Air Conditioning the Military Costs More Than NASA’s Entire Budget

Kwame Opam —According to Steve Anderson, a retired brigadier general who served as Gen. Petraeus' chief logistician in Iraq, the Department of Defense spends $20 billion air conditioning tents and temporary structures for the military. That's more than NASA's entire $19 billion annual budget.

I'm all for keeping the troops cumfy while they kill and mane people, but really? $20 billion?

Anderson believes that a simple solution would be to instead spray tents with polyurethane foam, kind of like the foam sealant you would use in your own home. In fact, an active $95 million contract to insulate tents is producing $1 billion in cost avoidance, proving it's both safer and greener than air conditioning the desert. Doing this while also searching for other energy-efficient solutions would save both money and lives.

An even simpler solution, end the damn wars and bring the troops home so they can start receiving the therapy the need to re enter society like normal human beings instead of crazed killers joining police forces

gizmodo.com...

reply to post by NuroSlam


Agreed. Humanity should focus on Space exploration together instead of U.S.A being the world Police.

Technology and innovation will free humanity from enslavement/labor eventually.

Its shameful that we as a society permit these wars to persists

End the wars now.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a9ecfe29f6bd.jpg[/atsimg]

Really interesting, but you need to include the link to your source.

reply to post by Trueman


my bad, was having my toenails painted by my daughter and got a bit distracted

Originally posted by NuroSlam
reply to post by Trueman

 

my bad, was having my toenails painted by my daughter and got a bit distracted

That is something that won't happen to me ever (coz I am a man)

Originally posted by Trueman

Originally posted by NuroSlam
reply to post by Trueman

 

my bad, was having my toenails painted by my daughter and got a bit distracted

That is something that won't happen to me ever (coz I am a man)

Oh, I'm very much a man, I'm a single father with a 6 year old daughter, some things I cant refuse her.

Originally posted by NuroSlam

Originally posted by Trueman

Originally posted by NuroSlam
reply to post by Trueman

 

my bad, was having my toenails painted by my daughter and got a bit distracted

That is something that won't happen to me ever (coz I am a man)

Oh, I'm very much a man, I'm a single father with a 6 year old daughter, some things I cant refuse her.

Well, in that case... happy Father's Day.

It really seems as if there is an intentional dismantling of the progress we've made so far with manned spaceflight.
We're relying on Russian and European space partners for our heavy lift capabilities to low Earth Orbit - those relationships are just a trade spat or small skirmish away from indefinite suspension.
It's really unclear how far along Space-X, Blue Origin and the other private operators really are toward lofting humans safely to and from the Space Station.
The smart thing would have been to put the shuttles on a sort of semi-mothball "ready reserve" so on relatively short notice we launch an emergency rescue, maintenance or repair mission.

Originally posted by Trueman

Originally posted by NuroSlam

Originally posted by Trueman

Originally posted by NuroSlam
reply to post by Trueman

 

my bad, was having my toenails painted by my daughter and got a bit distracted

That is something that won't happen to me ever (coz I am a man)

Oh, I'm very much a man, I'm a single father with a 6 year old daughter, some things I cant refuse her.

Well, in that case... happy Father's Day.

OMG!!! Now how sweet is that???

I'm just a little skeptical of figures like that:

Possibly:
* Air conditioning = $3Billion
* Black operations buried into other budgets to hide them from the people = $17Billion
_______________________________________________________________________
= $20Billion "Air Conditioning Budget"

As we are fully aware, Gov't Math does not equal Scientific Math.

Does it cost $300,000.00 to tanker some fuel twenty miles in Afghanistan? No.
It costs about $700, and the rest is 'hidden' payment to the no-bid private contractor's fees.
(Figures above are made up, but not far from the truth)

Originally posted by Trueman

Originally posted by NuroSlam

Originally posted by Trueman

Originally posted by NuroSlam
reply to post by Trueman

 

my bad, was having my toenails painted by my daughter and got a bit distracted

That is something that won't happen to me ever (coz I am a man)

Oh, I'm very much a man, I'm a single father with a 6 year old daughter, some things I cant refuse her.

