Name:   Talullahhound - Subject:   Shell Game Accounting. Date:   5/23/2023 3:36:31 PM

I'm sure you have read how the Pentagon made an "accounting error" and came up with an additional $3B for Ukraine.  The Pentagon explains that they have  been charging replacement cost for the equipment and not a discounted cost for "used" equipment.  

We are withdrawing equipment from our own stocks and giving it to Ukaine.  That is what is known as a draw down.  I'm the vetarn of a number of draw downs over the years.  We have always charged replacement cost, for the obvious reasons.  The only times that you would discount equipment is if it is obsolete, if it is being sold "as is, where is" (and meaning that it needs major repair work), or if it is truly excess to the needs of our military.  

We sold discounted helipcopters to the Central and South Americans during the time of the drug interdiction programs; we sold "as is, where is" trucks to our allies (and they were in really bad shape and we didn't have the money to send them back from Europe), and we sold old M-60 tank hulls to Taiwan for a develop of their own indigenous tank.

The stuff we are sending to Ukraine is current inventory, is not obsolete or excess to our needs.  It must be totally operational because it is being immediately deployed in a theatre of operations.  

Normal unit readiness rates hover around 70% in the Army, except for the elite units.  I'd like to see what they are now.  And I have a question - if our country is teetering on the edge of default, how is it that Biden was just able to give Ukaine $375M on top of the billions we have already given them?