Pentagon wasting millions to save unneeded vehicles

originally posted by: cardinalfan0596
a reply to: Britguy

Actually, you might want to update your research on the 2.3 trillion. It was public knowledge long before 9/11...and was not forgotten AFTER 9/11.

I'm fully aware that it was well known before 9/11 and has not been forgotten since. However, what has been done to account for it? Absolutely nothing! Oh, there have been excuses, but nothing has been done at all to fix the problem, and as we see, it just keeps getting worse. There are many people out there getting very rich off of the taxpayers!

Actually, they have worked to fix it. Prior to 9/11 they had over a dozen, incompatible computer systems being used at the Pentagon to keep track of inventories, expenditures, and other spending. The 2.3 Trillion, referred to accounting adjustments that were made that auditors did not think there was enough documentation, and it was caused in part by numbers being taken from one system and transferred to another system....anyways, there were about a hundred different problems in how they used to do things that they have been working on.

a reply to: Britguy

One of the problems they will never solve is having accountants look at contracts and approve paying $700 for a Precision Hand Held High Impact Device (hammer).....

Meshing the aggressor nation's resources with the nation being attacked, for their resources, and we leave our 'obsolete' resources behind for nothing other than to aid in the advancing of their military might, our former enemy we liberated with "shock and awe"?

Improvised ex..device came from which nation's resource stockpile? ...and who taught them the concept of such a thing?

Without our hardware left behind, they still will only be equipped with box-cutters...

I wish they would let us citizens cover the shipping costs to where I could pick up my used toy when it got back.

I would have a hell of a lot of fun with them up until the scrap yard.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Zaphod,

I absolutely love john Ringo!!!

Off topic but if you love Ringo you should check out the books written by Michael z. Williamson!! The baen free library has at least one of his books free. Incidentally they have a bunch of john Ringo and David Drake books free to download also!!

As to the topic at hand... I'd rather see this stuff destroyed and scrapped than DRMO get it!!! Ever since the first round of laws massively curtailing what surplus the American public and non insider American companies could buy in the papa bush or Clinton era and subsequent rounds of ever more ridiculous restrictions (this is why surplus hummers aren't dirt cheap and EVERYWHERE here in the US btw.)

And it's also btw why there aren't surplus c-130's and etc being used to help replace our aging smoke jumper and fire bomber fleet! So every time a couple hundred homes burn or firefighters die... write your elected officials a thank you letter!!!

Instead these items which COULD be helpful to the public and or drive whole areas of the economy are mostly GIVEN to dictators terrorists and even private interests outside the US!!!.... oh wait.... did I say given? That's not the right word at all!

See because unlike when you or a company here in the US win an auction for the ever decreasing surplus we're ALLOWED TO PAY TO BUY but expected to drive to where the item is sitting load it ourselves with zero help and even penalized for leaving a drop of leaking oil!! When Joe dictator gets offered hummvees the public would PAY GOOD MONEY FOR the DRMO people have it cleaned up packaged and shipped all for AT BEST pennies on the dollar of what a domestic auction would bring!!! Even worse though is that sometimes this pre shipping work basically entails a depot level rebuild!! AND to add insult many times personnel and equipment are sent to unload assemble etc the equipment. Worse still... often technicians trainers and more from the equipment maker are hired to go with the free equipment YOU CAN'T BUY!!!

Recently it got more ridiculous than that though! As we all know our current "POTUS" doesn't like the 2nd amendment. Now unfortunately for him laws were in place to make sure certain surplus ammunition stuff like spent shell cases from military rifle ranges. This source of components directly kept prices of some ammunition reasonable AND dozens of businesses with hundreds or even several thousand employees nationwide depended on this!!

Notice the past tense verbiage there... recently a dirty trick got pushed through that has almost totally destroyed these businesses. So before this new deal the surplus cases etc were sold and the proceeds dropped back in the federal government general fund... Now though each base Commander "gets to choose" between letting the cases from their base go surplus as normal OR give a MASSIVE defense company called ATK the chance to make a bid to buy the stuff instead! If they take ATK's offer the funds from the sale go into THE DISCRETIONARY FUND FOR THAT BASE!!

Now... whether you are pro gun or not this should upset you doubly so!!! This provision is written such that ATK essentially has a monopoly position that let's them buy raw materials at below market rate substantially while bankrupting several of their competitors outright and allowing them to destroy or absorb other competition because they can price their products too low for them to compete!!!

Now the fact that the company given this power is ATK should make this infinitely more frightful. ATK is already huge and connected enough it has already managed to get government ammunition plant management contracts and used them to close or buy most of the government ammunition production and research centers!! In addition they own a disturbing percentage of American civilian and government munitions infrastructure and have shown a hostility towards civilian shooters.

So whether you are pro or anti gun you should worry and be angry that a corporation has basically been given tools with which to finish securing an utter monopoly on a critically important resource!!!

Isn't it common knowledge that giving a corporation control of a nation's ability to defend itself is beyond criminally stupid? which by the way, by default gives that corporation the ability to dictate not just foreign but also DOMESTIC POLICY!!!???

I remember on Ft Carson in 1/10 Cav we pulled engines requiring servicing from M60 tanks DRAINED THEM OF OIL,then ran them until FAILURE due to bureaucratic procedures that would allow SEVERELY damaged engines to be fixed by exchanging them but didn't have enough parts to maintain them in a timely manner as needed.

I need an MWRAP for my new neighborhood watch program,is there a form?

Some have been spared for ISIS


www.usnews.com...




www.usnews.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink">www.usn... ews.com/news/articles/2014/12/22/us-stockpiling-fighting-vehicles-gear-in-kuwait-ahead-of-anti-isis-offensive

What's even more disturbing is that nearly 100% of the stuff shipped back will be DRMO'ed and cost us another $375 million to refurbish, ship again, build the maintenance bays, pay extremely exorbitant fees for trainers and the actual maintenance staff, plus the never ending stream of spare parts and etc...

Even more aggravating is the American taxpayer and small business owners can't even get the chance to PAY for the privilege of buying the surplus without refurb etc in surplus auctions, because over the past 30 years a variety of laws, illegal"administrative decisions" and the like have been enacted to lock actual Americans out of the surplus stream almost completely!! Unless of course your school district needs MRAP's and mark 19's for "security".

So the wasting is just getting started...

Oh and the ones not used to arm ISIS and it's weather underground puppet masters for their round up of anyone who dares to even question the new constitution....

Yeah those will mostly go to countries within 1500 miles of the current theatre of operations...

Stuff like this is nothing new. When I served overseas in the early 90's my unit destroyed thousands of tons of landmines because it was supposedly cheaper to buy new ones in the US than to ship the existing ones back.

These weren't used landmines...they were brand new in the original packaging. We blew them up, packaging and all. 250lbs worth at a time...it took ages, but we had quite the system going.

Everything usually went well until someone would pipe up and say, "Hey, we haven't had a misfire all day!" The rest of the day would then be a disaster....

Murphy is ALWAYS listening. lol