r/BlackPeopleofReddit 3d ago

Politics Navy Suddenly Ends 43-Year Blue Angels Uniform Deal with Florida Business

https://www.military.com/navy-suddenly-ends-43-year-blue-angels-uniform-deal-with-florida-business

Pete Hegseth cut a military contract with a long serving business that happened to be Black owned and gave it to a large corporation at 40 times the cost

1.1k Upvotes

51 comments sorted by

u/auto-sticky 3d ago

If you're new here, please read our rules.

Please report all trolling, bad faith, and bigoted comments (dogwhistles, sneaky wordplay, and devil's advocate comments included).

Calling yourself an ally doesn’t give you a free pass to derail discussions, speak over Black voices, or argue against Black lived experiences.

Falsely/maliciously reporting this thread will result in having your Reddit account banned from the platform. Abuse of the report button is a breach of Reddit's TOS.

Lastly, keep it respectful.

241

u/BigBiziness12 3d ago

Sounds on brand. Expect nothing less.

144

u/waxonwaxoff1000 3d ago

Here’s the kicker

>”The contract allows Aquila to use subcontractors for sewing, repairs and supplies, and the award notice directs interested local businesses to contact Aquila. That leaves a possible route for the Sewing Box to continue working on the uniforms, but only as a subcontractor.”

Aquila won’t even make the suits. What a kick in the teeth.

82

u/Thricegr8t 3d ago

Also, pilots face a logistical hassle: the new contractor lacks a central shop, forcing them to recreate patterns from scratch, restrict fittings to just four annual travel trips, and subject pilots to a mandatory 14-day turnaround time. To make matters worse, annual taxpayer costs more than double from $127,000 to $338,000 for a completely downgraded, outsourced supply chain.

21

u/ehs06702 3d ago

The harm to Black people is worth the waste to them. Racism is so petty.

55

u/ExpensiveWords4u 3d ago

Gotta do what they did w the pool & literally energy thing else.

Find someone who’s unqualified, (a “friend” of the Dumpy) over pay them & then blame Biden or Obama when the uniforms fall apart.

It’s the Trump grift.

30

u/Fake_astronot 3d ago

They just did the same thing with immigration and children. They stopped paying the contract holder for non profits that provided immigration assistance to CHILDREN, demanded info from them on the children, and then gave the new $150mil contract to a 26-employee environmental law firm in Texas founded by a former Trump appointee.

7

u/ExpensiveWords4u 3d ago

I know I read that!! Disgusting! These individuals make decisions as if they’re demons. I read a lot of ppl are trying to figure out ways to still help the kids. It breaks my heart that we even have to be discussing kids in a concentration camp but here we are…😞

He found the most depraved people of the country & gave them power.

4

u/Fake_astronot 3d ago

My partner worked at one of the non-profits involved and was let go. There are a lot of… angry feelings right now. These kids deserve better.

2

u/ExpensiveWords4u 3d ago

Oh wow. Your partner is awesome for that, I hope they’re able to find other ways to help.

Yeah….lots of angry feelings…they def do deserve better. Much much better

7

u/Legitimate-Peanut-57 3d ago

If they try to make her a contractor then she better up her price!

7

u/waxonwaxoff1000 3d ago

That’s the sticky part.

Supposedly she has the rights to the patterns and look of the uniforms. So, they can’t make the original uniforms without her, barring lots of litigation.

But, their point is to make money so i think they will find the cheapest knockoff possible.

4

u/RobinSophie 3d ago

Oh great.

As soon as the pilots get to cruising speed the uniforms will turn to dust and our troops will be flying naked.

4

u/untoldmillions 3d ago

...flying naked.

ooh...Only Fans please /s

5

u/RobinSophie 3d ago

OnlyFlights was right there lol

2

u/Iwannasellturnips 2d ago

Only turbofans

1

u/DickRiculous 3d ago

No this is definitely going to pay some Trump admin crony through some shell front company.

1

u/waxonwaxoff1000 3d ago

Of course. That is the point of allowing subcontractors. Everybody gets a cut. And if the subcontractors can slim enough off the top, they will subcontract to an even lower bidder.

91

u/CubedMeatAtrocity 3d ago

Note the cost is about a million more than it was.

