Dad picks up $600 tab to get Marine battle ready

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/articles/0618evthomason18Z10.html#

John Tod of Mesa had been prepared to face Father's Day worrying about his son's pending date with the war in Iraq.

Then Uncle Sam stepped in with more disappointing developments.

Marine Pfc. Jeremy Tod called home with news that his superiors were urging him and fellow Marines to buy special military equipment, including flak jackets with armor plating, to enhance the prospects of their survival.

The message was that such purchases were to be made by Marines with their own money.

"He said they strongly suggested he get this equipment because when they get to Iraq they will wish they had," Tod said.

[Maat]

1. God bless that family!

How pathetic that these have to buy their own equipment to fight for the value of Dick Cheney's stock options.

[minnesotaDFLer]

2. what the fuck?

how the hell are they getting away with not supplying these people.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[neverforget]

15. ya see, body armor and armored humvees don't make the defense

contractors big bucks. It's the high tech programs like the Maginot Line-the-sky Star Wars and redundant fighter jets such as the F22 Raptor that have big buck returns. Flak Jackets are cheap when it comes to these multi-billion dollar programs. There are lobbyists for these programs making sure they don't get cut because they are big buck contributors to Congress. That's how they are getting away with it.

[1932]

52. Maybe the officers get kick-backs from the companies.

They convince the kids, using the F-U-D techniques that they should buy this stuff. They know where their price-pain level is, so it's going to be stuff like a $600 flack jacket and not a star wars weapon program (those projects are sold using F-U-D on a grander scale with appeals to Senators and House members).

And then the manufacturers remember which officers were the best salesmen and they're rewarded later.

[ChemBob]

80. Not just FUD

No way. When my son was in the 82nd Airborne I saw the crap that they provided them for their safety versus what you could pay for. They supply them with equipment that sucks. Lots of the kids were buying their own replacements for the army issue. I specifically remember this problem with jumping boots. Maybe the whole thing is a scam, they're provided with crap so that they'll buy better stuff, but it's not just FUD. The issue stuff is definitely lower quality.

ChemBob

[serryjw]

82. But just remember......

Support the troops Whe is an enlisted soldier or his family going to come out with this. It is just outrageous. What happens to the 'under class' that can't afford the 'better stuff'?

[hootinholler]

90. I think you know what happens to them.

You go to war with the equipment you have, not the equipment you want.

I am so outraged over this, lack of armor kits when the plant offered to step up production by 25% and was refused, cuts to the VA, and so many more things.

I highly recommend to everyone going to iraq to have sperm frozen before you go. I know one Iraq I vet who is sterile most likely from DU residue.

-Hoot

[serryjw]

110. Unfortunately I do know

No one is talking about DU....It was exposed a year ago when some soldier tested positive. Wait we will have another 100,000 exposed that will not get any help from the VA with all the cut backs

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

72. Precisely

This is more of the classic War Party welfare/wealth transfer from the hands of taxpayers into hands of the super-ultra-filthy-incompetent-rich-with-connections.

All those goons from Halliburton and Bechtel will soon be rolling in the dough so much that they'll be able to buy up their own Pacific Islands and thereby avoid prosecution for all the corruption. Makes you sick.

[xxqqqzme]

79. Yea? but those pacific

islands R going 2 B underway cuz of melting ice!

[Lasher]

85. Big Buck Contracts

neverforget,

Thanks for an informed observation, you are exactly right. This is also the reason for the 'back burner' priority of up-armoring humvees. I particularly liked your description of the Star Wars missile defense fiasco as a Maginot Line-in-the-sky. Very descriptive and prophetic, if you know a little about history.

[vkobaya]

108. Flak Jackets vs. multi-billion dollar programs

>> Flak Jackets are cheap when it comes to these multi-billion dollar programs <<

Yeah, but chances are that the contractors are skipping every 4th rivet on the fighter jets, millimeters on the thickness of the skin and omitting some ribs in the the structure. Then when it goes into battle, the guns jam, some rounds misfire, maybe even the plane is missing the guns on one wing or the rocket mounts lack the ignition systems. Pilots who complain end up in the brig for being traitors to our great, and mighty Oval Office Usurper. All hail the great Usurper and Chief. Bow down and worship him.

