What's the Worst Example of Government Waste You Saw in the Service?

[Maury Krupp]

...It's not the amount, but how they work it that gets me. If they give your unit $2mil and you spend $1.5mil then next year they cut the budget by $.5 mil...

It's called "zero based budgeting" and was brought to you by jimmy carter. The thinking(?) is if you need "X" amount of O&M funds to run an organization this year you'll only need "X" amount next year.

Of course that doesn't account for inflation, normal wear and tear (including the increased need and cost of replacement parts as equipment gets older), increased ops tempo, and all the other unplanned things that can eat up O&M funds in a hurry.

Nor can you set aside or save up any funds; even if you know you're going to need it next year. If it's not spent by the end of the FY it's gone.

...that's where the majority of your $400 trashcans and $900 hammers come from.

I think those are the result of either milspecs run amok, contractors making proprietary items when off-the-shelf would do, or comparing apples to oranges.

I recall once our supply guy filed a FW&A on the price of what he thought was a plain sheet of plexiglass. Turns out it was special stuff for submarines that didn't gas off any carcinogenic chemicals into the atmosphere.

Maury

[John Sukey]

OK, just for the heck of it some joker in supply ordered a TANK! Not what the Air guard was gonna do with a tank is a mystery. They stopped it before it went through.

Oh by the way, did you know there is a federal stock number for KILTS and BAGPIPES? The Air force has a pipe band!

[Dieppe42]

OK, just for the heck of it some joker in supply ordered a TANK! Not what the Air guard was gonna do with a tank is a mystery. They stopped it before it went through.

Oh by the way, did you know there is a federal stock number for KILTS and BAGPIPES? The Air force has a pipe band!

It's the USAR Pipe Band and they are very good, they volunteer on top of their normal duties.

Philip
Piper
Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Pipes and Drums.

[101VooDoo]

Well, it wasn't the worse abuse I saw in 30 years of AD, but it was the most fun. When we arrived in Bahrain for Desert Shield, we loaded up 4x30rd M-16 magazines for each of our airmen, 132 of us, rounded up to 150 for good measure. When Desert Storm was over, and we were getting ready to rotate home, it was decided that it was far to much work to de-mag, count and turn in the ammo, so we spent a day on the beach firing off 20,000 rounds of 5.56 - even let some of the MAG 11 guys help out.

Jim

[cwartyman]

voodoo,
Were you at Sheik Isa AB? I was at Sheik Isa from Aug 21,1990 to March 13, 1991 we didnt even have enough ammo to sight in our M-16's as all the training ammo we went with got shipped up to the 82 AB after they blew away a huge herd of camels one night not too long after we got there and there wasnt much ammo in country at that time. I went over with MAG 70 originally but we then became MAG 11 which was our usual MAG

[101VooDoo]

cwartyman,

Yes, Sheik Isa AB 7 Dec 90 - 12 Apr 91. Was with the 152d Tactical Recon Group/35th Tactical Fighter Wing.

Jim

[Sean P Gilday]

Baghdad, August 2005.
Brigade getting ready to return CONUS, connexs loaded to bursting.

Bn Supply dumpster filled with New in the white box 30 rd Mags, Surefire IR weapon lights, Nomex gloves, odd KAC M4 rail system new in the box.

Considering I was never issued a Surefire I made sure to grab one. We also had 85 EO Techs and couldnt find a Active Duty unit to take them, but we werent supposed to bring them back. 2 days before we go home the SF took them . Everything else was trashed. I had 500 rds of M118LR and could not find anyone who would take it.

Made me sick

[M1CHAZZ]

built new buildings & repaved runway at Glenview NAS 2yrs before closing it!!!!

[cwartyman]

Jim,
Did you get to see the Bob Hope USO tour when they came to see us? That was one of the best days I had over there and will never forget that they all gave up their time to come their and entertain us for a couple hours and take our minds off what everyone knew was going to happen sooner or later. I used to get a kick out of seeing your guys RF4's thundering down the runway and being in awe as the the pressure wave hit me never had that happen with our 18's. Too bad we didnt finish the job in 91.
Mack

[Ron James]

While at Knox in 1962 just of Basic we were training for small engine repair. All range generators were sent in for replacement of the fire extinguishers mounted on the frame. We mounted the new extinguishers and stacked the old "unused" ones in a pile. We checked what to do with the old ones and were told to lay them out on the pavement in a liong line. Later that day a tank was driven back and forth over the old extinguishers. Lots of flat scrap metal!

Believe or not, it is cheaper to throw them away than it is to refurbish them, go figure.

[101VooDoo]

Mack,

I did get to see the Bob Hope show, had a pretty good spot just to the right of the stage. Never realized Bob used cue cards until then. Yeah the RF4 made a lot of noise, my hearing's still shot from that deployment. I did like seeing the A6s take off, carrying 12 CBUs. Hell of an airplane.

You're right about not finishing it, damn shame. Everyone stateside got squeamish after the MAG 11 Massacre on the road out of Kuwait City. Another two days and we could have ended the whole mess once and for all. My oldest son, who was 4 when I deployed to DS, has done two tours in Iraq, and is currently deployed in Afghanistan (so much for 'dwell' time). Breaks my heart that our kids our now fighting the same enemy we did, 20 years on.

Jim

[cwartyman]

Jim,
The A-6's were the only A/C at Sheik Isa that carried napalm while we were there. I also got to see alot of the hud tapes from the war and yes MAG-11 really tore up the road to Basra. Got to watch a HUD tape from a mission our C.O. was on where he spotted a SCUD being pushed into a firehouse he pickled 2 MK83's onto the firehouse and got great secondaries captured on the strike cam. Remember the Patriots going off that night? I woke up to the sound of rain hitting the tent but its wasnt rain it was the shrapnel from both missiles. Brooke Shields was so attractive in person as was the girl from Head of the Class. I think us stopping the advance had more to due with the pressure the Egyptians and Syrians put on Bush than us killing everything that was leaving Kuwait. They didnt want Saddam out of power and only signed on to the coalition so they could say they stood up for a fellow arab nation. Unfortunately Bush kowtowed to the UN and to the arabs . His son had bigger brass ones than he did and wasnt interested in what the UN had to say at all. Now we find our kids and nieces and nephews are still over there and we are getting involved in a civil war in Libya(where we have no reason to be) and Nobama wont persue any of it to the full measure he will only end up getting more of our boys killed and end up with nothing to show for it.
Mack

[cwartyman]

Jim,
Please when you speak to your son give him my thanks for his service and going to places where he should not have to have gone if we were allowed to do it right the first time.
Mack

[noslack327]

in the early seventies I had to take a hammer to several hundred M14 mags and put them in the trash, My AZ NG unit was rearming with M16's.

[101VooDoo]

Will do Mack. Still have pieces of the SCUD in my footlocker.

Jim