Posted on 06/21/2017 1:40:52 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Continued use of the uniform could cost the Pentagon an extra $72 million in the next 10 years, the report said.
The U.S. Department of Defense may have wasted nearly $30 million over the past decade on uniforms for the Afghan military that featured a forest-style camouflage pattern inappropriate for the country's desert landscapes, a top government fiscal watchdog said Wednesday.
A 17-page report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction says $28 million has already been spent by the Pentagon on the uniforms -- and perhaps another $72 million will go toward them in the next decade.
According to the analysis, the Pentagon decided in 2007 on a uniform for the Afghan National Army that included a camouflage pattern that presented two problems: First, it included a forest pattern for a Middle Eastern country dominated by deserts -- and second, the U.S. government didn't own the pattern, meaning it had to pay a private company for its use.
The report said that because the Department of Defense opted to use a private pattern, it cost the Pentagon an additional $26 million to $28 million. What's more, it added, is that the department could have used one of the many patterns it already owns that's just as effective -- or ineffective -- as the woodland camouflage pattern.
"Our analysis found that DOD's decision to procure ANA uniforms using a proprietary camouflage pattern was not based on an evaluation of its appropriateness for the Afghan environment," the report states.
"Our analysis found that changing the ANA uniform to a non-proprietary camouflage pattern based on the U.S. Army's Battle Dress Uniform ... could save U.S. taxpayers between $68.61 million and $71.21 million over the next 10 years," it added.
Because the U.S. military continues to use the proprietary design, SIGAR recommended in the report that the Pentagon conduct a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether there is a more cost-effective alternative in outfitting Afghan troops.
SIGAR, a congressionally ordered watchdog group that monitors U.S. financial activities in Afghanistan reconstruction, said it shared the report with the Pentagon and department officials expressed "general agreement" with at least some of its contents.
The Department of Defense did not immediately publicly respond to the SIGAR report Wednesday.
Why not just brown? Off the shelf.
Brown DBUs and floppy hat and a good pair of boots, and go get ‘em boys.
Who had interests in the private company? Who made these decisions
What a money pit. Good grief. Maybe Dick Cheney should loan them his expertise and cut spending with an ax in each hand.
oh well. The American taxpayers will just have to be billed (SCREWED) TWICE to cover this tiny little mistake then - eh?
Somewhere in here is a joke about knitting an afghan...
Hey hey hey! Knock off the complaining. The contractors got paid and returned a percentage to the politicians. Keep in mind what’s important please.
Really they were wearing Green camo in the frigging desert? What about the camo they wore in Iraq? That wasn’t good enough? Desert Sand digital camo should have the first and only option!
I propose tactical burkas to really blend in with the locals.
Every gov’t entity is run like the DMV
I wonder how much the USAF wasted on the Airman Battle Uniform (ABU).
It is ill-fitting, too thick and hot, and provides limited camouflage.
Wait so this design was made for US service men in Afghanistan or for the Afghanis? If it is for them, WTF are we paying for their uniforms AT ALL? Is this real life?
What about the Navy’s BLUE camouflage? You fall overboard, how are they going to find you?
And this is the government wants to control every aspect of your life because they are so much smarter than you.
So we’ve been there something like 16 years now and still haven’t figured out what uniforms to wear? Don’t buy it.
This is someone out to make $$$ at taxpayer expense. Ridiculous
How real is/was the sequester crises ?
It’s not the design/pattern, it’s the COLORS! GREEN?
Camouflage is about breaking up the image. The pattern in and of itself is way less important than the colors.
Why didn’t they just make them red? That way they could blend in with the ground after they were shot.
Maybe they are being posted at oases. (plural of oasis, I looked it up)
Drain the military swamp.
Cheney was VP when it started this started, why didn’t he stop it then?
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