In any case, the Dems can hardly criticize Bush without looking like utter hypocrites. Just like when John Kerry accused the Bush administration of not providing enough combat armor to the troops, he conveniently forgets that he has often voted to cut off military spending in the past.
Kerry didn't cut off funds for armor. Armor wasn't high on the Bush administration's priority list; to whit, Rumsfeld's response to the soldier who dared to ask for armor:
"Standing his ground, Rumsfeld said, ''You go to war with the Army you have.''"
What I want to know is how long will you stay in denial and defend these crumb bums?
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Nashville soldier asks Rumsfeld, why can't we get armor we need?
By LEON ALLIGOOD
Staff Writer
In baseball parlance, Spc. Thomas Jerry Wilson's question at an open forum with Donald Rumsfeld was a straight-down-the-middle, 95 mph fastball.
Rumsfeld never saw it coming.
Now the rest of the world has seen replay after replay of the 31-year-old Nashville resident, a member of the 278th Regimental Combat Team, as he stood before the boss of all Army bosses and asked bluntly why his unit turned to dumpsites to protect itself.
''Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?'' he asked, speaking of used, shot-through bulletproof glass and using a military slang term for retrofitting one's Humvee with metal plates for additional protection. ''We do not have proper armored vehicles to carry with us north.''
Standing his ground, Rumsfeld said, ''You go to war with the Army you have.''
''It's essentially a matter of physics,'' Rumsfeld said. ''It isn't a matter of money. It isn't a matter on the part of the Army of desire. It's a matter of production and capability of doing it.''
Wilson's candor occurred at an American camp in Kuwait during the defense secretary's pep-talk visit to the 278th and other troops awaiting an order to convoy in Iraq. It yielded a round of applause and ''Hooahs!'' from other soldiers.
It also has raised eyebrows among families of the 278th back home in the Volunteer State who are anxiously waiting for the 3,000 Tennessee Army National Guard soldiers to leave Kuwait and enter Iraq. The convoy of several hundred miles to their duty station on the Iraq-Iran border could be one of the most dangerous parts of their yearlong stay in the war zone.
Convoys often are targeted by insurgents with roadside bombs. Humvees are particularly vulnerable, and numbers of soldiers have been killed or maimed in such explosions since the war began.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, sent a letter to Rumsfeld yesterday asking him what is being done to ensure the 278th has the best equipment possible for its missions.
''Tennessee's 278th is one of our nation's finest National Guard units,'' Frist said. ''We must ensure that they are able to accomplish their mission safely and successfully.''
The head of the Tennessee Army National Guard, Maj. Gen. Gus Hargett, acknowledged that Wilson had raised a viable issue with Rumsfeld.
In a statement issued yesterday, Hargett said additional armor for vehicles in Iraq had been an issue since the beginning of the war for active and reserve component soldiers.
''The up-armored vehicles are being supplied to the troops in Iraq as soon as they are available from the manufacturer. I have been assured that no 278th soldier will go forward in a vehicle without at least 'level 3' armor,'' the general said.
Level 3 armor would include extra plating, but not bulletproof glass. The general said unarmored 278th vehicles would be trucked forward but not used.
However, Hargett also took to task America's deputy commander in Kuwait, Maj. Gen. Gary Speer, for saying Speer wasn't aware that soldiers were scavenging for scrap metal and used bullet-proof glass to reinforce vehicles. Speer's comments came after Wilson's question to Rumsfeld.
''I know that members of (Speer's) staff were aware and assisted the 278th in obtaining these materials'' to up-armor the Tennessee Humvees, Hargett said. ''Our own 230th Area Support Group from Dyersburg, now stationed in Kuwait, also assisted in this effort.''
However, other members of the 278th family said they had not heard complaints from their deployed soldiers about the armor situation.
''I have heard no complaints at all, and we hear everything,'' said Belinda Hensley of Cookeville, wife of Sgt. Frank Hensley.
''It really did take me by surprise when I heard what the question was. My husband drives a Bradley and tells me they are prepared,'' Hensley said. Bradley Fighting Vehicles are a kind of modernized armored personnel carrier on steroids.
Hensley added that she wasn't worried that her husband's commander would send soldiers unprepared into harm's way.
''They have got what they need, but even so, we still have a lot of sleepless nights. Nobody sleeps until all our guys get to where they're going,'' she said.
Marilyn Elam is Spc. Wilson's girlfriend. She said that, with a total of 4,000 soldiers in the 278th, it wouldn't be unusual for soldiers' experiences to differ.
Elam said Wilson, who before being called to active duty worked for a Comcast subcontractor, had called her Tuesday and said that he might have the opportunity to pose a question to the visiting defense secretary. He pitched his question to her, and both agreed it was a good point to make.
''Safety is the main concern,'' she said.
Elam, who plans to marry Wilson on his return from Iraq, said Wilson indicated he was not reprimanded or disciplined for being so frank.
''I will say that over the course of his deployment he and I have had several conversations about their training and equipment, and for the most part it's been good,'' she said, particularly of the 278th's recent training stint at Fort Irwin, Calif.
In the aftermath of the question heard 'round the world, Elam said her soldier-boyfriend, who was prompted to join the Guard by Sept. 11, was proud of how his unit was performing.
''He said this is a good example of the Army doing the impossible. The soldiers are responsible for making sure that as individuals they have what they need to go into combat. They saw they needed their vehicles to be up-armored, understood they were supposed to be getting vehicles with additional armor and were resourceful enough to find ways to prepare themselves,'' Elam said.
''While he would rather be home, this is what he is committed to do, and he's committed to doing it the best that he can. That's evidenced by the fact that he and his colleagues were doing whatever it takes to make sure they were ready when it came time to move into Iraq.''
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