Rumsfeld Supports the Troops

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[Military]
[Pubic Relations]
On a morale-boosting trip to Kuwait to talk to soldiers, Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld received several tough questions. One asked why the troops didn't have enough armor for their vehicles.

Spc. Thomas Wilson had asked the defense secretary, "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?" Shouts of approval and applause arose from the estimated 2,300 soldiers who had assembled to see Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld basically told them to suck it up and deal with it.

"You go to war with the Army you have," Rumsfeld replied, "not the Army you might want or wish to have."
You'd think that in a year and a half, they could have made some progress towards getting the equipment they need, though.

Asked about the Army's recent liberal use of stop-loss to keep soldiers in Iraq after their term of enlistment was up, he basically said they could expect it to continue.

When a chaplain made a humorous request to put his unit on Rumsfeld's plane and take them to Disneyland, he refused that, too.

No armor, no going home when your tour is up, no Disneyland. Is that any way to raise troop morale?


 

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