Although the Pentagon objects, Congress has approved it. NO MATTER - the whole issue is shameful!!
Congress Backs Combat Gear Repayments
By JOHN FILES
Published: October 31, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/politics/31gear.html
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 - Despite objections from the Pentagon, Congress approved a Defense appropriations bill this month that includes a measure to allow soldiers, their families and charities to be reimbursed for the cost of some combat equipment for use in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The provision, sponsored by Senator Christopher S. Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, permits such groups and individuals to make claims for up to $1,100 for those purchases made between Sept. 11, 2001, and July 31, 2004. It has been sent to the president and would take effect after he signs it.
Mr. Dodd said the measure would "reimburse soldiers, loved ones and nonprofit organizations who have dug deep into their own pockets to provide our troops with the equipment their government should have provided them all along."
"We shouldn't ask our cops to pay for their bullets and firefighters to pay for their ladders," Mr. Dodd said. "We should do no less when it comes to our troops."
Army surveys have shown that infantry spend hundreds of dollars of their own money each year on gloves, boots, flashlights and other tools used in combat.
The reimbursement program, which will be open to active-duty personnel and reserve and guard troops who are deployed to a combat environment, will cover expenditures on health, safety and protective equipment - items like body and vehicle armor, special hydration gear, global positioning devices and advanced combat helmets.
The cost of the war in Iraq has exceeded $100 billion so far. And with fighting there in its second year, some troops are complaining that equipment is lacking and worn with time. National Guard and Reserve troops say they are being sent abroad without the necessary gear to protect them from roadside bombs and sniper shots that have become an everyday element of the war.
There have been dozens of news reports recently of families and charitable groups and whole communities organizing to send critical equipment to soldiers. Mr. Dodd cited a few of these cases in an effort, he said, to reflect the need for the reimbursement plan.
He mentioned that Pene Palifka, a nurse from East Hartford, Conn., bought her son, Specialist Bill Palifka of the Connecticut National Guard's 248th Engineering Company, a new flak jacket before he was shipped to Iraq from Fort Drum, N.Y. State and local police officers in New Jersey collectively gathered nearly 1,000 old bulletproof vests for the state's guard units. The residents of Foley, Ala., held fund-raisers and used their own tools to fashion homemade armor for Humvees.
The Defense Department has the discretion to determine from which accounts money will be drawn to pay for reimbursements or whether the program should be extended for a longer period of time.
But Defense officials opposed the proposal because they contend it will be a considerable financial burden and could undermine the accountability and effectiveness of equipment used in combat.
The Pentagon said it "spends millions to test and procure the needed protective, safety and health equipment for our service members."
Under the reimbursement program, the Defense Department said it "will have no way of knowing what testing personally procured items went through or whether the equipment is effective," adding: "If we buy it, D.O.D. should own it, and it should be put back into the system, but we cannot do that when we can't vouch for its effectiveness."
Congress has provided $25 billion for this fiscal year for the war in Iraq, which began Oct. 1, with the understanding that the White House would ask for more money once the fall elections have passed and the continuing costs of the war are reassessed.
In June, the nonpartisan budget office estimated that military costs in Iraq and Afghanistan next year would total between $55 billion and $60 billion if the number of troops in Iraq remained at its current level of about 135,000.
The Defense Department said it has "speeded-up testing, greatly expanded the number of service members who will receive force protection items and increased production schedules to get the proper force protection equipment into theater as quickly as possible."
"This is the best approach to providing for our soldiers," said the Pentagon, which has begun to produce more heavily armored Humvees and says it has ordered the manufacture of two-door and four-door armor kits that can be fitted to the Humvees already in Iraq.
The Army has established a program it calls the Rapid Fielding Initiative to develop and outfit soldiers with the most modern equipment available.
An aide to Senator Dodd said that it was difficult to determine how many soldiers would take part in the reimbursement program or how widely the Pentagon would advertise it.