Pentagon Pete Blew a Fortune on Crabs in Multibillion-Dollar Spending Frenzy

S

signalmankenneth

Verified User
Your tax money at work, these Trump administration Secretaries are spending your tax money like drunken sailors?!!

Talk about waste fraud and abuse?!!

The Pentagon spent millions of dollars on luxury crabs and other food items in a single month as part of a frantic end-of-year spending spree to maintain its immense funding.

An analysis by the government watchdog Open the Books found that the department led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent more than $93 billion in September 2025, the end of the fiscal year, on various grants and contracts, the highest total since at least 2008.

Included in this spending was $2 million on Alaskan king crab last September alone, as well as $6.9 million on lobster tail and $1 million on salmon. The Defense Department also spent nearly $140,000 on doughnuts, $124,000 on ice cream machines, $26,000 on sushi preparation tables, and a whopping $15.1 million on ribeye steak.

As Open the Books explained, the Pentagon tries to spend as much of its congressionally allocated budget as possible at the end of every fiscal year because of federal “use-it-or-lose-it” rules. If the department ends the year with leftover funds, it risks having its budget reduced the following year.

On top of the billions of dollars spent on technologies, contracts, and purchases from foreign governments and businesses, the department also found inventive ways to ensure it used as much of its budget as possible in the final month.

This reportedly included spending $1.8 million on musical instruments, such as a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, a $26,000 violin, and a $21,750 custom handmade Japanese flute.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/pentagon-pete-blew-fortune-crabs-154719957.html

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signalmankenneth said:
Your tax money at work, these Trump administration Secretaries are spending your tax money like drunken sailors?!!

Talk about waste fraud and abuse?!!

The Pentagon spent millions of dollars on luxury crabs and other food items in a single month as part of a frantic end-of-year spending spree to maintain its immense funding.

An analysis by the government watchdog Open the Books found that the department led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent more than $93 billion in September 2025, the end of the fiscal year, on various grants and contracts, the highest total since at least 2008.

Included in this spending was $2 million on Alaskan king crab last September alone, as well as $6.9 million on lobster tail and $1 million on salmon. The Defense Department also spent nearly $140,000 on doughnuts, $124,000 on ice cream machines, $26,000 on sushi preparation tables, and a whopping $15.1 million on ribeye steak.

As Open the Books explained, the Pentagon tries to spend as much of its congressionally allocated budget as possible at the end of every fiscal year because of federal “use-it-or-lose-it” rules. If the department ends the year with leftover funds, it risks having its budget reduced the following year.

On top of the billions of dollars spent on technologies, contracts, and purchases from foreign governments and businesses, the department also found inventive ways to ensure it used as much of its budget as possible in the final month.

This reportedly included spending $1.8 million on musical instruments, such as a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, a $26,000 violin, and a $21,750 custom handmade Japanese flute.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/pentagon-pete-blew-fortune-crabs-154719957.html
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I’ve worked as a contractor with the army and the air force back in the 90s.
Without a doubt, the army was a cesspool collection of fraud, waste and abuse back then and apparently still is. The AF, not so much.
 
signalmankenneth said:
Your tax money at work, these Trump administration Secretaries are spending your tax money like drunken sailors?!!

Talk about waste fraud and abuse?!!

The Pentagon spent millions of dollars on luxury crabs and other food items in a single month as part of a frantic end-of-year spending spree to maintain its immense funding.

An analysis by the government watchdog Open the Books found that the department led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent more than $93 billion in September 2025, the end of the fiscal year, on various grants and contracts, the highest total since at least 2008.

Included in this spending was $2 million on Alaskan king crab last September alone, as well as $6.9 million on lobster tail and $1 million on salmon. The Defense Department also spent nearly $140,000 on doughnuts, $124,000 on ice cream machines, $26,000 on sushi preparation tables, and a whopping $15.1 million on ribeye steak.

As Open the Books explained, the Pentagon tries to spend as much of its congressionally allocated budget as possible at the end of every fiscal year because of federal “use-it-or-lose-it” rules. If the department ends the year with leftover funds, it risks having its budget reduced the following year.

On top of the billions of dollars spent on technologies, contracts, and purchases from foreign governments and businesses, the department also found inventive ways to ensure it used as much of its budget as possible in the final month.

This reportedly included spending $1.8 million on musical instruments, such as a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, a $26,000 violin, and a $21,750 custom handmade Japanese flute.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/pentagon-pete-blew-fortune-crabs-154719957.html

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Obviously, you've never had to deal with a government budget or operating fund. I have. Come the end of the FY in September (the year ends September 30th) you are told--really ordered--to spend all of the money in your OPTAR.

One year, I had $93,000 left in one and had to get creative about spending every last penny of it because I was ordered to. That's how the federal government, not just the military, has operated for decades upon decades, at least since WW 2.

One year, back in the early 80's Reactor Electrical Division on the Enterprise had about $250,000 in their OPTAR left. They were told the same thing. They opted to purchase a tank. Everybody signing off on this assumed a tank for water or something as the justification was for testing. What arrived at the ship (we were in Bremerton Washington in the yards at the time) was an M 60 tank complete with tracks and cannon. The RE guys bribed a civilian crane operator on the pier with cans of coffee to put their tank on elevator #3. That's when the shit storm started.

