Man, I sure felt a darkness fall over me today watching the nightly news. The did a spoof on the condition of most of the ground equiptment. The rate of current failures is bad. said they`ve gone from something like 300 Hummer failures/ rebuilds last year to 5800 this year. Tanks that were designed for 800 hours use before major work are getting 8000 hours on them and the tracks are litterally falling off them. Something like 9 billion this year for upkeep. Watching them guys working on em in the middle of hell (Iraq) with the worst conditions possible, wind, sand, heat, physcos shootin at em. Made me feel like were not keeping up for them here. I just wanted to help somehow.

 

I have been feeling almost a panic over the condition of our military since about November 1992! I watched all of the base closings, cutbacks, and "slimming down" with a sense of dread and anxiety. Now that we desperately need to have the best equipment and training, I feel we are letting our finest down.

On a tangent, I find it remarkable how good our troops are considering what we have left them to work with!! I overheard Rush Limbaugh at work Thursday, about the frustration opponents of the war are having with the relatively low number of casualties. Something about how the death toll figures are misleading, since highly trained and advanced medical teams have saved more soldiers who would have died in any previous war. In other words, more soldiers should be dead, but unfortunately they were saved by modern medicine, so the figures aren't as high as they should be. I really wish I heard what report this was from, since I like to read the whole piece before I make up my mind, but this is very disturbing thinking if true!! I shudder to think someone would be disappointed that the death figures are too low since our medical teams are too skilled at saving lives!

 

Extremists will twist things around to make themselves look better...first they complain that 1000+ have been killed in Iraq...now they complain that not enough have been killed. How can anybody be disappointed that more of their own troops haven't been killed?

 

These soldiers are the best equiped, best trained, highly motivated professionals on the planet. I'm glad we are on their side.

How can you help? That is a good question. We had a very close friend in Iraq and we sent him all kinds of stuff. Water pistols, footballs, frizbees, booze, card games. He said they worn the water pistols out in a week, and they were not cheap! Can you beileve guys in a war zone play war?

My wife & I donated $500 to the phone card drive they are having. That is a good thing to do.The guys and gals can call home for the holidays for free.

 

These kids love anything you can send from home. Lots of them don't get family support for one reason or another. There are adopt a soldier programs and pen pal programs if you don't know anyone personally. Pen pal my not sound like much but you would be surprised how much a few lines from anyone who cares can mean. Do a web search there is a lot out there on this subject. Being away from home on the holidays is really tuff. There is also the young families left at home they need our support as well.
Thanks for caring!

 

This statement is only my opinion, and you know what opinions are like, everyone has this orfice as a body part.

I am 61 years old and a veteran from the late 60s and early 70s. We have the best soldiers in the world no doubt. But, I am beginning to wonder if we have enough and if we have sufficient equipment to support them. My opinion is that we don't.

Now, with that said, I have compassion for folks that are less fortunate then us, but we need to redirect some of our budget to build the military industrial complex back to where it should be. Very large.............with redundant backup equipment.

Most people around the world understand brute strength and force. We need to forget the political correctness in this country and get back on track and get the manpower, equipment, and weapons we need to keep our country free. It seems to me we are going down a slippery slope trying to make every country and person around the world happy. We need to protect our border and our citizens. I am willing to pay for that.

Well, enough of my opinion.............thanks for listening. I've got to go out to the garage and get the wax off my truck.

Tom

 

As far as the number of rebuilds going up so much and failure rate going up I'm sure that it is expected and the military planned for it. As you said "the worst conditions possible, wind, sand, heat..," And on top of the conditions this is a war, this equipment is being used way above and beyond that in peace time or training. War is not cheap. I would not worry about it just let everyone over there know how proud you are of them and what a great job they are doing.
CJ

 

