It might be old...
but what does that say about the potential condition of the batteries they actually really wanted?
Don't get me wrong, I'm an American and not only am I not shocked by the stupidity of the logistics arm of our military, and government, in general, but damn, either someone needs to pay better attention to what's on the requisition form or if there's a question or uncertainty, CALL.
For example, the cost for a quartermaster/supply clerk calling Taiwan to verify an order, maybe .03 a minute. The cost of shipping the business end of a vintage ICBM from where-ever in the US to Taiwan, I'm going to toss out a number of several million dollars as even though some US shipping firms are cleared to process classified and secret packages, I rather doubt the likes of DHL, UPS or even FedEx would have the facilities to handle such a loaded (pun most definitely intended) parcel. Besides, given the conditions of some of the packages I've received, even originating from such exotic locations as Detroit or Fort Wayne, I'd be hard pressed to trust them with anything less fragile than a solid block of lexan.
But, I digress. I do recall reading about a supply clerk receiving an requisition for a light bulb, but the part number was one digit off, and rather than question the part number, he shipped the individual a 15 ton anchor.
And if the story was true, the individual who actually ordered it was in the Army and NOT the Navy, Marines or Coast Guard. And last I checked, the zodiac's that the special ops guys use have gotten a lot bigger, I personally can't think of why anybody in the Army might have a significant or even remotely plausible need for a 30,0000 lb anchor.
Now, in the defense of the individual who processed this little gem... Once you get out of the brig, it might not hurt to CALL the ordering party. If you have a valid part number, but can't decipher the description, even though BAttery - Helicopter and BAllistic nose cone - Missile both begin with BA, CALL. If the part numbers look mildly askew and good sense just screams that a foreign country we're not on very intimate terms with really doesn't absolutely need a global thermonuclear WMD, CALL... For the love of GOD just CALL.
Mine's the one with NBC protective gear.