DOGE Didn’t Kill STARBASE—The Truth Did (Part 1)

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) didn’t kill STARBASE because it was wasteful—it killed it because it was an easy target. While bloated bureaucracies and useless spending continue unchecked, a STEM program that actually helped kids got the axe under the guise of “efficiency.” But here’s the thing: STARBASE wasn’t just about education—it was a military recruitment tool.  And as much as it stings, if we believe in following the law, even when it costs us, then cutting it was the right call.

I saw this firsthand when I was in recruiting command. My boss got investigated simply because we spent money on JROTC uniforms—a violation of federal funding rules. He got hammered for it and almost lost a star. So imagine my shock, as both a retired Army officer and a science teacher, when I saw the Air National Guard running a fully federally funded STEM program—not on federal bases, but on state-leased air bases. That’s not just bending the rules; that’s a complete sidestep of the laws that shut down similar military-backed programs.

I loved what STARBASE did for kids, and I used the program myself. But if we hammered JROTC funding for crossing the line, how did STARBASE get a pass for so long? It wasn’t state-funded, it wasn’t privately backed—it was federal dollars in a place where federal funding wasn’t supposed to be. Whether we liked the benefits or not, the reality is simple: if laws matter, they have to apply across the board. If JROTC couldn’t skirt these rules, STARBASE shouldn’t have either.

What’s frustrating is that politicians are now playing emotional games with people who benefited from the program, acting as if this is some great injustice instead of the system enforcing the same laws we’ve always had. The only difference is that this time, we liked what was being funded. I get it—I used STARBASE too, and it’s hard to see it go. But if we only care about government rules when they hurt programs we don’t like, and ignore them when they benefit us, then we’re just as guilty of selective enforcement as the bureaucrats we love to criticize.

So yeah, it hurts to see it go—but this was the right call. We can either be a nation of laws or a nation of feelings. The law caught up with STARBASE, just like it caught up with JROTC funding before it. That’s not politics—it’s just reality.

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