Ok, whatever. Since you are the military expert here on the boards RetiredGySgt .... we will assume you know everything that you are talking about.
But from first hand reports from Kyle, his mother and his Dad .... about conditions at Walter Reed Hospital, the BS you are spreading are no where as 'rosy' as you want everyone to believe. Blame it on the Democrats or civilians if that 'floats your boat' ... what President was it that said "The Buck stops here?" Bush needs to be accountable for everything and every American life that has been lost in Iraq! Plain and simple!
Btw ... for curiosity sake .... how long have you been retired from the military? I seriously doubt we would get an honest answer ... so forget it!
Calling me a liar now I see. Par for the course, your on here pretending to be some moderate when your really a left wing loon from the left coast.
Ohh by the way I was put on the temporary disabled list on 30 June 1995 and officially retired on in late 1999. It is a 5 year process with 2 reviews ( 18 months each) before they officially retire you on a medical ( very few exceptions) After the last review they don't always wait till the full 5 years is up, since the review process is done.
The President is not responsible for batteries or shit paper at the unit level. All the units that deployed to Iraq did so with all the equipment they had and additional equipment they found. That too is how it works in the real world.
By the way, while I never liked it much, EVERY MRE has toilet paper in it. And I ALWAYS brought my own roll or two of toilet paper to the field with me.
The military does not usually provide toilet paper to individual troops. They provide it to facilities and to commands via, again, a BUDGET.
Lack of NEW body armor was not because Bush did not buy it, it was because the plan was to replace it over 10 YEARS and we went at the 5 year mark. The lack of up armored Hummers had nothing to do with a lack of equipment it had to do with what the military thought it needed in armored and unarmored vehicles prior to Iraq.
You are aware that the added armor is one of the reasons vehicles break down quicker, and of course the desert conditions.
The majority of the militaries Hummers were unarmored, not due to lack of equipment but because the military WANTED it that way. Ohh and ALL the trucks were unarmored. Again this had nothing to do with Bush or missing equipment. It was what the Army and Marine Corps planned for. Neither serves was short any vehicles.
After Iraq the services will probably return to less up armored vehicles as well, the armor is to rough on the vehicles and breaks them down to quick. And our military does not plan for the entire force to be deployed to the type of conflict we have had in Iraq after the invasion.
In Gulf one the Marines still had M-60 tanks. The Army was ordered to replace the Marine Tanks with M1's and ever since the Marines now have M1's. The Marines were not under equipped, the military decided that with that conflict they would retire the M-60 the Marines used and replace them with M-1's. Prior to that the Marine Corps budget did not allow for replacing 3 battalions of tanks with M1's and after the Marine Corps received them they had to train their people on them and rework budgets for maintenance and supply. They had to retrain all the supply and techs and repair personnel for the Tank Battalions. They had to get more M1's to replace all the predeployed ships cargo, shuffling the ships cargo around because an M1 is bigger than an M60. Replacing all the M60 ammo and supplies and repair materials through out the Corps with those for the M1.
That is the reality of LOGISTICS. Further claiming a President is responsible for Military inventory a little over a year after getting elected is ignorant as hell. It takes YEARS to change inventories because of a Myriad of LOGISTIC concerns and arrangements.
Further the President has no idea what equipment the services need or use, that is the job of the services to articulate and submit to CONGRESS for the funds to make it happen. Congress decided it would be a 10 year program to replace the old flak jackets, and that decision was made 3 years before Bush ever became President.
