Cobra? Turkish Otokar Cobra?
How was the Armor Conference?
archy would love this one: 
Posted on 05/16/2004 5:01:44 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
WAR COMPLAINT: Lack of preparation, protection may have cost life and limb, Portage soldier says.
BY JERRY DAVICH
Times Staff Writer
U.S. military leaders failed their soldiers with inadequate combat equipment, vehicles, leadership and training during Operation Iraqi Freedom, a local soldier believes.
Poor planning from day one may have cost American lives and limbs, wrote Army Spc. Christopher Heldt, 24, from his position at the Baghdad International Airport.
"Many soldiers have been riding in unprotected HUMMVs for over a year, all the while roadside explosive devices have been the biggest threat we face... on the most dangerous streets in the world," e-mailed Heldt, a Portage native.
Soldiers are forced to create makeshift protection gear for the all noncombat vehicles by either placing sandbags along the floorboards and frames or hiring local natives to weld steel on the sides and bottom, he said.
"Neither is as effective as the true armored HUMMVs we need," he wrote.
Heldt, like many soldiers there, didn't receive his bulletproof Interceptor Body Armor, or IBA, until September, three months after arriving at his current base, he said.
"How many soldiers could have been saved if they had the armor to begin with?" he asked.
The last straw for Heldt, who works in the Army's finance unit, came earlier this month when the Army extended his year-long "boots on ground" tour of duty another 90 days, through the June 30 transfer of power deadline in Iraq.
That's when he began voicing his concerns publicly.
Military officials, Heldt claims, went against their word by keeping exhausted, disgruntled soldiers in the hot zones "who have already sacrificed enough."
"Beyond one year takes it to another level," he wrote. "Many of us are tired, worn out and ready to go back. We deserve that much."
Heldt enlisted with a friend in 2001 mostly because "it was time to grow up." After growing up on the fly, he arrived in Baghdad in late May 2003.
"Who takes blame for not being prepared?" he asked. "We cannot change the fact that many soldiers died because there was a lack of protection... (or) the lack of planning of rotating the troops out in a timely manner."
Missing home
Very few fellow soldiers there have accepted the recent 90-day extension as "We have a mission to accomplish, let's stay to get it done," he wrote.
"Most of the soldiers, including myself, never thought we would be here beyond one year. One year in a combat area has been unheard of since the Vietnam War."
Heldt said too many soldiers were marched into Iraq without specific purposes and training. And too many units were doing jobs that had no relation to their training.
Yet, when these concerns were voiced to superiors, the reply was a familiar echo: "We're working on that," he wrote.
What Heldt misses most about home is normalcy.
After a year of waking up in tents and walking outside into sandstorms, Heldt misses the simple things, he said. Like hopping in a car to go to the store, or downing a tall cold one, or seeing his wife's smile every morning.
"I may be the one in the desert in a hostile area, but she, without question, is the one who deserves the praise of everyone," he wrote. "She has helped me through this in more ways than she will ever know."
Heldt's four-year enlistment ends next April.
"I am getting out as soon as I can," he wrote.
It's that conventional ground pounder leg attitude that gets our troops killed.
Yep. Finance leads the way...alright! The media kept looking until they found a "REMF" that whined their tune.
That was a profoundly ignorant statement.
yeah go tell vehicle crews they don't need armor plate, they need to be "in the enemy's face" and then see who's "profoundly ignorant".
This statement is incorrect. We are producing about 214 per month and expect to get to 220-300 shortly. If appropriations meet plans, then production will rise to around 300 per month then to 450 sometime this winter. Plant capacity is abouy 450-500 per month.
That's why I posted it.
I never noticed the smell - paddies, rivers, villages - they all smelled the same, but those garratroopers sure did notice.
Just repeated what a Military analyst (a retired General) stated on Fox last week. Point is......we are doing something about this problem as fast as we can.
I also saw the armor kits for unarmored Humvees that was made at "no cost" by patriotic steel workers, and it was a significant amount of the kits. Sorry if my data was wrong, as I was repeating what was heard on FoxNews.
LLS
Not a problem. Glad to see you are watching this important issue.
Sounds like you are.
First, the pat on the back: Thank You for your service to our country.
do you dispute that soldier's lives could have been prevented if they were not riding around in a vehicle with only a small, thin piece of plastic to protect them.