Vicki

[AceAlmighty82]

94. How are they getting away with this you ask?

Because Bush's Administration have no souls. They sold them years ago, to whom I don't know that yet..but $100 bills lead to Tom Delay's home. It's not fair that they do this to our American troops. If there is a pot going for American troops in Iraq..I'd like to see that link and give what I can. Oh wait one of those sources are my tax paying dollars..which I got sent back to me when Bush cut taxes! If there isn't a pot going..I'd like to get one going even tho I wouldn't know where to start.

[BattyDem]

3. Didn't Congrees just approve more money for Iraq?

WHY DON'T OUR TROOPS HAVE BASIC EQUIPMENT?!?!? WHERE IS ALL THE MONEY GOING?!?!?!? :grr: :banghead: :grr: :banghead: :grr: :banghead:

[radar]

11. A congressperson's favorite constituents...

The LOBBYIST!!!

...And the lobbyist's employer.

To a member of congress - fighting & dying for this country aren't as loud a message as donating to a congressperson's favorite charity.

The majority of congress that decides where the money is spent anyway

[AndyTiedye]

13. You Ask Where All The Money Is Going?

[CrispyQ]

49. Cheney is so fucking guilty.

He is greed incarnate.

[Thav]

53. I know where some of it is going

I heard on NPR that some of the money is going to build like 20 new howitzers and a fleet of mobile repair vehicles.

After all, howitzers are the most useful thing in urban warfare.

[TheModernTerrorist]

98. They're using howitzers

to level the cities... one by one.

I just hit a deer today and fucked my car up...and THIS story upset me worse than the fact that I can't afford the deductible on my car right now.
There is so much wrong with this country it makes me sick.

[katinmn]

65. Coleman chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

Senator Coleman;

Why are parents still having to purchase body armour to protect their children serving in Iraq? Where is all the money going?

We need an accounting of all the money we are sending to the Pentagon. It's not going for body armour, it's not going toward reconstruction, it's not going for training Iraqi security. Just where is the money going?

You state on your web site that as Chairman of the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) your mission "is to crack down on waste and fraud in government and rout out wrongdoing on behalf of the American taxpayer. "

I would appreciate seeing some evidence that you are doing this. When can we expect to see you crack down on the diversion of taxpayer money meant to equip our troops?

Dad picks up $600 tab to get Marine battle ready
http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/articles/0618evthomason18Z10.html#


Army Learns Lessons On Equipping Troops
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGA1AG7IVRD.html

Thank you.

I look forward to your response.

[reBel_gyrl]

107. Do I smell..

A petition? Maybe we all could get Conyers (since he seems to be the only one) to take these questions to the White House with another 560,000 signatures from Americans who want to know the same thing . I want to sign and pass it on. Know how? Got a site for it? I bet EVERYONE here would sign...

[Placebo]

4. Maybe if Kerry had voted to fund the troops, Jeremy would have his armor.

:crazy:

[Erika]

7. Please explain your comment

Bush and the GOP control government.

[Placebo]

9. My point exactly.

See the crazy googly eyes!

[bleedingheart]

103. Yeah really ...if only those obstructionist Democrats would just

roll over and let the "adults" run the country...stuff like this wouldn't be happening...

:sarcasm:

[Placebo]

106. You said it, fellow heterosexual white American!

:dunce: :crazy: :dunce:

[Skwmom]

6. What a liar.

"Told about the Marine request, U.S. Rep. J. D. Hayworth, the Republican whose 5th District includes Mesa, said he has never heard of a service person being told to buy his own equipment."

Soldiers purchasing their own equipment has been reported on for months.

[TahitiNut]

20. J. D. Hayworth is one of the most corrupt, lying fascists in Congress.

He's almost beyond belief. :grr:

[Shallah Kali]

36. Someone want to send him & cc the writer these articles?

USATODAY.com - Soldiers in Iraq still buying their own body armor
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-03-26-body-armor_x.htm


USATODAY.com - US soldiers lack best protective gear
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-12-17-turley_x.htm

CBS News | GIs Lack Armor, Radios, Bullets | October 31, 2004
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/31/60minutes/main652491.shtml

Army Learns Lessons On Equipping Troops
http://news.tbo.com/news/MGA1AG7IVRD.html

lots more if Hayworth could spare a minion less than a minute to google the facts :rolleye

[Richard Steele]

42. I've got TWO words for this lying POS:

[Barkley]

76. "As you know, you go to war with the Army you have...

They're not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time."
-Rummy


Thanks of this picture dicksteele.

