It’s clear to everyone else in the world that the contractor, Babylon, was hired by the government to provide wifi access at this base. Babylon is charging the soldiers the money. Aruba Networks appears to simply provide the hardware, at what I’m guessing is a one-time purchase.

Your analogy, making it appear as though Aruba Networks is charging this money (as opposed to the true provider, Babylon) is exactly wrong. A true comparison would be the Toshiba cable modem sitting on my desk; they make the hardware, but I don’t pay Toshiba $40 a month for service; I pay my local cable company. (Perhaps you do pay your cable modem manufacturer as well; that’s the only thing I can think of to explain your ludicrous posts.)

Do you pay your television manufacturer every time you watch TV? No, you pay the service provider. Do you pay your cell phone’s manufacturer every time you make a call? No, you pay the service provider.

I checked out Aruba’s web site, as I didn’t really know the company, and they appear to only sell equipment, not services.

** Put up or shut up: If you can point to a single article anywhere that indicates Aruba is receiving the monthly fees from the soldiers, please cite your source, or grow a pair and apologize to Aruba Networks, as well as every single American that works for a company that manufactures equipment for the military. **

Calling the millions of Americans that work in our military support industries “war profiteers” is beyond dishonest; it is crude, amateurish, unprofessional, and outright disgusting.

You, sir, are an ass. (And I’m clearly not in PR… I don’t lie for a living.)

John, Los Angeles

And regarding my affiliation, does that mean I’m wrong? Does that mean I’m not allowed to have an opinion — just like any other citizen — about the safety of our soldiers and the companies who are out to make a fast buck from a war? You can assume all you want to about my motivation, Joe, but until you can see into my heart, you might want to keep your own opinions to yourself. Just remember this: at least I have the guts to put my real name and affiliation to my writing, unlike you, sir.

The original article clearly states that the “soldiers get per diem expenses for all or part of the cost.” Google’d another article that stated that the AAFES organization contracted Babylon to offer subscriber services that AAFES pays on behalf of the soldiers.

So the government is actually covering the cost of Internet access for our soldiers.

Then I read Mr. Johnson’s blog. Turns out he works for one of Aruba’s competitors, Trapeze Networks. He is posting disinformation regarding a couple of companies trying to help our soldiers, with motivation I only have to assume is self-serving. Using his words – shameful.

… joe

I was also outraged to read this but I was waiting for one of my readers to point this out. Perhaps the government is so broke after bailing out all those banks that they can’t even cover the cost of body armor and Internet access.