Well, in that case... happy Father's Day.

AWESOME!!!

Interesting statistics. I started a thread a couple weeks ago about a new technology that the Government was interested in to help aircondition there facilities and computer equipment in the field.
Thermal Activated Cooling System

I got an Idea.
Why don't we get rid of low level contractors (most of them) and let POGs do their damn job ?
This way we will save lots of money, and lazy people won't be getting as fat eating all that extra chow..

Holy crap!

What kinda pansy ass wienie soldiers are we sending over there anymore?

When I drove a tank in Desert Storm, we didn't have any air conditioning. The tanks were hot as hell and when we got outside of them, we were glad to cool down in the cozy 110 degree air. Nobody had air conditioned tents or any of the modern amenities. We survived by drinking plenty of water and allowing our bodies to adjust to the heat of the desert. After a while, it didn't feel so bad.

By coddeling our soldiers inside air conditioned tents, buildings and vehicles, we put them at a disadvantage when they need to go out into the field and deal with the temperatures in the reigons where they are stationed. Their bodies will not be adapted to the heat properly and they will become fatigued faster and may drop out from the heat.

Soldiers don't need to be confortable when sent to these God aweful contries. They need to let their bodies adapt to the heat so they can function in their new environment. Also, if the soldiers are made to suffer in the heat, maybe they will get it through their heads that they don't belong in all those countries to begin with.

Stop sending our soldiers where they don't belong and, when they are sent there; stop wasting money on silly amenities to try to make them feel at home. They are not at home and they need to remember this every waking moment if they hope to survive.

Originally posted by TheUniverse
reply to post by NuroSlam

 

Agreed. Humanity should focus on Space exploration together instead of U.S.A being the world Police.

Technology and innovation will free humanity from enslavement/labor eventually.

Its shameful that we as a society permit these wars to persists

End the wars now.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a9ecfe29f6bd.jpg[/atsimg]

Actually, if you believe the conspiracy theorists, the military IS in space so some of that red is probably dedicated to exactly what you're calling for them to do. According to them, the government back-engineered crashed flying saucers and built them under the cover of secrecy. Others say that we captured german scientists in WWII and from them we developed a flying saucer program. Still others say that Nikola Tesla had it figured out for years but his papers were stolen by the military, of course. Anyway, the result is that we have a secret space program, but the technology is so dangerous that they have to keep it secret. Just imagine something that could give terrorists exactly what the want: explosive energy, easy travel, etc. Technology of this nature would cause mass chaos on earth. That's why the military owns it.

Same thing happened to nuclear things. They put a lid on it before it got worse.

Rumor is other countries have it too, like Russia.

And that's just one reason, among others, that the miltary has so much red versus nasa.

Makes sense now. A little bit of information is a powerful thing. But too much is dangerous.

Nasa is legitimate and safe. Nothing wrong with it. There're two (or more) sides to everything.

They do have our interests in mind. But it's not simple. Nothing ever is.

Ever seen a helpless baby bird that fell from its nest and seen as the mother frantically tried to feed it and figure out what to do? Ever wonder what happens when you don't see it?

reply to post by TheUniverse


Wow, imagine if that pie was reversed!

The ultimate defense, leave the whole planet behind, take the rest of the Solar System. Its undefended at the moment.

never fear, a solution is on its way.

This summer, frontline troops in Afghanistan will begin using two diesel-battery hybrid generators that could cut fuel use by 50 to 70 percent. The diesel generators currently used at military camps waste a lot of energy because there's no way to store excess power that's being produced, but not used. The new hybrid generators, built by Virginia-based Earl Energy, will not only satisfy energy needs for the camps, but store energy in a bank of lithium-ion batteries.

ecogeek.org...