NYT-Along With Prayers, Families Send Armor

[maddezmom]

hen the 1544th Transportation Company of the Illinois National Guard was preparing to leave for Iraq in February, relatives of the soldiers offered to pay to weld steel plates on the unit's trucks to protect against roadside bombs. The Army told them not to, because it would provide better protection in Iraq, relatives said.

Seven months later, many of the company's trucks still have no armor, soldiers and relatives said, despite running some of the most dangerous missions in Iraq and incurring the highest rate of injuries and deaths among the Illinois units deployed there.

"This problem is very extensive," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former infantry platoon leader with the Florida National Guard in Iraq who now runs an organization called Operation Truth, an advocacy group for soldiers and veterans.

Though soldiers of all types have complained about equipment in Iraq, part-timers in the National Guard and Reserve say that they have a particular disadvantage because they start off with outdated or insufficient gear. They have been deployed with faulty radios, unreliable trucks and, most alarmingly for many, a shortage of soundly armored vehicles in a land regularly convulsed by roadside attacks, according to soldiers, relatives and outside military experts.

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/30/international/middleeast/30equip.html

[wellstone_democrat]

1. Another public nail in the Bush* coffin

Believe it or not, many don't know this or believe it is a rumor. Perhaps showing up in the NYT will make it more "real" to them.

Odd that it appears today in the avalanche of unhappy news these asshats have gotten this week. Someone is smelling blood in the water and everyone is piling on

[TacticalPeek]

2. Liars, liars, liars.

"As we saw this become a more enduring commitment, those in the next rotation had full protective gear, like the newest body armor," he (General Christianson) said.

LIE.


"The resourcing and equipping of the National Guard today is indistinguishable from that of active duty soldiers," said Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum.

LIE.


The Army says it is on schedule to armor all its Humvees in Iraq by April 2005...

THE ARMY LIES.


The Army considers the 1544th's vehicles armored...

THE ARMY LIES.




"If we're one of the richest nations in the world, our soldiers shouldn't be sent out looking like the Beverly Hillbillies," said the mother of one soldier in the unit, who, like many parents, asked not to be identified for fear of repercussions for their children.

Now, ain't that the truth!

[antonialee839]

3. You say enduring commitment, I say quagmire

Perhaps the General would explain to me why it is that my son, who shipped out not more than a month ago would have gone to Iraq without body armor had it not been for his Sgt.giving him his spare. My son drives a Humvee, I don't want to hear that these freaking vehicles will be fully armored by April 2005, this should have been done PRIOR to these demons ordering our troops into Iraq. There is absolutely no good reason why this couldn't have been done, this was a war fought on Bush's own time table, a war of choice, not of necessity. A war fought on the cheap, under false pretenses, and with slim to no regard for the troops, other than that of convenient photo op.

[nhc1978]

5. disheartening

That is disheartening to hear. But thank you. It strengthens my resolve to find every vote that I can for Kerry over the next three days.

[JoFerret]

4. "Sitting ducks"

George and Beverly Isenberg with a photo of their grandson, Specialist Benjamin Isenberg of the Oregon National Guard. Specialist Isenberg died when he drove a Humvee over a bomb north of Baghdad on Sept. 13.pg

<<Of the Illinois National Guard units now in Iraq, none of the 11 units has suffered as many casualties as the 1544th Transportation Company. Of the approximately 170 men and women in the unit, 5 have been killed and 32 wounded since the unit arrived in Iraq in March and began delivering supplies and mail and providing armed escort to civilian convoys>>