Posted on 12/12/2004 6:03:44 AM PST by Kitten Festival
Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Edward Lee Pitts has criticized the military for not having full armor for all vehicles in Iraq and has admitted he convinced the soldier at Secretary Rumsfeld's press conference to ask his question for him on the subject. This has caused a feeding frenzy among the press who hate this war, and who are now trying to make the standard for going to war that every single vehicle in the Motor Pool must be refitted before it gets shipped out. The press writes as if troops can only be sent overseas in a textbook deployment. Like me, you may have trouble remembering that when Clinton sent the troops to Mogadishu without any armor at all, the press jumped on him for doing so. But I am certain that they must have, since they are so even-handed in their treatment of serious issues.
This is exactly what's wrong with armchair generals and particularly citified ones. Journalists now want us to believe that soldiers using their mechanical skills in upgrading vehicles is a scandal and not ingenuity, a virtue. The press thinks that a platoon ordering a Humvee is just like an editor buying a Lexus in Chicago or Atlanta. If it doesn't have all the features you requested, either the shop won't ship it to you or you can send it back. After all, the editor wouldn't take an acetylene torch and create a sunroof on a car he bought, were it missing this feature he had requested. Why should soldiers in the field have to adapt to changing conditions? Doesn't the Army know about The Lemon Law? Couldn't they call the Dept. of Consumer Affairs?
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Sitting here thinking that in every situation there is a thing called 'trade-offs'. As in what is sacrificed when you try to turn a Humvee into a tank? Is the tranny designed to handle it? How does it affect acceleration, top-end speed & range (lower mpg)? Will the suspension & tranny hold up? Will you get stuck in the sand more readily & how much more difficult is it to extracate the vehicle? What about the tires? And, God forbid, in a case where the vehicle you tried to make indestructible does get blown up, how many other lives will be lost because of all the addt'l shrapnel that's been added?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.