Army Org, Lesson I Forgot: The Class VI Supply System (part one)

Since the Bush administration is planning to close a few commissaries, I figured the time was right to talk about how the army supplies personal demand items.

Remember back a few lessons ago I gave the ten classes of supply, and one of them was Class VI, personal demand items.

Class VI is the strangest class of them all. Almost anything you'll find in Class VI could and usually does show up in another class, if they were selling it to an Army unit instead of to a soldier. The easiest example is Class I, which is food. If a mess hall buys food, it's Class I; if a soldier buys it, takes it home and cooks it, it's Class VI. Booze is the same way: Class I when the NCO club buys a case of gin, Class VI when the sergeant major buys a martini made from that same gin.

This one's going to be short because I've got to get up super early tomorrow and it's super late now, but let's start by talking about funding. Class VI is funded in three different ways--appropriated funds, nonappropriated funds and profit-generating funds. Almost nothing in this class is handled through appropriated funds, which come from a Congressional appropriation. In fact, I can't think of anything, but I'm certain there are some. (The only thing that pops to mind is condoms; the army issues these things through medical supply channels. However, the issued condoms--which are not camouflage, you sick puppy--are not Class VI items. The rubbers at the PX are, but those aren't free.)

Nonappropriated funds are easy to understand: they come from soldiers' purchases. Profit-generating funds do too, but there is a difference: Nonappropriated fund cites are specifically designed to break even. Profit-generating funds do just what their name says.

The commissary is a nonappropriated fund agency. The exchange system is a profit-generating agency. It is by law required to roll these funds back to the soldiers for their welfare, but it definitely generates profit. (The PX defines "welfare" as "building more PXs." Go to one that wasn't there when the installation was built, and there is always a cornerstone. They are uniform: "This facility was constructed with profits from your purchases.")

Next time we meet, I will look at the three major agencies that deal in Class VI--the Non-Appropriated Funds Office, the Defense Commissary Agency and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.

Right now, I'm going to bed.

sleep well!O8)