The military burns hardware and computers, and other gear when they no longer need it. The cover is that they're destroying it because they don't want it falling into the wrong hands. In actuality, the military is one big jobs program that wastes more money than people can imagine.

To a man, the people I know that served have stories of insane waste. Stories about throwing out perfectly good equipment so the purchase orders can keep flowing. Of course it's all about $, so often times the soldiers don't even have the gear they need for combat. I work for a military contractor and I can attest that updates we do are completely jobs programs and provide little tactical advantage. Some officer will get an idea that the planes they use for target practice should have data recorders with a slightly higher fidelity on position and they'll go out and spend $50 Million updating 25 planes that mostly just sit in a hanger in Alberta.

People measure our military might by how much we spend, while I do think there's no doubt we have the most powerful and capable force in the world, the dollar amount attached to it is misleading because we waste so much of it on equipment that is useless.

and wasted funds that should be used for veterans.