In the end, the tank quietly disappeared back into the supply system and things were ignored as to do anything else would have involved most of the ship's officers in the chain of command. They weren't about to lose their careers, and they couldn't punish the sailors without that happening.
 
signalmankenneth said:
Your tax money at work, these Trump administration Secretaries are spending your tax money like drunken sailors?!!

Talk about waste fraud and abuse?!!

The Pentagon spent millions of dollars on luxury crabs and other food items in a single month as part of a frantic end-of-year spending spree to maintain its immense funding.

An analysis by the government watchdog Open the Books found that the department led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent more than $93 billion in September 2025, the end of the fiscal year, on various grants and contracts, the highest total since at least 2008.

Included in this spending was $2 million on Alaskan king crab last September alone, as well as $6.9 million on lobster tail and $1 million on salmon. The Defense Department also spent nearly $140,000 on doughnuts, $124,000 on ice cream machines, $26,000 on sushi preparation tables, and a whopping $15.1 million on ribeye steak.

As Open the Books explained, the Pentagon tries to spend as much of its congressionally allocated budget as possible at the end of every fiscal year because of federal “use-it-or-lose-it” rules. If the department ends the year with leftover funds, it risks having its budget reduced the following year.

On top of the billions of dollars spent on technologies, contracts, and purchases from foreign governments and businesses, the department also found inventive ways to ensure it used as much of its budget as possible in the final month.

This reportedly included spending $1.8 million on musical instruments, such as a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, a $26,000 violin, and a $21,750 custom handmade Japanese flute.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/pentagon-pete-blew-fortune-crabs-154719957.html

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Fuck you asshole. You supported the assassination of your president so, fuck you!
 
U.S. military "surf and turf" (steak + lobster tails, sometimes with crab) is a real, longstanding morale-boosting tradition across branches; Army, Navy, Marines, and others, not a one-off or political invention.

It’s served occasionally in chow halls, dining facilities (DFACs), or on ships as a special treat, never as everyday fare (troops mostly eat standard rotations, MREs, or field rations). The combo became especially popular in the 1980s–1990s during extended overseas deployments (e.g., Middle East), building on earlier steak dinners that dated back to Civil War/WWII-era celebrations.

When it’s typically served
  • Before deployments, extensions, or high-risk missions — the most famous trigger. Many veterans describe it as a “last good meal” or “calm before the storm.”
  • Holidays and milestones: Thanksgiving, Christmas, unit anniversaries, graduations, or service birthdays (e.g., Marine Corps Birthday on Nov. 10, Navy or Army birthday events).
  • General morale boosts: End of tough rotations, “Best Mess” competitions, or just to show appreciation during long deployments. Veterans recall it happening once a month, a couple times a year, or near the end of a tour—sometimes as far back as the 1980s or even basic training graduations in the 1980s.
Food is a big deal for troop welfare. Commanders and food-service teams use premium meals to combat the grind of deployment life—missing family events, living in austere conditions, and eating repetitive chow.

It’s funded through normal bulk-procurement budgets (frozen lobster tails and ribeyes are bought at scale like any other protein), representing a tiny fraction of the military’s massive feeding operation.

This tradition has existed under multiple administrations for decades and is widely defended by veterans as a small, earned perk that costs far less than headlines sometimes suggest. It’s unrelated to any single political figure.

The military has been doing the full steak + lobster version on its own timeline for morale for a very long time.
 
signalmankenneth said:
Your tax money at work, these Trump administration Secretaries are spending your tax money like drunken sailors?!!

Talk about waste fraud and abuse?!!

The Pentagon spent millions of dollars on luxury crabs and other food items in a single month as part of a frantic end-of-year spending spree to maintain its immense funding.

An analysis by the government watchdog Open the Books found that the department led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spent more than $93 billion in September 2025, the end of the fiscal year, on various grants and contracts, the highest total since at least 2008.

Included in this spending was $2 million on Alaskan king crab last September alone, as well as $6.9 million on lobster tail and $1 million on salmon. The Defense Department also spent nearly $140,000 on doughnuts, $124,000 on ice cream machines, $26,000 on sushi preparation tables, and a whopping $15.1 million on ribeye steak.

As Open the Books explained, the Pentagon tries to spend as much of its congressionally allocated budget as possible at the end of every fiscal year because of federal “use-it-or-lose-it” rules. If the department ends the year with leftover funds, it risks having its budget reduced the following year.

On top of the billions of dollars spent on technologies, contracts, and purchases from foreign governments and businesses, the department also found inventive ways to ensure it used as much of its budget as possible in the final month.

This reportedly included spending $1.8 million on musical instruments, such as a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, a $26,000 violin, and a $21,750 custom handmade Japanese flute.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/pentagon-pete-blew-fortune-crabs-154719957.html

View attachment 77895
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Filling the swamp.
 
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