Air conditioning for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan costs $20.2 billion a year
Keeping troops cool costs more than NASA's entire budget, says NPR.
STAY COOL: Air-conditioned military tents in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Photo: Hans de Vreij via Radio Nederland Wereldomroep/Flickr) Comments
Active duty military chiming in: this is old information. We haven’t been in tents in Afghanistan or Iraq for some time. The picture in the article isn't even from Afghanistan or Iraq, it’s from Al-Udeid in Qatar and it’s over six years old! We don’t live in tents on bases anymore. Do we use a load of fuel- yes. However, this fuel figure is not just for AC, it’s for all power generation, AOR wide, for the entire year! Without power there are no computers, communications, or.... More
The saving using the polyurethane, can be well spend in a found to support troops when they come back home...
Something not brought up is the fact that our equipment has to remain at a cool temperature to operate efficiently.
DROP Dead whoever wrote this ****
Let's borrow $20 Billion from China every year so we can air-condition our brothers and sisters before getting their limbs blown off in Iraq and Afghanistan. After all, we need them to die so we can prop up a corrupt government headed by President Karzai in only one of an uncounted series of unending undeclared permanent wars in our post-constitutional Empire. That way the American people can be heroically told "we can’t help you with your infrastructure needs in your counties, in your.... More
$20.2 billion. Wow. I think what they are doing is worth even more.
That's the best summation of the situation I've yet seen. The benefits of the Iraq and Afghanistan missions are probably worth more than the air-conditioning costs.
Not the mission costs, but at least the air-conditioning costs.
Wow! well, one question I'd have....what do the other soldiers (not U.S.) do? Do the afghan soldiers have this level of air-conditioning? Or is it just that our troops aren't used to it?
ARE U CRAZY? THESE PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING THEY NEED! A.C., STEAKS, DANCING GIRLS....ANYTHING THEY DESIRE SHOULD BE GIVEN TO THEM AT ANY COST..THEY ARE HEROES AND DESERVE IT..WHY WOULD YOU EVEN PUBLISH AN ARTICLE LIKE THIS?
Can't compare afghan army to NATO forces. Afghan army will find the nearest chunk of shade and only leave it if they must. US, Brits, Aussies, etc will do what we got to do, drink water and sweat like crazy, then hope like hell the AC in the tents are working when we're done.
Interesting description of the "Afghan Army" so heroically described by Patreaus as soon-to-be-ready-to-gradually-takeover-from-US/NATO control." But seriously, what even makes Afghanistan a country? Just because the Brits and their imperial heirs have all wished some coherency on the region and drawn lines accordingly doesn't give that place any cultural or political unity. This is a hopeless project from an American point of view. Bin Laden is dead, thank you very much now let's bring our.... More
So the entire annual budget is 108 billion and 20 billion goes to AC? That can't be right can it? What would the breakdown be on AC per soldier per year? I'm guessing soldiers would opt for more money in their pocket and less AC if given the choice.
Have you ever watched a mercury thermometer bust from the heat? I'd rather have a little ac that will drop the temp 15-20 degrees than the extra cash. On more than one occasion we had to take money from our pockets to buy fans to get that little bit of cool air to flow through the whole tent. That whole spraying the tent with foam to make it more efficient only works if the one truck in Afghanistan that can spray it isn't broken down or relocated to another FOB for some unit that has the funds.... More
If there are about 100,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, that would mean it's costing about $200,000 per soldier for AC annually. I know AC is important over there, but would you use half the AC that you do now if you could pocket say $70k a year for the reduction? I'm just curious, and obviously I have no idea what it's like to be in your situation. I think the $20B figure must be pretty inflated or includes a ton of logistics costs. It's not right if the US is paying more on AC per soldier.... More
More than the budget of NASA for some AC? The long-term socio-economic and environmental costs of these wars will affect the US and the world for years to come. Furthermore, according to the commander interviewed the inefficiency doesn't stop with the financial costs. The "enemy" simply return to where they were when the troops are off to refuel. Somewhere in the cosmos aliens are looking down at us and laughing hysterically at our collective folly. Wait and I didn't even mention the loss of.... More
20.2 billion total to transport fuel. He doesn't state that it's solely used for air conditioning. And the polyurethane idea is idotic, if the air conditioners go down, the tents would be insulated and retain heat better :/
the polyurenthane does actually work. my tent in Iraq was covered in it, and during the "winter" all we really needed was a fan.
Too bad! If they want people ALIVE, they're going to have to make life tolerable. Too many of our soldiers have died from the heat out there and one more is way too many.
