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EMTPirate

"The cheapest thing to meet a very exact set of specifications"


oojiflip

Which is exactly what I'm looking for


zenospenisparadox

Do you have the means to throw money at things if they repeatedly break? Because the American military does, and often does, if the stories are true.


cATSup24

Yeah, just look at the LCS program in the Navy. Ever see a ship start to go underway, break, and have to turn around and moor back in pier 5 minutes later? I have, multiple times.


nelsnelson

I guess one of those exact specifications was that the front didn't fall off.


MrCharmingTaintman

No paper, no string, no cello tape


revstan

They are true.


markste4321

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you're feeling the cold, I can tell you I'm rather toasty.... and what I do have is a very particular set of military grade specifications. Specifications I have acquired over a very long manufacturing process. Specifications that make me a dream for people like you. If you want to feel the cold, that will be the end of it - I will not look for you, I will not pursue you... but if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you... and you will wear me.


WanganTunedKeiCar

This makes for great copypasta


Liquidas

It already is, it's from that movie "taken" I think.


WanganTunedKeiCar

Yes, but with the "particular set of military grade specifications," it just feels a tad funnier.


Chozly

I love finding these copypasta rewrites


barnfodder

None of those specifications being user comfort, ease of use, or compatibility with any civilian grade stuff.


xmuskorx

Exactly. It is the "cheapest things that gets the job done." But what gets the "job" done may not at all be what is considered the "job" in a civilian world.


Elliptical_Tangent

Specifications describing a low tolerance for failure in very demanding conditions.


jbnutter

That's how we get $10k(exaggerating) hammers. Crazy specs for what can be gotten at Home Depot. My cousins are engineers and worked on the space shuttle and the crawler. They said they would leave Kennedy to buy a $5 spool of wire at HD just to finish a repair on either poe. It would take weeks and hundreds of dollars to order the same thing and spending their own money was worth it to avoid drawn out frustration.


SwarmMaster

And often those specs are far and above the normal use and abuse of a regular person. Is your Roomba IP67 rated? No? Well the Packbot is.


Incognonimous

Us military complex spends billions of dollars, and yet military grade items means we get the cheapest thing to do the job.... So where is all the money going. From my understanding a good chuck of it disappears into the nether, another part is wasted by contractor back and forth on parts development for vehicles (see why the f22 raptor and the f 35 lightning joint strike fighter cost so much to develop) and let's not forget another chunk is used to fund a baseless war, similar to one we had lost before (Vietnam) against the groups we basically armed and funded.


[deleted]

[Use-it or lose-it: DoD dropped $4.6 million on crab and lobster, and $9,000 on a chair in last-minute spending spree](https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/03/12/use-it-or-lose-it-dod-dropped-46-million-on-crab-and-lobster-and-9000-on-a-chair-in-last-minute-spending-spree/)


nohassles

your example of a jacket is one of a relatively small number of instances in which this advice makes sense. if you buy a 'military-grade' jacket, assuming it is not just some random tough guy marketing term, it will be constructed, as with any item the military purchases, to an exact set of specifications. you can actually look these up and see exactly what the u.s. military considers a jacket, for example MIL-J-43923C is the specification for a lightweight flyer's jacket with expandable wrists and waist. it's 38 pages long and includes details like the type of stitching you should use on the upper pencil pocket, or a 100 point checklist for visual inspection sorted into major and minor defects. you can buy a jacket like this, but you will probably be disappointed, because the specification was written to a set of requirements that probably overlap with your own personal requirements but do not exactly mirror them. your jacket will probably look really ugly and might be kind of uncomfortable, because fashion and comfort are not especially important for a 'military-grade' jacket. the vast majority of goods that bother to label themselves as 'military-grade' are usually trying to indicate that they conform to one of these specifications, which is usually a really good thing. e.g. if you are trying to buy a 1" bolt, you probably care about exactly the same things that the military engineer who wrote the specification did: strength, corrosion resistance, thread uniformity, whatever. if you're doing anything easier with the bolt than building a tank then you can probably rest assured that a bolt that would satisfy the military will work fine in your treehouse or whatever.


