Oregon National Guard: "It's like we went to war and forgot the bullets."
Kari Chisholm
It's an amazing statement, really. Buried at the end of a recent Willamette Week story, and ignored (so far) by the mainstream press, Colonel Mike Caldwell of the Oregon National Guard said this:
"It goes to the root of the problem, which is that there was no plan to get this job done. A lot of soldiers just get a quick spin-up on whatever they're going to do, take whatever equipment is available at the time, and go."
"It's like we went to war and forgot the bullets. It's about that dumb."
It's not just the Oregon National Guard that's balking. According to the Annenberg study, Only 4 out of every 10 National Guard troops in Iraq say that they have the proper training and equipment to do their jobs and stay alive.
Are we surprised that other units are refusing their orders - refusing to go into combat ill-prepared?
Connect the dots...
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12:50 p.m.
Oct 18, '04
It's not just the military who are underequipped and underfunded. A good friend of mine's father--a Colonel retired from the Army Corps of Engineers--just returned from six months in Southern Iraq, where he went to help rebuild a port.
He and his team requested $40 million for the port project from US reconstruction funds. They were promised $20 million of the $40 million they requested.
At the end of six months (the end of his time there) they had received $20,000 for the project. Basically, nothing happened.
Needless to say, he is fired up about what's going on in Iraq--or better yet, what's not going on.
Oct 19, '04
lack for equitment is a good topic.me and my crew go out everyday.with very little protection.we have some but it is not what should be leaving our area.but we go with what we have and get our mission done.the military needs to rethink the amor issue and do what it takes to keep the soliders safe.the crew who refused their mission and didnt have what it took to complete that mission and i support them with their courage to stand up and say no we wont go out there until we get proper armor.with the growing scare of IEDS we just need more armor.the next crew of rotation will get our hand me downs and they wont be very happy with what they get.if the military wants to be in this country pretending like they are making a diffrenece.THEN THEY NEED TO TAKE CARE OF THE TROOPS FIRST THEN WORRY ABOUT THE MISSION.thanks all for listen Spc.Joshua Schertenleib
2:01 p.m.
Oct 19, '04
A note of clarification: The previous comment is from Specialist Josh Schertenleib, who is currently serving in Iraq - and posting on BlueOregon from there. Learn more about Josh here.