Waste of our taxes

Immoral, too. We paid for that brass, not to have it shredded.

Military installations sidestep questions on brass destruction

“I'm responding to a tip that Ft. McCoy brass from expended small arms ammunition is being shredded instead of sold on the civilian market,” this columnist wrote in the base contact form. “I’m told that as of the beginning of this month, no brass may be sold without being rendered unusable.

“Is this true?” the query continued “Is or was brass being destroyed? If so, who ordered it, over what time period, under what authority, and will you make a copy of such orders public? Did an order to destroy brass once exist and has it been rescinded? When and by whom? Does everything that is being destroyed meet the criteria of being ‘unserviceable or unsafe for further use’? What is the policy for destruction of brass that could be sold on the civilian market? Are all destruction activities consistent with appropriations and public law requirements?

“I'm following up on this because I've written in the past about the military destroying brass that, per appropriations requirements, should be designated for civilian market resale,” the inquiry explained. “As such, I'd like to establish the truth about this and make sure all of the points brought to my attention are addressed as specifically as possible.

“To that end, any for-the record response you could give to address these questions will be helpful and appreciated, as would any further information you could share about this,” the inquiry concluded.

“In reference to your Fort McCoy web site inquiry, please see view the article that was recently published in the Fort McCoy newspaper, The Real McCoy,” the Public Affairs Officer wrote back. That article confirms they are using a deformer “to demilitarize about 9,000 pounds of brass each day … including 5.56-mm, 7.62-mm, 9-mm and .50-caliber, and that “the ammo is transported up a conveyor belt and then struck by hammers in a rotary grinder that cause deformation of the casing.”