Posted on 06/07/2004 2:21:41 PM PDT by AM2000
Care to guess how many of those compolainng about not having vests weren't the ones 'needing' them and probably wouldn't wear them anyway?
Soldiers in Desert Strom didn't all deploy and fight with level IIIa armor and ballistic plates and no body demanded heads for that.
Personally I've not seen any troops operating outside the gates without body armor and I've been here more than a minute.
"Personally I've not seen any troops operating outside the gates without body armor and I've been here more than a minute."
And tell me how many Humvees are on patrol or escort with troops who don't care about armor.
Stupid question.
"Stupid question."
Yes, I guess it is, but somewhere along the line I missed your main point.
Remember this next time you see insipid sign saying it would be great if the military had to "hold a bake sale" so we could pour more money into school administration.
OK. You said that heads should roll for the outrageous oversite. I'm saying that the problems are overstated, that those that need them have them. Perhaps some exceptions, but that is always the case. Most of those complaining are not those needing. I use my vest more than many troops and for the most part on a daily basis, their utility is overstated.
I travel unarmed and in a normal SUV but with a vest with plates and kevlar helmet. The vest is just another peice of equiment and the more you wear it the more you see the fallacy of thinking that it is what is going to save your life.
Care to imagine what one looks like when the wearer burns to death? Vests don't do much good when one is trapped inside a burning vehicle.
"I'm saying that the problems are overstated, that those that need them have them."
Ok,..........Sounds like the media went overboard again in broadcasting all negative highlights. Good luck and take care EE.
I called the company that makes them and wanted to buy a set for my son. (I just wanted to make sure he had the armor.) They don't sell retail, but he told me that EBay had them for sale. Evidently someone is stealing them off the docks and trucks and selling them. Needless to say, I called J.D. Hayworth's office to let him know. I did check EBay and sure enough there they were for sale.
Hmmm no amount of money in the world can boost production over night... Expansions had to be made in order for the vests to be made. It's the one problem with calling over thousands of reserves and going to war overnight.
Just off the top of my head I remember a Clinton budget that took (20 million?) a large sum of money in the defense budget and dedicated it to breast cancer research.
Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with breasts, but they left the money in the defense budget so it didn't look like a defense cut. That's what they call a stealth cut.
I think the military just caught, prosecuted, and sentenced a Marine for stealing vests and eBaying them. At least 6-figures worth, as I recall. Hard time in Leavenworth, or equivalent.
Military justice happens much quicker than civil justice.
"The flak jackets from Vietnam were ballistic nylon"
I thought I read somewhere that the vests in Vietnam had aluminum plates. Am I wrong?
Must really sadden the democrats to hear this. Are they THAT crass ?... No, they are much worse than crass.
Reminding us that most of the federal money pouted into public education has been eaten up by administrative costs.
Again, the media gets it wrong.
The troops now have the NEW body armor.
They've always had body armor. Just of a different variety. A variety, had they not had it EIGHT YEARS ago in Bosnia and then in Kosovo, I'm sure the media would have raised a stink. (Hint: they didn't ALL have it.)
Awful piss poor planning...Rumsfeld should be looking for work the fxckin douch bag,
And I am 100% behind the effort...the cluelessness that those people brought to Bushes presidency is astounding...they should be in cuffs.
I hate to 2nd guess but they should have been prepared for anything when dealing with those shamless people.
Please read the thread..It will help give you information.
You are absolutely RIGHT that troops all had body armor, just not the NEW stuff. My fiance was high up in logistics with CentCom and I specifically quizzed him on this issue when Kerry began to use it as a political football. He assured me that it was the media's refusal to try and comprehend the difference between old and new versions. He said the old timers like him don't even WANT the new stuff...they're more comfortable with the old.
Am so tired of seeing this myth perpetuated. Left using same tactics they used 35 years ago, and we shouldn't be allowing them to get away with it.
He doesn't understand the need for them, after all he got by with band aids in Vietnam and acquired multiple purple hearts. : (
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