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Soldiers in Iraq too vulnerable, says Army specialist
North West Indiana Times ^ | May 16, 2004 | JERRY DAVICH

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.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; US: Indiana; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: armor; humveehumvees; uparmoredhumvee; wheeledarmor
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To: M1Tanker
Textron gets order for armored vehicles
81 posted on 05/19/2004 2:41:27 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.)
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To: M1Tanker
57 posted on 11/23/2003 11:48:29 AM EST by Cannoneer No. 4 (CHAIRBORNE Death From Behind)
82 posted on 05/19/2004 2:46:33 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.)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4

Thankyou for keeping me safe long enough to join you in defending this country. Without you holding the line, I wouldn't be here!

Armor Conference was great. I actually saw this vehicle, but with no turret. This is the Cobra, a Turkish designed shell on a HMMWV chassis. More room than our M998s with some armor and better stowage. My scouts really liked it because it was simple and effective. Plus we already have all the engine parts for it!!

The MPs have another vehicle (I misnamed it, sorry). It's made by Textron and is a BRDM looking, 4-wheeled, armored car. A little tall for scouts, but then, the M3 Bradley CFV is taller. The MP vehicle also had an integrated M2/MK-19 stabalized turret with the ability to make it a remote turret. Good design and we suggested improvements.

Two companies had Loader's and TC's gun shields for the M1 series and the HMMWV weapons carrier using transparent armor/ballistic steel. New target aquisition gear for the vehicles, see-through, helmet-mounted displays (already in use on Stryker, the contractor wanted to see if they could work with the M1A2SEP), and many different types of NVGs/light-weight thermal viewers.

There was also the XM-8 5.56mm weapon. Easy to use and very modular. Also very ergonomic and good for either hand. It comes in Compact (slightly bigger than the 5.56mm Pistol or an standard MP-5), a Carbine, or a Sharpshooter/SAW configuration. It takes about 3-5 minutes to change betweeen modes (as long as you have the moduals you need) and doesn't require the armorer to get involved! Sights are easy to use and include a CCO (Close Combat Optic), scopes of varying power, laser pointer, and flashlight. Several butt-stocks and 3 different barrell types are available. Everything is modular and hooks to the reciever. No tools for takedown, can run it over with a vehicle or drop it. It uses high strength poly magazines (NATO 5.56mm Mags don't fit). The new magazines are semi-transparent, more rugged than the steel ones, and hook together side-by-side with a snap (no more taping magazines). Attachments like the M203 are simply slid and locked into place using retaining pins and rails. The Heavy Barrel Sharpshooter/SAW comes with a built in bipod and a 100 round magazine. There is also the Modular Shotgun which fits on the XM-8/M-16/M-4 like the old M-203. We still have the M-9 9mm pistol, but will probably up the caliber soon due to reality not fitting well with the PC 9mm NATO ball round's performance.

The bottom line is this new weapon will allow the Soldier to be more versitile without the military having to buy 50 different weapons only to find out things like the Tankers don't have enough rifles to do dismounted patrols. All the Tanker does with the XM-8 is take off the barrell, handguard, and stock and put the carbine or SAW's components onto the reciever. And even the SAW version is lighter than a fully loaded M-16, plus it's recoil is straight back, not "up and right". I'm a "gun nut" and I was impressed.

There were the new helmets with integration for radios and the various attachments for sights/NVGs. Better protection than the old Kevlar, lighter, and more comfortable! Also, that annoying lip in the back that forced the helment forward when you went prone is gone.

New body armor, including a Class III-A Combat Vehicle Crewmans (CVC) vest and the shoulder guards for the IBA vests.

Lastly, there was the new uniform equipment. The Army/USMC finally got smart and started shopping where sportsmen shop. UnderArmor, Polarmax (I have one of their shirts on now..much better than cotton!!), Matterhorn Boots, Camelback, and many other vendors/suppliers were there to show us their stuff and show the soldier what the Army/USMC bought for them. The biggest problem is there is so much new stuff, the soldiers don't know what it all is.

