LiberalFINGER
Active member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2004
- Messages
- 261
- Reaction score
- 5
I have figured out why it is that I dislike Rumsfeld. I couldn't put my finger on it until I actually looked things up. I just knew something wasn't right.
"I was appalled when we learned that they were not given adequate gear before being put in the line of fire. It disgusted me that families were buying body armor for their sons and daughters because our government hadn't given it to them. This is not how we treat our soldiers."
You have touched on a little known fact. This is how we treat our Soldier, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors. The 102nd Quarter Master Co, responsible for refueling the largest air mobile (AIR ASSLT) mission in history deployed to the Persian Gulf during Operation: Desert Sheild/Storm with equipment dating back to the Korean War.
The Duece, as it was called, was not a Reserve or National Guard unit, but a proud company in the 101st Corp Support Group, the group responsible for supporting one of the proudest airborne divisions in the world.
Reserve and National Guard units commonly train in parking lots or behind their armories. They're equipment is the left-overs of the "real soldiers".
They are expected to keep a fighting edge by practicing how to be soldiers one weekend a month and two weeks a year. How many people could keep simple computer skills sharp on that kind of schedule?
We increasingly use these "weekend warriors" to fill gaps in units instead of backfilling garison activities. Now, we are placing under-trained men with sub-par equipment in harms way when in all reality, we need to use them as they were inteded. They need to be used as reserves or national guards.
Each soldier that we pull from the National Guard or Reserves to deploy for over a year, we have sentenced to an economic death. Federal regulations are in place to insure that deployed service men will have jobs to return to, however, you cannot expect a company to hold a position open for 18 months.
"The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is the principal staff element of the Secretary of Defense in the exercise of policy development, planning, resource management, fiscal, and program evaluation responsibilities. OSD includes the immediate offices of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, Under Secretaries of Defense, Director of Defense Research and Engineering, Assistant Secretaries of Defense, General Counsel, Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, Assistants to the Secretary of Defense, Director of Administration and Management, and such other staff offices as the Secretary establishes to assist in carrying out assigned responsibilities."
(http://www.defenselink.mil/osd/)
The OSD is responsible for the current thought that active duty forces can be significantly reduced while using Reserve and National Guard troops to fill in any gaps left behind. Unfortunately, this model has been taken too far. We have left our citizen soldiers in harms way for too long.
"I was appalled when we learned that they were not given adequate gear before being put in the line of fire. It disgusted me that families were buying body armor for their sons and daughters because our government hadn't given it to them. This is not how we treat our soldiers."
You have touched on a little known fact. This is how we treat our Soldier, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors. The 102nd Quarter Master Co, responsible for refueling the largest air mobile (AIR ASSLT) mission in history deployed to the Persian Gulf during Operation: Desert Sheild/Storm with equipment dating back to the Korean War.
The Duece, as it was called, was not a Reserve or National Guard unit, but a proud company in the 101st Corp Support Group, the group responsible for supporting one of the proudest airborne divisions in the world.
Reserve and National Guard units commonly train in parking lots or behind their armories. They're equipment is the left-overs of the "real soldiers".
They are expected to keep a fighting edge by practicing how to be soldiers one weekend a month and two weeks a year. How many people could keep simple computer skills sharp on that kind of schedule?
We increasingly use these "weekend warriors" to fill gaps in units instead of backfilling garison activities. Now, we are placing under-trained men with sub-par equipment in harms way when in all reality, we need to use them as they were inteded. They need to be used as reserves or national guards.
Each soldier that we pull from the National Guard or Reserves to deploy for over a year, we have sentenced to an economic death. Federal regulations are in place to insure that deployed service men will have jobs to return to, however, you cannot expect a company to hold a position open for 18 months.
"The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) is the principal staff element of the Secretary of Defense in the exercise of policy development, planning, resource management, fiscal, and program evaluation responsibilities. OSD includes the immediate offices of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, Under Secretaries of Defense, Director of Defense Research and Engineering, Assistant Secretaries of Defense, General Counsel, Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, Assistants to the Secretary of Defense, Director of Administration and Management, and such other staff offices as the Secretary establishes to assist in carrying out assigned responsibilities."
(http://www.defenselink.mil/osd/)
The OSD is responsible for the current thought that active duty forces can be significantly reduced while using Reserve and National Guard troops to fill in any gaps left behind. Unfortunately, this model has been taken too far. We have left our citizen soldiers in harms way for too long.