Friday, October 16, 2009

$400 a gallon

The Hill

The Pentagon pays an average of $400 to put a gallon of fuel into a combat vehicle or aircraft in Afghanistan. (my em and holy shit! - G)

“It is a number that we were not aware of and it is worrisome,” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the chairman of the House Appropriations Defense panel, said in an interview with The Hill. “When I heard that figure from the Defense Department, we started looking into it.”

The Pentagon comptroller’s office provided the fuel statistic to the committee staff when it was asked for a breakdown of why every 1,000 troops deployed to Afghanistan costs $1 billion. The Obama administration uses this estimate in calculating the cost of sending more troops to Afghanistan.

The $400 per gallon reflects what in Pentagon parlance is known as the “fully burdened cost of fuel.”

Guess whose 'burden' it is. That's right - ours. No wonder those Repug senators didn't want rape victims to be able to take their rapists to court!

Maybe if they get somebody besides Halliburton to haul it we could get it down to $350. Yeesh.

No cost analysis available yet as to the 'fully burdened' cost of officers' whiskey in Afghanistan. $400 a gallon's probably pretty close if they don't get the good stuff.

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