[CholeraJoe]

When I outprocessed from the USAF, they took back all of my flight gear including the Nomex underwear I wore under my flight suit. I asked if they were going to reissue it to someone else. The reply was, “No, we destroy it with scissors. But we have to account for it.” Like I was going to sell my used fire-proof undies to the Chinese?

[Joe 6-pack]

"Like I was going to sell my used fire-proof undies to the Chinese?"

No, but they didn't want you to have an unfair advantage on Free Republic.

[LDO4CNO]

In the Navy we only do that to those that didn't make it through training (fallen angels) or court martial etc.
In fact when I retired, I got a brand new nomex summer flight jacket with all my go to hell patches sewn on for me.

[CRBDeuce]

When I outprocessed from the USAF...

Was it back in the 60's-70's or recently? in 1965 when I outprocessed from the USAF (ROTC), all I had to give back was Uniform and Shoes. Tho' gotta admit, took a while before I bought some dress shoes again...so went without for quite a while without shiny shoes!