The military is paid, clothed, fed and equiped no matter where they are on earth

[Toots]

That is from Defense Appropriations. How does the special Iraq Emergency appropriations that can't even be listed in the Budget "Support the Troops". IMO all it does it pay the Mercernaries and Contractors of which there are over a hundred thousand in Iraq. If the Iraq money was cut off the troops would still receive their equipment and food and clothing. I say stop the supplemental spending now....

[wakeme2008]

1. Not 100% true but close

there are extra $$$ for troops in Combat Zones. But nowhere near the extra $$ Bush wants.

[Toots]

4. I seem to recall reading that Combat Pay was taken away from most in Iraq

That was quite some time ago and it may have been restored but even so it should come through normal appropriation bills...I don't recall special Emergency supplemental appropriations during Vietnam. Maybe I was just too young and didn't pay close enough attention but I think I would have remembered that. Special appropriations that can't even be part of the National Budget and so secret that Congress can't even be made aware of how it's spent......

[Captain Hilts]

2. Remember, over-paid contractors were chosen to protect Bremer. nt

[GreenZoneLT]

3. It costs a heck of a lot more to feed us here

You've got to truck the food up from Kuwait, and pay some "mercenary" (Filipino or Bangladeshi KBR worker) to feed it to us. That's not cheap; they're charging us a large multiple of what they do in U.S. chow halls that have been given over to civilian contractors. Supposedly over $35 a meal.

Most of the cost, though, is fuel. That's not a fixed expense. Combat ops burn through an unbelievable amount of fuel.

Most of the security contractors don't work directly for us, they work for the companies that are doing the reconstruction work. So you'd have to somehow say they couldn't hire security guards while doing business in Iraq. Yeah, right.

[Captain Hilts]

5. They're also flying more supplies from city to city. C-5s don't run on the cheap. nt

[CrispyQ]

6. "Combat ops burn through an unbelievable amount of fuel."

A war for oil so we can fuel our war for oil.

:crazy:

[4morewars]

7. War is a racket.

Read this book, it explains the entire scam :

http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm

WAR IS A RACKET
by Two-Time Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient:

Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC

[Horse with no Name]

8. Kind of true

Except that they have to purchase their own uniforms and they aren't cheap.
When my cousin was in Iraq (he is in the Army)...he wrote my Uncle and said that he froze every night because the desert got cold and the army didn't furnish them enough blankets to stay warm. However, my brother is in the Marines and he said that they have some type of sleeping bag that is very warm so he never had that complaint. You would kind of wonder why they both wouldn't have the same type of gear?
They both said that there was never enough good food.When my brother was there on his last tour for over a year, my Mom faithfully sent care packages every week in addition to the ones my brother and I sent. He said he only received 3 of them. My cousin said he received more than that but definitely not all of them.
I don't know what the differences are...but there are some strange differences.

[genie_weenie]

9. Military Bases are a violation of the Constitution

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

I didn't consent to have tax dollars go to pay for hundreds of bases in the US or around the globe, but since the government collects all taxes into a giant pool they can subvert the constitution.