Yes, I dispute that. Soldier's lives are prevented by contraception and abortion, not by vehicle armor or the lack thereof, although a small (or not so small, depending on how well hung the individual is) thin pice of latex could prevent many soldier's lives. Consolidate your feces, Specialist.
Do I dispute that soldier's deaths could have been prevented if they were riding in armored vehicles. No.
Do I dispute that soldier's deaths could have been prevented if they had been wearing EOD bomb suits? No.
Do I dispute that soldier's deaths could have been prevented if they had stayed in Germany or Fort Carson? No.
Do I dispute that whenever the enemy succeeds in accomplishing part of his mission it is because the Army or the Secretary of Defense or or the Commander-in-Chief < messed > up? Yes.
I think your email to the North West Indian Times reflected unfavorably upon yourself and the United States Army, to the detriment of the morale of the American people reading it and to the great delight of our enemies, foreign and domestic, for whom you have provided propaganda.
Indiana not Indian
Walk a mile in his boots before you write him off. He is a hero even if you disagree with him or indeed even if he is wrong.
Specialist...I also hope you get your pink butt home to mama as soon as possible. Good riddance.
Finance specialists tend to be division or higher. They tend to have cots, electricity, and work shifts.
As a rule, finance specialists pass on scuttlebutt. They aren't the ones who create events that others talk about.
I don't know what more I can add that the NCO corps hasn't already stated. This SPC is a REMF and is whining just like every REMF I ever met. They cried in Bosnia in 98 because we didn't have cable installed. They stayed in air-condition connexes and offices while Armor/CAV and Infantrymen went on 4-10 hour patrols in full kit and stuffed into XM1114s or guarded their spoiled REMF butts at the base camps.
As to why we don't have the vehicles/armor in the quantities we really need, here are a few reasons:
1. The "military-industrial complex" is nowhere near as big and powerfull as Hollywierd and the National Socialist Left make it appear to be. Anyone tried buying 5.56mm(.223CAL) rifle ammo lately? It's getting rare because the cuts to the military manufacturing capabilities in the 90s means we have trouble keeping up with the ammo demands and are now buying civilian ammo.
2. It takes a lot of money to rebuild the Armed Forces, especially one that was overused/abused and underfunded. I really would have liked another two years of improvments and Bush's policy innitiatives in place before we went into action....But what we want and a pile a manurer.... We don't get to set timelines when our enemies attack. We are getting gear and training to the soldiers as fast as currently possible and we are pushing those limits on a daily basis.
3. We could have had the M1114 Armored HMMWV in 1999, but didn't. Why not? Ask Bill, Hillary, and John Kerry. Ask them why the improved body armor wasn't bought. Ask them why all the add-ons for the rifles were not bought in the late 90s. We did have them, but only for select members of SOCOM. There was no money to buy them for the conventional military. Ask them why it was only through investment in the M1 Abrams tank program by allied countries that our M1 tank fleet was saved and we now can buy the M1A2SEP. I bet you they will say "that's none of your business!" (Kerry's favorite ANSWER)
BTW the HMMWV is NOT a combat vehicle and we are trying to get new vehicles out as fast as we can. These new vehicles were in the prototype stage and stayed there in the 90s so Clinton couldn't cut them. They are now comming out. Things like the M-8 AGS (or maybe the 120mm armed Thunderbolt) for the 82nd ABN, the Cobra Armored vehicle for the Military Police, and many other things too detailed to get into. We stand on the edge of a technological and tactics quantim leap. We've been standing here since Clinton took office and froze military upgrades in favor of implementing more socialism. Now we can make that leap.
Lastly, I just went to a PLDC graduation today (my soldier there was on the Commandant's list). Most of these soldiers had 2-3 combat stripes on their uniform and were headed stright back to combat. These soldiers were not complaining..... says something, I guess...but I don't know, I'm just a dumb captain....Maybe this REMF SPC with less time in service than I've been an O-3 is 50x smarter than a prior service officer with 12 years in....or a slew of 1SGs and CSMs with 20-30 years....
Cobra? Turkish Otokar Cobra?
How was the Armor Conference?
archy would love this one:
This looks like a Scarab.
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