Hungry troops

[eleny]

A woman just called in to Wolf Blitzer's program and talked about her son who is a soldier in Iraq. She said that they keep sending him food but he keeps asking for more. She said he's 6'4" and he's down to 140 pounds.

Did anyone else just hear this, too? I almost don't trust my ears as that height and weight seem dangerously low.

[NNN0LHI]

1. Yes and Wolf did everything but call her a liar. I dislike him a lot n/t

[eleny]

2. He did seem alarmed

But there has been press on how there's a shortage of food for them. He should be more careful. The woman sounded credible to me. In other words, she sounded like a sincerely worried mom.

[Skwmom]

19. In Operation Desert Storm I witnessed first hand guys coming back

who were skin and bones. They looked like prisoners of war. The food supply lines were all screwed up. I also had some units complain that they had too much food and had to burn it. Yes burn it. They were upset because regulation prohibited them from distributing it to the Iraq civilians.

[Rose Siding]

3. YES

I saw that and HAD to shut the dang thing off. BOTH Blitz and Robertson concluded that it was because of the HEAT. *FUNNY* but Robertson, who has been in Iraq for some time, in the SAME temps, DIDN'T appear to have wasted away himself!

He also made sure to mention that the soldiers could buy chips in the PX. Swell! In order to exist in a war zone all they have to do is BUY themselves some food.

I just can't watch that stuff.

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. Oh my God

my grandson is 6ft 4

If he weighed only 140 it would be tragic

that kid weighs close to 200 lb of solid boy

That poor mom

she must be worried sick

[Brian Sweat]

25. 200lbs is probably just over the ideal weight for a

6'4" tall man with a medium frame.

[StaggerLee]

6. Good point.

I wonder how many calories he burns running his mouth compared to a grunt pulling duty in country.

Any guesses?
Chips? Are you fu**ing kidding me??

:mad:

[pocoloco]

5. I've heard "rumors" that they may be

thirsty also! Unconscionable!!

[Bozita]

7. I'll bet the PX also sells Coke and Pepsi products.

unfuckingbelievable!

[Bandit]

8. How many PXs are there

It sounds like there needs to be one in every town and village. MREs are pretty tiring after a while so I understand why the weight loss but if they can put up PXs why can't they put up a mess hall?

[BrotherBuzz]

12. SNAFU

Kellogg, Brown, and Root may have left the damn mess halls behind. Not efficient running a mess hall with fresh food and the like, don't you know.

[Solly Mack]

30. Where my husband is, there is NO PX

which is the case in many palces in Iraq. There are mobile PX's that *might* get around to the various compounds once a week.

Some places do have mess halls...and some places have actual fastfood restaurants....but "out in the deep"..there's nada.

[Mandate My Ass]

9. THis sounds credible to me

Someone posted a link to a military family blog recently and one woman complained that her son stationed in Iraq had lost 35-40 pounds over the course of a few months.

My son is 6'5" and 182 and he looks like skin and bone. That poor boy.

[Bunny]

10. I've been putting LOTS of food in my care packages

to DU's adopted soldiers. Lots of snack foods and candies, plus jerky, tuna and chicken (in pouches), sardines, crackers, cereals, etc. The word I've heard is that they ARE hungry, that all they're getting are MRE's, and only two/day, etc. Not enough to keep them going in that type of heat. And they are definitely not getting near the amount of water they should have for being in that heat.

There is really no excuse for this. Major hostilities are over, right? (sarcasm). We control the country, right? So how come we can't get enough food and water to our troops?

[Sticky]

18. Please send me the info for adopting a soldier.

I've looked all over DU and cannot find a link. I have the box almost ready to send.
Thanks so much.

[Bunny]

21. Try sending a PM to SoCalDem.

I believe she is the one coordinating the names of "our" soldiers. She'll get the info for you. And thanks for sending a package. Believe me, you'll get a thank-you letter that will warm your heart! These guys are so surprised and so grateful that total strangers care enough to think of them. They are amazed! Takes about two weeks for a package to get there, expect to wait another week or two before hearing from your soldier. Way to go!:toast:

[SoCalDem]

11. Most do now have enough water OR food..

Our "magnificent supply dept...aka private companies, did not plan on the logistical nightmares involved in occupation..

The 8 soldiers on our "DU care package list" are so happy to be getting those care packages.. These guys are NOT near a freaking px where they can get "chips & soda"... and even if they were, should our soldiers have to endure daily sniper fire, and then "run down to a PX to pay out of pocket for snacks , befcause they are hungry ???

The local water is suspect and they are not even supposed to use it for bathing.. They cannot trust the local food, because they are not well-received there, and worry about poisoning..

They rely on their government to feed them, and provide for their needs while they are thousands of miles from home, and in service of their country..

[Solly Mack]

31. If I haven't told you yet, SoCalDem, You're the BEST!!!!

for what you are doing in helping the soldiers.

All here that have adopted a soldier have my eternal gratitude...My husband brags about " all those wonderful democrats" sending stuff to soldiers...he makes sure his more rightwing comrades hear it.

[Hubert Flottz]

13. They spent all the grocery money on Halliburton contracts and

plywood! The rest went to build the new 'Home Despot' stores in Iraq! That's why Bush needs more dough! Rumbo said, "Those Army grunts just want to gripe! If we feed them they will just wanna' eat again the next day!"

