Posted on 12/09/2004 2:05:26 PM PST by mrsmith
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Randy Harris
08 December 2004 615.313.0662 (office)
04-61 615.517.0984 (CELL)
Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett, Adjutant General of Tennessee
Statement on questions by 278th Soldier to Secretary Rumsfeld
To say nothing about the bellicose FReepers who think all National Guard troops should be shot, only Delta Force are real soldiers, yadayadayada....
LOL. This issue has only been in the press for a year or two. How COULD they have possibly known...
Hey you were serving when I was being born, so really THANK YOU!
General Speer now has a huge Spear sticking out of his chest, courtesy of MG Hargett. National Guard state commanders are very political people. Wonder if Hargett is a democrat?
Field adaptation is nothing new. The Humvee is the modern equivalent of the jeep. It is a LIGHT multipurpose utility vehicle. It was never intended to be an armored assault vehicle. The military and initial troops into Iraq specifically did not want hardened humvees because it reduced carrying capacity, speed and manueverability.
I find it very easy to blame clintoon! Why don't you?
Military "question and answer" sessions are not, and for the sake of discipline, cannot be as open as you might think. When you wear a uniform, whether voluntary or not, you bear a responsibility of realizing you may not know all the facts.
The military has a chain of command, with those who don't have a "need to know" kept out of the loop. This is to instill trust in one's superiors and in wartime a necessity in event of your capture.
The other reason military services use Public Relations people to answer the press is to protect the naive from revealing information in a public forum to unscrupulous reporters. Its easy to forget by wearing the uniform that you are representing the actual service you are working for and not just being seen as giving a personal opinion. This PRESS abuse aggravates the authority and leadership on whom many of these men's lives depend.
As for your comment that maybe these Q & A sessions shouldnt occur, I would agree only in the sense that the Secretary shouldnt allow unscreened questions when members of the Press are present.
I think you are missing my point. Look at post 44 to see what I am talking about.
How unusual is a statement like that? I've never heard of one general implicitly calling another general a liar in a press release which has been issued in the middle of a war.
That has been gnawing on me too. It's like the military is supposed to be full of people riding around in tanks, that there is no infantry any more, because if one single person gets shot, God help us, the U.S. will have to withdraw.
I'm sick of the MSM acting like any casualty makes the action a wasted one. Typical of the MSM to act as if 'just one life being saved' is worth thousands of dollars of armor and airbags and seatbelts and crash tests, dollars that people will be forced to work years to produce, but when it comes to freeing the Iraqi and Afghani peoples, well, heck, freedom isn't worth a damn.
We had a "localized policy at the discretion of our CO" because our CO voluntarily put himself in that situation.
Likewise, at that open question and answer session, there was a "localized policy at the discretion of SECDEF" because SECDEF Rumsfeld voluntarily put himself in that situation.
If our CO or Rumsfeld had wanted to have easy pitches to knock out of the ball park, they could have answered pre-selected written questions.
To publicly subject yourself to the risk of tough questions takes courage. Rumsfeld showed courage instead of taking the safe and easy route.
No guts, no glory.
I'll admit that's a long drive from Kuwait, but that is an area that they least need the armor. "Up north" is where they need it.
Gruff - lets consider that Clinton had 8 years to deplete the military by using it, and not replacing items.
Let's also consider that for the first two years of Bush's term, he had a Democrat controlled Senate that was very obstructionist (and the Democrats still try to filibuster most things in the Senate.)
Let's consider how the Democrat Senate dragged on confirmation hearings; Dr. Rice, the NSA head, had to wait until July 2001 for several of the assistants to be confirmed by the Senate. (How did that delay reduce the efficiency of the NSA?)
Let's also consider that Clinton left the nation so weak in intel that 9/11 happened, early on Bush's watch, and he had to tackle some bigger problems first.
Let's also consider that you goofed big time - Bush's second term starts Jan 20, 2005 .... which, when I check my calendar, is still in the future.
Mike
lol -yup, he was short lived interloper...
It is almost never heard of.
That state NG general knows that he's politically protected in his state. Until he's activated he answers to the governor and not to DoD. He must feel protected.
There's not a snowball's chance they're going to activate this guy.
A civil service attitude is a good way to put it. I've seen guys that joined the reserves for the college money and only having to do their job one weekend a month. Then they cry and try to get out of service when a national emergency happens and (gasp!) they're activated. It's unacceptable behavior and these disgruntled people go do stupid things like blindsiding their bosses in public and "accidentally" get caught taking pictures of prisoners with panties on their heads.
FWIW, when I was in the Navy, we would have "Captain's Call" where the entire crew could address any concerns or questions directly to the C.O. Of course 98% of it was whiny crying Bravo Sierra of the worst order. I quit going, since my request for a jacuzzi on the fantail was never fulfilled.
It's always been like that in a combat zpne.Our soldiers & sailors can never be assured of 100 % safety.
My brother beefed up a jeep with metal from a scrap yard in Vietnam in 1971.
Rode in choppers sitting on his amored vest.
You are never prepared for a war.
Exactly! Our soldier's have been making due in a McGiveresque fashion for some time now. Before my husband went into Kosovo he had to scurrage for scrap metal to beef up his Humvees. There have always been problems getting supplies to the troops. This is not a problem unique to the Bush administration. I do feel confident that these issues are being taken care of. Honestly, there is so much red tape involved I am shocked anything gets done in the government.
Who cares if the media planted questions. It was a good question that Rumsfeld opened himself up to by have a Q & A session. Had the soldier known that his question was going to make national headlines he would have thought differently about asking it. It only takes a quick search of the Army Times archives to see that supply issues have been reported on for years and years. Why the heck this is "news" - I have no clue.
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