(07-14-2021, 07:47 PM)F2d5thCav Wrote: @"Ninurta"
A lot of Soviet gear and weapons went missing when the Wall fell.
There was an odd period of a couple of years with the Soviets still in eastern Europe and people in the West being freely able to visit.
I took a drive through the former East Germany and had a convoy of HUGE trucks pass me on the other side ... Soviets. Driving through a small town, I saw a café with Soviet soldiers seated outdoors, wearing those ridiculously large service hats they had. Odd times!
Cheers
I expect there were a lot of Eastern Bloc/Warsaw pact items that went missing. East Germany in particular seems to have viewed their former stock as a cash cow for a cash-strapped economy. A few years after the Wall fell, I was buying East German MPiKM-74 magazines for about 3 bucks apiece, and they were all over the place. Now they are going for anywhere from 60 dollars to 130 dollars EACH, with the sweet spot appearing at around 80 dollars each. The most I ever paid for one was 5 bucks, so I could conceivably realize a 1200% return on investment at a minimum if I wanted to sell what I have!
East German mess kits, canteens, even uniforms and coats in their "Rain Pattern" camo was going for a song so that they could generate enough capital to play in the western world they found themselves suddenly in. Gas masks, gas mask cannisters - all going for next to nothing here. I guess they were trying to unload all of their former Warsaw Pact military stock in the expectation of getting new issue from NATO.
Bulgaria and Poland were cutting up their stocks of AKs and selling the cut up guns as "parts kits" for rebuilding in the west by entrepreneurial souls. To a lesser degree, it seems Russia also sold off bits and pieces, but they sold a lot less of it, at much higher prices. For the most part, they seem to have retained most of their Soviet stock, and just changed the patches on the uniforms to reflect their new normal.
It makes me wonder what will become of OUR military stock here when BidenHarris crashes the economy and we collapse, and China steps in to "resupply" us and reform our military in their image...
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’