Sidebar

Amazing waste in Afghanistan

cbi1972

cbi1972

Hall of Fame
Nov 8, 2005
18,145
1,301
182
51
Birmingham, AL
From a front page reddit thread today entitled "What is something about the company you work for that they WOULD NOT like the customer to know?"




The amount of money I see wasted here is astounding. There's a place called the "RPAT yard" where they shred/incinerate EVERYTHING in an effort to reduce US presence in Afghanistan. It doesn't matter how expensive or re-usable it was, just destroy it so we don't have to worry about sending it home or finding someone to sell it to.

MRAPs, for example, cost about $500,000 for a vanilla truck. There is an endless field of them on Bagram waiting to be shredded and sold for scrap. They weigh in at about 30,000lbs and are sold for ~93 cents/pound. Call it $30,000 of scrap metal, even though it's probably a lot less.

I guess the customers are taxpayers.

Edit: from my understanding, most of it is being bought locally and then re-sold to China. I can't find any corroborating sources, but that's just what I've heard through the RPAT grapevine.

Also, shipping them all home would be my second-to-last option. I would sooner sell them to other governments at a discount. I made this argument to a lady I met doing cost-analysis here, and her response was "we wouldn't want to give our tactical advantages to other countries," which is an argument I've heard several times. The thing is, MRAPs are designed to be counter-IED. We don't fight with those tactics, so what do we care if other governments have MRAP-type capabilities? In a conflict, it doesn't much matter if it's an MRAP or a bicycle, if we hit it with a SMAW, it's not driving any more.
Click to expand...
 
Al A Bama

Al A Bama

Hall of Fame
Jun 24, 2011
6,658
934
132
cbi1972 said:
From a front page reddit thread today entitled "What is something about the company you work for that they WOULD NOT like the customer to know?"


Click to expand...

Will these end up being driven by members of the Taliban?
 
MOAN

MOAN

All-American
Aug 30, 2010
2,423
232
87
Swearengin, Alabama, United States
And we gripe and complain about welfare for lazy U.S. citizens. ;) Someone got rich building those vehicles and someone is going to get rich scrapping them. Certainly not the U.S. taxpayer but someone! ;)
 
Bazza

Bazza

TideFans Legend
Oct 1, 2011
35,770
21,482
187
New Smyrna Beach, Florida

DOD resumes transferring military vehicles to first responders


The sheriff's office in Johnson County, Ind., used a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle tor eplace its 22-year-old armored 'Peacekeeper' vehicle (left). (Kelly Wilkinson/Indianapolis Star)

The Defense Department has resumed transferring excess military vehicles to civilian emergency personnel after reaching an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, said Jeffrey Curtis, executive director, logistics operations support for the Defense Logistics Agency.
The 2.5- and 5-ton trucks, Humvees and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles run on diesel engines that do not meet EPA requirements, but the Defense Department has a national security exemption allowing it to use the vehicles, Curtis said. The DLA temporarily halted transfer of the vehicles to first responders on June 19 after becoming aware that the exemption did not carry over once the vehicles were given to first responders.
This prompted a group of 25 lawmakers led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to write a July 10 letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel saying that the equipment was badly needed by firefighters and other emergency personnel.
“While we understand that DoD and EPA may be close to resolving this issue, we respectfully request that you provide us with your specific course of action for rescinding the restrictions placed on both the FEPP and FPP programs and clarify any vehicle title concerns raised by state foresters and law enforcement agencies,” the letter says.
Curtis said the EPA has allowed the flow of vehicles to emergency personnel to resume because the Defense Logistics Agency agreed to keep the titles indefinitely. Thus, the vehicles retain their exemption from EPA standards after they are given away.
The agreement should not delay when the vehicles can be provided to emergency personnel, nor should it limit what types of vehicles can be transferred, Curtis said.
 
Tidewater

Tidewater

Hall of Fame
Mar 15, 2003
22,463
13,297
287
Hooterville, Vir.
Bazza said:
The 2.5- and 5-ton trucks, Humvees and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles run on diesel engines that do not meet EPA requirements, but the Defense Department has a national security exemption allowing it to use the vehicles, Curtis said. The DLA temporarily halted transfer of the vehicles to first responders on June 19 after becoming aware that the exemption did not carry over once the vehicles were given to first responders.
This prompted a group of 25 lawmakers led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to write a July 10 letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel saying that the equipment was badly needed by firefighters and other emergency personnel.
Click to expand...
I understand EPA emissions requirements and all, but, man, there are not that many of these going to law enforcement, and its not like the police are going to use them to commute to work or something.
It always surprises me when the Federal government does something that smacks of common sense, as this one does.
 
TIDE-HSV

TIDE-HSV

Senior Administrator
Staff member
Oct 13, 1999
84,609
39,826
437
Huntsville, AL,USA
I guess it's my age which keeps me from gasping with all others in outrage. This is absolutely normal with all nations which don't maintain large standing armies. When many thousands of temporary soldiers stand down, what do you do with the materiel? I had two older brothers serving in WWII. The second oldest spent the entire war as a fighter pilot, running anti-sub duty off south FL, out of Rat-Mouth. They had a very efficient, if totally illegal, method of getting parts, etc. via a method known as "midnight requisition." They would call around to other bases to see who might have what they needed and, frequently, the other base would need something they had. If so, a rendezvous was set up and the parts were exchanged. Going through the QMC might take months for something needed in days to keep a plane running. However, when hostilities ended, there were all these parts (and even planes) on hand with no "paper ownership" trail at all. He told me tales of flying out over the Atlantic pushing aircraft engines out of the bomb bay of B-17s. The alternative could easily be courts martial. This is really no different. Maybe a bit more organized, but you'd have to be alive during WWII to understand...
 
PacadermaTideUs

PacadermaTideUs

All-American
Dec 10, 2009
4,072
289
107
Navarre, FL
TIDE-HSV said:
I guess it's my age which keeps me from gasping with all others in outrage. This is absolutely normal with all nations which don't maintain large standing armies. When many thousands of temporary soldiers stand down, what do you do with the materiel? I had two older brothers serving in WWII. The second oldest spent the entire war as a fighter pilot, running anti-sub duty off south FL, out of Rat-Mouth. They had a very efficient, if totally illegal, method of getting parts, etc. via a method known as "midnight requisition." They would call around to other bases to see who might have what they needed and, frequently, the other base would need something they had. If so, a rendezvous was set up and the parts were exchanged. Going through the QMC might take months for something needed in days to keep a plane running. However, when hostilities ended, there were all these parts (and even planes) on hand with no "paper ownership" trail at all. He told me tales of flying out over the Atlantic pushing aircraft engines out of the bomb bay of B-17s. The alternative could easily be courts martial. This is really no different. Maybe a bit more organized, but you'd have to be alive during WWII to understand...
Click to expand...
Yep. Fairly standard. It still goes on on a less organized basis as well, similar to what you describe with your brother. Although I've never quite seen it on the level of aircraft engines.
 
Bazza

Bazza

TideFans Legend
Oct 1, 2011
35,770
21,482
187
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
I'm not surprised at how little the public (including me) does know of how things work in the military.

Some of the stuff (like what Earle mentioned) no one outside the armed forces family should know...and then there's all the covert stuff....and then there's all the stuff the lamestream media does not choose to cover.

But that's what is great about our forum community - and others like it - that's where we REALLY find out what is happening! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Posts

Latest threads

TideFans.shop - NEW Stuff!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a> <br /> <!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \--> <p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.

Top Bottom