"PREPARING TO LEAVE.... John Huey, a National Guard first lieutenant from Jericho, Vt., sat with his wife, Michelle, during a ceremony yesterday in South Burlington.
Hopefully he will see him whole again.
Then again, he may get lucky.
Gearing up for their deployment to Afghanistan, hundreds of Vermont National Guard members and their families gathered for congressionally mandated training, including addresses by US senators Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders."
Well, THAT EXPOSES the SOCIALIST SANDERS as a PEACE FRAUD -- just like ALL the REST of the DemocraPic LIBERALS in this region! And CONGRESS MANDATED that the SOLDIERS HEAR a LYING PEP TALK from these senate scum, 'ey?
I just hope your WEAPONS WORK, kiddo!
"Eight years into the Afghanistan war, the findings are raising questions about whether US armed forces have the best guns money can buy."
We certainly know they don't have the best vests.
"US weapons failed in Afghan battle that killed 9" by Richard Lardner, Associated Press | October 12, 2009
WASHINGTON - It was chaos during the early-morning assault last year on a remote US outpost in Afghanistan, and Staff Sergeant Erich Phillips’s M4 carbine had quit firing as militant forces surrounded the base. The machine gun he grabbed after tossing the rifle aside didn’t work either.
When the battle in the small village of Wanat ended, nine US soldiers lay dead, and 27 more were wounded. A study of the attack by a military historian found that weapons failed repeatedly at a “critical moment’’ during the firefight on July 13, 2008, putting the outnumbered American troops at risk of being overrun by nearly 200 insurgents.
So the MILITARY LEARNED NOTHING in OVER a YEAR, huh?
Surge away, AmeriKa!
The study by Douglas Cubbison of the Army Combat Studies Institute at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., has not been publicly released, but copies have been leaked to news organizations and are circulating on the Internet. Eight years into the Afghanistan war, the findings are raising questions about whether US armed forces have the best guns money can buy.
Despite the military’s insistence that they do, a small but vocal number of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq has complained that the standard-issue M4 rifles need too much maintenance and jam at the worst possible times.
A week ago, eight US troops were killed at a base near Kamdesh, a town near Wanat. There was no immediate evidence of weapons failures at Kamdesh, but the circumstances were eerily similar to the Wanat battle: Insurgents stormed an isolated stronghold manned by American forces stretched thin by the demands of war.
I feel a DRAFT, don't you?
And let's add INSULT to INJURY: AmeriKa Abandons Afghanistan Base
Yes, they DIED for NOTHING when the ARMY HAD ONE YEAR to PREVENT IT.
Army Colonel Wayne Shanks, a military spokesman in Afghanistan, said a review of the battle at Kamdesh is underway. “It is too early to make any assumptions regarding what did or didn’t work correctly,’’ Shanks said. Complaints about the weapons the troops carry, especially the M4, are not new. Army officials say that when properly cleaned and maintained, the M4 is a quality weapon that can pump out more than 3,000 rounds before any failures occur.
How many people can you kill with 3,000 rounds?
The M4 is a shorter, lighter version of the M16, which made its debut during the Vietnam war. Roughly 500,000 M4s are in service, making it the rifle troops on the front lines trust with their lives.
Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, a leading critic of the M4, said Thursday the Army needs to move quickly to acquire a combat rifle suited for the extreme conditions US troops are fighting in. “The M4 has served us well, but it’s not as good as it needs to be,’’ Coburn said.
Battlefield surveys show that nearly 90 percent of soldiers are satisfied with their M4s, according to Brigadier General Peter Fuller, head of the Army office that buys soldier gear.
And you better not complain, soldier!
--more--"
Related: Afghan outlook bleak as Taliban grabs territory
