Guys, I was in the USAF from '76 until early retirement in '96. One of my strangest memories is how staff cars and military police vehicles in the early '80s were those stupidly ugly Chrysler K-cars. The military bought them and shipped them all over the world.
How did that happen in a competitive bidding environment?
The way all this went down is that Lee Iacoca took over Chrysler in an earlier financial crisis and to avoid bankruptcy, took a government bail-out. At least Lee was honorable enough to work for a dollar per year until Chrysler paid off that loan. So how did that transpire?
Reagan, unbeknowst to the public, apparently dictated that the military was going to purchase these ugly, unreliable K-cars for every transportation purpose short of emergency response and actual military applications. Of course, K-cars were cheap.
What do you think would happen to the hybrid/EV revolution if President Obama (I now love typing that) issued such a directive to get the ball rolling? I propose that any military transportation need that isn't combat related be mandated to use hybrid and/or EV technologies. This creates economies of scale to benefit us consumers, the US auto industry and simultaneously reduces military operating costs!
Increase military spending? then stimulate the economy and promote energy independence with my tax dollars!