Canon states that, once the United States entered the ground war full bore, NATO forces made it all the way to the edge of Soviet territory. This seems to suggests that several large encirclement battles took place during which hundreds (if not thousands) of abandoned PACT vehicles could have been captured/recovered by NATO forces. Yes, it is SOP to destroy vehicles that have to be abandoned but panicked, rookie crews often times don't follow protocols. Add in mobility kills and other contingencies, and you'd end up with a lot of AFVs that could be repaired and returned to service.
Here's an idea. Some captured PACT vehicles were saved and shipped to CONUS for eventual transshipment to the PRC army. Once the U.S. entered the war, its armaments manufacturing would be hard pressed to keep its own nation's fighting forces equipped, let alone continue to supply the Chinese. Therefore, as a stopgap measure, viable PACT gear would be shipped to China instead of U.S.-made gear. The Chinese already have experience with Soviet-made gear so they should be able to fix them up and put them into front-line duty relatively quickly.
Now, once the nukes start flying and port and fuel facilities were destroyed or damaged, shipping that PACT gear anywhere would be extremely difficult, if not impossible. With a need for AFVs at home, the remaining stocks of captured PACT AFV's destined for China would be kept, repaired (a must) and refurbished (if possible) and put in service with U.S. forces in CONUS. Even just a couple dozen (each) BRDMs, BTRs, BMPs, T-xx tanks would be enough to equip an armored battalion or two in a reserve infantry division, or an MP brigade, or defend a few airbases, etc. Heck, you could even build an slightly understrength ACR around captured gear.
Here's a question, though, with regards to APFDS round kills. Where the penetrator is made from depleted Uranium (aren't most, nowadays?), wouldn't there be the issue of toxic contamination? I know that at least some folks still claim that exposure to DU debris is/was the cause of "Gulf War Syndrome". I can imagine some folks' reluctance to crew such vehicles.
Show me the CarFax. DU kill? No thanks- I'll pass.
Also Web, remember this thread. There's some more discussion of similar topics here:
http://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.php?t=448