WE ARE HOPEFUL THE NEW CHAIRMAN WILL INVESTIGATE ABUSE

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Bradley P. Giordani

To: GAO GROUP ; GAO GROUP ; GAO GROUP ; GAO GROUP

Cc: 

Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 11:36 AM

Subject: BACKGROUND INFO

11828 Pika Drive, Waldorf, Maryland 20602 USA

Phone (301) 893-3910   Fax: (301) 893-8354

Internet: www.militec-1.com

May 3, 2007

Honorable Henry A. Waxman

Chairman

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

U.S. House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Your demonstrated interest in questionable government procurement policies and in bureaucratic irregularities and misconduct leads us to believe that you will share our concerns about an agency within the U.S. Army and the effect of its actions.

At issue is whether American troops in the field should be permitted to procure and use a weapons lubricant of their choice – be mindful that properly functioning weapons are literally our troops’ lifelines.

The Army asserts adamantly that its approved product is the “perfect” lubricant, but the troops overwhelmingly, aggressively, reject it.  Ironically, the troops’ lubricant of choice – MILITEC-1 – is mandated for use by almost all other federal agencies, including the Secret Service, Coast Guard, Capitol Police, Park Police, and many more.

The Army developed its lubricant – CLP (Cleaner, Lubricant, and Preservative) – in 1980, and has upgraded the specifications and formula many times in an attempt to get it to work.  Any weapons lubricant must conform to the Military Specification (MilSpec) for CLP in order to be approved by the Army.

The problem lies in the fact that the MilSpec for CLP calls for a “wet” lubricant that functions by keeping a liquid film of oil on metal surfaces at all times.  In the Iraqi and Afghan deserts, this spells disaster, because the oil film attracts dust and sand, forming a sludge that renders weapons inoperable.  It also promotes a build-up of carbon and metal particles that result from firing the weapons.

In contrast, MILITEC-1 is a “dry” lubricant – synthetic oil that actually becomes a part of metal surfaces instead of covering them with a liquid film.  It allows a dry, fully lubricated, corrosion- resistant weapon to operate without attracting sand and dust, or attracting even the usual carbon and metallic debris created by firing the weapon.  In Iraq and Afghanistan, weapons lubricated with MILITEC-1 continue to fire in conditions that quickly jam a weapon lubricated with CLP.

We have thousands of unsolicited emails and personal testimonials – far more than mere “anecdotal evidence” – from troops in Iraq and throughout the world who ridicule CLP, while attesting to the life-saving properties of MILITEC-1.

From 2002 through 2005, Militec, Inc. filled four million dollars worth of orders and reorders for product to military field units, through the Defense logistics Agency (DLA).  However, in 2005, the Army precipitously cancelled the National Stock Numbers assigned to MILITEC-1, preventing further DLA fulfillment of orders from the field.  This cancellation has also prevented DLA fulfillment of orders for MILITEC-1 from other government agencies such as Secret Service, Homeland Security, and the Coast Guard.

Now, when field units order MILITEC-1, they are shipped CLP instead – the same CLP the units were trying to avoid because they consider it dangerous to use.

Let us be clear: MILITEC-1 will not conform to a MilSpec.  It does not function as the Army’s MilSpec-defined CLP.  To argue how well MILITEC-1 meets or does not meet a MilSpec is specious, and only distracts from the key issue:  that the dry lubricant, MILITEC-1, functions very well in the field, and the Army-approved wet lubricant, CLP, does not.

Mr. Chairman, the history of this issue has generated controversy and disagreement, but the stakes today are too high to coddle bruised egos.  Army MilSpec defenders can’t be allowed simply to say, “We’re right because we’re right,” while troops in the field, from privates through senior NCO’s to general officers, say, “They’re wrong!” ... not when the price of error can be lethal.

Our troops deserve the right to procure and use a weapons lubricant that their hard experience has shown them will work, where CLP does not.  And their morale is diminished when they see their judgment based on experience is ignored.  Therefore, in addition to the MILITEC-1delivered to military units through DLA, this company has, since 2001, shipped directly to individual troops and units more than 329,000 bottles of MILITEC-1.  We do not accept any payment for these shipments, not from the troops or their families, and we absorb the cost of shipment through the Postal Service and UPS.

The issue of allowing field units to choose MILITEC-1 carries an extensive paper trail extending more than 15 years.  Militec, Inc., has maintained that paper trail very carefully; we invite you and your staff to examine it.  We believe you will find astounding degrees to which certain elements in the Army have gone to prevent field units from obtaining what their experience has shown to be the superior weapons lubricant.

If you will give us the time for a careful, studied review, we believe you will see an issue easily valid enough to rise to the level of your committee’s attention.

Sincerely,

Richard J. Feeney

Vice President for Public Affairs