I'm serious about the echelons above reality....lol
I have done most of my career in the military at the Battalion and Company level and have avoided the flagpole units. Except for a stint at a school type unit where I was an NCOES instructor and Ops NCO. My last assignment was as a Spt Opns NCO at a Battalion where we dealt with all the classes of supply.
In the Army something has to be authorized by a MTOE, TDA or CTA for you to order it. You just cant order stuff on a whim. Then you have to contend with categories like expendable, durable and non-expendable. Then your unit or activity has to have an account assigned to it. Without that account you cant order jack squat or you have to have somebody else order it for you with their account.
The only exception to this rule is if some clerk responsible for entering the order mistypes your unit code in accidentally by one letter you receive amazing things. One night I was working past 1600 when this big tractor trailer pulls up. I go out to meet the driver who has the humongous crates. I take the bill of lading and papers. its a crapload of the new M16A2 rifles made by FN. This would be good if the unit wasn't a TDA unit which was not authorized to our unit, I wanted to cry like a girly baby. Now I have several hundred rifles it is late in the evening and they have to be secured. All because some clerk mistyped the unit code by one alpha character. I guess the little weenie in the cubicle who says no must have been sick or on leave that week.
We had a forward support element in Northern Afghanistan that our unit provided support to. Since I was the Spt Ops Section NCO I was made the official/unofficial project manager for this area. Soldiers have to eat right?
That means that they will need some hot meals. Which meant that they will need to cook. Getting them the rations is no problem as we had limited cold storage space and rations were on the push instead of pull system. Now the problem is pots n pans n utensils to cook with. The guys were able to procure a stove from a local merchant and get it up and running.
Easy right? lolol Keep in mind we have to order this stuff from the states. Filling out the requisitions is easy cheesey. However, when it hits the real world back in the states some guy is saying hey your unit don't do any cooking so your unit isn't authorized this stuff. First brush of reality with bureaucrats in small cubicles. To shorten the story the KBR guys had the excess stuff so we made a backdoor deal with them to get the stuff and then replace it. Then I had to make a trip to talk with the DSA Rep so he could call his pard back in the states to bypass the bureaucrats and get the requisitions filled to pay back KBR.
Which leads me to the conclusion that in the logistical echelons above reality (btw that phrase came from a mentor so I deserve no credit) that the folks have no clue as to what is going on in the war areas. They just pull the reg and authorizations from the shelf and say hey you are not authorized this stuff. The fact that you are in a war zone has no bearing on the issue. Thank God for the DSA and Army Log reps on the ground.
So while it sounds practical to order silly string through the DoD supply system, some desk bound weenie at the echelon above reality is sure to come up with a reason as to why it cant be ordered or no funding has been approved. God preserve us from the beancounters also. Just remember that it is easier to get forgiveness than permission.
if I had a dollar for every time I promised to get permission first and said the words till next time under my breath I would be a rich man.
