This post is a culmination of two news articles, and a History Channel video sample that I just saw today from the Fox News Article, an Army.mil article, and the Youtube clip. At the Anniston, AL depot, there is a machine that has been operating since the 1990s, and is affectionately called, “Captain Crunch”. The purpose of this machine is to completely and absolutely demilitarize any small arms that are sent to it. Emphasis on demilitarizing them into tiny pieces. Apparently over a million small arms have been ran through the machine, much to the complete sorrow and heartfelt pain of collectors all over the country. The reasons for demilitarization are that they are either obsolete, or they are beyond repair. Some of the obsolete stuff gets sent to the CMP South store which is in the same city in Alabama. The workers there say that they see the oddest stuff get sent into the machine, from old small arms to M16A1s.

Although I wish the military would instead break everything down, and just sell the parts, minus the Class III material that could not be sold to the rest of us, it would probably take alot more money and time for the service to hire a team of workers to break everything down, inventory it, and then sell it. It would be nice if they just sold stuff in parts kits like the Russians do with their AKSUs though…. Ahhh Sigh…..