It seems that there are quite a few troops held over in Iraq that have worse problems than still lacking the body armor they were supposed to get and haven’t yet. Some of them don’t have anything at all.
23 News has learned that the 333rd Military Police Unit in Freeport, which just had their tour in Iraq extended, may not be adequately supplied for battle.
That’s because everything they own was shipped back home. The 333rd is presently sitting on the Kuwaiti border awaiting orders, but they have since surrendered their equipment, such as radios and armored vehicles to the troops who replaced them.But now since the 333rd is going to remain in Iraq they are without any supplies. Even their personal belongings were sent home, including spare uniforms, boots and toiletries.
The soldiers only have what they are wearing and are being forced to purchase new uniforms and some equipment out of their own pockets. Military families have been receiving their soldier’s footlockers the past few days and are now frantically re packing boxes and sending all of this gear back at their own expense.
This has angered families who don’t believe the military thought this redeployment through. And they have caught he ear of some politicians.
“How demoralizing it is to be promised that this was over and that they’re finally coming home and they’re finally going to get back to their life as usual and then to have the rug pulled out from under them and it’s happened time and time and time again. Extremely poor planning by the department of defense, said Senator Dick Durbin, D-Illinois.
Great planning, Rummy! You’re handling this “extension” about as well as you’ve handled the occupation. Oh, wait, that’s Condi’s job.
Here’s a military wife, writing from Germany:
I am the wife of a soldier who was just officially extended yesterday. He has been in Iraq for nearly one year. He has proudly served his tour, and we were planning for his arrival home next week. Here’s a true story. A group of soldiers from his unit went to BIAP to wait for their return flight to Germany, where we are based. They were turned away and told that they were being kept in Iraq indefinitely. On the way back to their base in Baghdad proper, they were ambushed. The unit had their first casualty that night. My husband should have been with them, as he is one of their medics, but he was supposed to drive the ambulance to Kuwait the next day, so they told him to stay back and get some rest. I am sickened by this whole betrayal of trust and abuse of our volunteers. If Bush and Co. get reelected, start moving your military age men to Canada, because the draft will be reinstated. Nobody deserves this kind of a back stabbing. Least of all the men and women who have signed up to protect our country. This extension was a death sentence for that poor soldier. This extension cost three children their father. And it will cost much more. And now, to touchstone: My husband signed up so that he could go to college. If we would have forseen this, there is no way that he would have put his name on that dotted line. He has missed the birth of his third child…..he could die out there. He’s supposed to be sitting safe in Kuwait right now, but instead, he’s in a tent because their barracks were taken over by 1st Cavalry soldiers who went in to replace them. They haven’t got enough food right now, because there are too many soldiers on that base, and DoD was too short sighted to think that they might end up needing more troops. All their stuff is out to sea at the time being, so they are just sitting ducks waiting for their equipment to come back. This is a fiasco and a logistical nightmare. DoD and Rummy have been denying that there is a troop shortage for MONTHS! General Shinseki predicted this and was forced to retire. In November, Senator McCain called for at least 15,000 more troops. Well, shucks, seems they were right after all. I pray that John Kerry wins this election. It’s so important to vote this year.
Doing all I can from Germany!
Oh, yeah, that’s how to Support Our Troops.TM Apparently they’re just numbers.
General: We need 20,000 more troops in Iraq.
Rumsfeld: No problemo! We got your 20,000 right here!
General: With underwear and socks and everything.
Rumsfeld: Isn’t there a WalMart in Baghdad?