First, Purple Hearts; now, ammo

August 18, 2007

Yesterday we talked about the Navy running out of Purple Heart medals because so many U.S. troops are being wounded in combat. One veteran was told he qualified for the medal, but if he wanted one, he’d have to pay $42 at a military surplus store.

As if that weren’t enough, there’s apparently a national shortage on ammunition, too.

Troops training for and fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are firing more than 1 billion bullets a year, contributing to ammunition shortages hitting police departments nationwide and preventing some officers from training with the weapons they carry on patrol.

An Associated Press review of dozens of police and sheriff’s departments found that many are struggling with delays of as long as a year for both handgun and rifle ammunition. And the shortages are resulting in prices as much as double what departments were paying just a year ago.

The good news is, U.S. forces in the Middle East are not going to run out; the troops get most of their ammunition from a dedicated plant. The bad news is, the strain is a burden on police departments, which could undermine public safety.

Forgoing proper, repetitive weapons training comes with a price on the streets, police say, in diminished accuracy, quickness on the draw and basic decision-making skills.

“You are not going to be as sharp or as good, especially if an emergency situation comes up,” said Sgt. James MacGillis, range master for the Milwaukee police. “The better-trained officer is the one that is less likely to use force.”

The pinch is blamed on a skyrocketing demand for ammunition that followed the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, driven by the training needs of a military at war, and, ironically, police departments increasing their own practice regimens following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. […]

In Indianapolis, police spokesman Lt. Jeff Duhamell said the department has enough ammunition for now, but is considering using paint balls during a two-week training course, during which recruits fire normally fire about 1,000 rounds each.

“It’s all based on the demands in Iraq,” Duhamell said. “A lot of the companies are trying to keep up with the demands of the war and the demands of training police departments. The price increased too — went up 15 to 20 percent — and they were advising us … to order as much as you can.”

I feel safer already.

This article is not clear….if the troops have a dedicated plant and the police forces get their ammo elsewhere….why is there a shortage? Or does everyone get their ammunition from only one producer (unlikely I would think). So…where is the problem/holdup?

  • There are only a few suppliers. The military gets theirs from a few “public” plants, but they’re running at 100% capacity, they’ve been grabbing stuff from private ammo suppliers who supply everyone else–by law, the military is top priority. This is why everyone else is short of ammo.

    Cons can’t even manage shit they’re good at.

  • What a fun box to put the NRA in.

    “In this time of war, few sacrifices have been asked of the American people. In the great wars that established this nation as a world leader, we were asked to ration nearly every type of good, from steel to food to gasoline. Now, as the terrorists continue to threaten us, in order to ensure victory aborad and security at home, we must ask that the People of America bear on small sacrifice for the larger effort. To ensure both our brave soldiers and valiant police officers have the ammunition to do their jobs protecting us from threats large and small, we find it necessary to restrict all 9mm, 7.62 mm and 5.56 mm, as well as all .45, .38, .357, .32, 30-06, and .223 rounds for official uses. Civilians will not be permitted to purcahse or spend any such rounds until the Global War on Terror is concluded. We appreciate your understanding and assistance in winning this war.”

    Two great outcomes: the streets would be safer, and the NRA’s collective heads would explode.

  • The NRA guys I know have more ammo than the military already, and are reloading more. They’re getting ready for the mud people.

  • All during the Iraq Quagmire I’ve watched long trains go by, here in Bellingham WA, with dozens of cars full of wood products, mostly plywood sheets. They’re on their way from Canadian forests to the Port of Seattle for shipment to Iraq. On the return trip the cars are empty. Meanwhile, at the local lumber yards, wood workers bitch about the increasing cost of wood. Ya suppose there’s a connection? The Shrub may not be asking direct sacrifice of civilians, which would be the brave and responsible thing to do, but he can’t escape the fundamental laws of real-world economics. Well, he can and does, but we can’t.

  • Just as an aside, a billion rounds of ammo, most of which ends up in the ground, seems like a toxic waste problem waiting to happen. Of course, the country will be one toxic dump by the time we leave, so no need to worry about it.

  • LOL @ Zeitgeist. I just hope I’m not in town when a bullet shortage that can blamed on Bush starts emptying the shelves. I’ve never been in a riot…

    but is considering using paint balls during a two-week training course, during which recruits fire normally fire about 1,000 rounds each.

    A question: Is a gun that fires paint balls anything like (in terms of weight, aim, etc) anything like guns that police use on the streets? What about the way a paint ball travels? Christ, what next? Trainee cops pointing their fingers and shouting “Bang, Bang!”

    Oh well. Looks like Chris Rock might get his wish. “Here you go sir, one box of bullets. That will be $100,000.99.”