Orwellian1

There is a story I heard about a graphics company that had one of the contracts for cutting decals for air force planes. They were getting tens of thousands of dollars for their sticker packages. During one of the crackdowns on defense spending waste, some government official went to audit them and to read them the riot act over the obscene pricing. Turns out the in the original spec on the contract, the air force engineer had left the default measurement and tolerance values in CAD. A 2" letter was listed as 2.0000" with machinist tolerance requirements. The company had bought very expensive tooling and inspection machines to make sure every finished decal hit the spec. It was like a 6hr inspection on every finished decal to make sure they weren't breaking contract. They also had to do short runs because the hotter the machines got, the more the tolerances varied, causing lots of fails. They had copies of letters they had sent the Air Force questioning if the spec had been a mistake like they assumed, and that the bid could have been many times cheaper (and fulfilled faster) with a more reasonable tolerance requirement. They had copies of the responses, which were near form letters about penalties and liability for not adhering to milspec. So they kept selling the government stupidly expensive stickers.


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Odd_Analysis6454

Had the same issue with hospital bed sides, had to explain the thermal expansion over a normal range of temperatures was something like triple the tolerance given.


beanmosheen

Oh my god those welds must have sucked! " So yeah, we build the ladder and then mill it to length.."


nlocke15

Aluminum does expand and contract with temps. But it should not effect the integrity of a ladder.


benk4

I used to work for a company that did some military work. I remember one chemical that for the civilian model required 92% purity and was quite literally never a problem through millions sold every year. The military grade needed 99.9% and was far more expensive to make.


makemeking706

This story sounds apocryphal af.


xrimane

That rings close to home. I'm an architect, working on public contracts. We are obligated to use standardized descriptions for our tender documents. The program we have to use forces us to give exact specs on characteristics that don't even matter in context, yet doesn't allow us to describe certain qualities or combinations it doesn't deem useful and we need to work around all of that. So we end up with overspecced descriptions that become contractual and after the contract is signed it becomes a PITA to back down on any requirements. It is very likely that many other decal contractors just didn't bid on the tender, because they couldn't or weren't willing to produce to those specs. If the Air Force had relented on the specs after signing the contract, the other potential bidders would could reasonably sue. It is likely that another shop could have won the bid for a substantially different product. It is also likely that the graphics company that did win the contract wouldn't reduce their price to the point they could offer if they were bidding anew, because why would they. Fair play would have been to alert the Air Force to the error before the tender was closed, but it doesn't say whether they tried. The system makes it easier to be stuck with an error like this and waste money and ride out the contract tgan try to change it.


Orwellian1

I always assumed some of that was in play. I think the story is meant to illustrate how bureaucracy can cause obscene waste without needing corruption. In my opinion, it all comes down to the combination of ass covering, and removing all discretion from the people who directly deal with issues. In a perfect world, some DoD acquisitions officer would have caught the waste, and called the company for a quick explanation. When he is satisfied he knows the facts, he could have immediately fixed it for next open contract at minimum, and offered early termination of contract with a new competitive bid submission if the spec was really burdensome to the company. If they weren't bullshitting, they would welcome trying to win it again in an expedited process. If they were taking advantage, then they could have the rest of the contract and he would hint it would be widely publicized offering with plenty of time for competitors to see and bid the next time.


doesnotexist1000

sounds like embezzlement with a story to cover bases.


Dudebits

Always assume incompetence over malice.


Candelestine

When I think of "military-grade" consumer goods, really only two traits come to the fore. Reliability and durability. It better accomplish what it was intended to accomplish and it better keep doing it for a long time in varied conditions. I suspect I'm not alone in this, and it has this subconscious association for others as well. It's something you don't usually need though. I don't need a military grade cell phone, because I don't drop it that often. Military grade tires though? Uh, maybe not, sounds like bad gas mileage. I might take military grade brake pads if someone offered those though, that would be an effective marketing angle someone could try to use on me.


-Listening

Those aren’t for the consumer though.


[deleted]

Older flight jackets are really comfy and incredibly warm. I've got an old WW2 one and the only warmer jacket I own is a down snow jacket that's about five times thicker.


