[Poundstone]

The need to rotate troops is easy to understand.

The need to rotate equipment is not as easy to understand. In certain cases, such as helicopters, the incoming troops (in this case, including Marines) may use different types of helos than the outgoing troops (Army) have been using -- no problem there: gotta rotate that equipment.

But trucks?

I don't see the need to rotate equipment that is (a) identical to what the incoming troops will use; or (b) may not be exactly the same (different type trucks, for example), but is similar enough so that the incomers can quickly get up to speed on it.

Is much of the "old" equipment in need of major maintenance? Maybe so, but that argues for establishing a high-volume maintenance depot in Kuwait instead of going the far more costly route of shipping the stuff out of theater and bringing in new equipment.

[Uncle Miltie]

Welcome home Oscar & Phil. Good luck Tim & Preston. G-d bless them all.

HOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait  — Nearly a quarter-million U.S. soldiers are within weeks of passing through this desert kingdom on their way to or from the war in neighboring Iraq...

"This is a breathtaking, history-making operation," said Army Maj. Gen. Stephen M. Speakes, who runs the rotation from this sand-blown base south of Kuwait City.

...About 130,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq will go home and 110,000 will take their places for about a year, in Operation Iraqi Freedom 2.

Already, as many as 4,000 trucks are on the road between Kuwait and Iraq at any moment...

...The mark of final success...is to move the 250,000 troops and their gear without reducing the firepower available to the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez.

"We want him to say he never noticed it," Speakes said.

 

Our thoughts and prayers go with you!

Thanks, SAMWolf!

[Brad’s Gramma]

Ping-an-Eric-ling!

[McGavin999]

That is incredible. I can't even imagine what it must take to accomplish something like that. If they pull it off, it will be absolutely historic.

[arm958]

Thanks for posting this article. Logistics always has been an unsung but essential factor in wartime success.

[Spyder]

My husband, an Army dentist, just arrived at Camp Arifjan last night to assist in the transfers in and out. He's hoping they complete the rotation in the 90 days they said they would so he can make it home for our daughter's high school graduation.