So at school today there was a Marine Hummer and semi.

The Hummer:


Those are 2 15" Solo-Baric L7s in the back with a flip down 15" screen, 1 12" L7 in the center console, 4 Kicker amps (one was a 800.1 and one was a 2000.2 those are the only 2 that had stickers), an Alpine touchscreen headunit, 22" wheels with Nitto tires.

The semi had a huge hi-res projector, screen, and Xbox 360 and they were playing Modern Warfare 2...

The Marine that built the Hummer said He wanted the 15's in the cab and wanted to put 2 18's in the back but they wouldn't give him the money. Don't remember his name but he built the truck himself, fiberglass and all.

 

if it makes you feel any better we have 2 H1 hummers (stateside) with all of that crap in it for my battalion of 230 dudes and 2 HMMWVs (a mechanic truck and a 998) built for the company in Hawai'i. The semis are national assets and there are quite a few...

The hummer project I was involved with only cost $12 grand. Since we already have x-box 360's, 42" plasmas, and the trucks in the inventory, all we were paying for was the subs, custom ported box, sub amp, speaker amp, 8 6.5" speakers, alarm, remote start, RKE, back up cam, 7" touch screen dvd player in the dash, twin 6" head rest tvs, navigation stuff, skyguard satellite tracking system, inverter to run it all off ac power if you wish, custom install, vinyl wrap and graphics, 22" wheels, rubber band tires, paint, body work, custom interior upholstery, and some other crap i'm probably forgetting.... not to mention it takes between $75 and $90 to top her off with diesel and it gets around 8 mpg... and thats before you factor in ANY maintenance...

Oh and the second one is being built to top that one. We traded 2 army snow boards for the paint job (STEAL!!!) and just the audio came out to just over $9 grand for the job quoted at $14.5 since we also put in an order for 9 teardrop trailers custom wrapped with a custom interiors including 5.1 dolby surround, a 37" plasma, x-box 360, self contained wi-fi, racing seats, and racing/shooting games. <-- cost will determine if we get those and how many we get but i think the quote was something lilke $16k for something i could probably build for $8.5 or less in my driveway..... but i digress


You know what the best part is? If the money doesn't get spent on that silly bull sh*t, it will be spent on almost ANYTHING else. here's why: If you request a budget of $5 for the year, and only spend $3, you will NOT get a bigger budget next year. So it is in your best interest to spend the other $2 even if its on crap. That way you can get $5 again, or more since you can make a case for the $5 not being enough in that you spent it all.
There is no onus for NOT spending, and you only get penalized. So it's a broken system of standing there with you hand out so you can get more the next time you put your hand out.....

You think that is excessive think of this... we are one of the smaller battalions in the recruiting command. we have roughly 300 soldiers both stateside, and in the islands of the pacific. Each and everyone of them is given a year long gym membership at a major gym. there is no deal in place where the command has negotiated a corporate rate. it is on each battalion to negotiate a membership for each soldier. Now lets say they cut us a deal and we get everyone a year membership at 24 hr fitness for $250. thats $250x300soldiers.... now we are one of the smaller BNs manpower wise. there are 54 bns in the states, in the Army alone....

It will boggle your F-ing mind.

Heres another fun one. I was a Squad Leader in charge of 13 soles my last stint in Iraq. i had my own Iraqi Police station to love. I was given $7,500 to spend on crap for them every 3 months. I was there 15 months. That means I got $37,500 to spend as one person on ONE police station.... here's the fun part: there are 3 of me in each platoon, and 4 platoons in each company.... do the math. Now there are 4-7 companies in each Battalion.... and 4-6 battalions in each brigade (these numbers are not rock solid and flux through out the MP corps, but you follow me) All of that $$ is JUST for the MP side of things for the "rebuilding effort" of the Iraqi Police..... that takes $0 into account for the Iraqi Army, or any other of the countless money pits we shovel cash into.

So my point is this: $4k+ in electronics to make his recruiting toy look neato aint sh*t to the Defense budget

 

Actually, the money that built that comes out of a different pot of money than what is used every day for the Marines. Each service is allotted X amount of $$$ for recruiting and Y amount for most everything else. So this is recruiting $$$ and not combat $$$.

 

That's some nice work. Our recruiters out here have some humvees that are painted but nothing like that!

X2 with what curtis said. I have also seen it first hand. BTW I was battalion level not company level, so yeah I know all about what curtis is saying regarding money.

 

Wow. i'm still out of breath from that

 

LOL, yea I already knew the kind of stuff the Army blows money on. I was really just showing the truck. Figured someone would be like DAMN thats pimp or something.

 

then i'll be the first-'cause it is pretty pimp!

we have some trucks done up for our Canadian Forces, but they come with extra power sockets for our plug in boot warmers & such.

 

the mounties don't count, they're a police force deicated to keeping the moose away from your pancake houses

... see in America we have what is know as a 'military'. It does things.... and stuff...

 

DAMN!!!!..............Thats ugly. Why would you do that to an H1. Should of lifted it and kept the system.

 

The Army had a ballin a$$ HMMWV at the National FFA Convention my senior year.