# How can you lose 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 missile launchers?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 27, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805 "2003-05-27T17:11:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/1 "2003-05-27T17:11:28Z")
How can you lose 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 missile launchers?
The pentagon managed to.
[Story](http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,960922,00.html)
So the Pentagon can’t even keep track of freaking planes and tanks, and now wants more money (which doesn’t include cost of Iraq war or Homeland Security). WTF? How can you not know where planes are? They’re huge! So are tanks! and i won’t even go into how scary it is that missile launchers have vanished!
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### Author:  [@Zunite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zunite)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/2 "2003-05-27T17:16:58Z")
My guess is that they probably “built” the planes and funded other projects they didn’t want to list with the money.
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### Author:  [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/3 "2003-05-27T17:18:32Z")
Did they look behind the sofa?
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### Author:  [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/4 "2003-05-27T17:20:41Z")
Did the Pentagon check between the couch cushions? That’s where I always find things that seemed to have mysteriously disappeared.
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/5 "2003-05-27T17:20:48Z")
I’m sure they’ll find a way to blame al qaeda.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/6 "2003-05-27T17:21:38Z")
Wow, that’s a straight line if I ever heard one.
_“How can you lose 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 missile launchers?”_
1. “Hey, it was dark.”
2. “Have you looked behind the sofa?”
3. “Hey, _you_ try it sometime!”
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### Author:  [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/7 "2003-05-27T17:22:34Z")
Damn you **gobear**!
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### Author:  [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/8 "2003-05-27T17:25:56Z")
Psst, don’t tell anybody, but I got 'em. The home owners assosciation has been pissing me off and I’m planning a coup. Nobody, but _nobody_ insults my lawn ornaments. My army of garden gnomes will dance to the lamentations of their women while I rule with an iron fist.
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/9 "2003-05-27T17:29:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Zunite \*
> \*\*My guess is that they probably “built” the planes and funded other projects they didn’t want to list with the money. \*\*
Can anyone say Aurora? 😛
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/10 "2003-05-27T17:39:35Z")
Is anyone else scared by **Monkey With 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 missile launchers**?
For the serious answer, I wouldn’t be suprised if it was funds used elsewhere.
I loved _Spies Like Us_
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### Author:  [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/11 "2003-05-27T18:10:21Z")
I think they spent all of the money on black helicopters that circle my house projecting mind control beams into my cat’s head.
I’ve spent over ten dollars this year making tinfoil helmets for Mister Jack, my cat. He loves them.
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### Author:  [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/12 "2003-05-27T18:18:28Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by NoClueBoy \*Is anyone else scared by **Monkey With 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 missile launchers**?
Ummm
No comment.
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### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/13 "2003-05-27T18:21:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by NoClueBoy \*
> \*\*
> I loved _Spies Like Us_ \*\*
do you think the planes are all being used to be dropped headfirst into the ground with two guys in the cockpit?
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### Author:  [@zigaretten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zigaretten)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/14 "2003-05-27T18:32:15Z")
First, the Army didn’t lose 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 missile launchers; they had 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36 missile launchers too many.
Second, since this comes from congressional testimony which was given on **May 9, 2000** , I’d say the _Guardian_ is a little bit behind the times.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/15 "2003-05-27T18:37:34Z")
Funny!
But actually, **Tars** , I think they don’t exist. At least not outside of the paper work.
Call me paranoid, I have no cite, I have a tin foil hat myself… But, I firmly believe in graft and corruption in government and the military.
Throw in big business and most organized religion and you’ll come to see me as the Heinlein type of guy I am in real life.
TANSTAAFL
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### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/16 "2003-05-27T18:40:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by zigaretten \*
> \*\*Second, since this comes from congressional testimony which was given on **May 9, 2000** , I’d say the _Guardian_ is a little bit behind the times. \*\*
imagine all they’ve “lost” since then!:eek:
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/17 "2003-05-27T18:40:57Z")
Oh, damn!
**zigaretten** goes and throws in a bunch of facts about the real story to ruin my paranoia hijack.
[sulk]
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### Author:  [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/18 "2003-05-27T19:15:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by NoClueBoy \*
> \*\*Oh, damn!
>
> **zigaretten** goes and throws in a bunch of facts about the real story to ruin my paranoia hijack.
>
> [sulk] \*\*
Keep talking like that and you’ll have to turn over your tinfoil, my friend. This is even better for paranoia.
Missing tanks and planes and missiles (oh my!) can be explained in a number of easy and believable ways, ranging from losses in deniable operations through to bored soldiers deciding to see how long it would take to bury an entire tank in sand.
The mysterious APPEARANCE of equipment, on the other hand, provides wonderful fuel for speculation ranging from the Shadow Government’s Really Really Secret Army forgetting to take them back when they were done doing Really Sneaky Things under cover of a standard military operation through to The Alien Masters salting Earth’s Last And Best Defence with artifacts of their own design that only LOOK like standard issue stuff but do Mysterious Things whenever they receive their instructions from the Secret Moon Base.
Throw in some references to the Montauk Project, Chemtrails, Denver International Airport, and the Freemasons, add a few more unnecessary capital letters, and you’re there with a pretty good whacko conspiracy theory.
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### Author:  [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/19 "2003-05-27T19:30:03Z")
Sadly I think some of these ‘lost’ items may have been secretly diverted to other governments.
In news I can almost prove I used to live near an arms manufacturing plant. As expected they accounted for EVERY item. You couldn’t get away with stealing a hand grenade because they expect so many boxes from a production run and a box would be short but if a WHOLE CASE is missing well then someone must have just written down the wong number on this form here, I’ll just scratch out 39 and pencil in 38, that’s gotta be right cause there ain’t no way you can steal a whole case right?
(some of the parties involved got busted for using some rather questionalble fishing techniques)
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### Author:  [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2003, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-lose-56-airplanes-32-tanks-and-36-missile-launchers/177805/20 "2003-05-27T20:12:21Z")
If one of the missing tanks is an M48, I have a pretty good idea where it is. It’s sitting at the back of a tank park at Camp Funston, Fort Riley, KS. As least that is where it was in August 1965, when the 2/4 Cav shipped to Vietnam and left a spare behind.
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