[Milsurplus] Your Tax Dollars At Work, part nnnnnn

Sun Mar 12 13:55:31 EDT 2017

Years ago on a trip from Hot Springs to Paris, TX, I saw an Army tank near some buildings off in the distance.  I just knew it was a tank but couldn't tell what vintage.  Seems that several were sold off to farmers in Texas but still survive since the armor is too hard to cut with normal torches.  Evidently can't make a tractor out of a tank if you can't lighten it up.  Same for the DUKW, there is one still in OD colors somewhere off of a back road between West Memphis and here.  But they are still in service ferrying tourists to and from the lakes around Hot Springs.
The waste of scrapping or disposing on site rather then shipping it back to the states is a logistics problem.  The cost of shipping, storage and manpower is often more then the cost of the scrap metal.  I think that beating swords into plowshares is more complicated and costly then we as a group think.  
Yesterday, I was at the Belton, TX hamfest.  Carted several Hallicrafter VHF radios (S-27, S-36 and the like) there but other then a few rude boatanchor comments, no interest was shown in them.  So today I plan to scrap them for their transformers and knobs and put them on eBay.  Same goes for the three big and heavy WW2 military power supplies that I have in storage.  The three RBM receivers and the two power supplies that also were not sold at Belton, I will have a harder time deciding their fate.
Seems that value is in inverse proportion to weight!  Like is often said, YMMV.Jim

      From: "Todd, KA1KAQ" <ka1kaq at gmail.com>
 To: Hubert Miller <Kargo_cult at msn.com> 
Cc: Military Surplus Mail List <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
 Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2017 12:02 PM
 Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Your Tax Dollars At Work, part nnnnnn

On Sat, Mar 11, 2017 at 4:59 PM, Hubert Miller <Kargo_cult at msn.com> wrote:

WHY would the military discard value in this way? I do not get it; seems to contravene logic. I suppose profit-loss is just a foreign concept whenyou have a fixed allocation. 

Nick hit some of the reasons Hue, the others probably have to do with cost and potential cost, as in liability. 

First, keep in mind that government is anything but efficient. And our current version is a bloated sloth. Expecting them to be able to set up and manage anything in a fiscally-responsible (much less profitable) manner is wishful thinking. Between the cost of the people involved, the red tape, multiple forms, transportation, etc etc, they'd lose money. Hell, they'd start losing money just talking about it in committee. 

Then you have the potential costs of liability if anything goes wrong. In our litigious P.C. society when no one is responsible for their actions anymore and inanimate objects are the cause for problems, it becomes a whole lot easier just to say 'screw it, dump 'em in the ocean'. 

Somewhere I have a photo of a massive barge out at sea. Running down each side of the barge are rows of M48 tanks if I'm remembering correctly. In the center between the rows is a large commercial bucket loader, pushing one of the tanks backward over the side. Well, maybe they were making an artificial reef? Who knows, but I remember thinking, what a waste. Sure, there's not a big call for old tanks but why weren't they at least being scrapped or 'recycled'? Probably due to the cost of demil'ing and whatever else. Maybe they were considered somehow contaminated/toxic and clean up for scrap sale was deemed too costly.

Kicking R-649s out the door of a Sikorsky would be a child's errand in comparison, a run to the corner store. I'm with you and I'm sure many others here in wanting to see these old relics preserved. Sadly we are but a tiny sliver of an even tinier group of hobbyists and preservationists. Most folks could care less.

~ Todd, KA1KAQ/4 

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