"I will be very willing to bet it all comes down to funding"
I was in the Marines so, I can't speak for the USAF but I don't think that's the problem. Clean up for crashes and other unanticipated events are usually included in current budgets at differing levels under discretionary spending or some other similar funding plan. [
I remember once dealing with a large unexpected funding issue for the Marines back in the 90's after the first Gulf War. Large, and I mean large parking lots were set up at a number of Marine Corps western area bases for deploying Marines, sailors and dependents either deploying or going to momma while daddy deployed. Upon return it was found that a majority of the cars had major damage from rabbits eating the insulation. In the course of about a month the Marine Corps dispensed millions to fix the cars. No additional funding was asked for as the funds came from a stunned G-4 operations funding officer.