military cots in Iraq collapse - 500+ sent back for replacement

[donsu]

http://www.buzzflash.com/mailbag/04/02/mai04056.html


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Subj: No wonder we are losing manufacturing jobs!

Stars and Stripes "Collapsing cots cause concern in Kuwait", dated Monday, February 23, 2004, exposed the following:

Our army cots are now being provided by a private contractor in Kuwait, they are made in China and carry a Saudi brand name Al-Sanidi. To make matters worse, they are bright blue and green (why don't the soldiers just put a target on their back?) and collapse. More than 500 have been turned in for replacements in the past week

Why aren't we manufacturing our army cots in the US? No wonder we are losing manufacturing jobs.

Our own government is contracting for inferior goods made in China. I guess its more important to enrich the war profiteer friends of the Administration than to actually provide our troops with equipment that works.

Besides loss of jobs and unnecessary troop discomfort , I wonder how much this fiasco is costing the taxpayer!

Marianne
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why ever would a Chinese mfgr. put a Saudi name on their product?

[barbaraann]

1. As my father, a lifetime soldier, used to say repeatedly

"Someone sold the Army a bill of goods on that." I can't tell you how often he would notice that a particular army issue item was defective--it's one of my primary childhood memories. Seriously. The military-industrial complex charges outrageous prices for products and doesn't even have the decency to deliver quality.

[RobertSeattle]

2. Have slept over a year of my life on an Army cot...

A good sturdy cot is pretty damn important. Whoever the turd procurement person should be sentenced to using the crappy cots for a year.

[Hand]

4. Real Army cots are damn near bulletproof...

I had a very old surplus Army cot--the legs and frame were thick hardwood, the pad was heavy canvas, and the hardware was genuine made-in-Pittsburgh steel with big bolts holding it together. When you put the hickory tightening rods on the ends, the canvas was stretched taut enough to bounce a quarter off it.

It may have been thirty or forty years old, but it was solid as a rock. You had to be careful folding it, because if your fingers got crunched between the frame sections, you were likely to wind up in plaster. That thing would probably survive a nuclear attack! Even the old canvas was solid; it hadn't deteriorated over time.

I imagine the so-called cots they're getting in Iraq are cheesy aluminum framed crap that's built to break. And I'll also bet that Halliburton's
cashing in somewhere along the line.

:mad:

[beanball]

6. Chaney cot company

"Oil Can"Dick has stuck it to us again.

[donsu]

3. why did Chinese mfgr. put Saudi name on the cots?

that's the bigger question

[JohnyCanuck]

5. War profiteering must surely be the world's 2nd oldest profession n/t

n/t