It’s been a cold and blustery start to November in South Jersey, but things at The Storage Inn in Egg Harbor Township New Jersey, are as busy as ever. Yesterday our rental office was buzzing with new customers securing storage units or buying packing supplies, as well as current self storage customers just stopping in to check grab items from their units.
In the middle of all the hustle and bustle in strolled a young man in uniform. I recognized him instantly! It was my nephew, Ryan, on his way home and on leave from the Army, just in time for Veterans Day weekend.
I came around the counter and gave him a big handshake and hug! “You here to store the Army’s arsenal of equipment at The Storage Inn?” I asked laughing.
He just grinned and said,”You would need a lot more space than you’ve got here!”. We had a nice conversation after which we both laughed and promised to visit again before he returned to base.
That got me thinking, I wonder just how much equipment the US military would actually have to store? I did some research…
Manpower
The U.S. Military has over 2,000,000 personnel including active and reserve! (We won’t be storing personnel)
Airpower
Total Aircraft Strength – 13,362. Including over 4,000 fighter and attack aircraft and nearly 6,000 helicopters!
Land
5,884 Combat tanks
38,882 Armored fighting vehicles
950 self-propelled artillery vehicles
795 pieces of Towed Artillery
1,197 Rocket Projectors
Naval
20 Aircraft Carriers
65 Destroyers
10 Frigates
66 Submarines
13 Patrol vessels
11 Minesweepers
So there you have it, the latest published inventory of our United States armed forces equipment.
I saw my nephew Ryan at a family gathering last night and showed him my research, very proud of my facts and figures. He stared at it for a moment, looked up at me and grinned and said “Uncle Jerry, this is just the stuff that you’re allowed to know about”. We laughed as I thanked him for his service, and gave him a big hug before heading home.
Well, my research has certainly taught me one thing… Even though The Storage Inn is the largest self storage facility in the EHT area, we would need a pretty significant major expansion to store all of the military’s items. Happy Veterans Day!
