Posted on 07/18/2003 10:47:44 AM PDT by StatesEnemy
Edited on 07/18/2003 11:13:59 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Dear Col Hackworth,
I am currently on the ground in Iraq and have been since I came over the LD on 31 March.
While the Army did a great in winning the war, what is not being covered is how broke the Army logistics system is and the damage it is doing to the long term readiness and moral of the Army. The Army seems to have this NTC rotation mentality, which consists of f*** it live in the dirt and filth you only have to be here for a month. That works at NTC, but it seems no one has thought of how to sustain an Army in the field for weeks and months at a time. The answer has always been, "after a month or so, we will contract with the locals for everything."
The problem is that outside of a few areas in Kurdistan and the north, Iraq is so poor that there is nothing to contract for. Moreover, we don't trust the locals enough to contract with them even if they did have something of value. Units all over the Army came to Iraq without basic things necessary for life support in the field. I a m talking about portable sh*tters with cans that you can burn. You can't live somewhere and have everyone sh*ting in cat holes for weeks at time. Units came here without tents. The 855th MP Company, a guard company from Arizona was allowed to mobilize without any tents. They lived on the ground in the most God awful piece desert you have ever seen for over two weeks. Units came here without proper heaters for the water in their MKTs, so that when they started serving T rats, they didn't cook them enough and didn't clean the serving treys properly and everyone who ate from there got sick. If its not a life or limb issue, its nearly impossible to get medical care.
Soldiers get literally hundreds of flea or mosquito bites and they can't cream or benedril to keep the damn things from itching. The army issued mosquito netting, but didn't give anyone any poles for their cots, so the stuff is basically useless. I am not talking about bringing in the steak and lobster every week. I am talking about basic health and safety issues that continue to be neglected by the Army. Even beyond that. If we are going to be here for a year, we need to start thinking about MWR and R&R for people. You can't just lock people up in a compound and feed them T-rats and MREs for a year and expect them to be as effective at the end as they were at the beginning. To my knowledge no one has given any thought to any kind of pass or MWR activities for soldiers. Division staff sits around in their air conditioned vans watching satellite AFN goofing off on the internet and just don't give a shit about anyone else.
Meanwhile, soldiers are living in the dirt, with no mail, no phone, no contact with home, and no break from the daily monotony at all. I went to a division rear in May and practically got in a fist fight with this Captain up there over letting my private, who hadn't contacted home since we left the U.S., send an e-mail over his office's internet. This clown spends his days sending flowers to his wife and surfing the net and he won't let my private send an e-mail to her husband. F*cking disgraceful and all too typical of today's army.
The fact is, soldiers can put up with anything and will do the right thing. The problem, however, is that at some point they are going to go home and hit their ETS date. I can tell you right now, a lot of good people are going to get the hell out over this deployment. The good soldiers won't put up with this crap. They will get out and get good jobs on the outside. We are breaking the Army and the reserve corps with this deployment needlessly. I understood when the war was going on.
But the war is over. This is peacekeeping and guerrilla warfare. Our supply lines are clear. There is no excuse why basic health and safety issues and moral issues like mail cannot be addressed. They are not being addressed because the army doesn't know how anymore. Units spend their lives preparing for 2 week warfighters and one month NTC rotations and never think, "okay, how are we going to live out here for six months or a year." Its just not part of the Army's thinking anymore and it s a shame.
Pissed Off Army Officer
Well, I am certain that if this is a real problem that we will hear more of it, and that steps will be taken to rectify the situation.
Getting a shower in VN means taking off your clothes and waiting for the 3:30PM monsoon downpour.
Ya, so? West Germany... South Korea....
Besides, it would behoove us to keep a toe in that part of the world - to constantly 'test the waters'
A young lieutenant is on a patrol with his platoon and is completely lost. He gets so frustrated that he screams into his headset, "I'm f%^$ing lost!!!!"
Wellllll....it just so happens that the brigade commander is monitoring that frequency, and responds with, "this is the Brigade Commander! Whoever made that last transmission, identify yourself!"
Nonplussed, the LT replies, "I may be f%^$ing lost, but I'm not f%^$ing stupid!"
Well what's your plan? Do you really think that 'hearts and minds' is a realistic end goal?
There will never be an end if we are to make sure that oil $$$ doesn't fund our enemies.
Stay Safe !
Yes, after we completely demoralized any resistance. This is not the case in Iraq. We've just scattered the insects instead of performing a full blown fumigation.
Ahhhh... hello? Then the strongest anti-American barbarians take control and set up a government there and let Al Qaeda come in and plot their next attack on America from Iraq and we're back to Square 1, genius.
With what $$$ Einstein? It's siege time.
Also, much of the current resistance is either from former Baathists or allied terrorist organizations. They do not have the support of the populace.
Your idea is to abandon the Iraqi people to the villains. I think that this is both a callous way to treat people who have been victimized for 30 years, and also strategically foolish, since it would leave the area vulnerable to a take-over by Iran and/or Syria.
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