My father in law was a bomber pilot in the Korean War. When he and the other crews were coming back, they noticed pallets of M1911 pistols, M1 Garand and M1 Carbines sitting near the tarmac.
They asked what was going to happen to those weapons and were told that the pallets were being loaded onto barges and torpedoed. They each grabbed one or two pistols and Carbines and brought them back in the AC vents of the aircraft. He gave me the Carbine and will give me the 1911 later.
Folks, I am in Iraq right now and these transfers of equipment are my primary job. Trust me, 85% of this stuff is junk. The vehicles we are leaving behind are 5 to ten years old and have been ridden so hard that all but a handful in the entire country (the top brass vehicles) require extensive and costly repairs. We are not allowed to transfer weapons or IT equipment among many other sensitive items. Other items being transferred are foreign specific vehicles, trucks and equipment which are not DOT certified and therefore not usable in the states. These assets like the American vehicles have bullets holes, huge dents, thousands and thousands of miles and hours and the possible sale value is less than what it would cost to get the items to Kuwait, Qatar, or Jordan for resale.
Every time I submit a transfer package to the J staff, the package is returned with a benefit to the U.S. spreadsheet attached. Here is just a small example, a single split unit air conditioner costs about 400 dollars new - it would cost 1800 dollars to get that same AC unit from Baghdad to the east coast.
The decision to spend the money on the war and these items are not my decision and one I won’t comment on, but I can tell you this program and these transfers make financial sense. Great thought and attention is being given to getting the important stuff home and “gifting” the less desireable items to the Iraqis.
Have a great day - Chip
An AF Lt in Iraq