Goats at Hill Air Force Base Utah.

[NV555]

I was at Hill Air Force Base yesterday and saw these goats all lined up at the dla lot. It looks like they were being returned and there are currently being processed. I'm not sure what the D Mill code is for a goat and as far as if they're going to be scrapped or sold.

Anyway it was a very pleasant surprise to see the goatherd there at Hill Air Force Base.

 

[NDT]

Hmm, those look like turn ins from forest service fire duty.

 

[frank8003]

And here I was thinkin about Goats right away, Thanksgiving and cars and clearing rights of way.
Yep, I missed it

 

[EasternEmpire]

NDT, you are absolutely correct. The goats at Hill were turned in recently by the Idaho Department of Lands which had acquired them via the Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) program for wildland fire fighting service in the 1980s/1990s. Property acquired under the FEPP program is never owned by the recipient, it is transferred to the US Forest Service which then loans it to the recipient. These goats had been used for many years by the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protection Association based out of Orofino, Idaho, who transported them to Hill in early October. My understanding is that they, sadly, are scheduled for target practice at the Utah Testing and Training Range.




The M925A1 you can see in the background was also recently turned in by IDL. It was acquired two years ago under the DoD Fire Fighter Program (FFP). In this program, the recipient has two years to get an item into service as fire fighting apparatus. After it has been in service for one full year, the recipient owns it outright. This M925A1 was acquired for a rural fire district in central Idaho, but it developed a mechanical issue that wasn't worth fixing before it was put into service so it was turned back in.

 

[aleigh]

"target practice" ugh my heart

 

[NDT]

NDT, you are absolutely correct. The goats at Hill were turned in recently by the Idaho Department of Lands which had acquired them via the Federal Excess Personal Property (FEPP) program for wildland fire fighting service in the 1980s/1990s. Property acquired under the FEPP program is never owned by the recipient, it is transferred to the US Forest Service which then loans it to the recipient. These goats had been used for many years by the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protection Association based out of Orofino, Idaho, who transported them to Hill in early October. My understanding is that they, sadly, are scheduled for target practice at the Utah Testing and Training Range.

View attachment 710379


The M925A1 you can see in the background was also recently turned in by IDL. It was acquired two years ago under the DoD Fire Fighter Program (FFP). In this program, the recipient has two years to get an item into service as fire fighting apparatus. After it has been in service for one full year, the recipient owns it outright. This M925A1 was acquired for a rural fire district in central Idaho, but it developed a mechanical issue that wasn't worth fixing before it was put into service so it was turned back in.

I see your tax dollars hard at work there in the picture, 5 commercial haulers going 587 miles at $4 a mile amounts to almost 12 grand in transportation to turn in goats that no longer have demil codes.

 

[EasternEmpire]

NDT, I know it is always easy to poke fun at the government, which I’m sure never does anything the way you think it should. I would guess the bite in your comment is driven by sadness that these vehicles can’t go into private hands to be preserved instead of shredded on a target range. I share that sadness.

The transports in the photo are not commercial haulers, they are Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association (CPTPA) transports. CPTPA is actually a corporation that protects private, industrial, and state forested lands from wildfire. The state lands that are protected are endowment lands which are managed from a portion of the revenue they produce – point being, there are no tax dollars involved here.

CPTPA had use of these very effective machines for 20+ years. Gamma Goats were very effective in the wildland fire environment – they will go almost anywhere a dozer can. CPTPA saved a lot of money over the years from both not having to buy less capable civilian vehicles and from lower fire suppression costs due to the effectiveness of these machines. The cost to transport these machines to an approved disposal site at the end of their life, which was a known requirement when they were acquired, pales in comparison to the monies saved over the years.

 

[waayfast]

So are any goats from SITPA (Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association)from McCall, Cascade or Boise, going away like this?
Jim

 

[EasternEmpire]

As far as I know, SITPA still has Gamma Goats in service. CPTPA chose to dispose of theirs due to escalating maintenance costs along with the training required to qualify operators. It is very easy for inadequately trained Gamma Goat operators to get themselves and others into dangerous situations.

CPTPA was able to sell the first batch of goats they disposed of a few years back via GSA auction and were looking to go the same route with this second, last, batch. Unfortunately, direction at the Federal level changed and this path was the only one available for disposal. The only other option would be for the goats to sit in the CPTPA lot rotting and taking up valuable space.

 

[NV555]

Thank you for the info.