Quoted:
I find it interesting that the government can apparently tell you the proper status of every piece of military hardware ever made, but couldn't even begin to identify the top five items most frequently purchased with EBT cards.

Quoted:


Buying replacement gear, getting handed extra gear by soldiers ETS'ing, and worst of all being told you have to pay for a piece of gear that's been beat to hell simply because you had to use it. It's almost impossible to keep pinholes from wet weather bags, sweaters from getting snags, frayed edges on ammo pouches, etc, but when it's time to outprocess the toughest and most stressful part is getting that goddam CIF stamp on your paperwork. Whatever they made me pay for, I kept.

There's a lot of lost gear found in the field, too. No way to know whose it was, and if you asked around EVERYBODY would claim it. I brought home extra mags, canteens, ponchos, helmet covers.....none of it stolen, some purchased and some given to me. A PRC-77 mic ended up in one of my duffel bags, not sure how it got there, but wasn't intentional.....it's useless to me, but everything else is legit.

I knew soldiers who came back with gear claimed as "combat losses" from the Panama Invasion and first Gulf War. If it wasn't a "sensitive item" it wasn't questioned. Peacetime "field losses" were a big deal though, and even minor losses could get you an Article-15 (i.e. Kevlar helmet, bayonet) unless you replaced it quick (could buy them at "Clothing and Sales" on base). The max they could take from your pay for lost/damaged equipment was $1500, so if you're going to damage a HMMWV, you might as well destroy it.

That was late 80's/early 90's policy.....not sure how they handle it now. I've read some posts on arfcom that they even take uniforms back now. In my time we kept our initial issue and had to turn in all field gear as it was issued/reissued by individual units.

Quoted:


You're joking right?  We lose millions of dollars of equipment a year.  Shit, Bradleys go missing.  That's why we have Finacial Liability Investigation for Property Loss(FLIPL).  They are the bane of every Officer's exsistence.  Especially as a Captain.  Weird thing, Captains for the most part are financially liable for almost every piece of equipment(at least in the Army).  After Battery/Troop/Company Command Officers for the most part never sign for equipment again(as a primary hand recepit holder).

Quoted:


I vote for this.

Quoted:
ETA: I watched a video on YouTube the other day of someone showing the differences between their Beretta 92FS and Beretta M9. He claimed he bought the M9 at a gun shop, even had the "US" markings. That kinda surprised me, not sure how that ended up on the market.

Quoted:


Funny you should mention that. When I was still in, the FSC commander in our battalion lost an M88.  

Well, that and a truck.

And now that I think of it, a bunch of smaller shit.

Apparently he didn't do his ten percents...

The word 'idiot' was used rightfully and frequently.

Last I heard the truck was found at the paint shop and the M88 was found at another post.

ETA:  I got pretty good at FLIPL's, but the hardest one was a early 80's experimental GPS from the Tandy corporation that was entered onto the property book incorrectly.  Serial number matched, but the nomenclature was wrong.  Took two months to straighten that out.