“That was the most Army chit I ever saw”

[stevena198301]

A good friend just retired from 20 years in the army. He’s living at my house temporarily. We’re outside talking, and he tells me a story out of the blue.

He was deployed. They had a motor pool with several older, never used vehicles. During a command inspection, a Colonel threw a fit about these vehicles having deadline deficiencies on them all. Such a fit, that money was procured to fix up these old rust buckets. A certain 5-ton troop carrier had a blown transmission that had been busted since before any of them were there. A brand new transmission was ordered, and several soldiers were tasked with assisting the units mechanics to wrestle this gigantic transmission to be removed and replaced. This process took over 9 hours, but they got the truck back to a fully operational state. 5 days later, it went on its first mission:

Driven directly to another base where it was promptly crushed along with many other old military vehicles.

 

[Grif]

A good friend just retired from 20 years in the army. He’s living at my house temporarily. We’re outside talking, and he tells me a story out of the blue.

He was deployed. They had a motor pool with several older, never used vehicles. During a command inspection, a Colonel threw a fit about these vehicles having deadline deficiencies on them all. Such a fit, that money was procured to fix up these old rust buckets. A certain 5-ton troop carrier had a blown transmission that had been busted since before any of them were there. A brand new transmission was ordered, and several soldiers were tasked with assisting the units mechanics to wrestle this gigantic transmission to be removed and replaced. This process took over 9 hours, but they got the truck back to a fully operational state. 5 days later, it went on its first mission:

Driven directly to another base where it was promptly crushed along with many other old military vehicles.

All done by U.S. uniformed servicemen paying for their own uniforms.

Sorry, I know we need to send money to foreign armies while we make our own pay their way to wear our uniform.

Good stuff Steven....my comments are not directed toward you, as you know.

 

[Mort]

Sounds like the city I used to work for. They would pave a long stretch of roadway. It would look great for a week...then they would tear it up and replace the sewer system.

 

[Holesinthesky]

Back in the late 80s.
We had to install roll bars on our jeeps to be safe.
Mind you these were MP “gun trucks” that were supposed to have an M60 mounted in them.
Guess what couldn’t spin, because of the roll bar?

Then we got the order, to turn them in To get the HMMWV.
But…… before they could be turned in, all deficiencies had to be fixed ( like mentioned above), AND had to be freshly painted.

 

[Iammichael6499]

My stint with he feds was insightful. Every year, unused (aka new) gear/equipment was ceremoniously and completely destroyed to prevent “budget” cuts. The event was well “chaperoned” to prevent items from surviving the ritual and sneaking away with the conscripts. It’s a well known and decades old tradition that will forever be a part of the federal culture (and the waste gets worse with every budget cycle).

 

[stevena198301]

All done by U.S. uniformed servicemen paying for their own uniforms.

Sorry, I know we need to send money to foreign armies while we make our own pay their way to wear our uniform.

Good stuff Steven....my comments are not directed toward you, as you know.

“I literally watched the work of 8 guys over 9 hours get crushed before my eyes” was the exact way he described it.

 

[Grif]

“I literally watched the work of 8 guys over 9 hours get crushed before my eyes” was the exact way he described it.

I have no doubt.

It's good work, especially as you get older and gain more perspective.

It'll serve him well.

 

[riverrat47]

I am willing to bet that all of us who have worked for any government agency could tell some horror stories, especially sitting around a fire, after a few non-hydrating adult beverages.
Hell, come to think of it, I've got a few stories from my days of working in the private sector, too.

 

[duckbuster5901]

In my stint with gubment if you didn't spend it you loose it. In other words you always need more money even if you don,t need more money.

 

[salthunter]

We’re outside talking, and he tells me a story out of the blue.
Is it possible it wasn't out of the "blue" and there was way more, which he didnt share!
A neighbor with teenage sons,,, my dad often counseled him regarding time in Viet Nam. A short time after our dad passed, ( 1985) he ended his suffering with a .30 cal.

Out of the blue maybe not!


My Dads whole experience with of the Korean war was regulated by some weird rules of war that the US had.. An advancement would be made, they set up a post and then would basically be abandoned, run out of food, ammo, supplies and commanded to stay in enemy territory.

My dad Dad didn't even have words regarding his disgust on Korea and Viet Nam.
Swapping teenagers lives for nothing.