Comment by lamasery

As a veteran myself, I've never understood people who say this. Yes, military stuff is made by the lowest bidder, but it's made by the lowest bidder to generally much higher standards than a civilian product. The military is much harder on equipment than most people in civilian life ever will be. Military stuff will always be bulkier and heavier, but will generally last much longer in the hands of an 18 year old soldier who didn't have to pay for it in a way that civilian stuff just won't.

That said, "military grade" means fuck all, as does a one-off testing/prototype deal. The only time I would take military use as a sign of quality is when it's verifiably combat tested and approved by the soldiers on the ground, and now that I've been out for 15 years it can be hard to tell the difference.

Yeah, isn't the joke that "military grade" means made by the lowest bidder?