www.intel-dump.com/posts/1203696668.shtml
OBAMA: I wouldn't be running if I didn't think I was prepared to be commander in chief. And I will do whatever is required to accomplish that, and I will not hesitate to act against those that would do America harm. Now, that involves maintaining the strongest military on earth, which means that we are training our troops properly and equipping them properly and putting them on proper rotations. And there are an awful lot of families, here in Texas, who have been burdened under two and three and four tours, because of the poor planning of the current commander in chief. And on what I believe was the single most important foreign policy decision of this generation -- whether or not to go to war in Iraq -- I believe I showed the judgment of a commander in chief. I think that Senator Clinton was wrong in her judgments on that. That has significant consequences because it has diverted attention from Afghanistan, where al Qaeda, that killed 3,000 Americans, are stronger now than at any time since 2001. I heard from a Army captain, who was the head of a rifle platoon, supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24, because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq. And as a consequence, they didn't have enough ammunition; They were actually capturing Taliban weapons because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief. Now that's a consequence of bad judgment, and you know, the question is on the critical issues that we face right now who's going to show the judgment to lead. And I think that on every critical issue that we've seen in foreign policy over the last several years -- going into Iraq originally, I didn't just oppose it for the sake of opposing it. this is going to fan the flames of anti- American sentiment; this is going to cost us billions of dollars and thousands of lives and overstretch our military, and I was right.
That's been the basic thrust of the emails I've received. I talked this morning with two friends who led rifle platoons in Afghanistan. Both confirmed to me that they did, at times, use captured or found weapons or ammunition. Another told me his platoon carried AKs anytime they patrolled with their Afghan counterparts, and that it was always much easier to get 762mm ammo for the AKs than to go through the US bureaucracy for ammunition requisition. you'll see similar ones in the narratives from WWII, Korea and Vietnam vets too. Anyone who's dealt with the Army supply system - particularly at the pointy end of the spear - ought to be able to sympathize. As an adviser to the Iraqi police, I sometimes carried non-standard weapons, including an Iraqi police Glock 9mm pistol and an AK47 that had been handed down from the previous adviser team. the armorer could neither fix it, nor figure out how to replace a reserve-component weapon, so I carried the Glock instead. I preferred the US weapons because I had a lot more experience with them, and confidence in my ability to use them. But as an adviser, it was important to show solidarity with my Iraqi brethren, and one way to do that was to carry the same weapons they did. I saw other advisers to the Iraqi army and police doing this too, as well as a few conventional units that were partnered with Iraqi units. Stepping back from this though, there's a larger issue here. How can US troops possibly be short on equipment or ammo if we're spending $10 billion a month and $500 billion a year on defense? The answer is that we're not smart about the way we divvy up and distribute what we're purchasing with all that money.
Or how many TACSAT radios I saw in the HMMWVs parked outside the division command post on FOB Speicher, in vehicles that rarely left the FOB - while I had to make do on long-range combat patrols with an unsecure Iridium satellite phone and Iraqi cellphone. Or how I traded Peet's Coffee (shipped by my family) with one unit for GPS transceivers, or bought pizza for an outgoing unit in exchange for their basic load of ammunition. Our troops in the field face situations like this every day because the US military is inefficient and unwise about the way it allocates scarce resources. And at the end of the day, it's the men and women at the pointy end of the spear who suffer. Obama is also absolutely right to use this anecdote as a critique of the administration's decision to go to war in Iraq. The cost for that diversion was paid by America's sons and daughters, and our Afghan brethren, who continue to fight in Afghanistan against the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
mail): They were actually capturing Taliban weapons because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief. Phil, you've never heard of this, and I've never heard of this. You're telling me that an active duty rifle company was capturing Taliban weapons and using them instead of their issued gear? Now, the armorer we relied on (a SPC at the nearby ArNG battalion) was absolutely worthless. The real issue was the delay that came from shipping everything to TQ or wherever. I can believe the following: Cleaning gear was tough to obtain, at times; CLP wasn't as often available as other forms of lubricant; But you would have to prove to me with real examples that someone was patrolling with AKs rather than their issued gear because of a lack of spare parts.
I'm questioning whether it's true that an entire (albeit reduced) company/platoon of RA infantrymen captured Taliban weapons because they couldn't depend on their own gear. I just have a real hard time believing that a battalion commander had a company out there so devoid of an armory that they had to rely on captured weapons.
mail): I think Obama is getting confused with GYSGT Tom Highways AK that he used to invade Grenada in "Heartbreak Ridge". During my grueling 3 days of combat in Desert Storm we ran out of amoxicillin, and had to use some Iraqui antibiotics that we had confiscated. Sounds to me like the perfect way to commit some war crimes, no ones gonna think twice about an arab full of 762 x 39 holes.
not up to speed on how we staff leadership billets for infantry platoons. But let's just say we typically don't ask CPTs to command 24 infantrymen. That's a big red flag for me that the story probably is BS, or that a future CINC doesn't comprehend even the most rudimentary aspects of military organization (which is pretty typical for Senators anyway). Had I been Hillary, I would have suggested that Obama probably had the rank of the author of his "anecdote" wrong, the causation (Bush lied, men died, errr, had to rely on AK-47s) all screwed up, or maybe he just copied it from a speech the governor of Massachusetts gave about the MAArNG (ho ho ho). On a positive note, IRR, the fact (according to Obama) that we're now using CPTs as platoon leaders might reveal why we don't have enough CPTs to go around! As for what Phil said about Fobbits (old timers, think REMFs), I agree completely.
the bastard step-children of the USA, so I'm perhaps more forgiving. In the end, I had TOO MUCH gear and went over to the nearest FOB and mailed the crap home. Come to think of it, I actually answered to a USMC COL, so I probably shouldn't have been using an armorer with the ArNG anyway.
link) hwilson: I can't speak to Irag and Afganistan, but I did serve as a Mech Infantry platoon leader in Vietnam in 1968, not a quiet year. Although not common, some guys did carry AK-47s, or kept an extra AK in their track. The AKs were more reliable than the 16s in terrible weather situations. It was a hellava weapon when it worked, which was not all the time by any matter of means.
www): MSR: But let's just say we typically don't ask CPTs to command 24 infantrymen. How long has it been since you've actually been around a company? In case you hadn't noticed, folks are routinely pinning railroad tracks at 36 months in service. Do the math - a year to get through BOLC and Ranger, school, trainup with a unit and a 15-month deployment - you could easily have a captain as a PL. That's a big red flag for me that the story p...
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