“That was the most Army chit I ever saw”

[Downwind]

I can neither confirm nor deny the waste of tax payers dollars I seen spent first hand after spending a 38 year career as a Federal Contracting Officer both in the US and Europe.

 

[cootmeurer]

Not at all surprised by that story. I have seen and personally experienced similar situations but on a smaller scale.

I can remember one in particular. I was a squeaky wheel but finally was able to get a new EXPENSIVE multifunction deployable radio (HF/UHF/VHF/Satcom). About the time we had it completely figured out, it got deployed to a very sandy place where we officially were not. It was only there 6 months, and the package of people and equipment was redeployed to a place where they could officially be. The radio was determined to be non-deployable, so was destroyed and shoved in a hole.

When the package returned home I had to explain why said radio, on my inventory, was no longer on my inventory..

 

[nebgoosehunter]

In my days of fighting fire for the government, I was cutting in a landing safety zone, all the crews were coming off the line I was asked to dig a hole 50'wx25'D all the tools handles were cut off and all thrown in hole. They took apart the chain saws separate bar from saw,and threm them all in hole, lots of 1" mop up hose 1000's of feet of hose covered it all . I buried it all. I have seen it all lots of government waste. He'll look at the waste we have running the country now!!!

I think this is better these days as equipment gets returned to one of 16 National Incident Support Caches around the country to be cleaned, refurbished, and repaired. If equipment is returned 60 days from a fire being officially contained, then it doesn't get charged to the incident. No doubt there is still waste on the fireline though.

 

[Vahunter]

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).

My old man was in the tire business in the 50s and early 60s. A couple of army bases, Ft. Lee and what was then Camp Pickett, were in his territory. He'd get orders for a bunch of tires at the end of the fiscal year. The following year, he'd get a similar a similar order and pile the tires next to the previous year's. After a while, they'd requisition a shed to put the tires in. Then, a couple years' later, it would all show up in a surplus sale......

The people in charge made no bones about what they were doing...

The irony, to me anyway, is that my parents' fondest wish for me was to be a federal employee.

 

[PorkChop]

When the package returned home I had to explain why said radio, on my inventory, was no longer on my inventory..

I don’t miss ADPE and Equipment Custodian lists!!!

 

[Holesinthesky]

I don’t miss ADPE and Equipment Custodian lists!!!

100% layouts for CoC. , quarterly inspections

In one Unit, we went thru 5 different CDRs in 14 months.

 

[Iammichael6499]

My old man was in the tire business in the 50s and early 60s. A couple of army bases, Ft. Lee and what was then Camp Pickett, were in his territory. He'd get orders for a bunch of tires at the end of the fiscal year. The following year, he'd get a similar a similar order and pile the tires next to the previous year's. After a while, they'd requisition a shed to put the tires in. Then, a couple years' later, it would all show up in a surplus sale......

The people in charge made no bones about what they were doing...

The irony, to me anyway, is that my parents' fondest wish for me was to be a federal employee.

Your story reminded me of a ”surplus incident” years ago at Ft. Polk, near Leesville, LA. The recreation center on the fort had a large cache of Victory D-9 and D-9R’s mallard decoys that soldiers could check out when they wanted to duck hunt. None of the decoys had ever been checked out by anyone. Still new in the box. The rec center received orders to “dispose” of the decoys but instead of adding them to the annual surplus sale they marked them to be destroyed. I was told about the impending doom of the decoys and asked if I was interested in them (which was totally against the rules). Of course you know how I replied. The rest of the story involves the Post Sgt Major (we quail/duck hunted together a few times) and a civilian construction contractor with whom I was acquainted … but … long story short, dozens of NIB Victor decoys found their way to a safer home.

 

[Vahunter]

Your story reminded me of a ”surplus incident” years ago at Ft. Polk, near Leesville, LA. The recreation center on the fort had a large cache of Victory D-9 and D-9R’s mallard decoys that soldiers could check out when they wanted to duck hunt. None of the decoys had ever been checked out by anyone. Still new in the box. The rec center received orders to “dispose” of the decoys but instead of adding them to the annual surplus sale they marked them to be destroyed. I was told about the impending doom of the decoys and asked if I was interested in them (which was totally against the rules). Of course you know how I replied. The rest of the story involves the Post Sgt Major (we quail/duck hunted together a few times) and a civilian construction contractor with whom I was acquainted … but … long story short, dozens of NIB Victor decoys found their way to a safer home.

Having dekes in your rec inventory in Louisiana, especially, make sense. Too bad nobody wanted to hunt with them. Can't believe someone would rather forgo the revenue and just destroy them....
I duck hunted one year with a BIL in Quebec when he was stationed at the old Brunswick NAS. He checked out a nice boat, motor and trailer that we used on the trip. I think that boat got used a lot for fishing, lobstering etc.

 

[PorkChop]

Your story reminded me of a ”surplus incident” years ago at Ft. Polk, near Leesville, LA. The recreation center on the fort had a large cache of Victory D-9 and D-9R’s mallard decoys that soldiers could check out when they wanted to duck hunt. None of the decoys had ever been checked out by anyone. Still new in the box. The rec center received orders to “dispose” of the decoys but instead of adding them to the annual surplus sale they marked them to be destroyed. I was told about the impending doom of the decoys and asked if I was interested in them (which was totally against the rules). Of course you know how I replied. The rest of the story involves the Post Sgt Major (we quail/duck hunted together a few times) and a civilian construction contractor with whom I was acquainted … but … long story short, dozens of NIB Victor decoys found their way to a safer home.

I remember a similar thing in Alaska. Outdoor rec had decoys you could check out. One day a fellow duck hunter drove up to the dumpsite on base and there was piles of decoys. It was his lucky day. People would check that dumpsite on a regular basis because you would never know what was going to be dropped off there.