About half of the U.S. military vehicles still in Afghanistan – worth billions of dollars – aren’t coming home, and instead will be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by 2016, officials say. An even higher percentage of the rest of the remaining equipment also will be scrapped or left behind. continue at the link.......
So sad. Especially since there's so many police departments looking to militarize.
(that was sarcasm...sort of)
I sort-of get it, though, when the cost to transport exceeds the value of the equipment. We dumped all kinds of stuff after WWII. I recently was watching footage of WWII fighters being shoved off carrier decks into the ocean. Good planes, too, not just non-functioning hulks. Of course, we cherish those planes now, since there are so few left.
Who knows? Maybe in 50 years those vehicles will be worth something.
From what I gathered, these items may not be worth bringing back. I guess we could bring them home and resell them, but is there a market for them? Would that end up costing more? I say we use them for target practice on the way out
quote
There is roughly $36 billion of U.S. military equipment currently in Afghanistan, which in its used state is now worth about $8 billion. Of that, only $3 billion to $4 billion worth will be shipped out of the country, largely by air, and on to foreign ports for the return journey home. The rest will be destroyed, given away or perhaps sold.
The total cost for moving all the equipment is as much as $6 billion.
“A lot of the cargo will come out and be reset to be used by the Department of Defense,” says Army Col. Glenn Baca, operations chief for the Military's Surface Deployment Distribution Command. Some of the equipment will return to military depot yards to be refurbished and redistributed to Army or Marine Corps units. “Then there is some equipment that is in excess to the U.S. Department of Defense’s needs.”
Those supplies, vehicles or pieces of gear are either worn out or technologically outdated.
I dont like it much either. Some will be given away? [B[Boy those seem like they would be fun to own.[/B]
One of the problems with some of this stuff is the extremely expensive maintenance. Relatively low-volume production = high prices for otherwise routine maintenance.
I recently watched something that shows how American military property is sold off and eventually lands in the hands of the taliban. But I am sure that a few members here will let us know that the taliban is just using them for planters, school yard equipment, or trips to the local poppy fields.
It's going to cost $6 billion (Per the article) to bring $8 billion in equipment home.
Now, once that equipment makes it home, it needs to be gone through to bring it up to 10/20 maintenance standards (10/20 is Army jargon for everything is working for the operator to use) How many man hours and $$$ are going to be spent buying parts to bring this equipment to perfect standards? I watched Dept of the Army Civilian mechanics get a very comfortable standard of living with overtime after Desert Storm/
I recently watched something that shows how American military property is sold off and eventually lands in the hands of the taliban. But I am sure that a few members here will let us know that the taliban is just using them for planters, school yard equipment, or trips to the local poppy fields.
I tend to agree, if its left there it should be destroyed.
This is nothing new. My grandfather told us stories at the end of wwii that his whole platoon was ordered to drive the tanks off the cliffs into the oceans. It was to much money to bring the thanks home.
This is nothing new. My grandfather told us stories at the end of wwii that his whole platoon was ordered to drive the tanks off the cliffs into the oceans. It was to much money to bring the thanks home.
Yup, there are plenty of stories of buried U.S. equipment here.
I'm surprised they don't just give it to whatever Government is in charge like is usually done. Though I suppose the Milittary industrial complex does not need used equipment out there, think of the money that can be spent to make new stuff to give away.
[This message has been edited by newf (edited 06-05-2014).]
I recently watched something that shows how American military property is sold off and eventually lands in the hands of the taliban. But I am sure that a few members here will let us know that the taliban is just using them for planters, school yard equipment, or trips to the local poppy fields.
Did the Taliban already use all the weapons the U.S. Government supplied before? I guess they were good back then.
I guess we could bring them home and resell them, but is there a market for them? Would that end up costing more? I say we use them for target practice on the way out
I like it, target practice!
I would think they could get them back here and use or sell them but maybe they want to buy more.
Hows about Obama could hire Bergdahl as a sales rep and sell them directly to the Taliban and skip the charade ........................badabing.............
[This message has been edited by Red88FF (edited 06-05-2014).]
About half of the U.S. military vehicles still in Afghanistan – worth billions of dollars – aren’t coming home, and instead will be destroyed or otherwise disposed of by 2016, officials say. An even higher percentage of the rest of the remaining equipment also will be scrapped or left behind. continue at the link.......
