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Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has not seen the letter yet, according to Air Force Capt. Elizabeth Aptekar, a spokeswoman. “However, we appreciate the concern and the support the representatives have in our men and women in uniform and we will look into this matter,” she said.
Soldiers are being issued a rucksack made of plastic that is not comfortable or effective in combat situations, Skelton and Ortiz found during a recent trip to Germany and Italy where they met with members of the 503rd Infantry Regiment and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.
Troops carry heavy loads on their backs and the plastic straps cut off circulation to their hands and arms, “making it virtually impossible to fire their weapons,” they told Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Skelton and Ortiz said many of the soldiers they talked to are using their own money to buy better packs from commercial suppliers.
The M4 carbine, a shorter, lighter version of the M16 rifle, was also criticized. Skelton and Ortiz said they’ve had long-standing concerns with the M4. Those worries mounted after a study by a military historian found the rifle failed at critical moments during a July 2008 firefight in Afghanistan that left nine U.S. soldiers dead.
“Even though these weapons routinely rank lower than other military weapons in testing, they are still being issued as the Army’s weapon of choice,” the letter says.
The Army has said it is improving the M4 to make it more reliable and lethal while also planning to hold a competition for a new combat rifle.
The lawmakers said they were told troops are being taken straight from boot camp and being sent to Afghanistan and Iraq without extensive training at stateside bases.
“Is this a common practice now”? Skelton and Solomon ask. “And will the upcoming surge into Afghanistan exacerbate this situation?”
There were also complaints about the camouflage pattern of the combat uniforms they wear, the lawmakers say. The current pixielated pattern of green, tan and gray doesn’t work well in Afghanistan and “does more to put our soldiers in harm’s way than to protect them,” they said.
The uniforms also aren’t durable enough to handle Afghanistan’s harsh environment, according to Skelton and Ortiz. That means soldiers again have to dip into their own pockets to buy multiple replacements, they wrote.
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| Written By David Hackworth for The Washington Post 11.10.1991 |
With the exception of references made to “then” current events, Hack’s article written 18-years ago is still very timely!
VETERANS DAY has always had a special meaning for the millions of American men and women who have served their country – a day for remembrance, tribute and summing up.
This year tens of thousands of new veterans take their place beside those of Concord, New Orleans, Shiloh, the Marne, Normandy, the Chosin Reservior, Tuyhoa and a score of other military actions. I was in the Persian Gulf, reporting for Newsweek, and I proudly watched our young men and women do their stuff like old pros. They were dedicated, selfless and courageous. They made me feel reassured about being an American, because they represented everything noble and fine about our country.
Yet I, like many veterans today, wonder whether our country is better off now than it was at that memorable time 40 years ago when, triumphant in the last worldwide shooting war, we confidently engaged in a worldwide political war. Today the cynical among us ask: “What did we fight for? We won the Cold War and lost our nation!”
In 1950, America was on top of the world. We led in everything – from quality, made-in-USA products to strong values that enriched our families, schools and houses of worship. Our government, business, religious and educational leaders were straight and took responsibility for their actions. Our banks and dollars were strong. Our streets were clean and safe. Our children could read and write and were as bright as new moons, full of innovations and ideas. All one had to do was roll up his sleeves and work hard. The country was far from perfect; race relations in particular were a disgrace. But the future was never headier.
Today our governments are rocked with scandal from the White House to city halls. No one is responsible. So the S&L and BCCI megabuck white-collar holdups, Keating 5 affairs, the deficit disasters blow across the land like autumn leaves to be raked up by the average American – whose standard of living gets lower as his taxes go higher.
Our children’s inheritance is looking empty and sick. Teenagers are shooting it out in the streets with automatic weapons. Condoms have replaced prayer in our schools, and drugs have replaced hope in our youth. Our education system is bankrupt and produces new-age morons who are high-tech illiterates. Many of our children can’t write, spell or add.
Our economy, still the richest in the world despite all the bungling, sputters like a rusted-out car on the crumbling shoulder of our fast lanes. America’s wealth and future have been plundered with the reckless arrogance of a two-bit dictator, and greed rules the land. Our banks are melting down, and the rich buy new tax shelters like they buy lawmakers. Members of Congress ask not what they can do for their country, but what they can do for themselves through PACs, perks and ripoffs. The lobbyiests stoke the politicians’ fire with money, and these chosen representatives of the people turn their heads away from the nation’s needs and instead focus on their own urgent business: the next election, prestige, power and me, me, me.
Oliver North, Richard Secord and John Poindexter, graduates of our sacred Duty, Honor and Country military academys, shred the Constitution they swore to defend and become heroes to the looneytuners. The Pentagon deceives our citizens with chants of more bombs, bombers and bullets so we won’t be gobbled up by some bogeyman dreamed up by the CIA. Defense contractors have made Ike’s “military-industrial complex” come true. They have stolen our national treasure, skewed our industrial base and wasted much of our nation’s talent building bombs and tanks instead of building America. Meanwhile, our congressisonal watchdogs have jumped into bed with these crooks and are licking their faces for reelection dollars instead of sending them to jail.
Washington globetrotter George Bush sends our armed forces to stop aggression in the Persian Gulf but won’t take action to stop aggression in America’s streets. In the Gulf War, which made as little military sense as the invasion of poor Panama, there were few winners. One of the big losers was America’s freedom of the press. Our reporters were denied free access to our warriors so they couldn’t report what they saw and were forced instead to regurgitate what the Pentagon fed them, leaving the public to believe that it was a good war: bloodless, laser-clean and antiseptic.
