Reservists' lack of preparation hurts

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/7220484.htm

WASHINGTON - U.S. Army reservists, pulled from everyday life to serve in Iraq, are suffering from a sharply disproportionate share of nonhostile injuries -- which include accidents, illnesses, and mental breakdowns -- as they adjust to the rigors of a long and unexpected tour in a hot, strife-ridden environment, according to a Boston Globe analysis of Department of Defense figures.

Members of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, who account for about a quarter of the forces in Iraq, are not as well prepared as their full-time counterparts, either in terms of basic training or the physical and psychological stamina necessary for a long overseas deployment, officials said.

And the guerrilla nature of the conflict means that they are serving on the front lines.

"If you look at the reserves, they are usually civilians that have jobs back home, and now you take them away from their families and you put them in a foreign war where they are less equipped than active duty troops and don't have the combat training," said Col. Juan DeRojas, a surgeon in the Army Reserve who returned from a tour of duty in Iraq in July.

<snip>

[truthisfreedom]

1. stepping from 15 degrees to 120 degrees farenheit? seems perfectly

reasonable to me. especially when you're completely out of shape and never expected to go anywhere dangerous or do anything deadly.

i think they need to send ten thousand chiropractors to Iraq, to help with the back problems these people can expect to endure under the stress and strain of trying to survive total mayhem on a fabric cot. oh, and about 50,000 sets of earplugs. noisy over there, i hear.

[politicat]

4. Not to mention that usually the training is about as counterintuitive as

possible. My husband, ex Nat. Guard, trained for Iraq I at ....

wait for it....

Fort Campbell, KY.

That's right, friends and neighbors. The Pentagon sent his unit to a SWAMP in the winter to train for the Middle Eastern DESERT in high summer.

We won't go into weapons that don't work, uniforms that were more hole than cloth, tents that rotted if you breathed on them and Vietnam era first aid and food supplies.

The Marines claim they do more with less than any other group.... but the truth is it's the reserves and the guard that do more with less and take more casualties for it.

Politicat.

[SaintLouisBlues]

5. Your right about the second-rate equipment

I posted a story here this morning about the Chinook disaster last
weekend, and how the Guard didn't have the latest and greatest missile countermeasures, unlike the regular Army.
Here's the post from the Post:

Reserves' copters lag in shielding from attack, Army says

Phil Dine
Washington Bureau2003, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
11/08/2003

WASHINGTON - Some Chinook helicopters belonging to active-duty units in Iraq are equipped with newer protective gear than helicopters used by National Guard units, including the one that was shot down last week, the Army acknowledges.

At least two active-duty Chinook units in Iraq, and possibly others, have the ALE-47, a new infrared missile countermeasure system, said an Army official, who spoke on behalf of the Army but on condition of anonymity.

(snip)

The controversy over alleged disparate treatment of reserve components may intensify in light of the planned troop rotation Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Thursday - which has reserve forces increasing in both numbers and proportion as overall forces decline.

At present, the United States has 102,000 active-duty troops and 28,000 reserve troops in Iraq. By spring, that is expected to shift to 66,000 active forces and 39,000 reservists.

http://tinyurl.com/u8ak

[Don_G]

2. Training, Equipment And Support

Helicopters without armored seats, having Mommy and Daddy back home send flak jackets, no water and I wouldn't be surprised if Dimbo counted on the Red Cross providing medical care for the Guardsman.

Any idiot can start a war but if clear objectives aren't spelled out nor after action support it's just another drain on a nation's men and resources.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

3. I really think Dumbya expected Poppy's war II.

"A bit of the old in and out."

The Iraqis were supposed to be like the American sheeple. Fall in line or at least fall silent.