[0rganism]

45. Yeah, so now that he HAS heard about it, what's he gonna do?

I won't be holding my breath waiting for a change of budget priorities.

[The Doctor.]

8. Ohferchrist'ssake!

If this is true, it's a travesty.

Get these stories out, keep recruitment low, and always include a description of what type of 'recruiting technique' the administration will need to employ... whether it's a draft, or a 3k nuke on American soil.

(I can't say it enough - if I'm wrong, great! If I'm right... I might help prevent it if they know we're on guard.)

So NEVER miss an opportunity to mention it!

[Skwmom]

10. Our lovely elected officials have known for MONTHS

that soldiers don't have the necessary equipment and their families are trying to come up with the money to buy it.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

14. To which "elected officials" are you referring? Do we have any of....

...those people left in Government today?

[Skwmom]

40. There was a study which showed that lives would have been

saved and limbs spared if the troops had had the right equipment. I've heard this issue spoken on by various elected officials (on CSPAN) but surprise, surprise, NOTHING has been done.

[The Doctor.]

16. And they wonder why recruiting is low?!?!?!?!?!

They think these people don't tell all of their friends and neighbors who tell their friends and neighbors who tell... (and so on...)?

Idiots

No wonder these morons failed at their own businesses (or at least contributed little or nothing.)

How many businesses has Rumsfeld tried to run?

Jesus H. Christ... of COURSE they can't boost recruiting!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. That's been happening since shortly after the invasion....

...first, the Marines did not have the budget to supply the equipment, and then second, they found out the vests that were later supplied to some of the troops were faulty.

Our fearless leaders expected the invasion and subsequent occupation to be a cakewalk.

The lack of proper preparation and equipment for our troops has been criminally negligent. And that's not even getting into the illegality of the invasion.

[burrowowl]

19. Criminally negligent and

IMPEACHABLE, maybe?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

21. Definitely impeachable. Add it to the list. :-)

[Pirate Smile]

17. Let's send this to Russert so he can ask McCain - this is an Arizona

article - about it on MTP tomorrow.

BushCo has still not equipped the soldiers.

Another issue demonstrating their incompetence and lack of planning.

[Skwmom]

41. Of course McCain will express shock and outrage but when it

is all said and done he will do NOTHING (unless he's finally figured out that this issue along with many others has the potential to really bite him in the *ss in 08. Of course, that's assuming that the Democrats are smart enough to run a candidate with the ability tp expose McCain for the self-serving, phony politician that he actually is).

[natrat]

73. yea biut think how much money they have stolen and made questionably

[Whoa_Nelly]

18. Things are bad and getting worse.

For all the billions spent, some unnaccounted for, and the now $45 billion requested to be released for military spending, this is a national shame.

[pocket]

22. $600 won't buy much body armor

an Interceptor vest plus the plates will cost you a couple grand.

[JohnyCanuck]

27. That's probably the price of a cotter pin on an F22 Raptor n/t

[markdd]

29. Nah, yer off by a factor

of at least 10.

I designed one 25 years ago for $9,000.

[HeeBGBz]

23. This makes me sick

Bush and the AntiChrist Corporation are robbing us blind. At the expense of our troops safety.

How long will this go on unchecked?

[MadisonProgressive]

38. You are right, but instead of calling them troops lets

tell it like it really is - sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers. This is another war crime.

[HeeBGBz]

48. Agreed.

eom

[pacalo]

24. No vouchers!

There's NO excuse for any family to have to buy their son's/daughter's protective gear when Congress has appropriated $82 billion for this needless war!

NO excuse!

Where in the hell is the money going? Remember that Congress did not require that this administration provide an itemized accounting of that money! Enfuriating!

[MadisonProgressive]

39. Where have you been?

I think they've appropriated close to 300 billion already!

[pacalo]

95. Now I'm *really* enfuriated!

(psst...google sucks sometimes.)

[Miss Chybil]

25. Ah, but what a tax cut, eh? What would we do without that?

I hate George Bush.

[borlis]

26. Once again the media is sleeping.

This is a total outrage!! He should refuse to go. The ass rumsfeld sits on tv and tells everyone our troops have the latest and best equipment. Just a load of BS and the sheeple are satisfied.

[lovuian]

28. Nothing like give your life and buy your own equipment!!!

is this pathetic or what!!!

[Kittycat]

30. JEEBUS!!! Camelbak (water pouch) not provided????

Okay, it's bad enough that they aren't given them the "protection" they need, but now they even have to get their own water pouches???? Are you kidding me? They're in the friggin DESERT!!!

