Define improperly equipped.
Who determines what equipment is proper? You? Teddy Kennedy? The Boston Globe?
There is such a thing as a Table of Organization and Equipment (TOE) or Modified Table of Organization and Equipment (MTOE). Every tactical unit in the Army has one, and it is the basis for determining what equipment a unit will have. Each type of unit is equipped pretty much the same as all other units of the same size and type. Most units have to be able to deploy anywhere in the world and take their equipment with them, and they are supposed to be able to accomplish their primary mission with that equipment.
I contend that almost all the active Army units who were authorized M1114 Up Armored Humvees last year had them. Most National Guard units did not. That was nothing new. The National Guard's requisitions are almost always filled after the active Army gets theirs. There is really only two ways to issue equipment. Come up with a fielding plan and prioritze who will get it first, or don't issue at all until you have enough for everybody.
The shortage of Up Armored Humvees is as much an MP shortage as an equipment shortage. The M1114 is an MP and scout vehicle. We have tankers, infantrymen, artillerymen, combat engineers and all kinds of other soldiers and units tasked to act as MP's. The MP ride is mine protected. The acting MP's want protection, too. That's natural. Many of them came out of M1's and Bradleys and M113's and feel naked.
Rich as America is, and as much as we love our troops, no army in the history of the world has ever attempted to provide every third soldier with an air conditioned armored limousine. That is all an M1114 is really. It is just a five-quarter with ballistic panels and bulletproof glass installed afterwards. It is not a purpose-built mine protected vehicle. It does not have the V-shaped, blast deflecting hull and other features that purpose-built mine protected vehicles have. It is better than an unarmored vehicle, but not as good as many other vehicles we could be buying.
There is a principal of war called economy of force. Force protection is part of that, but so is accepting risk in one area by prioritizing resources to concentrate in another. We started using M1114's in Kosovo, where force protection was the primary mission because there was nothing in Kosovo worth an American soldier's life. We are fighting a war in Iraq. Force protection is important, but it is not the most important thing. There are times in war when accomplishing the mission adversely affects the welfare of the troops.
There is an agenda at work here. The objective is to convince the mothers of America that soldiers are entitled to a level of protection that cannot always and sometimes should not be provided. What better way to cripple a war effort than to demoralize the troops and their families by convincing them that it is beyond the call of duty to ride in an unarmored vehicle?
On the subject of body armor, Since the Defense Dept. is buying 100% of all armor made that meets Mil Spec, you have to wonder just what these people are getting for their money.