Pentagon Junking Millions in Gear

[sabra]

Source: Military.com/AP

WASHINGTON - Millions of dollars' worth of gear, including combat boots, helmets, vests and aircraft parts, is being junked by the Pentagon rather than stored or sold as surplus to suppliers who sometimes sell it back to the military.

Of roughly $1.8 billion worth of equipment the Defense Department downgraded to scrap from January through June, at least $330 million worth came from categories of gear the Pentagon most frequently buys back from surplus dealers, according to the National Association of Aircraft & Communication Suppliers. Those include parts for aircraft, weapons and communications systems, the group said.

The association, a lobbying group for surplus dealers, is worried the military's recent decision to shred retired F-14 "Tomcat" fighter jets is the start of a broader effort to destroy Pentagon leftovers that surplus dealers once bought routinely. Iran is aggressively seeking F-14 components for its own aging Tomcat fleet.

In a new lobbying campaign, association members and other surplus buyers are urging Congress to force the Pentagon to do a better job separating sensitive surplus from items considered safe to sell, rather than lumping both types of surplus together and destroying them.

Read more: http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,143337,00.html?ESRC=topstories.RSS

[benld74]

1. U.S.People want to junk P and V.P too!!!

[gratuitous]

2. Isn't it nice to have an unlimited budget?

Anyone who questions military outlays is branded a terrorist sympathizer at best, a traitor at worst, and the only people allowed to criticize are the usual right-wing suspects railing tax-and-spenders.

[maddezmom]

3. kick

[tbyg52]

4. Pentagon to Junk Millions in Combat Gear

Source: Associated Press

Millions of dollars' worth of gear, including combat boots, helmets, vests and aircraft parts, is being junked by the Pentagon rather than stored or sold as surplus to suppliers who sometimes sell it back to the military.

Of roughly $1.8 billion worth of equipment the Defense Department downgraded to scrap from January through June, at least $330 million worth came from categories of gear the Pentagon most frequently buys back from surplus dealers, according to the National Association of Aircraft & Communication Suppliers. Those include parts for aircraft, weapons and communications systems, the group said.

The association, a lobbying group for surplus dealers, is worried the military's recent decision to shred retired F-14 "Tomcat" fighter jets is the start of a broader effort to destroy Pentagon leftovers that surplus dealers once bought routinely. Iran is aggressively seeking F-14 components for its own aging Tomcat fleet.

In a new lobbying campaign, association members and other surplus buyers are urging Congress to force the Pentagon to do a better job separating sensitive surplus from items considered safe to sell, rather than lumping both types of surplus together and destroying them.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MILITARY_SURPLUS_SHREDDING?SITE=KTVK&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[zabet]

5. We have been known to leave...

munitions behind because it cost more to bring them back than it does to
buy new ones from defense contractors.

[ProudDad]

6. I'm ok with that

I'd vote to get rid of 9/10 of the whole freakin' military war machine...

We don't need it...

[hedgehog]

7. If you're holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail. n/t

[sanskritwarrior]

9. I disagree

but then again I don't think you and I agree on anything..........

[Screwfly]

8. Anything to with the Bush era

especially the Iraq war, must have a lot of bad juju attached to it and I wouldn't take it for nothing.

[MUAD_DIB]

10. I don't understand. Doesn't the state air national gaurd

use older equipment? Wouldn't it be better to keep these aircraft parts for these guys instead?


All this equipment should just be recycled back into the system.