"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
These things wouldnt happen if the military held its own more accountable for buying this crap. Instead, the guy in charge probably got a promotion and is doing some joint staff billet right now.
We had a tent the the Marines that always broke when we took them too the field. The design was just doodoo, but hey, it cost 1500 bucks and held 4 men. I asked the syscom guys about it at a meeting (I was a supO) and was told, well it was designed to be set up and taken down 29 times. I started laughing, I said the grunts displace! Thats the point, they dont just go camping, the constantly are on the move. They could do that in a couple of weeks! Whatever idiot wrote that spec did so so they could buy THAT tent and that is where the problems all start. I could have bought a truck load of tents from walmarts for 1500 bucks and just handed them out and never got any back and still come out cheaper.