Army Lays Tanks for Troops, Receives Earbuds Instead

At a secret bunker headquarters in Washington D.C., where Navy SEALs, Army Rangers and Air Force pilots hang out to play Call of Duty while discussing their fitness routines, a horrified silence fell over the room. Why, you ask? No, SEAL Team Six hadn't lost a virtual team deathmatch. The cause of the disturbance was a simple little box.

Inside this tiny cardboard box (which ironically, had a doodle of a tank on its side), were not new keys to shiny M1 Abram Tanks, not a stash of top secret, world-altering blueprints, not even the much-demanded office coffee supplies, but a massive surplus of...M1 Earbuds. Yep, you heard it right, folks. Earbuds. The kind you use to tune out your chatty fellow passengers on the 8:15 a.m. subway commute, not the kind you use to obliterate enemy lines.

After an initial wave of shock and confusion among the gathered officers, a slightly sheepish General was overheard exclaiming, "I was wondering why they only cost $10.99 each on Amazon…". There was a muffled laugh, but that was quickly squashed as the gravity of the situation sunk in - 5,000 pieces of M1 earbuds, enough to outfit a small island nation were now the army's hottest paraphernalia.

In what could merely be an unfortunate mix-up of M1s, the Army, looking to replace its aging fleet of M1 Abrams tanks, had mistakenly ordered M1 earbuds instead. If we have to trace the root of this gaffe, it seems the confusion began when a procurement officer, operating on very low levels of caffeine, was ordered to replace the old 'M1s' with new 'M1s'. The officer, probably a music-loving millennial or maybe just a diligent worker often disturbed by the continuous chattering of fellow officers, did a bit of googling, slight misreading and voila! The U.S Army was now the proud owner of a bunch of earbuds.

We asked our strategic and now, also procurement, expert, General Confusion for his opinion on the matter. "Well, the earbuds are very sleek, and they come in military green, so there's that." Not exactly the consolation we were looking for, but we'll take it.

So what's the next step, you ask? Well, on the bright side, if the U.S. Army ever forms a marching band, or just needs some quiet time, they are all set. Besides, rumor has it, these M1 earbuds are quite the thing amongst the young troopers, especially with the bass levels they can achieve. We can just imagine the next military exercise including synchronized dance-offs to pumping bass music.

As for the M1 Abrams tank order, well, they have simply requested an attentive staff officer to make the purchase and double-check (perhaps even triple-check) if it's indeed a tank they're ordering and not a toaster.

In the realm of military procurement, this will go down as a hilarious story; a tale to amuse future procurement officers. The lesson here? Always make sure to clarify your M1s no matter how intense the bass drops in the office are!