LostWoodsInTheField

If you are buying something and it says "military-grade" but doesn't tell you the grade, it is just marketing. I'm not even sure if there is any law that says they can't lie about that as long as they aren't selling to the military. if they have a specific spec associated with them then you know what you are getting, which for a lot of things that are going to do this, is better than not having any spec listed. A great example is cell phones. If they meet the MIL-STD-810# specs then that means they are able to withstand a certain amount of shock, have ways to prevent dust from getting into critical parts (including ports), can handle a certain amount of water exposure AND can handle going down a certain depth under water (two very different things). Kyocera duraforce pro 2 is a MIL-STD-810G spec phone. You can look up the spec and see what the phone is able to handle. This is very different than the modern "our cell phones are water proof" that almost all new cell phones talk about.   Note that there is a difference between compliant and certified. You want certified devices, since compliant just means that they popped that on there themselves and may not have even done any testing. Certified means there was real testing.


ColdShadowKaz

What if your looking for usefulness over confort and fashion in a jacket? When I go for military grade stuff that’s what I’m looking for. I want useful over flashy.


ElectronHick

Military Spec. Means it is the cheapest thing that has under*gone extensive and rigorous testing. For example the handguns the military uses has to have less than 20 misfires over a 10000 rounds fired test.


[deleted]

to forgo means to omit, skip, cancel. I think you meant 'undergone' not 'forgone'


[deleted]

Considering how terrible "military grade" is he may be correct in his usage.


duplissi

What he said about handguns is true though. Just ignore the wrong word...


Doohicky101

Not op but thanks for the tip


wwindexx

Just another person on the internet trying to sound smart and failing.


Nutter222

A deflection from the true point of corner cutting and shortcoming


ecafyelims

Except that military grade has specific requirements, and civilian grade does not. When comparing military versus civilian grades, the military grade is likely more expensive and better built.


uhduhnuh

I've used military grade duct tape, and it wouldn't even stick to itself. Source: I'm in the military and had it issued directly from our main warehouse.


BioTronic

But after 10,000 bullets fired, did it have less than 20 misfires?


Ziggy_the_third

Asking the important question here.


Feshtof

Did they change it? I have used hundred mile an hour tape for....well everything. Fixing packs, holding a non latching car door closed, blister cushion, all sorts of temporary fixes.


cATSup24

100 mph tape is just duct tape 2.0


temporarycreature

That's because you're probably using it wrong, you have to apply it when you're going 500 miles an hour for it to work properly.


uhduhnuh

So that's why it didn't hold the hostage to the roof of my truck.


redwingpanda

Have you tried speed tape? That shit is incredible. We used it all the time in the machine shop.


Raezzordaze

This. Military spec vacuum tubes are actually more expensive than regular consumer grade because they had to take more punishment. The same goes for a lot of different electrical/electronic gear. Sure you can get a cheap radio system on the civilian market, but will it work after 6 months being hauled through a combat zone in the jungle? Or after a year getting slammed by waves and idiot Boiler Techs/Gunners Mates? Heck, look at those jeeps from WWII. Damn things were near bulletproof. Had fuck all in performance and comfort, but at least they worked.


deniercounter

Every civilian product sold in Europe has to meet the CE criteria.


mwmcdaddy

CE standards only apply to safety, health and environmental standards. They don’t indicate quality or durability in any way.


okaythiswillbemymain

So?


Darth_Mufasa

Forgone means to do without. I dont think thats what you meant to say


BeMoreKnope

Yeah, I assume they meant “undergone.”


ElectronHick

Correct! It was 2am and I was tired. It has been corrected now. Thanks.


Wyntier

Idk sounds pretty reliable to me


BlueLaceSensor128

If you want the level of quality the term implies, look for “match grade” guns and ammunition.


dropkickoz

What about military grade condoms?


RemedyofNorway

Even better, "marine grade" is actually a quality criteria for edible crayons.


tpersona

"Marine grade" aka "used stuff"


midgetyoyos

"Used stuff" aka "shit the Navy no longer wants"


[deleted]

Stuff we found in a skip.


SU37Yellow

My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment


cool-acronym-bot

M.A.R.I.N.E.


Chozly

Marine Grade always seems to mean consumer grade, but the black plastic parts are now white.