[gulfcoastliberal]

31. Where the fuck are all these billions "for the troops" going?

Oh yeah, to KBR and Halliburton and countless other mercenary type outfits. This is a fucking outrage!!!

[struggle4progress]

68. Damn right. Investigate war profiteering! eom

[Mythsaje]

32. SUPPORT THE TROOPS

my blinding white ass! Every time one of those Republican asswipes tell us to support the troops, we oughta just puke on their shoes. It's reprehensible. Stinking hypocrites.

Hey...Freepers...what do you have to say for yourselves now? Something inane, I'm sure.

If I believed in a hell, I'd wish the worst possible location for your eternal damnation. Since I don't, I hope you come back as some poor, starving war refugee in some God-forsaken land so you know what real suffering is.

Assuming reincarnation, of course.

[The Jacobin]

33. Sounds somewhat familiar

Besides the essential flak jacket with steel "trauma" plates, the shopping list for the young Marine included a Camelbak (water pouch) special ballistic goggles, knee and elbow pads, a "drop pouch" to hold ammunition magazines and a load-bearing vest.

The lack of a flak jacket in inexcusable, but the rest of the list sounds like the things my brother-in-law (82nd Airborne) asked for both times he has been sent to Iraq. He also asked for lots of batteries for music players, sunscreen, and junk food to trade with others.

[u2spirit]

34. Why is everyone complaining?

These individual families are spending money on armor, etcetera. That's good for the economy, and that's good for America. Why do you hate America? :sarcasm:

[SlavesandBulldozers]

47. welcome to DU u2spirit

:)

[driver8]

35. These fucking chicken hawks are unbelievable!! The media needs

to get it's collective head out of it's collective ass and start reporting what the fuck is really going on over there. This is an outrage that the American people should know about. Our government is lining the pockets of Halliburton but cannot provide the equipment that our troops need to be safe.

No flak jackets. No armor on the Humvees. Shit...I'm surprised they don't have to supply their own weapons.

Fuck you George Bush
Fuck you Dick Cheney
Fuck you Rumsfeld
Fuck all the rest of you war criminals...your day is coming.

[ngGale]

37. We are living in a country who never tells the truth...

and denies our troops equipment while dishing out loads of money to Halliburton and other private companies. This is just so - no words to describe these people without profanity.

[highnooner]

43. The proud, the few, the underequipped!

...

[DemBones DemBones]

44. I know the parents of a Marine who were told

they were NOT ALLOWED to buy him a better flak jacket, etc. They were protesting and taking their request to buy their Marine the equipment he needed through proper channels.

[Sgent]

46. When my brother was in the corp

we had to buy him a lot of stuff... useless stuff like decent boots, long underwear, and some other stuff. I remember we spent about $500 or so (maybe a little more or less) at his seargents suggestion when we went out to meet him after his MOS training.

[DemBones DemBones]

77. I was amazed these parents were being FORBIDDEN to

buy their Marine son better body armor. I've heard plenty of stories of families buying body armor, even as suggested by someone in the military as with your brother's sergeant, so I think this must be a particular commanding officer's policy.
There was a time when the military properly equipped all its personnel but that's probably twenty years or more in the past.

[The Backlash Cometh]

50. The Republicans are fucking everything and everybody over.

They should be tried in court for conspiring with the enemy because sending our boys to war without the proper equipment is murder.

It goes on and on wherever Republicans rule. In Florida I just read that they've privatized child welfare services and the private companies don't have to abide by Florida's Public Records Law. Kids could be getting abused in the system and there's no way for someone to look into it until we end up with a body.

How can we allow a party who has such little regard for life? Here they are fighting tooth and nail to prove that they were right about Terri Shiavio, and the reality is that they are creating Terri Shiavio's all the time with their negligence.

[Divernan]

102. Kids in Fla.'s child welfare system unlikely to ever vote Red

so Jeb Bush has great motivation to see them left unprotected.
Plus, no pesky civil servant pay/benefits scale - just unqualified, untrained, minimum pay private companies' employees.

[1932]

51. People who have the least sacrifice the most for Republicans.

Meanwhile, Halliburton and the oil companies get billions as a result of Iraq invasion and we won't even tax them a little more in order to pay for equipment for soldiers (much less, not pay them inflated prices for their shit in the first place).

