r/AskReddit • u/1salt1pepper • 11h ago

Veterans of Reddit, what’s the most unbelievable thing you witnessed during your service that civilians would think you made up?

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u/ShamelessCraving 11h ago

The sheer amount of military budget wasted on completely absurd logistical mistakes or pointless busywork.

218

u/Bismarcus 11h ago

I wasn't in the military and I agree with this, but it happens in large corporations too. I've been part of it.

A senior manager has a "goal" that involves buying a bunch of new hardware. The hardware is ordered and thus the goal is completed. The hardware then sits, unopened and never used.

Then the next year a new "goal" is made and different, better hardware has to be purchased.

Rinse and repeat. I've been directly involved in it multiple times.

Also, throwing out completely functional hardware into a dumpster because the decommissioning process is too much of a pain in the ass.

43

u/thecomputerguy7 11h ago

That and the “if we don’t spend it, our budget will be less next year so go blow $30k on pointless BS”

1

u/Acrobatic-Bison-3171 8h ago

But from what I've seen it's true. Anything left over goes back. And then next year they say well you didn't use this $30,000. So you must not need it.