Gear galore left in Iraq as last troops pull out

The Washington Times ^ | 12/15/11 | Rowan Scarborough

[Logical me]

It will cost more to pack and ship it that the items have in value. More cost effective to abandon the stuff in place.

Definitely right. Anyway most of the stuff will now appear in the Iran, yes I said Iran, marketplace.

[luckybogey]

Which road do you want the troops to drive to Afghanistan? You obviously did not take geography in school?

[strider44]

Exactly. No FLIPLs. Or the answer to every FLIPL. Sorry, we left that in the FOB.

For those non-military softies: FLIPL = Financial Liability Investigations of Property Loss

[M1903A1]

Yes. And what the pic doesn’t show is, there were scores more of them hovering overhead or on their way, often packed to the gills with VNAF personnel getting the hell out of Dodge with friends and family.

Loads of ‘em overhead, fuel getting lower every minute...not a lot of choice in the matter. Land ‘em, unload, shove ‘em over, repeat step 1.

[Jack Hammer]

“Unlike a traditional American yard sale, the military bric-a-brac is free.”

Uh... no.. no, it’s not “free.”

Actually, it’s all been paid for, at retail prices, by the US Government’s own personal Cash Cow, the American Taxpayer.

But, let’s not quibble - after all, Uncle Sugar always knows how to spend our hard-earned money far better than we do, ourselves.

Or, at least, that’s the current, Marxist doctrine.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Like they said, it isn’t cost effective to move a lot of it. Do we really need to move concrete walls and old desks and tables?

[Venturer]

Yup I remember those stores with fondness.

Today they just sell cheap reproduction crap.

[hellbender]

The South Koreans wanted to offer M-1s and M-1 carbines to American civilians. The 0bammunist admin. blocked that, for the same reason they pursued Fast & Furious: They want Americans to be disarmed and unable to resist the coming Soviet regime.

[Pilsner]

Science Fiction writer H. Beam Piper had a book, Junkyard Planet, about a remote planet that, decades after after it had been the major staging area in an intergalactic war, was still living off surplus military property. Everyone drove abandoned military vehicles, and wore insignia-less uniforms, or clothing made from military sheets, or hospital curtains.

[Pilsner]

the answer to every FLIPL. Sorry, we left that in the FOB.

Certainly more plausible than reporting air conditioners and concrete barriers as "eaten by termites."

[BigBlueJon]

I wouldn’t mind having a few leftover SOPMOD M4 kits.....Merry Christmas!