Don’t mess with commissaries

The Marine Corps’ senior enlisted adviser told lawmakers Wednesday that he believes focusing on the commissary benefit as a potential source of defense budget savings is a mistake.

“I’m a fan of [the commissary],” Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Micheal Barrett told the House Appropriations Committee’s military construction and veterans affairs panel at a hearing that focused on quality-of-life issues.

“I personally think it’s ridiculous that we’re going after something that saves a young lance corporal $4,500 a year,” said Barrett, who testified alongside the senior enlisted advisers of the other services.

He was not the only one to cut against the grain of a new defense budget plan that calls for reducing the annual commissary subsidy by more than two-thirds, which advocates say would inevitable drive up customer costs.

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