The Gulf War was about oil, but two primary consumers failed to send troops. While we kept the oil pumping into Japan and Germany, they were continuing to bust our chops in the industrial arena. While we defend their lands, they sandbag on defense spending and put their money into research and development to zap us in the technology race.
When John Sununu flies to the dentist and collects stamps in his flashy limo, the taxpayer picks up the tab. A yuppie political operator, at 31, leaves the White House inner circle to cash in as the Washington hit man for an Arab oil sheik. While Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert talk God and redemption, they steal and sleaze and ask for understanding with the same repentance and regret as Teddy Kennedy and Alan Simpson. Michael Milken is viewed by many as a big Wall Street Robin Hood instead of a cheap hood who stole big.
Immigrant Arnold Schwarzenegger, a role model of violence, drives a $130,000 Army Humvee, so immigrant Liz Taylor, an icon of illusion and instant gratification, wants one too. In their Desert Storm toys, they’ll drive on past the homeless, hungry and dispossessed, the walking wounded of every big city street in America. The cost of one Humvee would care for many of the “wretched refuse” from our kinder, gentler America. Meanwhile, our veterans’ hospitals are filled with human wreckage, eagerly dispatched to our wars but disdained upon their return.
A Navy officer recently wrote me: “Something has happened to our country. It seems that those who lie, cheat and steal are rewarded and those that do not have more difficulties than they can imagine.” Well, young ensign, you’re dead right. People don’t feel like they have the capacity to turn things around anymore, and their lives are going down the tubes. The working stiffs have been down so long that they have forgotten how to look up. Many just shrug when they’re reminded that one of every seven Americans lives below the poverty line and that decent medical care can only be obtained by Gold Card holders. We’ve got our own Third World nation right here in the USA, sandwiched between affluent Beverly Hills and posh Fifth Avenue.
The citizens know the system doesn’t benefit the people; it benefits the special interests groups. As a result, many Americans have forgotten they have a rightful place in the running of our government. Yet there is a change blowing in the wind. I feel it wherever I travel. Revolutionary dissatisfaction is cutting across America like a cold wind – and we felt the first strong gust Tuesday out of Pennsylvania. A revolt is in the making.
The people are fed up hearing that they’re in the promised land when they know they’re smack in the middle of the grapes of wrath. They want leadership that will lead by example, not by poll results, sound bites and warm-and-fuzzy points of light. They’re telling us on the streets to get rid of the bums in government that have corrupted America, just like the Soviet people are tossing out their users and abusers.
As we celebrate this Veterans Day and perhaps blame other nations for the conditions that have withered America, we should first look in the mirror and face the guilty party: ourselves. We have forgotten the admonition often attributed to Thomas Jefferson: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” We slept, shrugged and were too busy to protect that for which we fought. It’s not too late to get America back on track. It’s time to get involved, time to wake up. All we have to do is get cracking, sound off and once again stand tall and be responsible for the security of this great republic.
David Hackworth, a retired Army colonel who won eight Purple Hearts in Korea and Vietnam, is a Newsweek contributing editor.
Homecoming
Families for the Troops (FFTT) is an extension of Soldiers for the Truth (SFTT), a 501 (c) (3) non-partisan educational foundation that advocates for America’s front-line troops. FFTT is a grass roots group of concerned parents, family and friends who’ve come together to inform the public, the Congress and the media on the lack of quality personal protective equipment issued to our young warriors.
Families For The Troops was founded by Eilhys England (Chair, Soldiers for the Truth) and John Grant (Volunteer Executive Director of FFTT) after John and two other fathers were interviewed by NBC for an expose on body armor that had been initiated by Roger Charles (Vice Chair, SFTT).
FFTT aims to give the families of our service men and women a voice regarding the type and quality of personal protective gear our Soldiers and Marines have to rely on to protect their lives.
Hack's Birthday Concert for Veteran's Day and SFTT
Thank you for visiting SFTT’s Families for the Troops. My name is John Grant and I’m the father of an infantry soldier, Sgt. John “Tyler” Grant, currently serving his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Families for the Troops was the idea of Eilhys England, co-founder of the Soldiers for the Truth Foundation (SFTT) and me. It’s an initiative of SFTT, a 501c3 organization that’s the only group that stands in support of our troops (like my son Tyler) day-in and day-out to try to get the best possible critical combat gear for our young warriors at the tip of the spear.
SFTT was kept going by Eilhys England Hackworth and Roger Charles after the death of co-founder Col. David Hackworth, Eilhys’ husband. Eilhys promised Hack on his death bed to keep the Foundation alive—and that’s exactly what she’s doing!
SFTT/FFTT and all those who care for our troops must stand together to ensure that our kids do get the best possible equipment to give them the best possible chance to complete their missions and return home to us alive and in one piece. This is something they can’t do for themselves while they’re in far-off lands. So it’s up to us to fight for them just as they fight for us and our country.
Families for the Troops supports SFTT’s Basic Five B.E.S.T. Campaign:
Our Troops serving in harms way deserve the best and most appropriate equipment to help them accomplish their missions and return home safely. Anything less is unacceptable!
SFTT/FFTT has an annual benefit in Greenwich, CT each spring—called B.E.S.T. (Best Equipment to Support the Troops)—to raise funds to support the Foundation’s efforts. Also, the Foundation is supported by many members of the House and Senate. A few such like-minded Americans include: Senators Jim Webb, Chuck Hagel, Hillary Clinton and Congressman Mike Ross.
Again, thank you for visiting with us. Our new website will be a work in progress, so please be sure to visit often, check out the new information as it’s posted, tell your family and friends—and perhaps contribute. Soon we hope you’ll even be able to post some photos of your loves ones, but right now you can at least tell us about them.
