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to serve as a squadron training nucleus. These crews would present the lessons learned to their squadron, much like the Topgun concept. After several cycles, most crews would have received DACM training.
Proper defensive maneuvering combined with weapon countermeasures and an air-to-air offensive capability will increase the P-3’s survivability enormously. The cost is small compared to the unacceptable alternatives: withdrawal from forward deployment areas or rapid depletion of our maritime patrol aircraft.
Lieutenant Ackerman graduated from the University of Santa Clara in 1976 with a B.S. degree in mathematics and was commissioned in 1978 through the Aviation Officer Candidate School. He was designated a naval aviator in 1979 and served as a T-34C instructor pilot through 1980. In 1981-84, he flew the P-3 in Patrol Squadron 40, operating from deployment sites throughout the Western Pacific and Indian oceans. He served as a P-3 instructor in the West Coast Fleet Readiness Squadron (VP-31) fronl 1984 until May 1987, when he was assigned to Patrol Squadron Special Projects Unit Two at NAS Barbers Point. His duties with VP-31 included developing the defensive air combat maneuvering training program for fleet P-3 aircrews, which included flying P-3s in engagements with fighter aircraft of the Naval Fighter Weapons School (Topgun), VF-126, and the California Air National Guard’s 144th Fighter Interceptor Wing.
From Buttons to Battleships
By Victor Haagen
The armed forces operate on the leading edge of military technology, continually improving and replacing obsolete or worn weapons and equipment, to meet global defense mission requirements. Unavoidably, this commitment creates surpluses that can’t be kept in inventories. Where docs all the surplus go?
Obsolete electronic equipment, removed from a Pacific fleet carrier, is turned into the Subic Bay field facility of the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS). Half a world away, DRMS personnel on naval bases at Norfolk, San Diego, and Charleston collect excess furniture, clothing, and office equipment. At the same time, across the country and overseas, military screeners— working in concert with DRMS specialists—periodically inspect huge warehouses in search of usable equipment and materials for their commands. Meanwhile, data on worldwide DRMS inventories is transmitted to the supply and procurement centers of all service branches. Adding to the property information flow, personnel from regional and field levels maintain daily telephone contact with “clients,” learning who needs what and letting clients know what property is available.
As a result, gyroscopes—acquired at $1 million—are picked up by Navy Ships Parts Control Center in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, from the listings of a DRMS field office in Indianapolis; $58,000 in circulating pumps and motors removed from the USS Independence (CV-62) go to the Pacific fleet for spare parts; $42,450 worth of camera lenses are shipped from Norfolk to Naval Air Systems Command to help equip base photo labs; breathing apparatus worth more than $500,000 is transferred to U. S. Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington; NAS San Diego receives circuit boards valued at $336,000 for electronic training; a Norfolk base school is supplied with tools and equipment worth $14 million; eleven 2,000-watt gas turbine generators that had cost $3.2 million move via military sealift to Pearl Harbor; and Naval Surface Group, Western Pacific, gets a $450,000 barge from a Subic Bay DRMS facility.
Sometimes, the DRMS answers a complex problem with an unexpectedly simple solution. For example, carrier crew members needed help safeguarding their vehicles during a transit from a major overhaul center to their home port. DRMS personnel in Philadelphia responded with more than 15,000 pounds of scrap tires to serve as protective cushions. In Washington state, park service rangers converted 500 fiberglass buoy containers into 2,000 feet of emergency culvert material to help control trail flooding in Mount Rainier National Park.
Even surplus anchors and chain are subject to DRMS scrutiny: $262,300 worth were shipped from Norfolk to Bethesda’s Navy Ship Research and Development Center. In San Diego, a Coast Guard station received a “facelift” that included a sentry station, a massive ship’s propeller and anchor chain, and metal link fencing for the base-—3'* minus new purchase costs.
How the Service Works: The DRMS- established in 1972 as a modem succeS' sor to the World War II-era War Assets Administration and Foreign Liquidation Commission, has evolved into a unique revenue-earning arm of the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) that processes more than $2.6 billion worth of property each year. From its headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan, DRMS monitors the reutilization, transfer, donation, sale, and disposal of surplus Department of De' fense (DoD) personnel property under five regional headquarters in Columbus- Ohio; Memphis, Tennessee; Ogden- Utah; Wiesbaden, Germany; and Honolulu, Hawaii. In turn, the regions (DRMRs) oversee the operations of 1 3?
