Thanks for your naval service.
I'm sure that you other petty officers, chiefs and officers worked around shortages on every cruise and got the job done somehow.
That was done in WWII, the Korean War and the rest of the Cold War, Desert Storm, the First part of this Iraqi war and now this part.
A friend of mine was qualified as a Marine Sniper with the old WWI guns that the Marines had. He called his Dad, another marine to buy him a Remington bolt action w/a Leopold Scope and ammo. His Dad bought the gear and drove to San Diego to give it to him before he went to Nam for the first of 3 tours. This was not the first time something like this happened nor was it the last.
My service to others including my country is the rent I pay for my time here on earth..
Yes we dealt with shortages all the time... in fact I think if some of the people on this thread would study history.. logistic has been the achilles heal of any military... it is what killed the Germans in their push during WW2. Same with the Japs the over extended themselves... Like Rummy said "you go to war with what you have not with what you would like to have."