This actually does sound like some shit Army CIF (Central Issue Facility) would pull, it was always my experience that they were a bunch of assholes who would make the surliest DMV employees look like Chick Fil A workers:



https://x.com/libsoftiktok/sta...732779738865730?s=46

Not surprising at all. They tried charging me for shit that I was never issued.

Not the best venue in which to air his complaint. I am sure it will get plenty of exposure.

Good video but in my opinion it would’ve been better without the Venmo request.

Corrupt Joe and his dipshit apparatchik’s should go to A-Stan and collect every piece of military kit left over there.

When I left AFG (I was there until the end) I ordered my unit to place weapons and ammo on the only pallet position allocated for our stuff. This pallet was departing about 3 days before my team left, but it was my only chance to get our gear out. In fact since Biden ordered all strat lift to carry people and leave material, we were breaking with official policy to move any pallets (leveraged a loophole).

We built the pallet ourselves, labeled it and weighed it (no JAI). For anyone with mil experience you know this was a crisis situation when C17s accepted our pallet with a handmade label and a “this is my DSN, I’m a commander, trust my word” signage posted. Nothing official, I was my only resource. We then procured small arms from the massive pile of AKs the ANA threw in a nearby hanger so we could remain armed until our departure.

Anyway, the pallet arrived at Al Udeid but the loggies there wouldn’t accept the ammo because it wasn’t properly organized by batch number and was missing everything officially required to send it CONUS. So they destroyed it and sent me an email. Ok, whatever, everyone had real things going on with 150,000 refugees swarming their base, so I didn’t care.

However, when I reported this to my boss once back CONUS they treated it like a huge scandal. First I was tasked with compiling a report detailing the above story with witnesses. Mind you, I was a commander of an operational unit who just returned from the Kabul disaster and still had 2/3 of my unit in active combat at other sites. I said no. Fire me or investigate me but I simply do not have the time to give this issue more attention without sacrificing bandwidth better spent on ongoing ops. So they did investigate me. It took a year to complete because the witnesses were all deployed folks from many bases, and the evacuation eclipsed this minor episode among a thousand others. In the end my story was upheld, but an investigation hanging over your head is a shitty way to spend a year, especially as a boss.

No one was smart enough to say “who cares about the 8000 rounds this guy mislabeled, we left billions in equipment for the enemy.” In fact, had I left it all on the ramp I could have written it off in a blanket memo we submitted at the end detailing equipment that was left behind. Many units left weapons and ammo, and none were chastised. But no, I resolved to leave no weapons or ammo and was effectively punished for doing so. It’s one of the many reasons I am convinced our military can no longer win wars. We are led by managers and managed by retards.

Apologies for the long and ultimately uninteresting story. The point was merely that I can personally vouch for the idiocy of post-AFG war equipment accountability for minutiae while the system ignored leaving larger items for the enemy… like the worlds 8th largest Air Force. FWIW, we destroyed everything valuable and rendered inert as much equipment as possible before the end.

Thank you taking the time to post this, AC. Many of us don't have a clue how gear, small arms and ammo are moved and tracked by land-based units.

The Soldier's Chain of Command could have documented the items as a combat loss. It used to be series of memos signed by the appropriate commander, i don't know if that changed as we drew down. It should have been done at the time of the loss. I wonder if the other soldiers in the same situation got their stuff combat lossed or not.

TPS Reports.

Penny wise, pound foolish. That describes big business as well.

Just the opposite..1977 as I was out processing and turning in TA-50 (field gear)(Arctic cold weather) I had some how acquired a large amount of extra gear and the Supply people flately refused to take the extra gear because it would throw their inventory control count off.. When asked what I was supposed to do with it the supply sgt said keep it/throw away in dumpster/burn it but he would not take it back..... Go figure............ drill sgt.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: drill sgt,

quote:

Originally posted by Tailhook 84:
Thank you taking the time to post this, AC. Many of us don't have a clue how gear, small arms and ammo are moved and tracked by land-based units.

Agreed, thank you Arabian Cowboy for what you did. And why you did it, especially under such extreme conditions. You should of been awarded for such an effort. Not investigated. That is upsetting. Again. Thank you.

One winter night at K.I. Sawyer AFB, I was chasing some snowmobiles who were riding in an off limits area. I slid sideways and some branches hit the fiberglass topper on the truck, cracking it. About a month later, I began to get all kinds of paperwork from the base motor pool officer whining about the damage to the topper. Eventually I received a "written order" for me to report to the motor pool and answer a charge of destruction of government property. And a bill for the damages! I took the documents to my Commander and he said "Security Police answer only to the Base Commander, not the Motor Pool".
He then made a call to the Motor Pool. The "written order" disappeared like magic. If I had played along with this, I would have been broke for two months.

quote:

Apologies for the long and ultimately uninteresting story. The point was merely that I can personally vouch for the idiocy of post-AFG war equipment accountability for minutiae while the system ignored leaving larger items for the enemy…

No apologies needed. I found your story quite interesting. I can't imagine how demoralizing it must have been for you to have to take the initiative to engineer a work-around for something which should have been accounted for in the planning stages by senior planners in the system. And having put yourself and your career on the line and managing to accomplish a worthy goal, to be subjected to a year-long investigation is inexcusable.