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1988
offices (DRMOs) and 82 off-site anches located on or near military ins allations and other DoD sites world- sometimes in such remote places as uantanamo Bay, Bermuda, and Guam. 1 he DRMOs and their respective off- L > e branches perform the day-to-day p °Perty disposal chores, processing l^lU|pment and materials from among Undreds of thousands of service line ms'—“everything from buttons to bat- ships,” (^g saying goes. From world- <Je generations, property valued at th°re ^lan $1 billion is sold annually ar®ugh some 2,000 sales events-—local national auctions, locally and nation- y advertised sealed bids and spot bids, retail sales—returning yearly aver- of more than $80 million to federal fers. The DRMS’s options for prop- law ^P083* are closely regulated by sc therefore, it follows established eening methods to ensure maximum lngs on new acquisitions. mn addition, DRMS conducts precious ais recovery operations and scrap sales. In 1986, for example, ta v ^ Williamsburg, Virginia, was pQS ed with disposing of 5.5 million (L nts °f heavy steel scrap when, under sueb*rms of the SALT II agreement, two (j: marines were decommissioned and ^aHtled at the Newport News Ship- a p' Since 1980, DRMS also has played Don r°^e 'n ffie sa*e ar|d disposal of vOst~"eneratCd hazard°us property and
reutilization is its first priority. Pelf DP‘MS employs about 4,000
and f’ 'nclud*ng its military managers tion t0re'®n nationals in overseas loca- ton S personnel range from envi-
terMental'sts and disposal clerks to maty . sorter-classifiers and warehouse Ual KetS' knowing the needs of individ- Sj()nC°nirnandS’ the nature of their misS’ and the types of equipment they use often allows DRMS personnel at the regional and field office levels to match property to users or needy users to property on hand.
This type of dedication frequently finds users for such disparate items as radar antennas, mattresses, dental tools, earth-moving equipment or, for that matter, horses. Recently, Fort Detrick asked an East Coast DRMO to locate homes for 19 geldings and mares ranging from 2-25 years. Because the animals had provided years of service in parades and other official functions, it was deemed appropriate that they be allowed to live out their postArmy years under humane care. DRMS personnel soon located new and eager owners: 12 horses were sent to riding stables at Oceana Naval Air Station and Fort Rucker, while the remaining seven were donated to the state of West Virginia.
The truism “necessity is the mother of invention” characterizes DRMO’s daily encounters with seemingly unusable property. Some cases in point:
► More than two dozen obsolete aircraft nosecones were airlifted by helicopters from Dover Air Force Base to grateful Army recipients at Fort A. P. Hill, where, after the addition of doors, they were transformed into storage huts
► In Ohio, innovative naval reservists converted a 50,000-gallon fuel tank destined for the scrap heap into a floating, submergible mockup of a submarine hull to provide fire and flood damage control training
► A fleet air reconnaissance squadron stationed on Guam constructed a complete training facility, including the buildings themselves, lighting fixtures, furniture, and test equipment, entirely from the island’s servicing DRMO.
DRMS also conducts the DoD Recyclable Materials Sales Program, which permits 100% return of earned revenues from the sale of segregated scrap metal to
“That’s four typewriters and two pairs of snow boots. ...” Moreover, it’s more surplus items on their way from DRMO Rome to needy commands worldwide. Obsolete naval vessels are also candidates for sale, for either scrap or conversion.
individual base welfare and morale support funds. Recently, the Norfolk Navy Base Commander was presented with a check for $18,569.68, an initial payment for his base’s efforts in the program.
Although foremost of DRMS options, reutilization may not be feasible in every instance for a number of reasons—such as in the case of obsolete naval ships or craft. Federal law prohibits selling excessed warships to any but friendly foreign nations under U. S. military assistance programs. Hence, bidders are interested mostly in the scrap metal value of decommissioned ships, or when permissible, their potentials for conversion.
In the latter category, non-combat craft have been converted to pleasure craft, to landing craft used to transport ebony in Africa, and to a variety of floating restaurants, moored on posh waterfronts. John Wayne, for example, converted an oceangoing minesweeper some years ago, and a coastal minesweeper eventually became Jacques Cousteau’s celebrated research vessel Calypso. Occasionally, a rare, ready-to-use vessel is offered—such as the presidential yacht Sequoia, sold off during the Carter administration.
In 1986, motivated by service priorities and tight economics, the Navy relieved the sea service of some 50 World War II-vintage tugboats. Of these, about 10% survived the DRMS property screening process to reach eligibility for sale. Ship sizes, their ferrous and nonferrous metal content, and the availability of nearby salvage facilities are key factors affecting earnings.
Obviously, it is impossible to track the ultimate use of every item that DRMS has processed since its inception, but looking at its past performances, one thing is certain: If excessed property can be reused by the military services, DRMS will make it happen; if not, this champion of cost containment will seek alternate uses or hard cash for that surplus—anywhere in the world.
Mr. Haagen currently serves as public affairs officer for the DRMR, Columbus, Ohio. His previous federal assignments as a writer and photographer have been with the U. S. Army, the Coast Guard, and with NASA. Prior to reentering federal service, he had been a contributing writer to various private sector publications and has had two books published.
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°C(*dings / January 1988
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