Marine Units Found to Lack Equipment

[urbsdad6]

By Bryan Bender
The Boston Globe

Tuesday 21 June 2005

Corps estimates of needs in Iraq are called faulty.

(Source: Office of the Inspector General)

Washington - Marine Corps units fighting in some of the most dangerous terrain in Iraq don't have enough weapons, communications gear, or properly outfitted vehicles, according to an investigation by the Marine Corps' inspector general provided to Congress yesterday.

Corps estimates of needs in Iraq are called faulty.

The report, obtained by the Globe, says the estimated 30,000 Marines in Iraq need twice as many heavy machine guns, more fully protected armored vehicles, and more communications equipment to operate in a region the size of Utah.

The Marine Corps leadership has "understated" the amount and types of ground equipment it needs, according to the investigation, concluding that all of its fighting units in Iraq "require ground equipment that exceeds" their current supplies, "particularly in mobility, engineering, communications, and heavy weapons."

Complaints of equipment shortages in Iraq, including lack of adequate vehicle armor, have plagued the Pentagon for months, but most of the reported shortages have been found in the Army, which makes up the bulk of the American occupation force.

The analysis of the Marines' battle readiness, however, shows that the Corps is lacking key equipment needed to stabilize Al Anbar province in western Iraq. The province is where some of the bloodiest fighting has occurred in recent months between American-led coalition forces and Iraqi insurgents aided by foreign fighters who have slipped across the border.

Marine Corps forces and newly trained Iraqi soldiers battled insurgents in Al Anbar province for the fourth straight day yesterday as part of Operation Spear, launched last week along the Syrian border.

The Marine Corps' mission, among the most difficult of the 140,000 American troops in Iraq, is to help stabilize a huge swath of Iraq where popular support for the insurgency is highest and where more sophisticated enemy tactics have been introduced, including larger and more effective improvised explosive devices, the roadside bombs that are the single biggest killer of American troops in Iraq.

But the report says that about a quarter of the Second Marine Expeditionary Force's Humvees lack sufficient armor to protect troops against roadside bombings, including 1,000 vehicles that have yet to be fitted with armor plates to protect the undercarriage.

The report also says that if the current demands in Iraq continue, the Corps will need another 650 Humvees, which have been logging an average of 480 miles a month, mostly over rough terrain. And despite an agreement with the Army to repair broken vehicles at a maintenance facility in Kuwait, the Marine Corps had not scheduled any repairs as of last month.

Meanwhile, those Humvees that have received full armor -- which the report says have significantly improved the safety of troops -- are suffering excessive wear and tear because they were never designed to carry the additional weight.

The report also found that Abrams tanks and other combat vehicles are being so overused that replacements are needed quickly. It found that all of the Marines' battle tanks in Iraq have passed the normal criteria for replacing them.

Meanwhile, units need at least twice as many of the .50-caliber machine guns that are mounted atop vehicles and designed to protect an entire unit from enemy fire, the report said.

The units also need more M240G machine guns, a heavy gun used in battle, and more of the lighter MK19 machine guns, used at checkpoints to thwart insurgent attacks.

"Most infantry, logistics, and security battalions require approximately twice the number of .50-caliber machine guns and more M240G and MK19 machine guns than they would normally possess," according to the 40-page report, entitled "Marine Corps Ground Equipment in Iraq."

Communications gear, too, is lacking. The Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters, known as Multinational Forces-West, "has command responsibilities that far exceed any level contemplated by organizational and equipment planners," the report said. Radio and satellite tracking systems are "in critical demand and constant use."

After interviewing commanders, staff members, and unit leaders, the inspector general's office concluded that the Marine Corps' current strategy to meet its communications needs in Iraq "is not sufficient to meet the current and future needs of the force."

The inspector general also determined that even with recommended changes, including replacing damaged armaments, the war will continue to take a toll on the Marine Corps' equipment, from having nearly all of its fighting gear ready for combat this year to having less than two-thirds of it in battle shape by the middle of 2008.

The Marine Corps' equipment shortages are expected to be the focus of a House Armed Services Committee hearing today, where lawmakers will hear testimony from General William Nyland, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps and Major General William Catto, commander of the Marine Corps Systems Command.

Officials at Marine Corps headquarters and the Systems Command declined to comment on the inspector general's report, saying they were not yet familiar enough with its findings to respond to questions.