There was soo much more including the Stryker MGS (I hate it still and I've been all through it), the FCS, robotics, C4ISR, etc, etc, etc.


83 posted on 05/19/2004 3:10:17 PM PDT by M1Tanker (Modern "progressive" liberalism is just NAZIism without the "twisted cross")
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To: Cannoneer No. 4

That was it!! The ASV. I only had a few things I wanted shanged on it, but even as the "A" version, I'd rather have that than a Stryker! The "A1" version will be even better!

Of course, I'd STILL rather have a tank... but the ASV is a good wheeled armored vehicle.


84 posted on 05/19/2004 3:17:45 PM PDT by M1Tanker (Modern "progressive" liberalism is just NAZIism without the "twisted cross")
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To: SLB

Did you go to the Armor Conference?


85 posted on 05/19/2004 3:23:05 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.)
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To: gatorbait; river rat
ping
86 posted on 05/19/2004 3:41:57 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.)
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To: M1Tanker
Thanks for that report.

Would you consider starting a thread on the Armor Conference? I think most of the people on the Stryker and Treadhead ping lists would be interested.

87 posted on 05/19/2004 3:45:21 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.)
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To: abcdef; Cannoneer No. 4

Good God, Specialist, have you never heard of war being a come as you are party? It always has been, always will be. By the way, be aware that your plight is known and , in spite of obstructionism of the most traitorous kind, your bleats are being answered as quickly as they can be. Meantime,do your duty, stand tall and remember your ancestors who avenged Bataan.


88 posted on 05/19/2004 4:01:33 PM PDT by gatorbait (Yesterday, today and tomorrow......The United States Army)
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To: abcdef

Dude, you don't EVEN want to hear from me on this issue.

A FLIPPIN' FINANCE CLERK IN BIAP WHINING ABOUT BODY ARMOR???

I'll gauran-f'n'-tee you that if you had a IIIA vest with SAPI plates and you were required to wear it, you'd be bitching about that.


89 posted on 05/19/2004 4:28:42 PM PDT by Eagle Eye (Coming to you live from HESCO city...)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4; abcdef
The last straw for Heldt, who works in the Army's finance unit, came ... when the Army extended his... tour.

Somebody has misplaced his tube of Combat Vagisil.

A small recollection or two about finance in the war. We needed to pay our local workers in local money; we could have paid them in dollars, but they would have been gypped by moneychangers. But... would finance give us local money? Hell, no. They explained that you had to go from Bagram to Kabul to change it at a bank, and it was too dangerous for them. So we did it.

I won't even go into depth on the operation fund rules, which were unwieldy as hell. For instance, we could pay an informant for giving us information leading to the capture of certain people or weapons. The Small Rewards Program was created by Rummy and he directed that no one would add complex rules or restrictions to it. When Finance got done with it there was a 338-page series of rules and restrictions that they said, "were not rules and restrictions but merely guidelines to facilitate implementation." Those guys are worth a battalion each; unfortunately, it's to the enemy.

By the way, we took gunfire, and RPGs, and land mines, and IEDs, in the vehicles we had -- Hiluxes and Tacomas (ordinary Toyota pickup trucks). We got some HMMWVs but had rotten luck with them, and an IED blows up an uparmored HMMWV just as thoroughly as a Tacoma.

Another finance war story. When I got medevaced, treated & released, I didn't have the stuff I needed to stay -- I had to buy a $60 Brigade Quartermasters poncho liner so I didn't freeze my yarbles off in the uninsulated, unheated transient tent. So I went up to finance -- in mixed civilian clothes, dirty, and bloody -- and got the run-around from the fine troops in finance. The killer of it was I HAD A CHECKBOOK and was just trying to cash a check (a courtesy extended to the REMFs without any problem). Fortunately, I ran into a Finance Corps O6 who was wondering what such a dirtbag was doing in his offices... when he learned, he couldn't do enough to take care of me, and I actually left with his business card for any other guys that found themselves "in town."