  • Feel free to correct me, but AFAIK the military uses 9mm, 5.56, and 7.62, and I’m guessing the majority of the amunition fired is 5.56 and 7.62, as sidearms are probably not fired all that often. I realize a lot of PDs now have some 5.56 in their arsenals and SWAT teams may have a 7.62 SAW, but most of their requirements would be for 9mm (handguns for patrol officers and machine pistols for SWAT). So why the shortage? Are munitions companies set-up for producing the larger calibers and not producing as much of the smaller? Last time I bought 9mm ammo at a range, it was made in China.

  • #3 definitely LOL

    But most NRA types I know have bunkers full of ammo,as noted by mr.ed.

    And where is Lihach, allowing his demons to get the better of him again, to confuse this post with criticizing the military?

  • A little bit of background. A recent report (On TomDispatch, IIRC), stated that for each insurgent killed, 250,000 bullets were fired. Astonishing!

  • Paintball! Excellent! (Chris Rock has to be loving it.)

    But does this mean the NRA rank and file will soon be clamoring for an end to the war along with the rest of us? They’re a patriotic breed I know, but just how much can even a flag-waving, gun-toting, bible-thumping 28-percenter realistically be asked to bear? First, skyrocketing oil prices make grotesquely large, hyper-polluting SUVs too expensive for the average Joe to drive. Now, if guns become too expensive to shoot… I’m just sayin’.

  • Let me get this straight, because something about the original purple heart story nagged at me, although I didn’t pick up on it. So, what they’re saying is not so much that there is a shortage of the medals – there’s just no FREE ones left. They seem pretty confident that one could be picked up at a military surplus store for $42.00. Just to review, surplus means, “too much”.

    So…..what they shell out for ONE bonus to lure some broke kid with no career goals off the street and into the Army would buy enough medals to last a year. From military surplus. That can’t be right.

  • No AMMO???

    THe NRA will be all over the prez. Without ammo their 2nd Ammendment right to get drunk and shoot things up is infringed upon.

    What next? No more semi-automatic assualt rifles to hunt deer?

  • We’re in an ammo shortage, eh?

    It is true, of course, but it has little to nothing to do with President Bush or our wars.

    The simple fact of the matter is that the ammunition used by the police and the ammunition used by the military are entirely different animals, built to different specifications, and for that matter, built in entirely different manufacturing plants.

    Police departments are running low on ammunition not because we’re experiencing manufacturing shortfalls or because the military is using the ammunition, but because they have expanded their arsenals and are shooting far more.

    Once upon a time, police agencies had 6-shot revolvers and a few 12-gauge shotguns, and that was about it. They qualified perhaps once or twice a year, firing dozens of rounds at paper targets on a static range.

    Today, many police officers carry high-capacity semi-automatic pistols, and either assault rifles or patrol carbines in their squad cars. They practice firing hundreds of rounds at a time per weapon, on fully-involved scenario-based ranges, several times a year.

    Combine the fact that police agencies are often doubling their ammo usage over the past six years with the explosive growth of shooting sports among civilians (Trap and Skeet shooting is replacing golf as the sport of the monied in many parts of the country; three-gun competitions, cowboy action shooting, and IDPA shooting have all seen their numbers double or triple in the past five years) and it is rather obvious that the ammo shortage has very little at all to do with the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, and has far more to do with the massive increase in civilian and police ammunition requirements.

  • Wow. Paintballs. That’ll really help with firearms accuracy, now won’t it? Why not just equip our local law enforcement folks with catapults? they can hurl flaming, gasoline soaked bales of hay at the bad guys. The ensuing gasoline shortage would, of course, force everyone to park their filthy, wretched SUVs….

  • There will always be ammo for any one who wants it, you creat a shortage the cost goes up.This war has been very good to corperate america, getting rich at the expense of our military.To you RepubilKKKan Christian Right,it was your bush,that said right after 911 ” don’t let the terrorist win go shopping and spend your money.” Now that reminds me to buy stocks in paint-ball companys.I’m going to make some money too!

  • I think if a catastrophe and a war were to come along simultaneously, it would come without warning and happen very suddenly. I am sure the people of Atlantis were better prepared/better armed and more advanced;but the entire planet became uninhabitable for many decades.Now their society are just memories in the distant past. Enjoy it while you can. Modern society isn’t going to last forever.

  • There was one person who desperately tried to prepare his nation for sudden and violent changes that the rest of the world did not know at the time. He sent researchers to scour the globe and went about trying to gather resources from other nations in what time he could. He even sent teams of scientists down to the South Antartica to find new territories for living. No attention was paid to the North Pole for resettling for he know it would not be inhabitable due to melting. That person was Adolf Hitler and the New territory was “Neu Schwabenland” in South Antartica.Hitler knew it,Hess knew it,Von Braun and all the others knew.

  • Iraq may be a desert now but after the changes come it will revert to swampy pampa grasslands that it used to be around 10,000 years ago. Suitable for raising of cattle,sheep,ranch and farmland;cold air from the earth changes will bring rain
    to the area formerly known as Babylon. Crops will be able to grow year round.

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