Where do all the bombed tanks, artillery, vehicles, infrastructure,

[sad sally]

etc. go after the battle is over? Are they dumped into the ocean along with all the other contaminants countries dump there? Are they buried to foul the water and soil for generations?

Is it added to the huge piles generated by the earthquakes and tsunami?

Do we care that we're killing the planet with all this toxic brew?

[quinnox]

1. "Do we care that we're killing the planet with all this toxic brew?"

No, no we don't. It seems we will only care when things go really bad, and then it won't matter anyway most likely.

[Night Crawler]

2. To the tank graveyard

The rusting hulks of Soviet tanks massed in their graveyard outside of Kabul since the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan after a long (9-year), bitter and pointless war are slowly being sold off as scrap metal to the Chinese.

Now, American tanks are whistling past the Soviet tank graveyard.

The Chinese have already re-cycled the metal columns from the World Trade Center towers and sold it back to us as affordable consumer goods. Now they are re-purposing the Soviet tanks. What happens when their raw materials supply chain from the imperial scrap heaps breaks? We can't let that happen to our creditors. Our Abrams M1 tanks weigh 72 tons each. Fifteen tanks represent a thousand tons of steel once they hit the scrap heap in Helmand Province. That's an imposing signal of our commitment to Chinese demand for scrap metal.

http://www.docudharma.com/diary/23940/petraeus-to-replace-soviet-tank-graveyard-with-american-tank-graveyard

[sad sally]

9. Thanks for the pictorial reminder...

Have seen one of the graveyards at a US army base where my son was stationed years ago - they weren't blown up ones, just old ones. He warned me to put away my camera. Fine use of US taxpayers dollars.

Planet earth gives us life - we give her our garbage.

[Poll_Blind]

3. Usually, kids play in the rubble. Some even escape poisoning or death from UXO.

But in many war-torn places, destroyed tanks, etc., are just left there to rust unless it becomes financially viable to salvage them in some sense. Spent ammunition is another matter as well. Depleted uranium munitions, as I'm sure you're well aware, cause the human toll to skyrocket. Worse, IMO, than even UXO (un-exploded ordinance) from cluster bombs.

To be honest, I really don't think most people care. I do not give up hope that, especially if high-profile personalities champion the cause, consciousness of the terrible impact of all this toxic material will raise.

PB

[Ozymanithrax]

4. In a war, U.S. tanks such as the M1A1 are brought back for repair and refurbishment...

Many, like old cars and other junk, are sold for scrap at the end of their usefulness.

It is unusual to just dump this stuff into the ocean, because they can be salvaged.

[JPZenger]

5. Subway cars are dumped in ocean for fishing reefs

Many NYC subway cars have been dumped in the ocean to create fishing reefs, as well as many US Navy ships, including the aircraft carrier Oriskany.

With the recent air attack on Libyan loyalists, they said some of the tanks outside of Benghazi were not even damaged. The crews ran away after the air attacks started, because they realized the tanks were sitting ducks. I'm sure the rebels will put those tanks to good use.

[Ozymanithrax]

6. Some ships are also used as reefs...

But more are taken to be broken up in Asia.

[sad sally]

8. So it ends up in all the stuff we buy?

I'm sure all the contaminates have been removed first though.

[HereSince1628]

7. We leave it behind in 'training' facilities...

too expensive to move around it's better to have be part of the reparations package to bring the victim nation back to its feet (as customer of parts and ammunition for US weapons).