A Little Military Inventory Question

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Rob mentioned the Material In Use report. It is a computer generated list of everything on the records as belonging to a unit. The problem is the NATO stock number and the item name are rarely sufficient to identify something. As Rob will agree, every single bracket, shelf, strap, fixture and fitting inside, outside and under a LAV III has a technical description. Seems simple, until a layman decides to inventory one (or turn one in).

The reverse is true for a desktop computer tower. How many hundreds of models are there? And how few stock numbers are there?

The problem gets murkier as Rob says when tools, kit and valuable equipment gets bought on the way into theatre, gets used, handed over but never accounted. No one wants to be The Guy who gets caught stealing or shortchanging another soldier, so with goodness in their hearts, stuff gets passed from roto to roto. For instance, I cracked the seals on a small seacan leftover from whatever US infantry division is in Hawaii. They'd been gone for 2 or 3 years, but this 4' deep aluminum container stayed behind. We used everything we needed. On another trip, me and a USAF Pte found some Canadian stickered computers. After much looking and asking, it was determined there were desktops sold to the Dutch when they assumed some level of command at least 2 yrs earlier, but never took home. I remember writing in felt pen, "Not Canadian stock. Written off (with the approx year)", so the next explorer wouldn't go through the same trail that I did.