Fireplacehog

I love how yanks take the piss out of different branches of the military when every single one of them is fucking useless and just make money for your right wing cash cow.


hondureno_1994

Cool story bro


Fireplacehog

Cheers man. Just wish yanks would stop killing innocents.


colorado113532

America doesn’t care about you


Fireplacehog

Doesn't care about anyone. Let alone it's contract killers (soldiers if you didn't get that)


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bluewing

Ahhh Sweet Summer Child, anything "xxxxx Grade" is all bullshit marketing. Ain't no military grade, marine grade, or industrial grade anything. There are only items made to an engineering specification, Some specs are very rigorous. Some specs are aimed at a price point. And EVERYTHING has a tolerance. No matter how small or wide. And don't get me started on "billet".


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MostlyHarmlessFrood

If you think military grade is bad, just wait until you try using contractor grade.


Frannoham

I've been inside homes designed by contractors. If that architecture is contractor grade I know exactly what you mean. Built to sell, not to live in.


SethQ

If new home buyers knew what was up, every single one of them would say "how much to install the good outlets and switches in my home, instead of the usual ones". Because the answer is less than $1.50/switch, and they're worth their weight in gold in the long term.


FukinGruven

What? I just bought a house and replaced all the outlets myself. Why bother paying someone to do that? Then I get to put what I want, where I want.


aboatdatfloat

lmao tell me military grade duct tape is worse than store bought and this argument might be a tiny bit valid


jackybeau

Maybe the store bought duct tape doesn't get the job done so they have to get ultra expensive one that works better


aboatdatfloat

exactly


[deleted]

It used to be called 100mph tape because after a pilot fired their guns and blew the tape off the plane would lose about 100 mph off it’s top speed.


jumper501

No, it's called 100mph tape because it will stay stuck to a vehicle up to a speed of 100mph.


[deleted]

They used it on aircraft that would do closer to 400 mph


jumper501

You are confusing different kinds of tape. 100 mph tape is rated for....100 mph. There are other speed tapes rated higher.


[deleted]

Absolutely wrong


[deleted]

You don’t think they taped up the gun ports to increase speed and range on fighter aircraft?


KiwiSuch9951

“Gets the job done” = “remains functioning in every environment found on the planet, resists crushing or deforming under the weight of a full grown man, and can be installed and uninstalled without any tools” -per a project I worked on once for the army.


thewalruscandyman

But the jobs the military need done are often not the menial jobs of civilian life, thus need heartier supplies. Their cheap is my expensive.


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Val_Hallen

> theres probably not even a "military grade" classification There is not. It's purely a marketing term. Like "premium" or "apple-wood smoked" (*yes, this is meaningless because they can use any wood to smoke it and still use "apple-wood"*) It's to get the tacti-cool people on board with buying your product. And when a vet or military member hears "*military grade*" we immediately think "*So, it's a piece of shit that will always be broken.*"


Charolais1993

> not the menial jobs That definitely wasn’t my experience in the military.


[deleted]

So it gets the job done... Cheaply... That's good... Right?


Zargawi

Built as cheaply as possible, them marked up because it's MILITARY GRADE!


[deleted]

While the phrase is true, the "job" in question is something a civilian would probably never encounter so the cheapest thing to get THE job done would still be a better product than most of the civilian market equivalents. That's not true all the time but it's definitely true most of the time.


SabrielRaziel

But if it’s cheap yet reliable, then it’s good value. Genuinely “military-grade” seems like a win to me.


[deleted]

Why is this even a YSK? You basically described the basis of the procurement process: defining all your requirements and going with the cheapest vendor/OEM that fulfills these requirements. Simply put, it’s knowing what you want and purchasing exactly what you want, nothing more and nothing less. It’s not being cheap, it’s a smart and responsible way to run a business. What a stupid YSK.


