Which costs more: air-conditioned tents in Iraq/Afghanistan or NASA?

[girl gone mad]

Annual budget for:

Air conditioned tents.... $20 billion.

NASA.... $18 billion.


Sources:

http://www.theworld.org/2010/07/28/military-base-close-to-the-front
http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/index.html

[WCGreen]

1. Jesus H Christ, what a waste of treasure....

[girl gone mad]

10. I listened to the report 3 times..

I just couldn't believe my ears.

[JonLP24]

11. I believe it

The AC in Iraq/Kuwait are powered by generators that you constantly have to refill. Plus lights and many other things are powered by generators. I wonder if generated powered lights is included in the total. We use so much gas out there it is unreal.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. But don't discount the value of technology trickling down ...

We now have air-conditioned tents for our royal weddings.

NASA didn't have that technology.

:hi:

[Dr.Phool]

3. Who has the contracts to supply those tents?

Halliburton, by any chance?

Hello, cat food commission........

[Iterate]

4. For $20 billion NASA could have put air-conditioned tents on Mercury

And to greater effect.

[UndertheOcean]

5. Oh my .

[RC]

6. Air conditioned tents, huh? I wonder how many space heaters are in use in them?

[Blue Owl]

7. JFC

Truth really is stranger than fiction.

[Greyskye]

8. Holy crap!

Nice snapshot of the insane cost of these wars.

[spanone]

9. war trumps everything, doncha know?

[Gin]

12. considering we have been there for 9 plus years...we could have

made permanent structures for the FOB's...if they have flat enough ground to put in tents...quansit huts or something like that could have been brought in... christ...20 billion..

what does NASA need tents for?

[JonLP24]

13. Most troops stay

in buildings and trailers over there. The issue is when they go on the road or from base to base they are going to stay there temporarily and over 90% of the time tents are the only quarters available. The home where the computers and TVs are connected are in permanent structures. The trailers IIRC are powered by generators which the tents are and you have to refill those with gas which is why I imagine they spend so much on AC for tents. I'm speaking about Iraq/Kuwait as I never been to Afghanistan.

On edit-Motor pools and many other places of work have generated power ACs as well.

[girl gone mad]

14. I guess I could have worded that a little better.

NASA's entire annual operating budget is less that the annual tent air conditioning costs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Octafish]

15. Up with NASA.

Down with Warmongers.

Know your BFEE: Money Trumps Peace. Always.

[Odin2005]

17. +1,000,000,000,000,000,000

[Lucky Luciano]

16. I can hear the deficit hawks now...they are furious!

Sorry, my bad - that was my imagination. They don't mind at all.

That is seriously a ridiculous sum of money.

[Odin2005]

18. And yet there are misanthropic whiners complaining that NASA is a waste of money.

:banghead: