Bulletproof vests Iraq-bound

[nashville_brook]

Mims mother collects nearly 500 to help protect Marine son's unit

BY TOM BREEN
FLORIDA TODAY

Joanne Homer would do anything for her son, the Marine.

Joanne Homer of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Department hands Susan Johnson some bulletproof vests. Central Florida law enforcement agencies donated the vests to Homer’s son, Marine Sgt. Jessie Holton and his fellow Marines, who will be deployed to Iraq in January. Image by Rik Jesse, FLORIDA TODAY
And the Mims mom is doing it now -- trying to keep him from harm by helping gather nearly 500 bulletproof vests for the troops in his unit to use to protect the Humvees they'll ride through the war zone in Iraq.

Similar concerns about a lack of armored protection for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are growing.

On Wednesday, a Tennessee National Guard soldier in Kuwait asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why "we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor vehicles."

<snip>

http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/localstoryN1210HUMVEE0.htm

[puddycat]

1. I wonder if she voted for the war-criminal in chief?

Every single military family I know voted for Bush. When will they wake up to the evil of this administration?

[nashville_brook]

2. this part of florida is very conservative

so, yeah, probably.

[Ivote]

3. Florida Today News You Can Trust To Tell The Truth

Florida Today was one of the papers that had the foresight to endorse Kerry.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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

[w4rma]

5. Despite the incompetance and evilness of the Republican leadership

who have done *everything* in their power to "save costs" by not buying this armor and also to cover it up to prevent Americans from learning about their 2 year long failure in letting this continue.

[nashville_brook]

6. i don't think anyone has said anything about deserting

when your mom has to supply your bullet-proof vest -- the issue is that the "leaders" aren't leading very well.

sure soldiers will scrap together any means to stay alive on the battlefield, that's called a survival instinct and it's not exclusive to the military, the american military or wars in general.

if our leaders were spending our money in a respectable manner-- i.e. not lining Halliburton's pockets -- maybe our men and women in uniform would have the protection without their moms having to send them bullet-proof care packages.

[tabasco]

9. Is this the latest anecdote from coward Rush or some other ...

chickenhawk??? Comparing WWII and the invasion of Iraq is about as ridiculous as it gets. WWII was a just cause, Iraq is not. Funny how the Star Wars project got the money so fast, but body armor was low priority. I'm a combat vet, infantry-type, and I laugh at your comment.

[nashville_brook]

11. it's so cool that our moderators

come around and clean up mean and aggressive comments like the one that was deleted. it really makes DU a nice place to hang out.

makes me feel like someone is watching out for us -- don't know why i thought i had to mention this. just a "thank-you" i suppose.

[LynnTheDem]

17. Comparing WWII and Iraq; rightwingnuts forget one thing; GERMANY LOST.

It was GERMANY who INVADED AND OCCUPIED other nations. Now it's AMERICA who INVADES AND OCCUPIES other nations.

If rightwingnuts are going to compare WWII and Iraq, which is beyond ludicrous to begin with, then they REALLY should remember, WE ARE NOW THE GERMANS.

[Kellanved]

10. Does anybody say that?

My impression is that American Soldiers are putting their life on the line for their country and deserve all support they can get. Nobody expects them to desert their leaders, not even in cases of clearly illegal wars, but everyone expects their leader to give them all support and equipment possible.
So far the US Administration does not live up to that expectation.

[puddycat]

15. didn't see deleted post but when a war is illegal isn't refusal a duty?

My opinion is different from many on DU, who see the troops as mere pawns of the government, noble but mis-led. I feel sorry for most of them, but they clearly are serving the interests of big business and this war criminal President of ours. They do not serve my interests nor the interests of our founder's values by participating in clearly illegal and immoral invasions.

IMHO, they have a duty to refuse to participate in the murder and destruction of an innocent people and country. I would never kill for Bush and his neo-con thugs, and I would never die for them, either, unless in resistance to their evil. And until our troops come to the conclusion that they MUST as human-beings refuse to participate in illegal actions, then this mass delusion of "support the troops no matter what" will continue to harm the soul of our country.

If supporting the troops means bringing them home to where they belong then I support them; if supporting the troops means helping them with contributions to Veterans organizations then I support them; but I can't support the rape of an entire civilization and those who acquiesce to its destruction.

[rkc3]

7. What are they having a bake sale to raise money for these vests?

[nashville_brook]

8. they are hand-me-downs from police -- eom

[sam sarrha]

12. they are not anything near as protective as what should be issued and isnt

[DeepModem Mom]

13. What a scandal that these vests are not provided our soldiers!

[Barkley]

14. And we're spending more on defense than the next five countries combined

I bet those vests are available to the 'right' people.
Such as visiting U.S. politicians and policy-makers.

[LynnTheDem]

18. "Next 5 countries"? Last I heard, we spend more than the ENTIRE WORLD

combined.

[d---mad2]

16. BAKE SALE?

Will we need a national bake sale to provide vests for our troops?

Is feeding the insatiable appetites of these corporate monsters
more important than supplying our troops with adequate equipment
to fight this illegal and immoral war?

Bush's statement-we support our troops-MORE BS FROM THE B.A.

[DeepModem Mom]

19. Bake sale, indeed, dmad! Welcome to DU --

[d---mad2]

20. thx- D-Mo-Mom

[whathappened]

21. yes if

bush give 2 shits about man kind , we would'nt ever have to send anybody to die again , just step back and look at this picture , grown men shooting guns at each other , never have made since to me , i still say if we wanted oil we should have dropped a dime and orded it over the phone , not steal it

[LiberalUprising]

22. Yep $450 billion plus

would buy a lot of oil, too bad there is no money in peace. If we could come up with some way for these greedy fucks to make huge amounts of money by waging peace...

there would be no reason for war..

[BlueTexan]

23. Hmmmm

Maybe Bush could donate the bulletproof vest he was wearing during the debates.



Cindy