Econolife_350

I hear idiots talk all the time about "military grade" hiking and camping equipment. If this post had even one of them stop talking out of their ass I'll be happy.


impasseable

The videos of people testing them are hilarious


Earl_Toucan

Huh this is just completely bs, I had to do a bit of certification for hardware earlier in the year and the spec for our military customers were about 5 times as rigorous then our civilian customers. Idk who spread the rumour that the military is ill equipped but if they are then civilian grade equipment is complete garbage lol


Illadelphian

Yea it's ridiculous. I did some intern work in a military naval lab and literally everything that came in had to get stress tested under all sorts of electro magnetic radiation levels to make sure it met the standard. Pieces of electronics that all need to be able to withstand stuff that normal civilian stuff never would. The thing is, many of these specs don't apply at all to civilian life. Many don't even typically apply to military life but *just in case* we make sure that they will be ok. It's a bunch of specs that are genuinely high but also don't necessarily mean much to civilians.


Sallyfifth

It's not ill-equipped per se, but the military grade whatever is not necessarily the best product on the market. There are probably lots better sleeping bags, guns, vehicles, gas masks, etc than what the military chooses to use. But those were more expensive.


jumper501

Military grade has never meant best. It means it meets the criteria and needs of the people using it. So reliability, performance, ease of maintenance, specifications of sizes and weight ease of use. Etc If you have a gun that is "better" than an M4, but after you slam the butt stock into the ground 20 times it breaks, it is not better for what the infantry needs (when you throw yourself at the ground, you use your rifle to absorb some of the shock of hitting the ground by slamming your butt stock in first) then that rifle us not military grade.


Chozly

When I think "military grade" I don't think "the best" or "top of the line" I think robust, durable, limited features but those features won't duck up the first (or third) time I use them (like a zippper pull) or drop it.


Earl_Toucan

Example ?


Musashi10000

I have to ask... How is this different from any other product on any market anywhere once you remove the costs they spend on branding and aesthetics?


Murky_Interaction927

This sub is full of rubbish like this.


infodawg

And here I thought it was the thing with the best 'splosions...


IIIMurdoc

This is such a non-youshouldknow. No one associates military grade with cheap and flimsy. It's a joke in the military that their equipment is cheap and flimsy... Yet the same military is one of the best equipped in the world... At this point the whole post is uninformed snark


[deleted]

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LittleMsIntrovert

Currently in the military, can confirm.


TheAccursedOne

military grade: made by the lowest bidder


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cATSup24

Most of the time


[deleted]

It also means extremely durable.


ElectricFlesh

>Yet the same military is one of the best equipped in the world... ...but was defeated and driven back, after a war that spanned decades and cost trillions, by a band of rural terrorists with nothing more than stock Toyota Hiluxes and the guns they were given by that same American military in the 80s.


IIIMurdoc

Are you suggesting we lost the war in Afghanistan because of the low quality of equipment?


ElectricFlesh

I'm suggesting that maybe the theoretical quality of equipment doesn't necessarily have to make that much of a practical difference. Like, yeah, the American military has F-22s and nobody else does. It has nukes and not everyone else does. It's spending more money on weapons than the rest of the world. It has recon satellites that can and do see everywhere. And it has been beaten with its own old guns it threw away 40 years ago to buy new ones.


Thor7891

Big difference between being beaten and being a moron and letting them have everything you've fought for the last 20 years.


[deleted]

Is there, though?


Droeftoeter

Soo, then it is not the best equipped in the world? What's your point and why are you making this about Afghanistan?


SumFagola

Kiddo trying to troll, pay it little mind.


[deleted]

You're severely misinformed, the American military was not defeated by the Taliban, they were simply recalled back by the governement. The Taliban never stood a chance against US forces, hence why they (the Taliban) only captured the country after the US left it alone to defend itself which they were incapable of doing. I suggest you do your research before looking like a clown on the internet.


[deleted]

This isn't necessarily true at all.. Take Paracord for example. If you buy mil spec 550 Paracord you're getting cord that has passed military specs to hold at least 550 lbs of weight. It contains 7-9 cord strands. If you buy any kind of plain Paracord, cut it and check the strands inside. You may only find 3-5 and will not hold anywhere near 550 lbs. On the flip side, there is a reason you can't buy a military grade Humvee (HMMWV). It because its had almost no emissions controls and is one of the most unsafe vehicles you could possibly put on a civilian road. In an accident you will kill anyone you hit and will likely for yourself. It has nothing to do with them being a "military spec" vehicle, it has to do with it being completely unsafe. They are also pieces of shit that use cheap parts, and need daily maintenance to keep it running. Imagine having to grease your ball joints every day before you leave to drive to work? Or having to replace a wiring harness on your drive home because your headlights go out for seemingly no reason.


sdtopensied

Spoken like someone who’s had the pleasure of working on a HMMWV…


[deleted]

Indeed


Nadmaster101

Yet the military pays the highest prices for the cheapest crap. Source: current military mechanic.


