[TheForge] Rumsfeld way OT

[Ries Niemi]

On Thursday, December 9, 2004, at 08:10 AM, Schade wrote:

>
> Is Rumsfeld an idiot or a comedian? It seems to me
> that any decent purchasing agent could have enough
> armor plate delivered to Kuwait to sink the place in
> the next 24 hours. Need help putting it on? Call
> Halliburton. They don't even have to bid on the job.
>
> How lame.
>
> I guess this is just one of the things we don't know
> we don't know.
>
> But what do I know?
>
> Bob
>

Actually I heard an interview on the radio today, live from Iraq, with 
two sergeants in a transportation company- and they are having to make 
their own armor on site at their base. If they ask their commanding 
officer, he tells them that no one makes an upgrade kit for armor for 
their vehicles- this was a company that drives semi-tractors delivering 
fuel, 200 to 400 mile round trip runs. Since no catalog item exists to 
order for their model of truck, the military is at a loss for what to 
do. So these guys scrounge 1/8" plate, weld or bolt it to their trucks, 
and then put on a layer of conveyor belt material. All on their own- no 
help from anyone above the company level. This is happening all over 
Iraq- american ingenuity at work. I recently saw a thermal dynamics ad 
in a welding magazine with pics of another company of soldiers over 
there, smiling and holding up their new plasma cutter- they were so 
happy they could use it to fit armor on vehicles- before that they had 
only had an oxyfuel rig. They were getting something like 3 times as 
many vehicles armored a week since they got plasma- a year and a half 
after they got there.
Its not like the weapons or warfare techniques were any big surprize- 
in fact, if you saw the movie Blackhawk Down, you saw the exact same 
tactics, with RPG's going right thru humvee doors and trucks, in 
Somalia in 1993. Anybody watching that could figure it might help to 
have some armor on vehicles. But Rummy himself fervently believed Iraq 
was gonna be an in and out propostion, and he silenced dissent within 
the military.
The soldiers I heard on the radio today said, given their knowledge of 
how the army really works, they figured maybe two years before all the 
vehicles got armored.
Really sad, as even a shop as simple as mine could knock out armor 
upgrade kits in a month or so- plasma cut sheet, bend or weld as 
needed, punch attachment holes. I dont think there is any excuse for 
this- armor kits ought to be airlifted to Iraq for every vehicle there 
by the end of January.
I also heard a guy on the radio today, whose nephew is being sent to 
Iraq in January. The nephew asked his uncle for a Kevlar vest for 
X-mas, along with Kevlar insoles, as apparently they are not standard 
issue for everyone overthere. Then Bush gives out a website for 
supporting the troops, and on it you can buy a Slim-Jim or some cheese 
for soldiers. Seems like taxes ought to pay for armor, and body armor, 
but if it doesnt, the government ought to admit it and let citizens 
donate money for that stuff. But the government doesnt wanna admit they 
make mistakes- cant remember any, right? So instead, kids get killed 
and maimed so politicians can save face.

ries