Strange purchase from DOD after shutdown - $87 Million for Spraying Devices

reply to post by jaws1975


Equipment wears out and needs replacing. Instead of going to the neighborhood hardware store and buying one to replace the worn out one, the DoD buys in bulk and stores them until needed. They're buying for thousands of bases around the world, at inflated prices, because most people won't even notice this contract.

reply to post by Blarneystoner


I second that. 87 million wow that's a extreme ammount of sprayers, that's also a lot of chemical's to be sprayed also. Is the D.O.D. purchasing any high volumes of pesticides to back this up?

reply to post by Zaphod58


It just seems strange to me. Buying sprayers that need to be maintained, storing chemicals, and using all those man hours just for weed control. It's probably much cheeper and efficient to contract out. Which is what most bases do already. Sorry man... not convinced.

reply to post by Blarneystoner


Tell that to all the crews that died over the years because they didn't keep the weeds down.

Like I said, not all the bases contract it. Some of the overseas bases use military personnel, as do some of the US bases.

reply to post by Blarneystoner

It just seems strange to me. Buying sprayers that need to be maintained, storing chemicals, and using all those man hours just for weed control. It's probably much cheeper and efficient to contract out. Which is what most bases do already. Sorry man... not convinced.

How many landscapers do you know have enough equipment to take care of a military base?

Also how many companies have enough manpower to effectively take care of a military base?

Zaphod58
reply to post by Blarneystoner

 

Tell that to all the crews that died over the years because they didn't keep the weeds down.

Like I said, not all the bases contract it. Some of the overseas bases use military personnel, as do some of the US bases.

Tell 'em what? That I don't believe the DOD spend $87 million on sprayers for weeds? Uh... I'm not sure I see your point... but another nice attempt... invoking an emotive argument to diffuse and debunk. Bravo... well played.

It's all good Sir. You've done your part to try and convince me. I remain unconvinced. I'm sure we can both live with that.

tsurfer2000h
reply to post by Blarneystoner

 

It just seems strange to me. Buying sprayers that need to be maintained, storing chemicals, and using all those man hours just for weed control. It's probably much cheeper and efficient to contract out. Which is what most bases do already. Sorry man... not convinced.

How many landscapers do you know have enough equipment to take care of a military base?

Also how many companies have enough manpower to effectively take care of a military base?

Seriously? I live in Houston.... lol... Comprende?

reply to post by Blarneystoner


I wasn't going for an emotive response at all. It's a simple fact, before they developed plans to keep weeds short around the runway, there were more birds. More birds means more bird strikes. More bird strikes means more plane crashes. At low altitude and slow speed you have about two seconds to react or you're dead.

Simple fact.

Zaphod58
reply to post by Blarneystoner

 

I wasn't going for an emotive response at all. It's a simple fact, before they developed plans to keep weeds short around the runway, there were more birds. More birds means more bird strikes. More bird strikes means more plane crashes. At low altitude and slow speed you have about two seconds to react or you're dead.

Simple fact.

Oh I don't doubt that at all but that's not what we're talking about is it? I just don't believe that the DOD needs $87 million worth of weed killer sprayers to maintain their bases. I think most of that stuff is contracted out. It just makes sense to do it that way.

Really, that's all I'm saying. I'm not speculating what they're being used for. I'm not disputting that the base grounds and tarmacs need to be maintained. Simple. Just seems fishy... $87,000,000 in sprayers.... that's a hellofa lot of sprayers... in fact... at $400 per sprayer we're talking 217,000 sprayers.

reply to post by Blarneystoner


And how many military bases are there around the world? Counting everything from beaches to airfields. Each one needs more than one sprayer, and they need spares to keep in storage. And most likely they are being charged more than $4,000 per sprayer. When have you ever known a military contract to pay standard prices.

Zaphod58
reply to post by Blarneystoner

 

And how many military bases are there around the world? Counting everything from beaches to airfields. Each one needs more than one sprayer, and they need spares to keep in storage. And most likely they are being charged more than $4,000 per sprayer. When have you ever known a military contract to pay standard prices.

I give up... how many bases?

Yep... I've heard the stories about how much a hammer costs the military. What's that scene from Men in Black?

Anywho... I still think it's peculiar... but maybe not.

Have a great weekend.

reply to post by Zaphod58


For clearing large area's of shrub or grass for deterring bird's. Would it be more efficient to use a plane for the dispensing of chemical's on a grand scale like this for large fields? Rather than using a man powered hand held version?

reply to post by Blarneystoner

Seriously? I live in Houston.... lol... Comprende?

And what does that have to do with my questions?

reply to post by Blarneystoner


GREAT Find. That debunks that angle that was going...

reply to post by proob4


Then you have to coordinate the spraying with flight operations at the base. A man portable tank won't interfere with operations the way aerial spraying would.

proob4
reply to post by Zaphod58

 

For clearing large area's of shrub or grass for deterring bird's. Would it be more efficient to use a plane for the dispensing of chemical's on a grand scale like this for large fields? Rather than using a man powered hand held version?

Call me paranoid but I don't think I'd like to be on or anywhere near a base that's laying down something like weed-o-cide or bug-b-dead cropduster style.

ETA: I don't think this is hand held stuff.

www.sprayingdevices.com...

Take a look at what they sell.

reply to post by Blarneystoner


There are over 1,000 outside the US. Inside the US there are several thousand more. I'm on my phone right now, but I'll get more exact numbers tonight. It's somewhere close to four thousand IIRC.

reply to post by robbystarbuck


For spraying all electric grid lines for easier access.

For spraying all GMO crops.

For spraying all agricultural farmlands to starve/control the food source including family farms and private gardens.

For a potential virus sanitation process.

For using pepper type spray in large crowds.

Just a few ideas.

reply to post by Zaphod58


It is done by outside contracts. Although you are taking the dont be scared of the purchase on this one, I think you are wrong this time and there is a sinister reason for the purchase...

Zaphod58
reply to post by robbystarbuck

 

Weed control on base, especially a base with aircraft, is vital. If the grass gets too thick, you get lots of bugs. You get lots of bugs, you get lots of birds to eat them.

Birds + aircraft = disaster

The only sure way to control them is control the weeds.

The post here uses a contractor for taking care of the grass and weeds, most probably do.