Defense Finance and Accounting Service
We have all seen 1099's and W-2s from this Indianapolis organization. Our military clients at some time may have given them a call, or sent them a letter. Ever picture what it must be like? I have to share this with you:
"Without fanfare, parades, or glory, the bookkeeping for America’s wars takes place in Indianapolis. The military’s bean counters are housed in the Bean Federal Center, which is named for Major General Emmett J. Bean, the former commander of what’s now the Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DFAS, which runs the books for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and every other American defense agency, claims to be the one of the world’s largest finance operations. The Bean Center is scaled accordingly, with more than a million and a half square feet packed into a three-story monolith. Inside, in a maze of white-walled corridors, a small army of employees manages the payroll of the world’s most expensive military—a tab that includes the President’s salary. 'People who have worked in the building for many years get turned around, just because the hallways are so long and everything kind of looks the same,' one government employee told me."
If you want to read more about how the hallways are now covered with murals (painted on Tyvek) of landscapes from American battlefields, here's the story:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-man-painting-americas-wars
