does the us military do it to themselves?

SWINDLING OUR MILITARY

A Brooklyn-based wholesaler took $20 million from the U.S. military and other agencies for counterfeit gear, prosecutors say, including parkas for airmen in Afghanistan designed to counter night-vision goggles. Prosecutors say the knock-offs did not do that.

The U.S. military, government agencies and other purchasers bought more than $20 million worth of Chinese-made counterfeit goods designed to look like domestically produced gear from a company that defrauded the government and helped to orchestrate the counterfeiting process between January 2013 and October 2018, Justice Department officials said last week.

The counterfeit gear included 200 specialized parkas designed to counter night vision goggles that would have been used by U.S. Air Force personnel stationed in Afghanistan.

But the Multicam APECS Parkas sold to an unnamed U.S. Air Force base supply center didn’t actually do that, which could have put troops’ lives at risk.

Those types of parkas use a near-infrared technology woven into the fabric that is designed to make the wearer more difficult for enemy forces to detect with equipment such as night-vision goggles, justice officials said. The counterfeit versions, however, lacked the near-infrared technology, unbeknownst to the wearer.

The sales were in violation of the Berry Amendment and the Trade Agreements Act, which require goods sold to the military and certain government buyers to be manufactured in either the United States or select countries.

China is not one of those countries, justice officials said.

Ramin Kohanbash, 49, and other associates, operated a Brooklyn, New York, clothing and goods wholesaler. He and his associates sent samples of legitimate U.S. military uniforms and gear

Kohanbash instructed, via email, on what changes should be made to the counterfeit goods or their labels, helping to guide the process, according to justice officials

Samples and photographs of tags and labels off the legitimate military gear were allegedly provided and replicated for the knockoff equipment, officials said.

Man charged in scheme to make, sell phony military uniforms

Federal prosecutors in Rhode Island have charged a New York City man with conspiring to manufacture and sell counterfeit clothing and uniforms to the U.S. military.

The counterfeit goods were manufactured in China and then shipped to Kohanbash in the United States. Kohanbash would then sell the gear to “other wholesalers who ultimately marketed and sold them to military and government buyers off as genuine, American-made products,” justice officials said in a news release.

Other than the counterfeit parkas, justice officials said that items they seized made explicit, and false, statements about the product’s safety ratings.

For instance, the labels on counterfeit hoods intended for military and law enforcement personnel stated that the items were “permanently flame resistant,” and that they met a specific industry standard for flame-resistant attire, justice officials said.

The counterfeit hoods were not actually flame resistant, officials added. Prosecutors allege that in some cases, Kohanbash gave those other wholesalers falsified letters of certification that claimed the U.S. military goods were genuine.

Justice officials seized more than 1,700 boxes of counterfeit military uniform items that included ponchos, gloves and fleece jackets.

Kohanbash is scheduled to appear in court on June 12 for an initial appearance on the charges contained in the court filing.

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About Kyle Rempfer

Kyle Rempfer is a staff reporter for Military Times. He trained and served as an Air Force special tactics operator from 2010 to 2015. Kyle's reporting focuses on the unified combatant commands.

For the past two weeks I have been receiving the same article from a number of readers. Until this morning I chose not to bother reading it, but today I did read it.

For the past 20 years I have seen other articles published stating that our military is getting screwed. I have walked away from numerous solicitations because I knew that I would never get the opportunity to bid because my pricing would be too high, why (?) because I am making my products in the good old USA using materials made in the USA and EMPLOYEES WHO ARE AMERICANS. How could I compete?

In some cases the solicitations are written so the brand name is the only brand that can be offered. I have yet to see a solicitation of a Wiggy’s brand sleeping bag stated that it is the only bag you can offer. As an example there is/are no other companies on the planet that make sleeping bags that can be vacuum packed other than Wiggy’s but will the solicitation ever state no substitutions acceptable “NO” even though none exists.

Unfortunately the me/women charged with buying these products are NEVER educated to know and understand that the BERRY AMENDMENT prohibits purchasing Chinese made products. As a point of fact the military as far as I know cannot purchase products that may be made in the USA if they use Chinese components.

We are the most advanced technological industrial complex in the world. The Chinese like the rest of the world is tripping all over themselves trying to catch up to us so what do we do we buy from those who are trying to copy us. Pretty pathetic situation I believe. As far as I know there are military bases that actually buy sleeping bags made with chopped staple polyester fiberfill made in China versus buying sleeping bags and jackets made with Climashield continuous filament fiberfill the best insulation material made in the world and where is it made “the good old USA” of course. But why educate the soldiers so they can learn what to ask for when shown a product. It would take too much effort on the part of the instructors.

I recall being in basic training and a sergeant asked the guys in the stands who went to college? Some raised their hands. He them said all of you who didn’t go to college were to stay seated while those who did could police the area of cigarette butts and learn something. That is an example of how things may still work in the military. I was in in the early 60’s.

Another thing I have learned is that these tech sergeant’s do not know how to use a telephone, it is actually rampant in our culture today. I receive e mails and very often I will write back requesting that I get a phone call. It may take a week for that to happen if it happens at all. The person asking the question (?) s may not know how to conduct a conversation this applies to civilian as well as military personnel.

Recently I have received several calls from potential customers inquiring about the weight of the liner vest. I tell them I have never weighed one. Do these people go into clothing stores with a scale weighing each item they may be interested in buying? Maybe they are interested in getting the lightest warmest vest so they can climb Everest. My large size vest weighs in at a robust 3/8^th of one gram, good for -18 c. The large liner jacket with the addition of the two sleeves brings the weight to 9/8^th of a gram and increases the temperature rating to -27 c.That will allow you to skirt around the Everest lines when going for the summit.

I would not be surprised to learn that some of these people with their death wishes become quite rude pushing ahead of others in their quest to summit.

Of course the host country is so focused on their cash receipts a death here and there is just the cost of admission to potentially commit suicide. 30 years from now I would not be surprised to learn that this person or that person had to accomplish the climb in some heroic manner, who would be there to dispute the events of 30 years earlier?

It is a pity that the companies that market the “no sleep sleeping bags” do not have the benefit of buying and producing sleeping bags as I do with the advantage of buying DOMESTICALLY PRODUCED MATERIALS that are far superior to the Asian crap materials that I am always getting WITHOUT ANY CHEMICAL ADDITIVES. My inventory at this moment in time will allow me to make my bags at the current pricing for the next 6 to 8 months so the pricing will not be changing anytime soon. Actually in 6 to 8 months there may very well be more of this first quality fabric readily available which will keep the pricing where it currently is?

Hope all have had a good weekend. AND the bad guys who screw the US MILITARY GET WHAT THEY DESERVE.