[Milsurplus] Why surplus dried up

[Jeff Kruth]

I get annoyed by all the clueless speculation as to why the destruction order on excess material. The term "surplus" is being used improperly by the group, it applies only to material processed within the gov't, when put up for sale to the public it is properly called "excess personal property" which has a specific meaning. I was a member of the FEPP-USA, Federal Excess Personal Property Users & Screeners Association years ago, the people who get the stuff BEFORE the public. I used to screen stuff out for a University as a favor to them.

The destruction orders came down after the Oklahoma City bombing and the rise of the "Militias" in the mid 1990 time frame. I saw the paperwork at the DRMO's and got a copy of the keyword list of items to be shredded. DEMIL companies with huge shredders sprang up around the country. Big one in Hagerstown MD processed all the capitol city DRMO stuff, like Ft Meade, Belvoir, Aberdeen, Pax, etc.
No guesses here, no bullshit about computers, etc. No griping about administrations. Simple orders to prevent us from getting any "dangerous" radio gear. I bought huge amounts of stuff back in the day. After the destruction order: all dried up basically to a small trickle.
However, you needed to know where to look. My friend had a Pentagon contract for 1,000,000 punds/year minimum. He got all kinds of stuff pitched in with the data processing junk, saved paperwork....
Jeff Kruth
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