Posted on 12/08/2004 7:11:44 AM PST by areafiftyone
You signed, you play.<<<<
That's how I should have put it from the start. And, don't thank me, I was wrong in the way I initially addressed the issue. No one has the right to lump the bad apples in with the good.
Thanks HEARTILY for your service to this Country!
Reservists and National Guard do go soft. After they leave Basic and AIT training they are reintroduced to the civilian world and all of a sudden everything they learned and became accustomed to in the Army gets forgotten. I served in the Army Reserve for 6 years and you saw the new guys right out of training reporting for duty and standing at Parade Rest, saying, "Yes 1st Sgt!" or "No 1st Sgt." to any question by Top. Eventually after a couple of drills they are acting like every other weekend warrior, sometimes not even bothering to get their hair cut to regulation for the drill. Not everyone was like this, as I took it pretty seriously, but there were always a few bad apples.
I just wouldn't judge all Reservists or Guardsmen based on this, as quite a few of the guys getting maimed and killed in Iraq right now are citizen-soldiers.
If you had ever served in the armed services you would know that there is such a thing as a "chain of command" and these Soldiers were out of line. PERIOD!
Semper Fi,
Kelly
Sorry, but I am not going to accept any excuse for why they military doesn't have exactly what it needs while we are wasting 10 of billions of dollars on pork projects.
You're absolutely right! Last year, part of the Homeland Security appropriations included a $50 Million greenhouse for Des Moines, Iowa. That, of course, was absolutely essential to fight the War on Terror. How much vehicle and body armor could we have purchased for the troops with $50 Million?
Didn't sKerry vote against funding which would have provided the troops with additional supplies?
I just wouldn't judge all Reservists or Guardsmen based on this, as quite a few of the guys getting maimed and killed in Iraq right now are citizen-soldiers.<<<
I am duly chastised and accept same. With great humility, I thank you for your service along with all who sacrifice for this Country.
These guys are griping. They are allowed to gripe. The mistake here was the Pentagon choosing to make this session public. It's not the soldiers' fault that they asked tough questions after being invited to a session where they were told to ask tough questions.
Bad PR move from the Pentagon.
There was also the 75mm anti-tank gun that was mounted in the nose of the B-25 Mitchell by the aircrews in New Guinea. This made the B-25 into a devastating killer of Japanese shipping. Imagine the results of a 75MM AP round slicing through to the boiler of a thin skinned transport. Catastrophic. The engineers at North American aircraft were asked to build this into subsequent models, but allegedly refused until they saw with their own eyes that it actually worked.
I only bring these up because they are famous examples of troops adapting & overcoming in the field. Those WW2 aircrews bitched. And you can believe that the WW2 Tankers were demoralized at their losses. But they overcame.
It's very difficult for any large complex supply chain to adapt to changing circumstances on the battlefield. There are always units at the point of the spear that, for whatever reason, don't get the goods, even if they are in the pipeline.
Furthermore, adding armour reduces the payload rating of the vehicle making additional vehicles necessary to haul the same amount of material. The additional vehicles or additional trips just increase the odds of being hit.
The problem is that this administration is fighting this war on the cheap. Not enought equipment and not enough boots on the ground in order to get the job done. What this administration knows about warfighting is causing Patton to spin in his grave. but now that he has been reelected, Bush cold care less. The military has become a photo op for him and his staff.
Former infantrymen?
Ask yourself a simple question. If your car was unsafe to drive to work...and you had money to fix it a thousand times over...why wouldn't you fix it...at least in six months...if not twelve months? There is not a VIP in the US government who would have moved mountains to fix their own luxery VIP caddy...if it was unsafe. This is a no-brainer. There should have been a Army 0-6 appointed 12 months ago...and given the money fix every vehicle in 120 days. He should have personally reported back to Rumsfeld and reported mission accomplished back in May of this year. For any troops to have to stand there now and say that the problem isn't yet fixed...simply is garbage. Either fix the problem or get the heck out of the way.
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