The problem is guys is there understaffed the armed forces does not have enough soldiers unfortunately all Donald Rumsfield can say is you go to war with the army you have. The leadership in this Country needs to be a little more concerned with the Soldiers than money if there gonna put these guys through this quest they need to provide them with everything they need. My wife is in the army and what she has been told is they are not sending in new vehicles they send in new brigades and the old brigades equipment is left behind all shot up and half working troops are scavenging sheet metal of blown up vehicles for armor. Washington and all their wisdom doesn't want to spend the money to ship over all the nice equipment just sitting in motorpools around the us eventhough the troops need it and definitely deserve it. This is just how I feel about the topic take it or leave it

 

I've been directly involved with the deployment of several thousand of our guys. Equipment issues are at the top of the list. CONEX's loaded out with 60 days of spare parts took several months to get in country because the handling equipment was only available stateside. Hummers were already at max capacity, before 2000 lbs of armor was added. The fact that the vehicles were already 20 years old and badly underpowered is just part of it. The new series of 5 ton trucks can only be checked out with a computer. They are an electronics nightmare. Equipment designed to meet the Russians in the Fulda Gap are now operating under conditions they were not designed for. M-16's being augmented by 40 year old M-14's and shotguns. We can get parts shipped faster by sending them to an individual through the post office rather than utilizing the "system". I can go on and on but would only get more po'ed.
The active side treats the reserve components like second class citizens. Sure, our guys only train for approximately 40 days a year. However, they have, in many cases been training together for 10, 20, or 30 years and have the closeness that is lacking in many active units.
They are doing one hell of a job with what they are working with. Changes are taking place that, in the opinion of this old warrior, should have started after Desert Storm.
One thing that our guys have that many of us didn't 30 odd years ago is the support of the folks at home. I came home from Vietnam to get spit on and cursed. Our guys are coming home to open arms. Knowing that even tho the war might not be popular, the support of the ones fighting it is one of the biggest moral boosters. Keep up the support and the prayers 'cause it works.

36years2monthsand20daysinuniformShortround out

 

as an outsider looking in, it is quite clear America is never going to let that mistake happen again....

 

"as an outsider looking in, it is quite clear America is never going to let that mistake happen again...."
In my opinion the best thing that you can do is tell the troops that you appreciate what they are doing!! I spent 6 months in the sand box maintaining one of the camps that men and material entered into Kuwait and the best thing I heard back home was about the Dixie Chicks. These guys rely on news from CNN which will really bring down your morale. CNN never tells how the people in the states appreciate what the military is doing but shows all the quacks and politicians that protest the war. Nothing good at all!! We actually listened to the BBC radio just to find out what was going on around us. The one thing that they did that really made you feel good was hearing peoples loved ones supporting them with those 10 second recordings played over the radio (ofcourse these were from the Brits to there troops). I never once heard these from the states, but I did hear about Heraldo Rivera broadcasting our troops movements. I have not yet met a soldier that wants the public to feel sorry for them but it is sure appreciated when someone takes the time to say thanks. Sorry about the rant over the media.

 

Heraldo....... That guy is public enemy #1. anything for a buck. I still laugh when I think of Hulk Hogan smacking him upside the head and knocking him down, That I wish was 100% for real.

 

Check out www.lbeh.org
This is a non-profit organization to buy plane tickets for enlisted soldiers to get home for the holidays.

 

i have a family member over there. three years ago they were very happy when they finally got 20 replacement helo's and a couple dozen hummer's. they were using and training with equipment left over from the first gulf war.
they hadn't received any replacements and had trouble getting repair parts, during the 8 years of clinton.
it will take time to replace all of the old equipment, i just wish we could get it to our troops quicker.
yes we are short on troops, but each one of our soldiers are better than any other in the world.
i think all Iraqi's and people in Iraq should be fitted with gps transmitters. maybe the only way to stop the snippers and bombers.

 

If you guys and gals want to do something for the troops, many organizations exist for/to accept donations, such as the Navy/Marine Corp Relief Society, www.kimmershow.com runs a fantastic site, he is a prior marine and has a few options such as sending items to the show which are then shipped to the troops,,

and as a retired 22 year Navy man, logistics wise? we were gutted in the '90's we could bearly keep certain ships underway, so any thing you can do for the troops is more power to you!!!!!!!