CentCom lines up vehicles for ceremony

TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Military records show the military spent about $56,000 to rent vehicles for the change-of-command ceremony at U.S. Central Command.

There will be 80 vehicles, such as luxury sedans and sport utility vehicles, ferrying VIPs around MacDill Air Force Base Friday when U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus takes command of CentCom, The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported.

The newspaper said that CentCom officials told them that they didn't have much leeway in the transportation department since Pentagon rules are pretty strict about who rides in what at such occasions.

"Every effort is made to do this as frugally as possible while fulfilling Department of Defense protocol and force-protection requirements," CentCom spokesman U.S. Marines Maj. Joe Kloppel told the Times.

A taxpayer advocate told the Times the use of rented vehicles instead of Humvees and taxis is an indication the Defense budget has been insulated from criticism for too long and the Pentagon is out of touch with the overall U.S. economy.

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This corrects an earlier item in which UPI erroneously identified the vehicles as "limos." UPI regrets the error.