Delays leave one-fourth of U.S. troops in Iraq without (new) body armor

[Barrett808]

Nearly one-quarter of the 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq still have not been issued a new type of ceramic body armor strong enough to stop bullets fired from assault rifles.

Delays in funding, production and shipping mean it will be December before all troops in Iraq will have the vests, which were introduced four years ago, military officials say.

Congress approved $310 million in April to buy 300,000 more of the bulletproof vests, with 30,000 destined to complete outfitting of the troops in Iraq. Of that money, however, only about $75 million has reached the Army office responsible for overseeing the vests' manufacture and distribution, said David Nelson, an official in that office.

Angry members of Congress have denounced the Pentagon. They say up to 44,000 troops lack the best vests because of the sluggish supply chain, significantly more than the Pentagon figure. Relatives of some soldiers have resorted to buying body armor in the United States and shipping it to their troops, congressional critics say.

"I got a letter from a young soldier in Baghdad saying that the men in his group were concerned that they had cheap armor that was incapable of stopping bullets. And they wondered why they could not have the best protection possible under the circumstances," said Rep. Ted Strickland, D-Ohio.

(more)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/10/13/national1530EDT0604.DTL

[Spazito]

1. But didn't you get the memo??? All is well there, the troops...

don't need any body armor! It is the mean, bad press that are misinforming the public that soldiers are dieing.

[TacticalPeek]

2. Report the good news. They are not in North Korea.

FTA

:)

[saigon68]

3. They shouldn't be there at all

A vest does nothing to stop a "Head Shot"

[Noordam]

4. I bet the Regular Army types in South Korea have the new stuff.

It is the NG and reservist did do not.

[chookie]

5. Gee, I didn't go to West Point, but....

DUH!

Our guys are getting plinked off like sitting ducks, because the stupid Bush* administration ignored all the facts on the ground, and prepared to fight a war which was a fiction created out of their fanatical ideology. I guess they sent the troops over with vases to put all the flowers that the Iraqis were going to throw at them, and didn't have room for body armor .

Trouble is, the competent people in the Pentagon were ousted, and the ideological lackies are the ones Rummy placed in command to run his war. LOTS of people warned them about the practical matters of what they were going to get themselves into, and they ignored it, preferring their faith-based approach to policy.

Our service men and women are in harm's way without even basic body armor to protect them? It boggles the mind.

What do you think is more damaging to morale -- the fact that some people are against the war and the pResident, OR being stuck in Bagdad without body armor?

[bluestateguy]

6. That's called "supporting the troops"

Well that and plopping a flag on a gas guzzling SUV.

[DUreader]

7. Support the no-bid contractors in charge of supplying our troops!!

Pay those taxes!