[Tsiyu]

54. I cannot imagine the horror

of looking in the mirror at myself if I was one of those who wish to live like a king or a queen at the expense of other humans. It boggles the mind that, even in 2005, people don't realize you can't take it with you when you check out.

This administration believes it can force a kind entry in the history books; that * will go down as one of the greatest presidents. They are so myopic, they fail to see he will go down as the worst because of situations like this created by this greedy, Fascist administration.

[Kipling]

55. Don't worry, we're in the Final Throes!

[bama65]

56. this bullshit

Ive been to Iraq, oif1 and am going again in few months all the things that were talked about in the article are issued to you prior to deployment

[Catherine Vincent]

62. Then you better contact the reporter that wrote this article and tell them

it's bullshit. Let us know what they say.

[rocktivity]

91. The reporter's e-mail is

[e-mail]
Give him a holla!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Sparkly]

67. Maybe they were issued to YOU.

Are you saying this soldier lost his? Or is lying? Or the reporter is lying? Or the father? :eyes:

[Skwmom]

84. You think every soldier has the same experience?

I hate to tell you but the answer is NO.

[Auntie Bush]

57. I guess next they will ask them to buy their own bullets.

[Cha]

58. This is why I just got my

Blue Magnetic Ribbon that says PROTECT OUR TROOPS! on my car.

I created it at http://www.supportourribbons.com

This and other stories I've read over the last couple a years.

[Turn CO Blue]

59. What in the HELL is the military doing with ALL THAT MONEY?!!!!

Oh sure, we have the best tanks, fighter jets and missiles that money can buy...we can let Halliburton overcharge and double-charge and triple-charge us in no-bid contracts...we can lose 8.8 million dollars and not even have a public investigation...but apparently we don't have enough money to even equip our troops with the basic armor that any police officer would have attending a peace rally!!??!!!

Think on that...how many times have you seen police officers with "vests" on? How many times have you seen (or at least seen video footage) of SWAT teams with full body armor???

But our troops can't have that, the military says it doesn't have the money for that (despite their billions upon billions of dollars budgeted each year).

The priorities are so fubar'ed! I AM SO ANGRY ABOUT THIS!!

/rant

edited for clarity

[1776Forever]

60. Check Out Rummy's Prioritzed Military Monopoly - Follow the Money!

Our citizens have been sleeping while the wolves are lurking in our most sacred depths of our military and the beat goes on just like Ike said it would in 1950's -

Check this out from 2 years ago ......

Secretary of Defense Aims to Privatize the U.S. Military
by James Ridgeway
December 4th, 2003 2:00 PM

WASHINGTON, D.C.— If Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has his way, the vaunted U.S. military of the future will be transformed into what amounts to corporate-owned units. The daffy secretary calls his plan "outsourcing." The intention, he claims, is to put the lid on money going into expanding of the army so it can be diverted to new technologies such as Rummy's favorite hobby, fighting wars from space.

Rumsfeld has already outsourced much of the logistics and supply functions of the military to private firms, especially to Cheney's old employer Halliburton. There are now 90-odd companies competing to provide private soldiers from places like Fiji and Nepal to work as machine-gun-toting guards in Iraq...........

Much of the U.S. military logistics has been farmed out to private companies, the most prominent of which is Cheney's Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root, which does everything from putting up tents, building toilets, getting rid of mosquitoes, and importing cheap cooks from Bangladesh and India

The U.S. army has declined in size from 2.1 million in 1990 to 1.4 million now. It has been stretched thin by the war in Iraq, but also by conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Kosovo. More reserves and national guard are being called up for longer periods of time.

All this has brought pressure from Congress to increase the size of the army, but Rumsfeld insists that outsourcing will allow us to fight wars all over the place without boosting the number of soldiers. One way to cut costs is to send military personnel now performing administrative tasks into the field and giving their jobs to civilians. "More than 300,000 uniformed personnel" are engaged in work civilians could do, Rummy told The Washington Post last year. "Those who argue that the end strength should be increased, I think, have an obligation to say: where do you want to take the money out of?" Rumsfeld said recently. "Are you going to take it out of the Navy, the Air Force, or the Marines? Are you going to take it out of research and development and our future?"

Peter W. Singer, a Brookings Institution military analyst, estimates there is one contractor for every 10 foreign soldiers in Iraq—10 times the private involvement in the Gulf War, according to the AP.