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Article and links at :

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/062105L.shtml

This has been known for quite sometime and still we continue to under equip our fighting men and women and even have the audacity to ask them to go out and purchase their own equipment at great personal expense, we make them ride in poorly armored and jury rigged armored vehicles on booby trapped roads yet we're spending how many billions of dollars per month on this ill begotten war with no end in site. WTF??? Explain how this can be justified? You all know I don't believe in the validity of this war but the ones that suffer in the long run are those on the ground doing the hard ass kicking in the name of defending themselves against a real terrorist threat on the ground against our soldiers and WMD that somehow never were discovered and predicated this war. This makes much less sense than a lot of my tinfoil hat posts. How can Bush and his buddies allow this to continue, yet award millions of dollar no bid contracts to Haliburton and turn a blind eye toward our troops for so long? This is the result of lies and deceit on a major scale. How can all of us stand here and justify this Administration's running us aground, dividing us so we don't see the real issues(or we see the real issues but just figure it's the Governments job to take care of the troops) and watch as more and more of our young soldiers, leaders, and parents pay the ultimate price? I'm just as guilty so don't think I'm trying to dodge my part in all of this. It just makes me ashamed. We ask some of our best and brightest and most courageous men and women to lay down their lives for their country and they do it without so much as batting an eyelash. How can this be justified? As far as I can tell it can't. What do we do to change things? Open for suggestions here folks. We are losing our National and natural treasures. In the end who will pay the price and who stands to gain?

Doc Urb

[Gimpy]

TEll what I do Doc. Every damn time I see a recent story about this I copy it and send it to:

(1)--The Whitehouse

(2)--My Senators

(3)--My Congressman

Along with some choice comments about WTF is going on here! I thought you told me this $hit was going to be corrected ASAP!

I also ask everyone (at every chance I get) with one of those freakin "Yeller Ribbon" magnet stickers on their cars, or "I support the troops" magnet stickers on their cars just WHAT the heck have THEY done recently to "support" the troops?

When they start stuttering and stammering shit like "I PAY MY TAXES" like ANY good American.....I politely tell them......SORRY, THAT AIN"T ENOUGH! ----Your CIC (Chickenhawk-in-Chief) says that YOUR TAX CUT is more important than body armour for the troops so the troops will have to get YOU....the American TAX PAYERS to buy the protective body armour for the Guvmint since he (Bush) gave YOU all the $$$$ intended to buy these items for them.

If nothing else.............it either makes them "aware" and/or pissed off at me enough to maybe write someone in Washington. Even had a few folks thank me for the info.

[39mto39g]

Thats what I say about it.
If your running a convoy or in a fixed possition than more 50 cal is always needed (wanted) if your on patrol, what are you going to do with a 50?
There are sertain things all infantry units are required to have and any more than that is nice to have but not nessessary. Each company has a mortor, but what are they going to do with it on patrol?
Kinda like having armor on a Humvee, These things were never ment to be armored vehicles they replaced the Jeep.
You can't be completely armored and still do the job at hand. If you want to be protected than stay in a cave. But how then do you cunduct a house to house search?
At some point the guys have to go kill the enemy and to do that they have to be in the same place as the bad guys. More heavy machine guns I don't think is the problem, The problem is reports like this and the inbeded media that cause problems for the troops.

Ron

[SuperScout]

With the current level and type of military operations being that similar to what has been happening for the past year +, one has to wonder why the Marine supply system seems to be so deficient. The article makes it appear that the Marines just woke up, found themselves in a counter-terrorist role, and decided that they needed more weapons and more vehicles. And if the Marines have an agreement with the Army to provide maintenance support for their vehicles, but haven't yet scheduled any vehicles for siad maintenance, whose fault is that? Don't think we can blame the tax cuts for that, now can we?

If not all the Marine Humvees have bee equipped with extra armor, perhaps it is because not all Marine Humvees are doing road-runner duty and therefore don't need it. Similar to the earlier stories about Army Humvees not all being up-armored, the untold part of the tale is that the REMF's Humvees didn't need it, but the total unarmored vehicles got the news.

Needing extra weapons? Every Gunny I ever knew would have this problem solved in less than 24 hours. We used to call the process "lateral transfer," and I strongly suspect that the process still prevails today.

[Gimpy]

Funny how folks appear to FORGET or attempt to RATIONALIZE the origin of this "report", huh?

The office of the Inspector General.............?

