Digitaldust, If it was ever owned by a VFW or was on loan from DOD, forget it unless you have proof they abandoned it. If you know it did not originally start on loan, will be the first here to say this: Go for it!
See what the story is if you feel comfortable, do it. Yes you could loose it if it was not supposed to be sold, then you go back and sue the seller to recover funds. As a rule of thumb, people on here are overly scared of DOD and TACOM. Most of the kick ass "I can't believe it was released" armor that is privately owned was done by people who took a risk and made it happen and told DOD "NO, you cannot have it back as I legally acquried it." The vehicles that are out and safe are safe only because pople stood up and fought for it. This involves cost, time and lawyers, but it sometimes works.
Before anyone decides I do not know what I am talking about, I will say that I am one of the people that has a "handful with fingers left over" rare type US armored vehicle on teh civilian market (I have the 3rd or 4th I know of) and battled with the DOD for over a year on it. Bottomline is if I had listened to everyone tell me it could not be done, I would not still have it and would not have even tried. Just look at it like gambling and don't spend more than you can afford to walk away from!