[Turn CO Blue]

64. Can I get that link from you, please?

[1776Forever]

83. Link to Secretary of Defense Aims to Privatize the U.S. Military

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0350,mondo5,49264,6.html

[Shallah Kali]

86. Rummy wants an army of mercenaries. Mercs aren't bound by military law

not that Bush Co. is directing the military to follow it re: prisoners. Not only is this about making $$$$ off human misery it is about having a military not answerable to anyone but bush co.

[Overseas]

61. Republican Shame that should have gotten them all thrown out !

We have known all along that they DENIED THEIR SOLDIERS THE ARMOR THEY NEEDED-- preferring to make sure HALLIBURTON GOT THE MONEY ! This, too, would have been and stayed headline news if we really had a liberal media rather than the Corporate Media we have today.
>>>If attendees at Bush election rallies had not been carefully screened, we would have seen parents devastated by their sons having been lost without armor LONG BEFORE ANYONE COULD BLAME THE DEMOCRATS! Deferring Cheney's compensation for a few more years could have outfitted lots of our soldiers. But the Corporate Media ran the lovely Bush with soldiers photo ops without any challenging statement about why he, with Republicans in charge, could cut veterans' benefits and send them off to war with less protection than they needed. A truly liberal media would have asked, every time a Bush administration person posed with soldiers, just why the Republican administration hadn't given our soldiers the best equipment money could buy long before they paid Halliburton ONE DIME.

[katinmn]

63. Why don't they just re-appropriate halliburton's last two bonuses?

THat ougt to cover all the soldiers.

[nytemare]

66. From a vet, this is a fucking disgrace!

These soldiers are not fucking mercenaries. They are professional soldiers, who should have the confidence of their elected commander in chief that he would not put them in harms way if it was not absolutely necessary. All Bush wanted was the "political capital" of being a "commander in chief". Well, he should have done the fucking job of "commander in chief" right in Afghanistan. He also should have listened to his father, who, although a mediocre president at least had the brains to realize that going into Baghdad would not be a good thing.

I just wonder how much the insurgency is inspired by those pictures of Abu Ghraib, which also stems from the White House.

I am lucky. I had it better in Iraq in '91 than these guys. I at least had a halfway decent commander in chief.

[TheModernTerrorist]

100. isn't it sad

that we can actually say Bush Sr. was a "decent" prez in comparison to the douche that's in there right now? I mean, we've defenitely had "decent" presidents in this country, but I wouldn't have even considered Sr. one....until his son took office.

[nytemare]

101. He was a "decent" commander in chief, mediocre president

Low end mediocre, out of touch with the public, but not a complete ass like his son is. It also is amazing to hear Jeb speak, because although I disagree with him politically, the man can speak correctly.

I figure as president, Carter was mediocre. He got a few great things done, but I think he fell victim to circumstances. Carter is a great man, though.

Never will we see W joining with a member of the Dems to go tour tsunami damage, though. I just don't see him doing something like that.

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

69. NO CAMELPAKS FOR A DESERT WAR???!!!!!!

Just when you think the Rethugs and neocons can't plummet any lower in the incompetence and ineptitude contest, they surprise us yet again. The scarcity of flak jackets and goggles is bad enough, but a failure to supply water canteens? For a war being waged in the summer, IN THE DESERT? The stupidity astounds.

[Joey Liberal]

70. A Few Good Men - who must buy their own equipment

I hate to say it, but the Jar Heads are getting what they asked for. Most of them support Bush like brain dead ditto heads.

[earth mom]

71. That fathers money would be better spent on a plane ticket for his kid

to Europe or elsewhere so his kid can get the hell out of dodge since it's so blatantly obvious that to * & Co he is disposable! :grr:

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

74. What happens when neocon chickenhawks start a war

Funny how Cheney, Rice, Shrub, Wolfowitz, Feith, Perle, and all the other neocon ideologue chickenhawks who fueled this war have nonetheless found excuses to keep themselves or their own kids scrupulously out of it. They therefore have not the foggiest sense of the terrors of the battlefield or the true requirements for troop protection.

"Dimwit Dick" Cheney of course managed to make himself look even more idiotic last week by claiming that the insurgency in Iraq was in its "last throes." Yep, just like all those durn gook VC's and North Vietnamese Charlies were in their last throes prior to Tet in 1968-- our politicians said it so it must be true! Of course, since Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice and our distinguished POTUS all managed to avoid any significant association with Vietnam or the other wars of the past 3 decades, I guess they haven’t been distracted by all those annoying little things like the realities on the ground in the war zone.

