The Nation - News from April 7, 1986

The Army has wasted millions of dollars of ammunition by budgeting far more than needed and then urging soldiers to fire as many of the bullets, explosives and grenades as possible in training, Army auditors say. Army headquarters tacitly encouraged waste by authorizing $755 million more for training ammunition than units could use--a 35% excess--between 1982 and 1984, the Army Audit Agency said. Army units in Europe were allotted from two to six times more small-arms ammunition in 1985 than they had used in 1984, auditors said in a January report made available to United Press International.