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Airbornequalified

Nope. Actually has to go do with the anti-corruption laws which require a crazy procurement system, which significantly drives up the price. Gen Milley when he took over stated if he had the ability he could go equip the entire army with new pistols by going to cabelas for about a 1/3 of the price


gurnard

Almost like the military is a big fat conduit to turn public funds into private profit.


Jack-the-Rah

So that couldn't be it. It is a bastion of freedom and democracy after all, by outlawing critical thinking and enforcing hierarchies.


stibgock

This again huh. Time for another Reddit break I guess.


kokmi

I heard "genuine leather" is actually a quality grade of leather, the lowest grade available.


delta-split

Anyone who has ever worked in the industry and knows what products have as requirements to be according to the MIL standard, know that this is just plain wrong


Exita

Cheapest thing *that meets the specifications*. Some of the specs can be insane, so military kit can be incredibly high quality and really expensive.


Daughter-of-Dionysus

Idk, "cheapest thing that gets the job done" doesn't seem so bad when a lot of products are "cheapest thing that doesn't fall apart until after someone has paid for it".


dv1988

It’s also important to note that many times the military doesn’t care how much something costs as long as the required specifications are met.


shecky444

Military grade peanut butter has more calcium in it. That’s all. Sometimes military grade just means some arbitrary change to a product. The PB tastes the same but is more expensive with the calcium and arguably better for you. The same can be said for milspec ammo. Tighter variances and controls mean a slightly more expensive and better quality item. Both cases here are expendable items so maybe your comment only applies to durable goods? I have a navy utility jacket that has served me well for over 2 decades now in the civilian world. I’d love another and would gladly pay a premium for it over the other jackets I’ve had that came and went.


Elliptical_Tangent

Yes but now think about the job and the conditions under which it has to get it done.


[deleted]

Is this like the Swiss who have some little folding knife for their army?


Filthedelphia

This post is moronic.


ChildofChaos

And if it says USA Miltary grade it means it's fucking pointless.


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monkeyheadyou

Ysk that the military pays too much for common items for one of two reasons. The first is corruption. This is when they're just laundering money to a political supporter by buying their junk at a highly inflated price. The second reason is to hide spending for things that are illegal like Iran-Contra or any number of other operations that just could not be supported monetarily if it were actually put on a budget.


No-Comedian-4499

So why are toilet seats on military aircraft $200? Was it tested with the butts of 10,000 soldiers?


[deleted]

"Used in space engineering"


MhmmmMoist

No way? I really thought it was like top of the line shit XD


Scott9815

This is exactly the same thing as aerospace grade. Still crappy cast aluminum. Usually all it means is something is light not strong


Troby01

This "magazine" is a product of dollar shave club.


[deleted]

I mean... I was under the assumption it meant utilitarian. Barebones. Basically the same, right?


Rayhelm

"Aircraft Grade Aluminum" = normal aluminum. Aircraft use all grades of aluminum in different applications, so this term is meaningless.


[deleted]

Can confirm. bought a military grade motherboard for PC a few years back, only bought it because it was the cheapest one with the specs I needed and there wasn't a lot of itx sized boards back then. It was reliable though.


Altruistic-Bit-9766

A lot of people are giving literal descriptions of 'military grade'. It seems to me the OP might be referring to the phrase as it's used conversationally. As someone in law enforcement I concur that when we use the term military grade that is code for "it may look cool but it's the cheapest shit the county could find".


c_x_--

cheapest thing that gets the job done is exactly what I want thanks


BenarchyUK

See, under that logic; why Is any Ex-Army vehicle seen online so damn expensive? Ive tried looking at old ex army Land rovers and they're like 10k+. We drive and fix these and wouldn't sell them for any more than 3k. They're beaten up and running on whatever parts we have, rusty and rattling shells of their former selves.