I bought TWO poncho liners with my resulting gains.

My unit may be unique in that we were the only like unit that actually got all of our guys paid all of their pay while overseas. We did that by keeping two guys off the books in the US to chase the paperwork and abuse the clerks. I know guys that were over there concurrently with us and are STILL missing incentive or proficiency pays, because, I guess, the finance clerks are so busy advising the generals and their staffs that they haven't got time to stamp their damned papers or whatever it is they do.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

90 posted on 05/19/2004 7:14:47 PM PDT by Criminal Number 18F (P.S. It's still a free country. This kid has a right to write his hometown paper and whine.)
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To: Criminal Number 18F

Thanks for the story and your service!


91 posted on 05/19/2004 9:15:48 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got!!!!)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4

The last sentence needs an alert.


92 posted on 06/19/2004 9:20:40 PM PDT by Atchafalaya
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To: rageaholic
I'm glad you're just a civilian in an easy chair.

One should be careful about making such snide comments...

93 posted on 06/19/2004 9:36:32 PM PDT by Experiment 6-2-6 (Meega, Nala Kweesta!!!! Volunteer and join the elite Grupa Reagowania Operacyjno Mobilnego!!!!!)
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To: FRMAG

I've had more than one person tell me they enjoyed their time as an E-4 more than they did any other rank. High enough on the food chain to get out of most of the crap details, but not enough responsibility to lose sleep over.


94 posted on 06/19/2004 9:53:31 PM PDT by kms61
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To: DHerion

One of the black-humor nicknames WWII troops had for the Sherman was Zippo--because in combat against the Germans, they lit up every time.

People make some good points here. However, I don't think it's un-American to admit that some errors have been made. The first step in correcting a problem is recognizing that one exists.

And sitting here safely in front of my computer, I'm going to be very reluctant to criticize someone who's actually over there dodging shrapnel, no matter how outrageous their remarks. There are some here who are qualified to do that; I'm not.


95 posted on 06/19/2004 10:00:25 PM PDT by kms61
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To: TADSLOS

Not everybody in the Finance Corps sits behind a desk. I have a cousin who was in Afghanistan last year. His job was to go around with a pistol in his shoulder holster and a briefcase with a half million bucks or so handcuffed to his wrist, and pay off various tribal leaders, contractors, etc. Pretty wild stuff. I doubt they covered that in his MOS school :-)


96 posted on 06/19/2004 10:04:48 PM PDT by kms61
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
"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.

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."

I wish an asteroid would hit this guy. Apocalypse would be worth it. What a piece of crap. He is a FINANCE CLERK. He does nothing but sit on his butt all day long and screw up people's pay. He is at Baghdad International Airport. That is the cushiest assignment in Iraq. He is getting paid tax-free, getting a hostile fire bonus, incurring far fewer expenses than he would at home so he is saving a ton of money, he is eating 3 hot meals per day, he is a short walk from a decent PX, and he has MWR facilities. If any FReepers are anywhere near this guy, please beat him on my behalf.

97 posted on 06/28/2004 7:52:06 AM PDT by Voice in your head ("The secret of Happiness is Freedom, and the secret of Freedom, Courage." - Thucydides)
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To: Voice in your head; Allegra

There was a plan but I never heard back from my operator ;^)


98 posted on 06/28/2004 8:07:32 AM 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.)
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To: DHerion
I watched something on television about the fight between the Sherman and the Tiger.I have a lot of respect for the guys to fought the war from inside the Sherman tank.The vets said it would take four or five Shermans to destroy a Tiger.I couldn't believe it when they said the shell from the Sherman would bounce off the Tiger or score a direct hit and do no damage.The Germans had better tanks but we had better men and the ability to mass produce.
99 posted on 03/23/2006 10:00:49 PM PST by rdcorso (There Is No Such Thing As A Neutral Person During A War With Radical Islam.)
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