It looks like those fellows at the IG are so politically biased they're just trying to once again pee on the parade of the Chickenhawks, huh?

Give us a break, will ya?

Funny how you guys FAILED to mention the latest bit of "support" this administration is showing our Marines (and other troopers) by having their superiors WARN THEM to go ahead and PURCHASE their own "body armour" before they ship out to Iraq. because the Marines don't have enough to supply them with??

[SparrowHawk62]

Dad picks up $600 tab to get Marine battle ready

Jun. 18, 2005 12:00 AM

John Tod of Mesa had been prepared to face Father's Day worrying about his son's pending date with the war in Iraq.

Then Uncle Sam stepped in with more disappointing developments.

Marine Pfc. Jeremy Tod called home with news that his superiors were urging him and fellow Marines to buy special military equipment, including flak jackets with armor plating, to enhance the prospects of their survival.

The message was that such purchases were to be made by Marines with their own money.

"He said they strongly suggested he get this equipment because when they get to Iraq they will wish they had," Tod said.

Total estimated cost: $600.

Tod said his son's call about two weeks ago from the Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma was a sobering reminder that the military is not prepared to equip Pfc. Tod and fellow Marines with the best equipment.

Besides the essential flak jacket with steel "trauma" plates, the
shopping list for the young Marine included a Camelbak (water pouch) special ballistic goggles, knee and elbow pads, a "drop pouch" to hold ammunition magazines and a load-bearing vest.

Tod, 45, is picking up the tab for a son who blew most of his savings on a new pickup truck. And dad says he is tempted to forward the bill to the Pentagon. "Or maybe I can write it off in taxes," he said with a grin.

It's not the cost that concerns him, even though the self-employed home repairman will have to dig deep for the cash.

"We're supposed to have a professional army," he said, "the best in the world. And we're not providing them with the type of gear they need to protect themselves as they do their jobs."

Marine Maj. Nat Frahy, a spokesman in Washington, said the military issues equipment, but it's possible that young Tod's commanders told him that it was perfectly OK to buy equipment that would help him on the battlefield.

Told about the Marine request, U.S. Rep. J. D. Hayworth, the
Republican whose 5th District includes Mesa, said he has never heard of a service person being told to buy his own equipment.

Hayworth said he will contact the military to "find out what on earth is going on and why isn't that stuff there for them already. If it involves bottlenecks and glitches to get equipment to them then there should be a voucher system where military personnel can be reimbursed."

Tod refers to himself as a regular, middle-class, blue-collar guy who is a fairly close fit to the economic demographic of most families with sons and daughters serving in the armed forces. His son, now 19, enlisted last year after graduating from Mesa's Westwood High School.

His dad says America was better served with the military draft because today's professional army is not representative of the country's economic and cultural spectrum.

Yet Tod is proud of his youngest son's decision to serve even though dad doesn't believe American troops should be in Iraq.

In a recent interview, Tod recalled the kid who made an unassisted triple play in Little League and the boy who became his father's best fishing buddy before he went to Marine boot camp in San Diego.

"When I close my eyes I can see him looking up at me and asking,
'Pants on swimming, dad, can I, huh?' when he wanted to go for a swim," Tod said.

On Father's Day, Tod will hang out at his home in north central Mesa and hope that Jeremy, the 5-foot-5 155-pound Marine, will get time to call as he trains with about 2,800 fellow Marines in Yuma.

"I'll probably get to see him before he leaves for Iraq," Tod said. "I just hope and pray nothing happens to him."

Reach Thomason at art.thomason@... or (602) 444-7971.

[39mto39g]

The Marines have Flac Jackets and ammo pouches and water contaners. Sounds like some one wanted to make a POLITICAL statment.
Get yor ass to Iraq Marine. Hears an Idea for ya, DON"T join.

Ron

[SparrowHawk62]

Originally posted by 39mto39g The Marines have Flac Jackets and ammo pouches and water contaners. Sounds like some one wanted to make a POLITICAL statment.
Get yor ass to Iraq Marine. Hears an Idea for ya, DON"T join.

Ron

Hey Ron,
I just passed that along because it delt with the subject at hand. To I think there is an ounce of truth in it? NO!
I think the Jar Heads know what they need and damned sure have it. One way or another they have obtained or improvised what's needed, that's the Corps way!
Daddy wants his little boy home safe, nothing wrong with that. Just don't whine to the media........