[happyslug]

14. Historically, Troops in Combat have always lost weight.

In Combat a Soldier are being extemely Active with the same calorie intake he had when he was operating in peacetime, thus you have less input with greater output, so the soldier loses weight.

Studies have shown the main reason for the lost of weight has been lack of Food (something the Army did not want to hear, preferring some other reason, that was outside the control of the Army). While the Soldier can get items from the PX, getting to a PX is limited in combat. Now in the bases we have set up, PXs should exist, still food should be provided to the Soldier.

AS to the lack of water, the cases of Soldiers being evacuated do to acute illness is probably tied in with the lack of water. Iraq does have water, it is just unsafe to drink. Most times you can drink it with no affect, but than one time you drink it and you get sick.

Remember it is easier to conquer a country than to occupy it. When you conquer all you have to do is destroy the opposition and make sure your troops have enough supplies to destroy the enemy. The problem is once you have a country, you have to refit the soldiers who took it, feed those soldiers. Repair the damage you did while taking the country all in the presence of a hostile population. To protect what you stole, you have to guard the items. The enemy can not drive you out (he was defeated) but he can harass your troops. To protect your Troops you have to have sufficient enough troops to guard all the important parts of the Country AND to rotate the soldiers from the Country (Even soldiers can only represses for so long, they need a break)

When your Army went in it was a well trained military outfit, once in the training slacks off, for the troops are fighting (you can not train and fight at the same time). Thus the army units slowly deteriorate over the course of any fighting. All units suffer from this, no unit is a good a it was when it switched from training to fighting. Thus sooner or later you have to resume training. That means bringing in training equipment and withdrawing the forces from their Occupation Duties. The prefer way to do this is pull the troops back home, but often it means shipping into the country being occupied the equipment to train. Thus you end up with two types of units in the Country, one training, the other occupying, with both needing supplies.

This is where the US Army is at present in Iraq, it has an occupying Army (with some doing training) all eat up supplies. This problem is magnify by the lack of ability to import things do to the ten years of sanctions. Thus we have to import into Iraq food for the Iraqis, Food for our Troops, Supplies and Equipment to Repair Iraq, and to equip our troops. All of this around ill-repaired harbor facilities that have not been updated for over ten years (And complicated by the fact we even have to import Fuel into Iraq since the oil refineries are not working).

Given the above you wonder why Troops are Starving? What about the Iraqi People? If we have troops not getting enough food what about the Iraqi People? This does NOT sound right i.e. still more breeding grounds for hatred of America.

[Brian Sweat]

26. For over 150 billion fucking dollars, we should be able to

keep our troops in food and water. What do they need, about 200 tons of food a day and a half a million gallons of water? That should be about a shipload a week. That shouldn't be a problem.

[DuctapeFatwa]

15. Short rations mean higher profits, hungry troops kill more Iraqis

It's a win-win situation for Halliburton!

They save big on costly supplies and transport, and population reduction reduces makes the area safer for company personnel!

[Bandit]

16. I thought they got their food from hunting wild game parks.

Or did they clean those out already?

[inthecorneroverhere]

17. has he passed PT test lately?

Six feet four inches and 140 lbs????

I have to admit some skepticism here. I could understand someone 6 feet even and 140 lbs, but 6'4"?!

The question that should be asked to verify this is: How recently has he taken a PT test.

Someone who is 6'4" and only 140 lbs may pass the 2-mile run (aerobic part of the PT test) but will have difficulty doing the anaerobic parts, the sit-ups and the push-ups, because he basically has zero fat reserves.

[alcuno]

20. So they don't have food but they have scales.

Sounds like a * run effort.

[Warren Stuart]

22. Sherman (The War Criminal) said it best

An Army travels on its stomache.

If you can't feed the troops then you got problems.

[Pepperbelly]

23. I thought that "Help is on the way!"

:shrug:

[Brian Sweat]

24. I find this hard to believe.

A 6'4" tall man that only weighed 140 lbs would be in danger of serious health problems.

[DuctapeFatwa]

28. Yes, I think that is one of the points

Insufficient amounts of food and water, combined with exposure to radioactive material are causing serious health problems for many of the disposable soldiers the bush regime has deployed in Iraq.

Because most of these soldiers are from low income/ethnic minority populations, there is little chance that the affluent voting classes will be significantly concerned.

[InkAddict]

27. Give Them A Piece of Your Mind

maybe they golf with Columbus Diebold execs too!

http://www.ascinet.com/index.php?fuseaction=company.about

"We operate a 24/7 Support Center for our customers, including the nearly 300 commissary stores around the world for the Department of Defense. Our support technology is critical to their successful operation."

http://www.ascinet.com/index.php?fuseaction=company.execProfiles

Patrick Gemperline is the Vice President of Operations for ASCI. He oversees several major programs contracted through the Department of Defense and public entities. He manages the daily operations of staff members in eight departments tasked with development, testing, upgrading, and enhancement of software programs, incorporating new business projects, and providing 24/7 customer and network support to over 300 locations worldwide.

Pat has been an applications specialist in the distribution industry since 1980. His experience includes management of personnel and projects from top-level managers to training and support of end-users.

Prior to joining ASCI in 1992, Pat supported the development and implementation of an inventory management system for a chain of grocery stores. He has extensive experience as a product specialist in the grocery distribution field.

[Solly Mack]

29. It's true...my 5'10" hubby is down to 130 from 170

and he's anemic on top of everything else.

The soldiers are losing massive amounts of weight.