From the front page of today's
Oregonian:
Put the war effort ahead of sales to civilians, soldier says
Sgt. 1st Class Phillip Jacques isn't a candidate to head the world's largest automaker, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have strong opinions about what it should do.
"The civilian production of General Motors vehicles needs to cease until the military has all the armored Humvees it needs," said the Albany, Ore., man, who is home recovering from injuries he received when his Humvee was ambushed in Iraq at the end of July. "If America doesn't know it yet, we're at war."
Jacques and Pfc. Benjamin Ring were wounded and Pfc. Ken W. Leisten of Cornelius was killed on July 28 when their Humvee, fitted with an after-market armor kit, was hit by the blast from a roadside bomb. Jacques suffered a concussion, a burn on his back and wounds in his legs, and was sent home to recover.
More below the fold...
The print edition of the article also has a sidebar that gives some numbers (for once!) and pictures to indicate how many vehicles have what sort of armor, if any:
Vehicles and armor in Iraq
Factory Armor
Humvees are armored in two ways: at the factory or in the field. The factory-armored vehicles are considered the best protected. As of Wednesday, U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan had 5,910 such Humvees.
Add-on Armor
In Iraq and Afghanistan, 9,134 Humvees have add-on armor, according to an Army fact sheet. Another 4,345 lack add-on armor. The Humvee serves as a light troop carrier, weapons platform and all-purpose vehicle.
Unarmored Trucks
Big trucks do much of the heavy hauling around Iraq, ferrying supplies, troops and even other vehicles. The trucks face threates such as roadside bombs and rocket ambushes. some have weapons onboard, but few have armor.
The soldier's point is well-taken, especially in the post-9/11 world of "let's beat the terrorists by going shopping and travelling" and "let's have massive tax cuts during a war."
Here's my question: as an American, I am staunchly against this war. I am also staunchly against sending our troops into battle unprepared. Both actions are immoral.
What do we do? Make serious sacrifices, a la WWII ration books, in order to give our soldiers the protection that they need? How do we do this without sliding further into the morass of this stupid, unnecessary war? How do we not do this, and send our children off to die without protection?
Argh.