Obama told a whopper in a very small way, and was clever enough to hide the lie in a hard to unwrap truth.
Of course units suffer shortages. Standard TO&E for infantry platoons could be 39. So what, there isn't a lieutenant on the planet going into battle with a full complement of men.
Where Obama lied was to peddle the notion that our troops are so short of weapons that they need to pick up AK-47's off of dead Taliban. That's just not true. We do that, but not because we need to. Does anyone here with any military experience believe that a First Sergeant would allow his platoon leader to go into the Hindu Kush with some of his privates short of general issue weaponry? I think not.
However, what is worse is that Obama may actually not be lying. He may actually believe this bit of liberal "truthiness". It gives one a window into how liberals think.
Be Seeing You,
Chris