Soldiers Going without Necessities???

World Net Daily ^ | August 25, 2010 | worldnet daily

[JohnKinAK]

Afghan outrage: U.S. troops scrounge for blankets, bullets 'One of my soldiers went without ammo for 5 weeks'

The parents of an American soldier in Afghanistan have accused the U.S. government of leaving defenders of its freedoms without basics such as blankets, food, feminine hygiene supplies and even bullets, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

"One of my soldiers went without ammo for five weeks once they got to Afghanistan because of shortages. I can't reveal the name, because they are frightened of reprisals. If they can do what they did to a four star general like [Gen. Stanley A.] McChrystal, what would they do to a buck private?"

That comes from a woman who, with her husband, has taken it upon herself to adopt soldiers and provide them with many of the needed basics.

The woman insisted that her name not be used, because of the possibility of reprisals against her or the soldiers.

But she told WND she received a report that a U.S. soldier bought a $15 knife "and slept with their hand on the handle in the waist of their pants because it was all they had for the moment to protect themselves."

The woman confirmed she and her husband are involved in supplying the basic necessities for some 50 soldiers – because the military isn't.

"If the military doesn't supply what they need, they must depend on family or people like me," she said. "Many of these families are struggling on low wages, some parents are on disabilities and unable to help. Sending a box once a month during their deployment is not only good for their morale, but they need (to be) resupplied with many items."

[onona]

Yup. Bull$hit article.

[JohnKinAK]

Thanks for the website. My church has sent packages since the beginning, but it is comfort items. I would hope officers wouldn’t go silent if they were in fact short of weapons/ammo. But, sometimes I feel I’m living in a Bizarroworld and anything is possible. I will keep my eyes open to this potential situation.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

A possible explanation is that most of the cargo shipped through Pakistan has been interrupted by their floods, which happened in July.

This would explain shortages in typical military supplies, so reserves, especially of ammunition, would be transferred to front line units from rear areas.

The zinger to this is that military mail has a very high priority, and in getting to the destination country it is usually flown in. So mail would be getting through even though typical supplies are not.

[JohnKinAK]

“A possible explanation is that most of the cargo shipped through Pakistan has been interrupted by their floods, which happened in July.”

Yes, good possibility. I didn’t even think of that.

[saundby]

Crap article.

Here’s my favorite charity:
http://www.americansnipers.org/

I help with the usual packages, too. It never hurts to give to help out. But this article still has a bunch of nonsense that’s intended to get people on the side of the war Zilch wants them on. He wants them “twisting his arm” to cut and run.

[garybob]

I can vouch that much of this article is true. As a father of a deployed Marine to Afghanistan, we are sending him batteries for his night vision device, along with soap powder, socks and other articles of underwear.

It takes a long time for the packages to arrive to our Marine, far longer (by two or three weeks longer) than packages to me when I was deployed to Bosnia.

I don’t know about the soldier who went 5 weeks without ammunition. I do know that when I was detached from my unit, they could not spare any ammunition for my 9mm, so I had to “borrow” some from another unit. Heck of a note that I had more ammunition in my closet back home than I was able to get through Army supply channels.

[JohnKinAK]

Very Disconcerting! I always thought we had the best supplied troops.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

The food situation varies from FOB to FOB .
When my son first arrived in Afghanistan , he said the food was terrific.
Then they moved on to another FOB and the quality of the food there was much worse.
In fact, at one point earlier this year , the FOB ran out of food for a couple of days due to some snafu.
I assume they ate MREs, he didn’t elaborate .
My nephew is in Afghanistan also and because of the nature of his unit, he cannot tell us where he is.
He told his wife in the most recent communication that the food where he is located was awful .
Neither of these young men are whiners or foodies
and are “ roll with the punches “ kind of guys, so when they mention food , it must be an issue.
We were given a long list of supplies to send in care packages .
Extra supplies are given to the chaplain to distribute to those soldiers who do not get anything from home.
Sadly, there are soldiers who never receive anything from home.
Extras that soldiers need can often be purchased at the small PXs at the bases
or the local bazaars .
For many soldiers, money is very tight , so the care packages really help.
However, I think General McChrystal shut those local shops down
when he and Barry ordered
all the small American fast food outlets to leave the Afghanistan bases.
No hamburgers for the troops, but, endless lobster for the Obamas.

[Patriotic1]

So mail gets priority over other PX items? I will visit there - thanks!

I send coupons over to a military (USMC) base in Japan. They accept expired coupons, but now all the coupons I send are mostly current:

http://www.ocpnet.org/Base%20List/BaseList1.htm

[Patriotic1]

Coupons can go here:

http://www.ocpnet.org/Base%20List/BaseList1.htm

I will visit americansnipers too!

[FreeStateYank]

Please ping me.

I’ve long thought our kids were sent over there to die. Breaks my heart.