Two things:
1 - The cost to bring it home far exceeds the cost of junking it and selling the scrap locally. 2 - The risk of it falling into the wrong hands and militarizing the potential enemy would undue so much of the money already spent.
I hate it too... it kills me, but there's very little you can do about it, financially... it makes sense.
What I would say though is... hey... it's already there. Let's try to sell it for pennies on the dollar to Israel or any other country near-by that is willing to pay for the gas and / or transport to take it off our hands. Doing so though, would require more planning and stuff, and they probably just want to get rid of it.
Doing so though, would require more planning and stuff, and they probably just want to get rid of it.
I might too if it wasn't my money.
I don't know how the numbers actually would work out, but I am sure they could make them look however needed. It just stinks somehow. And, what about the Afghan allied forces we have been working with and training? Best leave them with nothing since the betting will start soon on how long it is till they fall.
It could be that the equipment that is slated for dismantling and destruction is not stuff that the Afghan National Army has been trained to use, and they do not have the resources or support structure (like the number of skilled mechanics) to maintain it.
But I have not looked into this personally. I have higher priority "beats" to keep on top of, here.
It could be that the equipment that is slated for dismantling and destruction is not stuff that the Afghan National Army has been trained to use, and they do not have the resources or support structure (like the number of skilled mechanics) to maintain it.
But I have not looked into this personally. I have higher priority "beats" to keep on top of, here.
They can build guns in caves. Don't think that they cannot operate, or maintain this equipment to at least some degree of lethality.
It could be that the equipment that is slated for dismantling and destruction is not stuff that the Afghan National Army has been trained to use, and they do not have the resources or support structure (like the number of skilled mechanics) to maintain it.
But I have not looked into this personally. I have higher priority "beats" to keep on top of, here.
They're MWRAPs, Humvees, etc... even buildings (mobile and fixed).
Stuff brought back, along with the men and women returning, could be placed along the Mexican Border. No additional expenditures to buy new equipment and there would be ample manpower. Anything left behind should have the same key parts removed that the piece would be rendered inoperative and incapable of supplying salvage parts to put other vehicles of that type operational. That is, unless Afghanistan has required that we leave the equipment there as part of the agreement to let us pull out.
I remember reading so many popular mechanics with ads for left over WW2 military equipment. The thing is, we paid for it once, we should have a chance to use it ourselves for a piece of the action. I knew of a lot guys that made weapons into plows. Big trucks turned into boom trucks, jeeps into post hole diggers heck there were tons of bolt on accessories for the jeep. M1 Garand and M1 carbine became the basis for marksman ROTC programs. I think that it is more than a California thing that you have to be a licensed service to have an armored vehicle and may be the cause of not bringing back the newer Humvee.
When the U.S. was still testing nukes underground, miles of cable was laid to various sensors and monitoring equipment. Following each test the cable was left in place because of the assumption that recovery would cost more than the salvage value. Some wise soul bid on the abandoned cable and became very rich.
[This message has been edited by spark1 (edited 06-05-2014).]
I remember reading so many popular mechanics with ads for left over WW2 military equipment. The thing is, we paid for it once, we should have a chance to use it ourselves for a piece of the action. I knew of a lot guys that made weapons into plows. Big trucks turned into boom trucks, jeeps into post hole diggers heck there were tons of bolt on accessories for the jeep. M1 Garand and M1 carbine became the basis for marksman ROTC programs. I think that it is more than a California thing that you have to be a licensed service to have an armored vehicle and may be the cause of not bringing back the newer Humvee.
Theres a guy a few miles from me that has an acreage of used military vehicles. Hes got big artillery, anti aircraft guns, half tracks, trucks, jeeps, armored cars and tanks. Most are in complete operating condition except for weapons. The government had to put a stop on people buying Chinese Migs on the open market sold as is. You pretty much bought a crate with a complete fuselage, and another that had wings and tails. Some were showing up in US ports bought by US citizens even with ammunition in them. You just put the wings and tails back on, had it FAA inspected, gas it up and it was ready to fly. Now, if they have any left, guns and missile mounts have to be removed or rendered worthless.
