Riiiight
Posted by Joshua Claybourn on 17 December 2004 | 5 responses
“Within 24 hours after a soldier from Nashville challenged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about armor shortages in Iraq, protective armor had been added to every vehicle in the soldier’s unit, senior Army officers said yesterday.” The army claims it was unrelated to the question, though, and that the additions were “routine.”
5 Responses to “Riiiight”
Now if we could just get every soldier, or at least a rep from each unit, a few moments of face time with the Donnie. Oh yeah, with a bunch of cameras around and a crowd of supportive soldiers.
I’ll say this…either the army is telling the truth and it’s just a coincidence, or things can get done one heck of a lot faster than I would ever have expected.
I mean…less than 24 hours? To get the armor through the supply chain and install it? Three days would be more what I’d have expected for an expedited order.
IF it were an expedited order as Eric suggests what really would occur is that armor kits for Unit B were installed on Unit A’s vehicles after someone for Unit A made Rummy look like a chump.
OR the army really is telling the truth and the unit’s vehicles were already in the process of being uparmormed on-site. Equally possible as many soldiers aren’t training with the exact piece of equipment they’re shipping out with once they leave the staging area (i.e. the humvee being driven into Iraq).
In many respects the Humvee is doing a remarkable job considering it wasn’t really designed for this kind of work (small armored personal carrier). It is a testiment to the design that it is this adaptable.
You give to much credit to the Army’s procurment system, they couldn’t do it if they wanted to.
From http://www.donaldsensing.com/2004/12/armor-tempest-in-teapot.html
“Within 24 hours after a soldier from Nashville challenged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about armor shortages in Iraq, protective armor had been added to every vehicle in the soldier’s unit, senior Army officers said yesterday.
In fact, of the unit’s 830 vehicles, only 20 lacked armor when Wilson asked the question, and those 20 were “up armored” by the end of the next day. Wilson’s question had nothing to do with their completion; they were already scheduled for completion.”
With all the calls from Rummy’s resignation the following was overlooked (same source):
“Yet the Tennessean reported,
The Pentagon is spending $4.1 billion over the next year to add armor to vehicles in Iraq. [Army Brig. Gen. Jeffrey] Sorenson said 35,000 of them need armored protection, of which 29,000 have been funded by Congress.
Got that? The Army’s funding for armor is 6,000 vehicles short because John McCain won’t choke up the money.
All of which is to say that it’s business as usual on Capitol Hill: to seem rather than to be.”
Er….that should read “You give to much credit to the Army’s procurement system….