This whole FUBAR reminds me of that hilarious smackdown that Juan Cole and the collective blogosphere put on Jonah Goldberg after the latter, one of the loudest and most annoying of the punditocracy's chest-beating neocon chickenhawks (National Review editor-- nuff said), came up with as his excuse for not volunteering for duty in Iraq: “As for why my sorry ass isn't in the kill zone, lots of people think this is a searingly pertinent question. No answer I could give -- I'm 35 years old, my family couldn't afford the lost income, I have a baby daughter, my ass is, er, sorry, are a few -- ever seem to suffice.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/11/125426/464
http://prorev.com/2005/05/right-wing-columnist-explains-why-he.htm

Goldberg of course utters this vomit-inducing hypocrisy while countless reports stream back of Army and National Guard Dads and many Moms in their 20s, 30s, even 40s, with far less income than Goldberg and often with 2-3 kids of their own back in the States, getting killed or grievously injured in the Iraq War that Goldberg so boisterously champions but is too lame to get off his own sorry ass to fight. Typical neocon and chicken-hawk putridity. I can’t believe that they’ve made our country fall so far in such a short time span. Of course, since they now want to invade Iran, at least we’ll then have a second and even bigger debacle to, uh, take our minds of the Iraq fiasco.

[SnoopDog]

75. Just exaclty what do they do with the $83 BILLION?

[rocktivity]

78. "(A) spokesman in Washington...said the military issues equipment,

but it's possible that young Tod's commanders told him that it was perfectly OK to buy equipment that would help him on the battlefield."
"...(Get) this equipment because when they get to Iraq they will wish they had" sounds a LOT more like advice than a suggestion!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Chicago Democrat]

81. We should try to help these families raise MONEY!

Then use this fact to DEFEAT unpatriotic chicken hawk skinflint Republicans!

Their incompetance is our opportunity!


1) Maybe save a life.

2) Embarrass Bush into doin a better job.

3) USE FILM AND FACTS IN OPPOSITION ADS IN ELECTIONS AND MOVE ON ADS.

[ingabingabunga]

87. It's still the same bull from the feds...

$600 is the military price.

I urge that this be investigated through and through. A while back there were big stories about this and the sales on ebay and elsewhere. The truth is that if you look at statistics for production there were not enough vests to go around when Afghanistan and Iraq started. The military screwed up on its replacement program to swap them out.

This is just as big a story about the up armor for the vehicles, but isn't carrying as much weight. Different stories are surfacing about some soldiers in rear areas or non combat roles not receiving one. Some soldiers report getting issued 1 new one every 6 months and others have said they have had so many that they have thrown them in dumpsters.

You see every security guard and private agency person has one. Most news reporters get them as well. We even gave the vests to foreign nations who are also present in Iraq and they are dumping theirs too.

Soldiers are being told to take the vests home and they are still showing up on eBay, and we still have stories like this one where some person will be shipped over without one. This is pathetic and rummy should be held personally responsible for any deaths due to lack of vests.

Pass this info on to the man so he can buy it for his son.

http://www.pointblankarmor.com/interceptor.asp
For general info and the website also has a list of distributors.

Some places to buy them:
U.S. Calvalry
http://www.uscav.com/productinfo.aspx?productid=8437&tabID=1
$999.00 for a large.

http://www.uscav.com/productinfo.aspx?productid=6946&tabID=1
$1078.00 for a large.

Specialty Defense
http://secure.specialtydefense.com/cgi-bin/sds/scan/sf=category/se=Outer%20Tactical%20Vests/sf=inactive/se=0/op=eq.html
$1374.50 for a large.

Brigade Quartermaster
http://www.actiongear.com/cgi-bin/tame.exe/agcatalog/level4s.tam?xax=31844&M5COPY%2Ectx=26681&M5%2Ectx=3609&M2%5FDESC%2Ectx=Body%20Armor%20%26%20Protection&level3%2Ectx=results%2Etam&query%2Ectx=interceptor&backto=%2Fagcatalog%2Fresults%2Etam
$900.00 for a large.

Last ditch would be eBay, but the sellers there don't certify the vests and there are now quite a few makers on the market as well as some counterfeit versions.

