Pentagon to Destroy $1.2 Billion in Surplus Ammo

[stanc]

...the mad minutes ensured that not a single bullet was left over. If too many units had surplus ammunition at the end of the year, the officers said, their brigade or division could be issued fewer bullets the following year.

One former officer remembers two cardinal rules of the range: Plan enough live-fire exercises to shoot every bullet provided for in a fiscal year. Two, when large sums of ammunition are delivered to the range, nothing should be turned back in lest you be accused of poor planning.

http://www.stripes.com/news/army/officer...e-1.281352

And there you have the real reason for mad minutes.