Why did you throw away war equipment after Vietnam war?

Answer 1

Primarily speaking for and beginning in WWII; the US out-produced EVERY nation in EVERYTHING! From clothing and food to guns and ammunition; from tanks and trucks to ships and airplanes. The US built so many airplanes and tanks, that the factories had to fill up their parking lots with rows upon rows of their finished products, then suddenly...the war ended. Those brand new tanks, artillery pieces, airplanes, etc. went from the parking lot directly to the smelters (re-melted).

Left over material, such as was gathered about here and there were collected at strategic points and piled up for transport to other scrap yards (for smelting). Many were cut up in those particular spots. Still more material was discovered from here and there, and the good ones were sold at government auction: B-24 Liberators were auctioned off to the Forest Service for fire fighting duties; 2 1/2 ton and 5 ton army trucks went to a man who started the "U-Haul Company"; M4 Sherman medium tanks went to the newly created nation of Israel; M24 Chaffee light tanks went to the French along with some Hellcat and Bearcat USN fighters for their war in Indochina (Vietnam); Tents, shovels, pistol belts, canteens, helmets, helmet liners, lamps, desks, etc. were sold to surplus stores. The USSR tried to unload their left over P39 Airocobra attack planes back to the US, along with some transport ships.

The USN bulldozed (possibly hundreds) of Corsair, Hellcats, Wildcats, Helldivers, and Avengers over the side into the ocean to make way for operation magic carpet...making room for the thousands of returning US servicemen from all points of the pacific.

Why did all this happen? Because (generally speaking; as there are exceptions to every rule) Americans don't like war...but when it comes (or came in WWII) they went "all out" to win it. And all of the war material to the typical American was simply a necessary evil; an end to a means. They just wanted the war over with; and get back to football, Baseball, mom and apple pie (plus new homes, jobs, and family). EVERYTHING (war equipment) was expendable. Even battleships and aircraft carriers were scrapped; and nothing was more expensive than a battleship.

Believe it or not; with all those tossed over board war machines and mass scrappings, today more than half a century later, there's still dozens of individual types of WWII airplanes remaining, in some cases still flying; theres still hundreds of M4 Shermans and M24 Chaffees laying about here and there. And literally thousands upon thousands of WWII M1 Garand Rifles and (M1 Carbines, mostly returns from over-seas) are still being sold almost brand new, available from the NRA (National Rifle Association of America/Citizen Marksmanship Programs). That should give an idication of how much war material was made.

Of the nearly 800 US PT boats built, close to 300 of them were burnt; as the USN wanted NO wooden boats in their navy. 69 were lost in combat, and the balance were auctioned off to civilians. One more point; Most of the WWII equipment was obsolete; or was soon to be designated obsolete. They had to go, to make room for the new stuff...like jets!