The situations you and the unfortunate soldier in the OP experienced are undoubtedly contributory factors to the woes the military is having with recruitment and retention.

I applaud your willingness to do what you thought was right irrespective of the slings and arrows you were forced to endure as a result of those actions.

Good story AC…thank you. I got out in 11, and it stinks to hear nothing has improved with arms and munitions accounting. Drawing (and especially returning) just training ammo was a pain in the ass…it was by far simpler to ‘expend’ munitions than to turn them back in.

You did the right thing getting that pallet out, investigations be damned.

Totally different experience for me when I was stationed in Germany in the late 80's of how much money the US Government / Military waste. We just got back from a long field deployment and was having a Post-wide, IG Inspection. We had about a month to prepare. About a week before the big day, everyone on base was not getting any sleep and having everything out in the rooms, equipment, motor pool vehicles, etc displayed dress right dress. If you ever had one of these type of inspections, then you know how it is. All of a sudden I was tasked to get my truck a HeMTT prepared and ready. Everyone in the motor pool started filling the back of my truck with anything and everything that they may have that was considered EXTRA and not supposed to have from their official load-out list. By the end of the week, the back of my truck was FULL to the top with brand new mechanics tools, equipment, mechanics clothes, tires, 20 man tent, etc. There must have been a few million dollars of equipment and parts in the back of my truck. That Friday I was told by the Battalion CO (Colonel) for me and my co-driver to leave the base drive a few miles away and sit in some parking lot, which we did. Around noon time, we got a call on the radio that we were ordered to find the nearest garbage incinerator plant in the area to DUMP our load. I had to get confirmation on that order. I then backed up my truck and my co-driver and 1 got on the back of my truck and started dumping the contents. I am NOT exaggerating when I say tools, equipment, parts, etc. still in sealed packages were on the back and we were just dumping it all in the pit below. The German plant workers saw this and they all began jumping into the pit to retrieve what was being dumped. I would put a conservative estimate of at least $1-2 million of parts and equipment got thrown out that day. It took us about 2 hours to empty my truck. God Bless !!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: VBVAGUY,

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:

quote:

Originally posted by Tailhook 84:
Thank you taking the time to post this, AC. Many of us don't have a clue how gear, small arms and ammo are moved and tracked by land-based units.

Agreed, thank you Arabian Cowboy for what you did. And why you did it, especially under such extreme conditions. You should have been awarded for such an effort. Not investigated. That is upsetting. Again. Thank you.

Ultimately I did receive an award for some other things that happened during that time, although they were also investigated. The award process was significantly delayed, and in fact they were just presented last weekend. But it's OK, Matt Gaetz came, which was pretty cool to meet him and say hello and my family got to be there.

My entire TA-50 is in the basement because they couldn’t find the records when I ETS, and they didn’t want it back. Now I can dress up like a cold-war soldier for Halloween.

quote:

My entire TA-50 is in the basement

Radar had a jeep.

quote:

Originally posted by arabiancowboy:
Apologies for the long and ultimately uninteresting story. The point was merely that I can personally vouch for the idiocy of post-AFG war equipment accountability for minutiae while the system ignored leaving larger items for the enemy… like the worlds 8th largest Air Force. FWIW, we destroyed everything valuable and rendered inert as much equipment as possible before the end.

Excellent recap, reminds me of the scene in Heartbreak Ridge between Gunny Highway and Major Powers over a request for night vision equipment....


Highway: Sir, I'd like to issued my squad leader a set of night vision goggles.
Lieutenant M.R. Ring: Darn, I should have thought of that.
Maj. Malcolm A. Powers: That is not part of your TO&E.
Highway: But, sir, I...
Maj. Malcolm A. Powers: Fill out the proper request forms and send it through the chain of command!
Highway: Request forms!
Maj. Malcolm A. Powers: [Colonel gets out of car] Atten-shun! Major Malcom Powers, sir. Annapolis class of '71.
Colonel Meyers: How are your men doing, Major?
Maj. Malcolm A. Powers: My men are ready to fight to the death to defend our country, sir.
Colonel Meyers: Well, let's hope that won't be necessary.
[Looks at Highway]
Colonel Meyers: Have we ever served together?
Highway: I don't know, sir. Sergeant Major Choozoo and I were in the 2nd Battalion and 7th in '68.
Colonel Meyers: I had a rifle company in the 1st Battalion and 7th in '68.
Highway: Well, we sure as hell chewed some of the same dirt, sir.
Colonel Meyers: That's for sure. What's your assessment of this exercise?
Highway: It's a cluster fuck.
Colonel Meyers: Say again?
Highway: Marines are fighting men, sir. They shouldn't be sitting around on their sorry asses filling out request forms for equipment they should already have.
Colonel Meyers: Interesting observation. Carry on, Major.