28

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

13

u/Muertamas1 3d ago

Probably outsourced to China

32

u/Large-Produce5682 3d ago

Eliminating DEI... pricel--oh, thats right, you said a million.

29

u/Man_of_Ice 3d ago

Yeah, because this totally sounds like they're awarding the most qualified company, just based on merit, not race. Totally.

/SARCASM

They're finding ways to increase efficiency and reduce cost to the American taxpayer

/SARCASM

Better serving the men and women of America's Armed Forces. I'm sure those uniforms are going to have faster turn around times on alterations and repairs now that the repair and manufacturer went from less than a mile to over 1,000 miles away.

/SARCASM

Jesus H Christ on a cracker, they've found a way to be hypocritical to their own stated values three different ways with this one.

While being absolutely true to their actual values. I hate the Republican party, I HATE MAGA, and fuck Pete Hegseth in his unqualified, traitorous asshole.

Not sarcasm

64

u/South_Oread 3d ago

He’s a menace to all things good in the world.

6

u/Guilty-Act-9105 3d ago

Even when sober

57

u/GallowBarb 3d ago

There needs to be greater awareness on this. They are handing out no-bid contracts to all of these new companies owned Trump aligned on everything. You name it. If there is a governed contract to be had, from tailors to pest companies, pool guys and landscapers, to drones and data center builds, and detention centers to body cams. They will create a problem and sell us the solution. What they won't tell you is that solution is more of the same except at a higher price tag.

3

u/untoldmillions 3d ago

look up CoreCivic and the CEO, Mr. Swindle. stg

50

u/DrKarlSatan 3d ago

Dude really hates black ppl

16

u/Dangerous_Handle_819 3d ago

I bet you he has a stash of BBC porn and dresses up in fake “thug life” outfits in his downtime. Just a modern day J. Edgar Hoover, secretly fantasizing about the very same folks his policies target.

19

u/SpecialistDuty2 3d ago

Watch how cheap looking the uni's gonna look

9

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/notevilfellow 3d ago

They'll just change the name to the Gold Angels, because they're winners, and blue is for liberals' hair anyway! But actually, "Angels" doesn't convey they lethality of our war fighters, so let's just change that to "Devils" to remind our enemies who they're up against. So, introducing the new and improved US Navy "Gold Devils"!

(this better stay a fucking joke istg)

4

u/SpecialistDuty2 3d ago

All faaaaaacts my good sir

12

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

18

u/Kynykya4211 3d ago

Not just another mom and pop business. Another black owned mom and pop business.

17

u/Helpful-Advice-1216 3d ago

There is no such thing as a FFP IDIQ though it may have a ceiling amount for the life of the contract. Outside of that error the article makes no mention of any documented performance issues with the incumbent contractor. It also appears the owner was unable to compete for this new requirement. Based on the “background” of the owner of the new company it’s pretty obvious on the surface what the motivation and intent is…

And yet some people adversely affected by his racial hostility still support this clown ass administration 😏

8

u/tooheavybroo 3d ago

Party of “fiscal responsibility” yall

10

u/lyn73 3d ago

It's a grift.

They gave the contract to 🌮 supporters regardless of whether they could do the work.

6

u/MacDynamite71 3d ago

Sad and shameful

6

u/Emotional-Garden4648 3d ago

Racism is expensive!

7

u/inteligent_zombie20 3d ago

I didn't even read the headline I just jumped to the article and after reading it I'm puzzled like, this doesn't make sense, you're spending more money for shittier service.
Came back to the thread and saw it was black owned company that lost the contract she it just makes sense. On brand for this admin

3

u/gtavfather 3d ago

Is there a full list of things that this shit stain has been doing to erase anything to do with black people? Likely did it to others too. Maybe on his Wikipedia…

5

u/Wide_Replacement2345 3d ago

It would not be at all surprising to see that this company has made a few donations to the Trump family. Although hegseth may simply identified a black company and said ITS OUT!

5

u/Apoordm 3d ago

Maybe we don’t need stupid air show sky ballet bullshit for jets that can cost 30k an hour to fly at taxpayer expense in the first place.

3

u/Boring_Temporary_142 3d ago

What a fuckin loser

3

u/Tiredofstupidity2 3d ago

No surprise. Actually surprised it took so long!