European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 24, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Use is put up or Sale to buyers throughout the world usually by sealed bid. The demand depends on the commodity. By the Market often is Good Lor heavy equipment. Tom Trent Chiel of the sales division at the european office. Has seen sales clip no in each of the last two years and he expects record sates again this year. In the 1983 fiscal year sales lopped 110 million. In 1984 they exceeded $12.8 million and Trent anticipates sales to climb above $ 13 million this year. Because items sold Are used sometimes worn or obsolete they generally bring just a fraction of their acquisition costs. The Catalon of surplus property offered for Sale covers pages of heavy and Light equipment expensive and inexpensive items. The list includes woodworking and metalworking equipment bearings engines rope Cable Chain refrigerators air conditioners pipe tubing Hose and fittings valves hand tools measuring tools abrasives communications equipment lighting fixtures and lamps. Also included Are medical dental veterinary office machine and data processing equipment chemicals electrical and electronic gear. While the vast majority of property is from Standard inventory oddities sometimes Are offered for Sale. Among such items have been barter kits for world War ii and vietnamese flight Crews. Designed to help airmen shot Down in hostile territory the kits contained among other things Gold chains and Gold coins. They were put up Lor Sale when the Price of Gold soared to record highs. Heavy equipment offered for Sale by sealed bid in Europe this year included forklifts sedans trucks buses a variety of cranes engine generators and Semi trailers. In placing bid for surplus equipment buyers Are expected to include 20 percent of the bid Price and to Complete a certificate of use. Without this certificate a bid in invalid. As a precaution a background Check is made of All buyers unknown to the government. Because there Are repeat offerings of identical or similar equipment Many buyers become frequent bidders and have clearances from past sales. Hems such As Trainer or cargo aircraft must be demilitarized before their use in the commercial Market. Still other property such As combat aircraft combat ships artillery and armoured vehicles must be sold As scrap. Included among items that must be scrapped Are m151 series jeeps which Are considered too dangerous for commercial use. Jeeps in this series must be crushed and sold As scrap because of their suspension systems Trent said. This is the series that followed the world War ii jeep which could be used by a civilian  scrap is sold by weight and current Metal value which fluctuates with demand. At the Kaiserslautern facility dozens of scrap items Are neatly separated a must in the marketing process. Vehicle radiators engine blocks Telephone wires Copper cables 105mm steel Shell casings bins filled with bits and pieces All await pickup As scrap. Rocket containers some used As scrap bins line a storage area Road. In an open Field used runway fire extinguishers stand in rows. At the end of the Field is a giant aircraft lifter one of the heavier pieces of equipment in the air Force inventory. Spread across the area is an array of government vehicles and private cars Many of which will end up As scrap. Standing near the aircraft lifter is a Mound of discarded tires. We assign property for reuse Transfer or donate it sell it or destroy it said James Walton manager of the Kaiserslautern re utilization and marketing office. That Mound of tires will be disposed of through a service contract Walton said. That Means we have to pay to have the tires taken away because they have no Market value. In a year we have some 500 to 600 tons of tires that must be disposed of that Way. Fortunately we Don t need Many such contracts. Most items Are requisitioned for reuse of sold As surplus  tember 24, 1985 spec. 4 Jeffrey Bennett inspect table in Kaiten Louvern warehouse. The Price is right free w by spend Money to procure equipment you can get Lor nothing Sec. Harry j. Morgan asks the question with a look of disbelief. Morgan simply can t understand Why More military units Don t draw equipment from the defense re utilization and marketing service arms. It s there Lor the asking. It s there for the taking and it costs nothing says Morgan. Coic of the Vogel Weh dental clinic in Kaiserslautern. Since arriving at the clinic in May Morgan has refurnished the clinic with surplus property from the re utilization office in Kaiserslautern. In previous assignments at fort Polk la., and Mannheim. Germany he made similar use of surplus property to Spruce up dental clinics. I saw no reason to spend Money for items that Are available just a 20-minute drive from the clinic Morgan says of his latest refurbishing Job. By requisitioning surplus property we saved Money for the army and improved our  spec. 4 Jeffrey Bennett is working with Morgan. In a half dozen trips to the Kaiserslautern storage area he found carpets cabinets and Metal tables for the clinic lab. You have to go to the storage area and screen equipment Bennett says. When you see an item you want you put a freeze on it then follow up with a  Morgan is convinced that morale has improved by creating a better working environment. We had doctors working in offices with world War ii furnishings. Now we be upgraded these with very Good secondhand furniture Morgan said. We be also requisitioned a Safe and dental hand instruments and we have people at the re utilization office looking for things we still need. They Are very helpful. They want to find customers for their inventory because that is a major part of their Mission. I simply Don t understand Why More people Don t tap this service for supplies and  Morgan Points out that most units can justify needs to requisition equipment from the re utilization service. The Lan Stuhl army Hospital is another regular client at the Kaiserslautern office. In the Hospital property management office sgt. Leonard Jonos says furniture is the item that is most often requisitioned from surplus. It s a two Way service. We get a lot of things from the re utilization office. And we also turn into the office a lot of our excess  during a scouting trip to the Kaiserslautern re utilization office. Senior master sgt. Dan Wood a 23-year air Force Veteran said that he s making More use of surplus property than at any time in his career. Now assigned to he. Allied air forces Central Europe a nato command he s made 16 trips to the Kaiserslautern office in search of office equipment and furniture. We Don t always have the funds needed to procure new equipment. Being Able to draw on surplus property really does  Wood said. Furniture and clothing Are popular items Lor customers calling at the re utilization office in Meckenheim Germany. Boy scout and girl scout officials have requisitioned furniture in Stecke theirn. We try to satisfy All kinds of  says Meckenheim manager Matt Plain. Often we get requests Lor equipment that is adapted for other than its original use. This is True of missile components. We be had customers convert missile and communications vans into Mobile offices or Field offices. Sometimes these vans Are used for  Plath says some customers come a Long Way to screen surplus property. We be just put together a shipment for the Navy communications station at Nea Makri Greece he said. Nea Makri sent a Petty officer to Germany to screen surplus equipment. He found quite a number of items in Meckenheim. The shipment included furniture flak jackets for Security police carpet Shampooers mopeds and numerous smaller items. It s really surprising How Many items some customers Are Able to pick up from surplus  the stars and stripes Page 15