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Old 12-08-2004, 04:26 PM
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Thomas Wilson, Future Presidential Candidate

Spc. Thomas Wilson had asked the defense secretary, "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?" Shouts of approval and applause arose from the estimated 2,300 soldiers who had assembled to see Rumsfeld,.

"You go to war with the Army you have," Rumsfeld replied, "not the Army you might want or wish to have."

Asked later about Wilson's complaint, the deputy commanding general of U.S. forces in Kuwait, Maj. Gen. Gary Speer, said in an interview at Camp Buehring that as far as he knows, every vehicle deploying to Iraq from Kuwait has at least "Level 3" armor protection. That means it has locally fabricated armor for its side panels, but not bulletproof windows or reinforced floorboards.

Speer said he was unaware that soldiers were searching landfills for scrap metal and discarded glass.

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Old 12-08-2004, 05:44 PM
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I've seen several stories on this. Apparently our formerly politically docile soldiers are sick of getting killed for nothing because the inept planning for this war has turned out to be more lethal than the enemy. I hope there is some film on it so I can see it on the tube. Poor Spc. Wilson - the Swift Boat Veterans will be running lies about him as soon as Karl can get to it.
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Old 12-08-2004, 08:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KirkVining
I've seen several stories on this. Apparently our formerly politically docile soldiers are sick of getting killed for nothing because the inept planning for this war has turned out to be more lethal than the enemy. I hope there is some film on it so I can see it on the tube. Poor Spc. Wilson - the Swift Boat Veterans will be running lies about him as soon as Karl can get to it.
It was on the BBC here. Rumsfeld had him repeat the question because 'he didn't catch it', so the guy did, with additional emphasis. Must have taken some courage. The other soldiers did indeed cheer. The answer was 'that we are limited by Physics', whatever the hell that means. I'm sure it would be different if it was his life on the line. We had an even worse version of this here where British troops had to spend their own cash buying really basic equipment (boots) and even body-armour, privately.
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Old 12-08-2004, 08:26 PM
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A local marine reserve platoon deployed from here a couple months ago. They were provided a list of stuff to buy out-of-pocket because military procurement wont support non-standard gear. Stuff like Garmin GPS--a head and shoulders improvement over the military's standard PLGR POS. The only good thing about the PLGR is that it receives encrypted signal (P-Code) so that even if SA is imposed, the PLGR will continue to function.

The marines bought lots of outdoor gear. Most local merchants let'm buy stuff at cost or below.

I remember when I was in the Navy we got 'improved' tools for working on fuel lines. Aluminum wrenches. Ever used an aluminum wrench? On 3/4" steel fittings? I never heard of anybody getting all blowed-up using steel tools on fuel lines, but I guess it could happen. We hid our regular tools (supposed to turn them in). It took like, a month to deplete the whole supply train of aluminum tools then we had to use 'emergency' tools. Never did see aluminum tools again.

There is no accounting for the unmitigated thick-headedness of the military when it comes to supply or personnel matters.

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