The US Military spending tons of money at the end of the year on frivolous things has been happening for a long time.

[Eko]

And this happens to most of the Federal Government.

There is pressure to spend: If federal agencies don’t use the entirety of their budgets by the end of the fiscal year, then they lose access to that cash forever, potentially putting themselves in a situation where they have to request a reduced budget the following year. But the Pentagon’s long list of luxuries is hardly defensible.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/pete-hegseth-blew-billions-fruit-215814027.html

In no way am I saying this is not wrong but it has happened under multiple Administrations for a long time. Working in a music store I would personally see this every year in November or December. The music department at the local military base would bring in the gear we sold them last year to sell to us and then buy a ton of more gear all top tier. $2000 guitar we sold them last year would be sold at a huge loss to us in order to get a $5k guitar. So while it sounds outrageous and is its been going on for a long long time.

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. I'm sure it has

But 93 billion is nothing to sneeze at.

[Eko]

2. No, its not.

[MustLoveBeagles]

3. I have a feeling Kegsbreath

Has set a new record in wasteful spending.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. Pete Hegseth Blew Billions on Fruit Basket Stands, Chairs, and Crab

And the pigs keep gobbling.

Pete Hegseth Blew Billions on Fruit Basket Stands, Chairs, and Crab newrepublic.com/post/207555/... via @newrepublic.com

— Heather Thomas (@heatherthomasaf.bsky.social) 2026-03-10T04:02:01.055Z

https://newrepublic.com/post/207555/pete-hegseth-billions-dollars-fruit-basket-stands-chairs-crab

Some of the frivolous September purchases made under Secretary Pete Hegseth’s stewardship include a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, $5.3 million for Apple devices such as the new iPad, and an astronomical amount of shellfish, including $2 million for Alaskan king crab and $6.9 million worth of lobster tail. (Lobster tail is apparently a favorite of Hegseth’s Pentagon—the department spent more than $7.4 million total on the luxury item in March, May, June, and October.)

In other pricey food purchases, the government decided to drop $15.1 million for ribeye steak (again, just in September), $124,000 for ice cream machines, and $139,224 on 272 orders of doughnuts.

Weeks later, millions of Americans would lose their SNAP benefits amid the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. More still stand to lose eligibility to the food assistance program thanks to a Republican crusade that added stricter work requirements to the program, piling on paperwork and documentation mandates.

One of the largest bulk expenditures was just for furniture, for which the Pentagon decided to shell out $225 million. That included $12,000 for fruit basket stands, and checks totaling more than $60,000 for Herman Miller recliners. All in all, the agency spent more on furniture in 2025 than it had in over a decade.

In the last five days of September alone, the department blew through $50.1 billion on just grants and contracts. For context, only nine other countries spend that much on the entirety of their defense budget per year. It’s also more than the total military budgets of Canada and Mexico combined.

[Eko]

5. Thanks for sharing that, obviously I knew about already as my post was about it.

[tonkatoy8888]

6. But it's not the end of the fiscal year

I'm pretty certain the federal government and the pentagon's fiscal year ends on 9/30/26.

I base this on the memory of never really seeing my wife during the month of September. My wife headed up a contracting office for the DOD as a civilian employee and all pending contracts had to be awarded by the last day of the month.

[Eko]

7. It was in September.

"The Pentagon spent more money in September—the end of the 2025 fiscal year—than it had in any other year since 2008. But a good chunk of the budget wasn’t used for anything that could be considered a pertinent military expense."
From my link.

[nitpicked]

8. It sounds like apportionment issues

Typically, most federal funds are apportioned by fiscal quarters.

One (long-winded) citation:

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/a11_current_year/s120.pdf

[mitch96]

9. I remember years ago a navy buddy of mine telling of medic's destroying drugs on the back of the

ship and tossing them over the side. Marines with guns were in attendance making sure no one was pocketing any of the "good stuff"
They were also tossing perfectly good portable xray machines over the side..
He said that if they did not use "all the allotment" the allotment for the next year would be less.
uff..
m