Doesn't Sound Good
I don’t know much about military matters, but this doesn’t sound good.
"More than two-thirds of the Army National Guard's 34 brigades are not combat ready, mostly because of equipment shortages that will cost up to $21 billion to correct, the top National Guard general said Tuesday,"
More here
"More than two-thirds of the Army National Guard's 34 brigades are not combat ready, mostly because of equipment shortages that will cost up to $21 billion to correct, the top National Guard general said Tuesday,"
More here
posted by pissed off patricia at 3:19 AM
26 Comments:
Bush is so obsessed with the birth pangs of a new ME that has is neglecting the US. All we're good for is our tax dollars and our children to fight his idea of terrorism(a/k/a Muslims with bombs as opposed to Judeo-Christians with bombs)
The Rumy Run-Around is sure to come at the next Pentagon news conference.
Yet, I read a few days ago that we were giving Lebanon's army $10 million. I've always believed in the saying "Charity begins at home." Why are our troops having to buy their own body armor when there's money for the Lebanese?
The biggest problem for our services right now is the lack of new equipment. Units all over the world are waiting for previously ordered new tanks/vehicles and everything being produced is being used up as replacement for equipment blown up or broken in Iraq. The contractors are raking in money hand over fist with contract overruns and speed bonuses.
All together now:
WORST. PRESIDENT. EVER.
Everything he touches he breaks. The only reason that ball team he partly owned didn't go down the tubes is because he was not in charge of them.
Worst President Ever!
The man has done more to damage the U.S. than any terrorists in history all combined!
Yes The Worst President Ever!!! It is way past time for the military to speak out against the failed leadership in this country. But I forgot, in the military, you are not allowed to think for yourself.
I can't stomach anymore. WTF?
And yet bone-head boy still thinks we can go anywhere and kick anybody's butt and he pursues a "foreign policy" (if you can call the neo-con ramblings that continue to emerge from the administration a foreign policy) based on these dangerous assumptions. Our tacit endorsement of violence to bring about a new world order in the middle east combined with these dangerous and out of touch attitudes can only lead to more trouble.
the war huggers are really supportin' the troops.
WAR!
who pays?
who profits?
who dies?
Didn't the GOP just tie a tax cut for the wealthy to the Minimum Wage Increase Bill as well? But the Guard needs $21 billion (let's forget about health care, education, police, etc, etc,etc, and all the money they could use). The country is a disaster and that idiot is so wrapped up in "helping" the ME, he could care less about the US--unless he is reading your phone bill or watching what sites you visit on the Internet. That seems to be way more important to Shrub. For someone so hell bent on establishing "democracy" in the ME, he doesn't seem to believe in implementing it at home.
POP,
you're links not working... at least for me. I did write a post on the topic as well, Chancelucky: Whose National Guard Is it Anyway? (Steven Blum speaks to reporters) which is also linked over at the Daou Report. (okay, I'm done self promoting)
Anyway, I agree. We need to ask ourselves what they mean by "Homeland Security" if it's in fact making America itself less safe.
Maybe we can take all those magnetic "support the troops" bumper ribbons and make protective vests out of them. Maybe the bullets will just stick to the magnet instead of penetrating the flesh. Paging a scientist, do we have a scientist in the building? Sorry, they are all too busy figuring out a way to scrub reports for global warming.
Yeah, the link no longer works for me either. I checked the original and it's correct so here's another try.
try this
Could someone just wake me up when this is all over?
Sheesh, what next?
WAIT, forget I asked.
Or, maybe we could look at the subject and actually speak to it.
This is not a new situation with the Army NG. During Desert Storm, many Army units were not able to deploy because they were not combat ready, as opposed to the Marines Corps who retains a 100% readiness among all units, regular and reserve. It speaks more to order of battle and leadership in the NG than it does to any one person's incompetence.
Most ANG units are not combat arms. They support the other NG units through supply, military police, and such things as water purification and mail delivery. All important tasks, but not tasks where the units are necessarily equipped for combat without a distinct FEBA (Forward Edge of Battle Area) which is a "front line" as in past set piece battles.
The truth is that 21st century warfare demands lighter, more mobile capabilities, and the NG has never been prepared as the standing army.
I had a lengthy post consumed by my browser and blogger cooperating to the end that it was lost.
In short - yep, but Dumya thinks we can go anywhere to address his imaginary threats to our national security, but the generals who have to staff the operations don't agree, and yes,Frist has cynically tied a minimum wage increase (that consolidates min wage in the federal govt. and takes authority to set higher min wage away from the states,lowering min wage for such workers as waiter/waitresses in 6 states) to an estate tax rate reduction for those small business and farm owners like Paris Hilton (reportedly a $93M benefit to her) and says it's an attempt to bridge the partisan divide using 2 issues that are unrelated and that Reid has threatened to filibuster. Can you say "What a crock?" I knew you could.
I am so completely not surprised by this information. Bush could really care less about the NG or anyone else, as we have learned numerous times since he took office.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
I was very careful in my own post notto make too much of "combat" readiness for a National Guard unit, but the report raises some big questions about where Homeland Security stands post 9/11.
Are we safer or not and what do we know of National Guard "emergency" readiness at this point.
I definitely do agree with the last point though. The National Guard was not intended to be "first line" military deployment outside the US. It's been done this way to hide the real "cost" of the Invasion and Occupation.
They're not combat ready...because of equipment shortages. Well. Obviously there should be even more investment in weaponry. That will solve every last problem on Earth. Literally.
They have equipment shortages because they are being overcharged by corporate suppliers.
Follow the money. It leads to Dick "Blasty McBirdshot" Cheney (name courtesy of Alicia).
It sounds good to China.
Where are these brigades? Are some of them deployed, in spite of the added danger?
[...]
George Bush isn’t in power to govern and protect a people (the evidence is overwhelming).
He is there to hide the hole in the piggy bank:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml
[...]
I'm with DivaJood on this one.
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