more than $165,000 in tax payer dollars to put on the Intrepid Concert held on May 28, 2005, at the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum as part of Fleet Week 2005 in New York City.
The concert featured country-western entertainers Chely Wright and the band Montgomery Gentry. SDI worked with Intermedia Production Group to handle all of the entertainment and production needs for the concert. The total concert cost was $165,036, which included approximately $15,000 in performer airfares; $15,651 for hotels; and $20,475 in management fees and performance salaries.
Neither SDI nor Intermedia Production Group, which dissolved in 2006, was able to provide DoD/IG with supporting documentation of charges paid by DoD. [Evidently, SDI and now defunctIntermedia Production Group, felt someone in the Pentagon was asking too many questions about America Supports Bush.mil. 
According to Pentagon investigators, "the problem with obtaining adequate documentation and level of review by DoD contracting officer representatives (COR) is discussed in more detail in finding C." [WE will get to that finding eventually]
Major Hanafin’s commentary:
What perpetrators and proponent’s of ASY hope for is that given the rain drop size of tax payer waste [on par with what the Pentagon wastes on the Selective Service System], the millions spent on this Pentagon Pork program are peanuts compared to the overall Defense Budget that folks look at in terms of billions.
Put another way, ASY hoped its funding would be lost in the billions [like the Selective Service System] so that no one would pay attention or question the value or return on a tax payer dollar that ASY [and the Selective Service System] provide the American tax payer.
For us troops and military families out there, note that the majority of the budget has always, and continues to be spent on weapon systems or big ticket weapon R&D [a whopping 68% in Readiness & Support, and Strategic Modernization what against Al Qaeda or the Taliban Air Force and Navy? 
This of course BENEFITS Deputy Secretary Gordon Englands buddies at Lockheed-Martin, Bell Helicopter, General Dynamics and the list goes on and on. However, personnel always gets the short end of the stick. Unless, we support partisan polical policies then we get our TDY to progaganda displays illegally paid for by tax payers] While only 4% is spent on Family Housing & Family Support Facilities, and a meager 28% on pay and healthcare.
What’s wrong with this picture? More to the point, where exactly did American Supports You. Mil funding fit into this unbalanced chart that favors Deputy Secretary of Defense England and friends, that includes friends in Congress that have Defense Industries in their states and districts?
I would humbly assess that the few millions wasted on ASY came out of the smallest 4% and/or 28% spent on military families and US. That folks is money taken away from US! Mr. England, Mr. Rumsfeld, Ms. Barber may call that smoke screen supporting our troops, but wouldn’t you agree that’s disgraceful and unpatriotic?
This gets a little less confusing than trying to explain the differences between wasted appropriated funding and non-appropriated funding or what proceeds from Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) goes toward paying for whatever In other words, next time I spend money at the BX or Commissary, I will wonder if my contribution to MWR will instead be going to some Washington Ad Agency [SDI] to continue selling the War on Terror or buy support for me.
The solution is simple – no more Defense Contracts for propaganda purposes at American tax payer expense regardless the shame or good intentions of doing so.
This is about all I could stomach for yet another in-depth look behind the scenes and fleecing of America by America Scams You.mil. 
My next blog post will be a breakdown of how much of our tax dollars was spent on selling Patriotism, yes, just ask any VSO or other group that (cough) supports our troops, and they cannot deny that PATRIOTISM sells. How many of our organizations do not have a Veterans, Troops, or Patriotic Store? Frankly it’s one thing when we do it, but when corporate America gets in the Act, the country-western entertainment world gets in the act, and when it become government policy to spend tax dollars on selling Patriotism. I would think MOST real Americans would have a problem with that AND still support US troops.
Robert L. Hanafin
Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired
PS: Some readers may take offense or believe I’m being inaccurate when I id myself as one of the Troops. Well blank you, having given near 30 of my years on earth to US troops, retired from the military, WE should consider each and every one of us as ONE OF THE TROOPS!!! Controversy, debate, or differences over Iraq makes younger troops no different, special, or unique from all of US because support is a given freely without charge.
Readers are more than welcome to use the articles I’ve posted on Veterans Today, I’ve had to take a break from VT as Veterans Issues and Peace Activism Editor and staff writer due to personal medical reasons in our military family that take away too much time needed to properly express future stories or respond to readers in a timely manner.
My association with VT since its founding in 2004 has been a very rewarding experience for me.
Retired from both the Air Force and Civil Service. Went in the regular Army at 17 during Vietnam (1968), stayed in the Army Reserve to complete my eight year commitment in 1976. Served in Air Defense Artillery, and a Mechanized Infantry Division (4MID) at Fort Carson, Co. Used the GI Bill to go to college, worked full time at the VA, and non-scholarship Air Force 2-Year ROTC program for prior service military. Commissioned in the Air Force in 1977. Served as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1977 to 1994. Upon retirement I entered retail drugstore management training with Safeway Drugs Stores in California. Retail Sales Management was not my cup of tea, so I applied my former U.S. Civil Service status with the VA to get my foot in the door at the Justice Department, and later Department of the Navy retiring with disability from the Civil Service in 2000.
I’ve been with Veterans Today since the site originated. I’m now on the Editorial Board. I was also on the Editorial Board of Our Troops News Ladder another progressive leaning Veterans and Military Family news clearing house.
I remain married for over 45 years. I am both a Vietnam Era and Gulf War Veteran. I served on Okinawa and Fort Carson, Colorado during Vietnam and in the Office of the Air Force Inspector General at Norton AFB, CA during Desert Storm. I retired from the Air Force in 1994 having worked on the Air Staff and Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon.
ATTENTION READERS
We See The World From All Sides and Want YOU To Be Fully InformedIn fact, intentional disinformation is a disgraceful scourge in media today. So to assuage any possible errant incorrect information posted herein, we strongly encourage you to seek corroboration from other non-VT sources before forming an educated opinion.
About VT - Policies & Disclosures - Comment Policy
