Gun oil maker struggles to stay on target
Friday, April 24, 2009

By JAY FRIESS
Staff writer

The winds of fortune shift frequently in war, and right now they are again blowing against gun oil producer Militec.

The mood last month at Militec's Waldorf offices ranged from grim to smoldering as President Bradley Giordani and Vice President Russell Logan confided they are again out of favor with the U.S. Army brass and are facing bankruptcy as a result.

The Army will not authorize its soldiers to purchase Militec's oil, so Giordani and Logan said they are shipping their product to troops in Iraq for free. They've been doing this for seven years, and the debt has piled up.

"The demand from the troops just kept coming," Giordani said. "We've given away $2 million worth of product since [Sept. 11, 2001]. … They should not have to beg."

They don't beg, but they ask politely.

Militec has bound an inch-thick volume of letters and e-mails sent by soldiers and their families, asking for supplies of Militec oil. The soldiers, Militec claims, prefer the product over the military's approved oil, because it is better suited to the dry, dusty desert conditions.

"The troops in the field know better," Logan said.

According to Militec, its product is more like a metal sealer than a lubricant. Once applied to a weapon, Militec-1 is absorbed into the microscopic pores of the gunmetal, leaving the gun's chambers and barrel slick, yet dry to the touch.

By contrast, the oil currently provided by the Army leaves a "wet" film of oil on the surface of the weapon parts, Militec officials said. The film prevents rust per Army specifications, but it also attracts the talcum-fine sand of the Iraqi desert, causing weapons to misfire and jam.

Militec oil has failed to meet the Army's testing specifications for rust prevention, which caused the Army acquisition arm to yank approval for the oil in 2003 and again in 2005. Militec's officials say the rust specification is ridiculous for the arid conditions in Baghdad.

That view was shared by some Army officers in a 2003 after-action report, which recommended Militec oil for desert operations.

Militec supplies the Secret Service, FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency, Coast Guard and Maryland State Police, but it has not been able to consistently supply the military without giving the product away or engaging in political arm-twisting, its officials said.

The feud between Militec and the Department of Defense began in 1995, when the company convinced several congressmen to help them bypass the standard DoD acquisitions channels and pressure the department to approve Militec-1 as an official military gun lubricant.

After a failed corrosion resistance test at the Army's Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, the Defense Logistics Agency yanked its approval for Militec acquisition in 2003. After a media and congressional uproar, Militec was again approved for acquisition.

In 2004, Militec accepted a Gold Medal award from DLA certifying the military's 100 percent satisfaction with the company's service in filling orders for its gun oil.

But one year later, the DLA underwent a command change. In spring 2004, Militec claims the DLA stripped it of a five-year, $6.7 million supply contract they had just signed.

Militec then hired a lobbying firm to try to get their product reinstated, but had no luck. That same year, Militec claims there were 1,800 requisition orders for the product.

Militec also sought the help of U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer's (D-Md., 5th) office in 2007. According to Hoyer's office, the issue was brought to the House Armed Services Committee, which ordered an investigation by the General Accounting Office. The GAO report should be released by the end of the month, according to Hoyer's office.

"It's frightening when there are generals who are in command who are afraid to do anything, because they are afraid of upsetting the status quo," Giordani said.

Dennis Gauci, a spokesman for DLA, said he was not familiar with the Militec issue, but noted that his agency does not decide the specifications for gun oil.

"DLA does not establish standards," Gauci said. "The services do that. … We will only contract with companies that meet those standards. We don't make the standards."

jfriess@somdnews.com