Posted on 09/26/2004 5:01:26 PM PDT by katiedidit1
Army Sends Weaponless Reserve Unit To Iraq About 800 members of the 98th Army Reserve Division from Rochester, New York will begin a year-long mission in Iraq next month.
The unit, which normally trains reserve and active-duty soldiers in the U.S., will find itself training Iraq’s new army.
The 98th is a non-combat unit that doesn*t even have its own weapons or vehicles.
"This is a hard war and we, frankly, inside the Army Reserve have been not properly prepared for it,†said Lt. Gen. James Helmly, chief of the U.S. Army Reserve.
Find this article at: http://www.kwtx.com/news/headlines/1029996.html
Something smells about this story.
if this is true thats interesting...
I am pretty sure every ARMY soldier has a personal weapon.....generally an M-16....
KWTX is a WACO station, not Houston. Proximate to Fort Hood.
Non-story story.
Unites ALWAYS deploy without weapons, and meet their weapons in country as they replace the unit that is leaving.
btw - this was posted on DU.
BTW, KWTX is CBS, so you are right that something may stink about this. Confirm via another source before you believe it!
Logistics? I was a non-com in Germany for many years. And I hafta say, the beer was pretty good...
I smells ozone...
sounds strange to me...which is why I posted it...hope someone can check it out
Maybe they're cooks or clerks????????
"could this be true?"
Yes, it could be true. A training unit may not have its allocation of weapons and vehicles.
They will get what they need when they train for deployment, IMO.
Something I discussed with my brother, NG, who is called up to go over.
You see, each unit takes their own stuff. Of course, NG and Reserves are on the short end of the funding pipeline.
But when they are activated for Iraq, they go for training and draw some new equipment, and are trained on that new equipment.
In the case of a unit like my brother's, they have really really old trucks, so are getting the new trucks before they deploy. However, can't get an answer as to if/when their HMMVs will be armored.
Army civilians have been doing a bang-up job armoring them in theatre.
HOWEVER: when a unit rotates out, they take their up-armored HMMVs etc. back to the states with them. Then the next unit up (like my brother's) has to worry about when/if they will get the armor.
IMHO, why not LEAVE a good set of equipment over there for the follow-on units to fall onto? Instead of shipping it back to CONUS, and shipping the Guard/Reserve somewhat? inadequate stuff over there . . .
In Germany, we had unit sets for CONUS troops to draw and fall onto. This was practiced in REFORGER. The Navy/Marines have had unit sets in the Indian Ocean.
Why not do the same type of thing for Iraq, so that even the most unfunded Reserve unit has the same equipment in Iraq that the highest priority active duty unit had when it was there?
I dont believe it.
I never transferred with my weapon. They will be issued a weapon when they get there.
Well if Kerry had had his way, at least they would have had spitballs!
I'm not saying this report is true, but it is plausible.
John Kerry voted against the unit's weapons, and now they have to do the impossible, immediately, with nothing.
In line with our new sensitive approach to war they will be armed with the new spitball repeater.
Something doesn't seem right about this story...
I was in combat arms so I guess I really wouldnt be the one to say as we all had weapons and were not a support battalion....
"now they have to do the impossible, immediately, with nothing."
LOL! "We have been doing so much with so little for so long, that we are now qualified to do everything with nothing!."
I WAS in the National Guard, after all!! And on active duty, in a service support branch. ;)
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