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It is one thing if the combat arms types want to bag on support types for being closer to the rear with more comfortable accomodations -- this is often the case, and I have to make some allowances for the boys who spend the most time up front and statistically get killed and wounded the most often.

However, any complaints about the combat unreadiness of those in support MOSs ought in the end to be directed towards maneuver unit commanders, who are ultimately responsible.

Even if you are in a support unit of some sort, the Army's commanders are still combat arms types. Either your batallion, brigade, division or corps commander will be an Armor/Infantry/Artillery type. It is these men who have cheated the support units by treating them only as "our mechanics" or "our IT department" or the "our finance gurus" while forgetting they must train as soldiers too. The typical support unit spends a full workweek just trying to accomplish its real world mission keeping the combat arms types running. It is ultimately the responsibility of the Armor/Infantry/Artillery branched officers at the top to make sure these support soldiers are given the resources and more imporantly the TIME to train as warriors.

"However, any complaints about the combat unreadiness of those in support MOSs ought in the end to be directed towards maneuver unit commanders, who are ultimately responsible."

Good point. The 507th was assigned/attached to a higher headquarters, probably an Air Defense Artillery battalion. The 507th was part of a much larger convoy and the overall convoy commander was ultimately responsible for security. The CO of the 507th made some bad decisions but I got the impression that no one really took any action when they dropped behind the rest of the convoy. In one article, it was noted that the batteries for the radios went dead giving the impression that they were using handheld Radio Shack units - I would have thought they would have had vehicle-mounted tactical radios capable of netting with the maneuver element or higher HQ. There's plenty of blame to go around with respect to this incident.

It is ultimately the responsibility of the Armor/Infantry/Artillery branched officers at the top to make sure these support soldiers are given the resources and more imporantly the TIME to train as warriors.

Well said A.S. Plus the article neglects to mention that combat arms units don't last very long in combat without its support pukes. A lot of battles have been won by scrawny guys who couldn't do 50 push-ups but who happened to be brilliant logisticians. It's always been that way.