Posted on 02/22/2008 8:01:39 AM PST by HD1200
OBAMA: You know, I’ve heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon — supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq.
OBAMA: And as a consequence, they didn’t have enough ammunition, they didn’t have enough humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief.
OBAMA: Now, that’s a consequence of bad judgment. And you know, the question is, on the critical issues that we face right now, who’s going to show the judgment to lead? And I think that on every critical issue that we’ve seen in foreign policy over the last several years — going into Iraq originally, I didn’t just oppose it for the sake of opposing it. I said this is going to distract us from Afghanistan; this is going to fan the flames of anti-American sentiment; it’s going to cost us billions of dollars and thousands of lives and overstretch our military. And I was right.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
OBAMA: You know, I’ve heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon — supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq.
OBAMA: And as a consequence, they didn’t have enough ammunition, they didn’t have enough humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief.
OBAMA: Now, that’s a consequence of bad judgment. And you know, the question is, on the critical issues that we face right now, who’s going to show the judgment to lead? And I think that on every critical issue that we’ve seen in foreign policy over the last several years — going into Iraq originally, I didn’t just oppose it for the sake of opposing it. I said this is going to distract us from Afghanistan; this is going to fan the flames of anti-American sentiment; it’s going to cost us billions of dollars and thousands of lives and overstretch our military. And I was right.
Has McCain responded to this yet?
Hmmmm..... Question for the Army types out there: is it usual for a platoon to be commanded by a captain?
Not that I've seen or heard.
A rifle platoon?
Yes, 39 men sounds big for a platoon. But then, maybe not?
Answers?
Um the CIC can’t buy guns for our soldiers when the Democrat led congress goes on vacation instead of signing a funding bill without unrelated pork.
What a dumbass liar he is.
I thought a platoon was led by a lieutenant.
Name names. Who’s this phantom Captain? Probably more phantom soldiers.
Platoons are headed by Lieutenants
Four squads (~10 men) form a platoon. The platoon is usually led by a second lieutenant. Three platoons and a headquarters platoon form a company. The company is commanded by a captain.
Was he accusing them of plagiarizing the Taliban equipment?
I think that Obama gets all his military knowledge from Hollywood.
” I spoke with an Air Force Sgt. who flies and FB-1170 and he was dropping clusterbombs on underground bunkers and he doesn’t even have body armor for his plane. he had to weld it on himself right before George Bush ordered him to strafe innocent orphans that were picking flowers in a soccer field.”
captains are company grade not platoon leaders which are lt. is most case....shows his total lack of knowledge or he is talking to an idiot....no ammuntiiton what horse crap.....mayne everybody should send this to the news agency....
The Platoon is commanded by a commissioned officer (Lieutenant, O-1/O-2) and assisted by a Platoon Sergeant who is a Sergeant First Class (E-7).
In this case, you’d probably have 2-3 squads in the platoon.
Anywhere from a dozenish to maybe 50 soldiers.
(All the numbers just depend on what is going on.)
Was just asking hubby about this. He said the same. Captain is in charge of a company, Lieutenant is in charge of a platoon and a platoon is NEVER split. Either they all go or none go.
He says either Obama is lying or whoever told him the story is lying.
A Platoon, when I left the infantry, was 4 squads, 11 men each, Platoon Sgt and a 2nd Lt. Captains were Company Comanders. Obama was never in the service so what does he know. I figure that he spoke to Capt. Un-named Source.
AK’s are much more weather and sand worthty . I’m pretty sure the ammo is interchangable with ours ( 5.62 mm.?)A lot of guys scavenge the enemy’s AK’s because of this very reason .
I call BS immediately.
If the scumbag did not make this up out of whole cloth, he probably got his “insight” from one of those fake soldiers who walks around wearing a fatigue jacket with a peace sign on it.
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.