And there was a crackdown on eBay about these sales as they are prohibited to military and police only. But, I'm sure dad would rather face a year or two on probation for buying a vest for his son instead of the other potential cost, his son's life. If he does get busted by the feds and needs a good lawyer tell him to contact me, mine was great but very $$$.

[cap]

88. the poorest of the poor dont have a daddy who can fork out $600

eom

[jmcon007]

89. This is an emergency folks....I was a combat Marine in Viet Nam and

we never had to worry about such things. If I had one message to give my brothers it would be not to go ANYWHERE without protective armor. I believe in God and Corps, it's the 'country' part I'm having a big problem with.

[wallwriter]

105. Condi is out there asking for $43 billion more

D'ya think there's any body armor on that Christmas list?

[Hand]

92. Check out govliquidation.com...

It's the official government surplus property disposal site. You can buy big lots of "surplus" body armor, CamelBacks, load bearing vests... all the things these boys aren't getting. Also desert combat boots, uniforms, vehicles, all at pennies on the dollar.

There was a congressional hearing about this mess a couple weeks ago. Basically, tons of usable equipment, often brand new, is just being dumped, probably because the books aren't in order.

Your tax dollars going down the toilet... :grr:

govliquidation.com

ON EDIT: Corrected link.

[undergroundpanther]

93. Reagan era military waste

Remember the 800 dollar toilet seats? The 200 dollar apiece bolts?
Wonder how much is dissapearing into the black ops/pentagon /corporate money hole congress has no oversight over? What weapons or techiques are these sociiopaths making to torture and opress people with are the cooking up with our money?
Fraud and bullying is fraud and bullying..it works on an obedient,too trusting,oblivious, scared population everytime..

So how can bush and his freinds have so much while thier bank account defendders die for them with nothing on??

Because the Bushies and the rich live to TAKE wealth away from someone else.

This is the hierarchical profit systems dirty little core 'morality'.

TAKE TAKE and let someone else suffer and die so you will not have to.

The pirate credo the cowards song,the bullies excuses.on and on.. As long as you BELIEVE they can,They will take..all they can.

[Minnesota_Lib]

96. Did anyone pick up the ironic "sponsored links" listed underneath..

the article?

Body Armor www.interamer.net

Body Armor Outlet www.armoroutlet.com

Military Surplus Cheap www.gr8gear.com


Ahhh...the profiteers are circling….

[Andromeda]

97. My God!

The military should be footing the bill for this stuff!

I would do the same thing for my child no matter what the cost. If I didn't have the money I would borrow it or steal it if I had to.

There is nothing more precious in the whole world than your children and the Bush administration has made it quite clear that other people's children aren't their concern!

They just don't care about the lives of our husbands, wives, sons and daughters who are dying for Haliburton.

The bastards!!!

[opihimoimoi]

99. SNAFU all over again.....situation normal, all fucked up....

[TwoHandedLayup]

104. My Brother in Law has to spend too

He is leaving this week for Iraq. He had to buy his own GPS and a flashlight attachment for his M-16. He spent about $800 on this stuff. He did sell his GPS to another soldier when given a military equivalent.

The thing that gets me is the soldiers have to pay for internet access in the barracks they are taking over. Each soldier in his battalion has to pay $100 up front and then $33 per month for internet access. WTF?

I questioned him and the family about that and said it was crazy. But they are Bush loving republican Christians and see nothing because they choose to follow blindly.

[vkobaya]

109. Buy special military equipment

Before daddy worries about fancy stuff like flak jackets, I
think he had better worry about the basic stuff, boots, socks,
real, working rifles and ammuniton that doesn't misfire half
the time. Probably should worry about getting food to his kid
too since he doesn't want his kid to be sick 90% of the time
from the rotted garbage provided courtesy of Haliburton. You
want to know why Dubya wasn't impeached years ago? Because all
of the damn Democrats also have massive stock holdings in
Bectel, Haliburton, Exxon, Northrop-Grumman, etc.

Vicki

[obxhead]

111. never mind

edited for bad content.
sorry

[AceAlmighty82]

112. I'm not for sure when..

but I'm working on trying to get a site going..probably through geocities..if someone has a better choice..i'm all ears...anyways there isn't going to be much to it..probably some stories like this one on here or links to them..don't know yet..and a donation account that the only access button/box/window..I'm gonna start a donation account for troops in Iraq/Afganistan..and only for them! I can hear some skeptics already saying that..oh he's only duping us to earn a quick buck..but no it is not that way. When I get it done..you guys will know