So I was watching the history channel Sunday

[Bill Ricca]

I have run into several items that were supposed to be demilled, but never were. I received a bid from Red River circa 1987/88 and in a bag were items which I will not go into. The items could have caused legal problems for somebody so I destoryed them.

They were in a plastic bag marked "can not identify". Yes it was the lazy civilian workers who did not want to demill them and then go thru the paperwork process certifying their destruction.

I visited the Industrial Home for the Blind in Brooklyn, in 1984/85. I was purchasing their M16 silents slings which were under contract. I saw a large quantity of women working on Helicopter Basket Straps, the safety straps that kept the wounded in the retrieval basket. Industrial Home for the Blind had a contract for several 10's of thousands. Government cost in those days was around $3.60 each.

At the exact same time they were being released at the Naval Facility in Mechanicsburg by the pallet. Average bid price was around 29 cents each.

Circa 1985 I bid on M84 Telescopes with M14 and M1C mounts attached in a facility in Washington state (I do not remember the name). I was not high bidder but managed to purchased them from the individual that got them. At the exact same time either Anniston or Red River (I do not remember which one) released several dozen, all cut up, demilled. I purchased them from a friend Hugh Brock from Georgia, who was the high bidder.

Circa 1975 I was told to hold onto any BAR Bipods, Carry Handles and Flash Hiders I had (I had none). My friend got information that approx. 2,000 1918's were found in storage. The government had to up grade them to 1918A2, and would be purchasing those items (in those days you could sell surplus back to the government, today it is next to impossible). The BAR parts were purchased, the guns were upgraded and then short thereafter came the order for them to be destroyed. I saw them cut up in pieces, in the Gondola car three years later. The same guy that told me to hold onto the parts was the guy who won the bid.

Having been in the surplus business since 1971, I could fill a book with stories that are hard to believe and go against any sense of reason.