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America's Military Says It Best: We Rushed To War Without Fully Equipping Our Troops
John Kerry For President ^
| April 26, 2004
Posted on 04/27/2004 8:57:55 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
26, 2004
For Immediate Release
While the Presidents campaign focuses on smearing John Kerrys patriotism, the head of the US Army Forces Command in Iraq, Larry Ellis, wrote to Army Chief of Staff General Schoomaker today to complain that the military went into Iraq ill-equipped and specifically said that Humvees are not providing enough protection to US troops.
This memo is just the latest example of this Administration's continuing disregard for the men and women who put their lives on the line every day in Iraq. The Bush White House went to war without being prepared and it has got to devote itself to making sure that the troops in Iraq have the equipment they need to win the peace. John Kerry knows what it is like to fight in war and will make sure American soldiers are protected as much as possible when they go into battle. The American militarys men and women deserve nothing less when they are in harms way.
In his memo, Ellis wrote that Commanders in the field are reporting to me that the Up-Armored High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeling Vehicle (HMMWV) is not providing the solution the army hopes to achieve. It is imperative that the Army accelerates the production of Stryker vehicles to support current operations
even though we are at war some Army members and agencies are still in a peacetime posture
If our actions
impede our ability to train, equip, or organize our soldiers for combat, then we fail the soldier and our nation.
TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: btr152; fy586604rfi0003; humvee; kerry; sbct; stryker; uparmoredhumvee; wheeledarmor
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
Who is smearing whom?
Does this arrogant commie loving jerk ever tell the truth?
61
posted on
04/27/2004 5:02:53 PM PDT
by
ladyinred
(Kerry has more flip flops than Waikiki Beach)
To: ladyinred
No.
62
posted on
04/27/2004 5:18:24 PM PDT
by
sport
To: ladyinred
He tells the truth before he lies about it.
63
posted on
04/27/2004 5:44:47 PM PDT
by
Cannoneer No. 4
(I've lost turret power; I have my nods and my .50. Hooah. I will stay until relieved. White 2 out.)
To: Cannoneer No. 4
While the Presidents campaign focuses on smearing John Kerrys patriotism,
They don't have to, as very time he opens his mouth about being a HEro he does a great job all by himself.
64
posted on
04/27/2004 10:31:22 PM PDT
by
Valin
(Hating people is like burning down your house to kill a rat)
To: USNBandit
You have a good point. How much of this statement is truth and how much is the "Stryker Mafia" supporting its cause? Is Stryker, I would assume still in low production, the answer? How about an up armored USMC LAV. Not nearly as big as the Stryker, but in the standard configurations has more firepower. I don't know their relative armor levels, but the LAV is small enough for city streets and the 25mm cannon is sweet.
Stryker is *an* answer for some things; probably the engineer version, maybe the medic version [though it only carries two litter patients- we've got a couple of FReeper medics who may have better viewpoints on that] and possible the new 105mm sp artillery piece. But at 3 million bucks apiece, it's an awfully expensive tripod for a .50 machinegun....
The LAV is a good answer for the Marines, but their vehicles are aging and replacements may be necessary down the road. I think it can be expected that their vehicles will probably need to retain an amphibious capability though, and that pretty well leaces the Stryker out.
65
posted on
04/28/2004 3:02:00 AM PDT
by
archy
(The darkness will come. It will find you,and it will scare you like you've never been scared before.)
To: archy
Archy,
I have seen the original memo that fostered this debate (let's just say I was in the room when the original issue was raised by GEN Ellis in Feb); it was actually written about another issue (acceleration of the 6th Stryker BDE)...
His point as I understood it at the time, was that there has been anecdotal evidence from Commanders in Iraq that the Stryker is doing well, whereas the "armored" HMMWV is a stop-gap measure at best (the shortcomings of the M1114 have been documented here and elsewhere). GEN Ellis' point was that we could reroute some funding that is going to Bradley refurbishment (a system that will be eventually leaving the inventory after transformation) and put it into building additional Strykers (the PM was also in the room, and stated that production of Strykers could be boosted...it was a matter of funding). What GEN Ellis was looking for (and I belive also) is that the convoy support missions, and some of the other missions we are using M1114's and kitted HMMWV's for could better be executed with Strykers. A Stryker vehicle minus all the C4ISR bells and whistles is fairly inexpensive...and you could slap the same FBCB2 stuff in it we are now putting in the HMMWV's.
Voila, you have something better than the HMMWV, and are continuing to pursue army transformation by getting more Stryker equipped units in the field. GEN Ellis knows as well as anyone that the new "reset" of the army is built around the SBCT model minus the Stryker vehicles...the force structure and capabilities are similar.
To see this used for political gain is not surprising, but is despicable...
regards,
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