This is an article from CNN, but was on many news channels today. I think it's great that finally a soldier has stood up and mentioned what needs to be brought to light...the lack of proper preparation, leadership and detail in any war, the fact that the government isn't providing the proper sheilds and armor for our troops.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/....ap/index.html

Here's a highlight from the article, the part I like the most!

Some of soldiers, however, had criticisms of their own -- not of the war itself but of how it is being fought.

Army Spc. Thomas Wilson, for example, of the 278th Regimental Combat Team that is composed mainly of citizen soldiers of the Tennessee Army National Guard, asked Rumsfeld in a question-and-answer session why vehicle armor is still in short supply, nearly three years after the war in Iraq.

"Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?" Wilson asked.

A big cheer arose from the approximately 2,300 soldiers in the cavernous hangar who assembled to see and hear the secretary of defense.

Rumsfeld hesitated and asked Wilson to repeat his question.

"We do not have proper armored vehicles to carry with us north," Wilson said after asking again.

I must surely be missing something, but why is that poor guy owned?

lol

cuz his kid is black....two whites dont make a black bro

Hey how do we not know if the child was adopted. The soldiers are right they should be better equipped but there still not enough armor in the world to stop a 500lbs IED at close range.

We have any people in the service on this site? I recently joined the NJ national guard and ship out january 14th for basic training.

I'm in the service, I just got back from my year in Iraq in June. I tell ya, I'm an MP and we did 95% of our missions in standard, non-armored hmmwv. The concern is not primarily a 500lb IED (improvised explosive device).. Don't forget that a lot of insurgents stil use small arms, which the armor and glass will stop.. It'll even stop an RPG most of the time. The armor also provides extra front and rear protection for the gunner.. I was a gunner for about half of my stay in Iraq, and theres nothing more disconcerting than riding through a city or down the highway with half of your body exposed. (think black hawk down)... NOT to say that IED's aren't a problem, because they are, but the armor WILL help tremendously. The army is getting better about providing armor, but I'm inclined to agree with the soldiers statement, because you do feel like the government is not supporting you while you're there, and you feel like they won't be happy until you are placed in sufficient amount of danger (think: didn't move into northern/central Iraq (hotzone) until 1 month before departure.)

I could go on and on about this article. Level 3 armor is crap. a truly up-armored hmmwv will withstand an awful lot of punishment. Another point is to keep your eyes open when you're driving, the IED's CAN be spotted.

My only question is.......where the fuck are all those billions of the defence budget going to if soldiers still aren't properly equipped and neither are basic vehicles???

the up-armor hmmwv's are trickling in, most every soldier, does have body armor, the rest is going to the rebuilding as far as I could tell, but its been about six months and a LOT changes in six months

Thats Hillllllllllllllariousssssssssss
what do you have them, saved in you Favs? :lmao:

Hahahaha if someone doesn't find that owned pic funny, then you need to check your humour levels.

And to answer your question Moe, I have a text file full of my favourite smilies.