I will be very disappointed if ours boys vote for the Punk again

[eauclaireliberal]

American troops forced to buy own wartime gear

By TARA COPP & JESSICA WEHRMAN

>>Last Christmas, Mike Corcoran sent his mother an unusual Christmas list: He wanted night-vision goggles, a global positioning system and a short-wave radio. Corcoran, then a Marine sergeant in Afghanistan, wanted the goggles so he could see on patrols. They cost about $2,000 each.

According to an Army internal report released earlier this summer, many ground troops like Corcoran decided to dip into their own pockets to get the equipment they needed to fight in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

"There were a lot of reports of that prior to the war, people would go out and buy their own gear," said Patrick Garrett, a defense analyst with GlobalSecurity.org. "The Army ran out of desert camo boots, and a lot of soldiers were being issued regular black combat boots. Soldiers decided that wasn't for them, so they paid for new boots with their own money."

According to the Pentagon's "Operation Iraqi Freedom Lessons Learned" draft report, soldiers spent their own money to get better field radios, extra ammunition carriers to help them fight better and commercial backpacks because their own rucksacks were too small.<<

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Some time ago Frontline did a piece about a former Pentagon defensive analyst who's expetise are weapons and the cost, efficiency of them. Chuck somebody.

He went on to say many things, one of which that the WH has a history of spending BILLIONS in unproven weaponry. One thing he noted was that the "jamming-problem" infamous of the M16, and the fact that the DoD KNEW ABOUT IT ALL ALONG AND DID NOTHING...that indiscretion needlessly cost American lives in Vietnam.

He then explained that Dubya's war machine is costlier, and weaponry is STILL unproven. So the question that that I can't get out of my head is how long until our troops have to start putting machine guns on their X-mas lists just to stay ALIVE?! This administration is a fucking disgrace.

Neo-con cheerleading from those who didn't serve...

[Brucey]

1. Repugs, particularly cimpy, like to say one thing and do another.

You are right that US troops should not support this chimp. But I think people who are so ready to fight, who are mostly young and naive, people who have chosen a career in which one doesn't think for oneself but follows orders, will vote repug. I would be very, very surprised (happily surprised) if the military vote does not follow its orders.