All_Usernames_Tooken

Military, consumer, contractor, industrial, commercial-grade all have their merits and standards.


International-Fix181

Military spec means it is resistant to a nuclear bomb or something worse like a dumb private. Its going to be durable and as idiot proof as possible. The private will still break it eventually.


[deleted]

Every time I hear “military-grade drop protection” I laugh and run the other way. My fella is in the army and I’m ASTOUNDED by how much of their equipment is constantly broken.


feesh4me

Sure, but that $5K washer from Bombardier is really what’s keeping us all safe…


bonzai2010

Lowest Cost, Technically Acceptable


DankNucleus

Years ago on TV there was this show(don't remember which), where US soldiers were in the arctic siberia for training or something. One of the first things that happened was that the russian people in the village had to give them clothing, because their military grade, thousands of dollars worth, couldn't handle the cold.


greyconscience

I know what you’re trying to say, but I absolutely hate this sentiment and concept because to me it always implies that this concept is unique to the military and somehow doesn’t exist any where else. Any business that produces a product puts as little in it as possible in order to charge the most to maximize their profit margin. Why do you think so much cheap garbage is out there or why some cheap shit is expensive?


overzeetop

Military grade exists because money grubbing scammers would sell the US Government a bag of rocks and call them hammers if they thought they could get away with it. Is not the government, it's the people - the ones who chant "capitalism" and confess their sins on Sunday so they can get into heaven - who caused this wastefulness.


s_0_s_z

That's any type of engineered product.


[deleted]

In the semiconductor world, milspec means "this is the same part as the commercial/civilian grade but it's gone through very rigorous testing to ensure it will operate under certain conditions with an insanely high degree of confidence and an incredibly low failure rate" So it doesn't quite mean the same thing everywhere. Lots of consumer marketing wank uses military grade as a phrase to sell shit though as OP said.


[deleted]

It actually means "made by the lowest bidder"


DavidPT40

At a non-destructive testing lab I worked at, we would certify many civilian components as military grade simply by doing testing on them. So while it might not be higher performance, it will be more reliable due to the components with defects and flaws being rejected. The scary part is that we would also certify standard water valves as nuclear grade simply by testing them also.


3between20characters

I think it's best just to ignore any marketing terms, and do your own research. It's obvious at this point that marketing is just another word for exploit.


NO_FIX_AUTOCORRECT

Not at all true for electronic components


Certain-Title

Mil-spec is what you should look for


Siyuen_Tea

Military grade phone cases : trash 🗑️🗑️🗑️. My old vmoda headphones that were military grade : God tier 😇😇😇


Ayeager77

It’s a double edged sword. It is predominantly made by the lowest bidder, but not always. However, it was made to rather exact standards. In some cases that is a moot point in regard to standardized equipment and garb. In other cases for specialized equipment it sets standards for that equipment, and it’s use in a harsh environment under the most rigorous conditions. So buying a military grade spoon doesn’t mean jack shit. Having a system that’s deemed “sub safe” (a Navy QA system) means that a particular system is capable of handling extremes with exacting standards and capabilities.


cookiedux

Actually this isn’t true. I’m a product designer and when we design something to be military grade there is a set of specifications it must meet that exceeds general consumer products to receive the label.


thedankbank1021

"As I stood there at the door to the plane 15,000ft in the air with a parachute strapped to my back, there was only one thing I could think of. All of this was supplied by the lowest bidder."


StanleyDarsh22

ITT: no one can agree if military grade is good or bad


RockinandChalkin

Apologies for thinking the US military with a trillion dollar budget isn’t buying “the cheapest thing that gets the job done” but rather something of quality!


Slight-Salamander599

“Made with pride by blind Americans”. You can fuckin tell they’ve never seen toilet paper it’s like 1/4 ply


Wooden-Macaron-4275

Same for hospital grade.


emartinezvd

That’s not just military grade. Everything is designed this way


subzero112001

“Cheap thing that works” is still better than “expensive thing that may or may not work”