Shades of the Rumsfeld era

[revwardoc]

The main thing that bothers me about this situation is; weren't the helmets tested beforehand? If so, the procedures are dangerously flawed. A soldier should go into combat feeling that he's been given the best available equipment for both offense and defense. He shouldn't have to worry about his helmet shattering like glass because it wasn't properly tested.

Guys like Rumsfeld remind me of when the Henry repeating rifle was dismissed by the Army Ordinance Dept in 1861 because they thought the rapid firing weapons would cause the soldiers to waste ammunition.

In 1896, the US Army had still not developed smokeless powder like European armies. Subsequantly, during the battles in Cuba, many Americans lost their lives when firing their black powder armed Krag-Jorgensen rifles while the Spanish were armed with Mausers using smokeless powder.

Money should not be a concern when the lives of the military are at stake.

[BLUEHAWK]

"Money should not be a concern when the lives of the military are at stake."

Nobody (with a heart or brain) could ever disagree with that, to be sure.

I just don't see any evidence that Rumsfeld had a single direct or indirect thing to do with creating the problem.

To believe that he did, at any level, would be to accept the premise that he was going around intentionally trying to find ways to cut corners, up to and including knowingly depriving his forces with the best stuff available in the shortest length of time.

Manufacturers do screw up from time to time, sometimes intentionally but usually not. If anybody knowingly sent out faulty materiel then they need to be fired and permanently banned from government contracts.

[revwardoc]

I'm not saying Rumsfeld had anything to do with the helmets. I'm saying is that he seemed, IMO, to have a disregard for the quality of military equipment that bordered on criminal. It's easy for the powers that be to send men and women into combat when they, themselves, don't have to. Rumsfeld should've been made to ride around in a Humvee in Iraq to personally test its survivability since he wouldn't listen to the men who did.