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11-01-2006, 09:33 PM
Troops put thorny questions to Rumsfeld
Defense chief speaks to Iraq-bound soldiers in Kuwait
Thursday, December 9, 2004 Posted: 4:37 AM EST (0937 GMT)
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld addresses American troops Wednesday in Kuwait.
(CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld faced tough questioning Wednesday from troops about to be deployed to Iraq.
Soldiers at Camp Buehring, a staging area in the Kuwait desert, peppered Rumsfeld with queries about the standard of equipment they would be using and about the Pentagon's "stop-loss" policy, which prevents troops from leaving the military service even if they are eligible to retire or quit.
One soldier, identified by The Associated Press as Army Spc. Thomas Wilson of the 278th Regimental Combat Team, a Tennessee National Guard outfit, asked Rumsfeld why more military combat vehicles were not reinforced for battle conditions.
"Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?" Wilson asked.
The question prompted cheers from some of the approximately 2,300 troops assembled in the large hangar to hear Rumsfeld deliver a pep talk at what the Pentagon called a town hall meeting.
Rumsfeld said armored military vehicles have been brought to the region "from all over the world, from where they're not needed to a place they're needed."
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said about 450 armored Humvees are being produced each month. This is up from August 2003 when only 15 per month were made.
That's about the time commanders in Iraq started asking for them because of the increased use of roadside bombs by insurgents.
"It's essentially a matter of physics, not a matter of money," Rumsfeld said. "It's a matter of production and the capability of doing it."
In April, the Pentagon said it was spending $400 million to replace the Army's thin-skinned Humvees in Iraq with the so-called "uparmored" reinforced versions.
"As you know, you have to go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want," Rumsfeld said.
He added, "You can have all the armor in the world on a tank, and it can [still] be blown up."
Rumsfeld's response to the question drew quick criticism from one Democratic legislator.
Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut said he sent a letter to Rumsfeld asking whether the military met a self-imposed July 31 deadline to fully armor the troops.
"I understand how you may be forced into a situation earlier than you'd like where you might not have everything you want, but it's now going into the third year," Dodd said.
Initial war estimates said U.S. forces might need as many as 800 heavily armored vehicles in Iraq, but current estimates call for as many as 6,000, said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Don Shepperd, a CNN military analyst.
"The command over there basically distributes the armored vehicles to those they think that need them the most," Shepperd said. "Everybody would like to have one, but there's simply not enough in theater right now."
Maj. Gen. Gary Speer, deputy commanding general of U.S. forces in Kuwait, told the AP that as far as he knows vehicles going to Iraq from Kuwait's Camp Buehring have at least "Level 3" armor.
These vehicles would have locally fabricated armor for side panels, but not necessarily bulletproof windows or protection against blasts through floorboards, according to the AP.
Speer said he wasn't aware of anyone looking through landfills for scrap metal and glass, the AP reported.
Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett, adjutant general, or commander, of the Tennessee National Guard, disputed Speer's comments.
"I know that members of his staff were aware and assisted the 278th in obtaining these materials," Hargett said in a news release.
About 19,000 armored Humvees are in the Central Command's area of operations, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan, Di Rita said. That is about 2,000 short of what commanders have requested, he said.
Di Rita pointed out it is Pentagon policy that troops driving Humvees into Iraq drive only armored vehicles. Unarmored Humvees are transported into the country on flatbed trucks and used only inside compounds and other relatively safe areas, he said.
The Army has about $1.2 billion in its budget for armored Humvees and armor kits, Di Rita said.
Another soldier asked Rumsfeld about the stop-loss order. Critics of the policy have called it a "backdoor draft." A group of soldiers filed a lawsuit this week challenging the policy.
"My husband and myself both joined a volunteer Army," said the woman, who identified herself as a staff sergeant in a logistics unit from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. "Currently, I'm serving under the stop-loss. I would like to know how much longer you foresee the military using this program."
Rumsfeld said the policy "is something you prefer not to have to use in a perfect world."
"It's based on unit cohesion," Rumsfeld said. "The principle is that -- in the event there is something that requires a unit to be involved in, and people are in a personal situation where their time was ending -- they put a stop-loss on it so cohesion is maintained."
He did not specify how long the stop-loss order would continue.
"It's basically a sound principle. It's nothing new; it's been well understood" by soldiers, Rumsfeld said. "My guess is it will continue to be used as little as possible, but that it will continue to be used."
About 7,000 U.S. soldiers have been affected by the stop-loss order, Army officials said.
CNN's Mike Mount contributed to this report.
Defense chief speaks to Iraq-bound soldiers in Kuwait
Thursday, December 9, 2004 Posted: 4:37 AM EST (0937 GMT)
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld addresses American troops Wednesday in Kuwait.
(CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld faced tough questioning Wednesday from troops about to be deployed to Iraq.
Soldiers at Camp Buehring, a staging area in the Kuwait desert, peppered Rumsfeld with queries about the standard of equipment they would be using and about the Pentagon's "stop-loss" policy, which prevents troops from leaving the military service even if they are eligible to retire or quit.
One soldier, identified by The Associated Press as Army Spc. Thomas Wilson of the 278th Regimental Combat Team, a Tennessee National Guard outfit, asked Rumsfeld why more military combat vehicles were not reinforced for battle conditions.
"Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?" Wilson asked.
The question prompted cheers from some of the approximately 2,300 troops assembled in the large hangar to hear Rumsfeld deliver a pep talk at what the Pentagon called a town hall meeting.
Rumsfeld said armored military vehicles have been brought to the region "from all over the world, from where they're not needed to a place they're needed."
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said about 450 armored Humvees are being produced each month. This is up from August 2003 when only 15 per month were made.
That's about the time commanders in Iraq started asking for them because of the increased use of roadside bombs by insurgents.
"It's essentially a matter of physics, not a matter of money," Rumsfeld said. "It's a matter of production and the capability of doing it."
In April, the Pentagon said it was spending $400 million to replace the Army's thin-skinned Humvees in Iraq with the so-called "uparmored" reinforced versions.
"As you know, you have to go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want," Rumsfeld said.
He added, "You can have all the armor in the world on a tank, and it can [still] be blown up."
Rumsfeld's response to the question drew quick criticism from one Democratic legislator.
Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut said he sent a letter to Rumsfeld asking whether the military met a self-imposed July 31 deadline to fully armor the troops.
"I understand how you may be forced into a situation earlier than you'd like where you might not have everything you want, but it's now going into the third year," Dodd said.
Initial war estimates said U.S. forces might need as many as 800 heavily armored vehicles in Iraq, but current estimates call for as many as 6,000, said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Don Shepperd, a CNN military analyst.
"The command over there basically distributes the armored vehicles to those they think that need them the most," Shepperd said. "Everybody would like to have one, but there's simply not enough in theater right now."
Maj. Gen. Gary Speer, deputy commanding general of U.S. forces in Kuwait, told the AP that as far as he knows vehicles going to Iraq from Kuwait's Camp Buehring have at least "Level 3" armor.
These vehicles would have locally fabricated armor for side panels, but not necessarily bulletproof windows or protection against blasts through floorboards, according to the AP.
Speer said he wasn't aware of anyone looking through landfills for scrap metal and glass, the AP reported.
Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett, adjutant general, or commander, of the Tennessee National Guard, disputed Speer's comments.
"I know that members of his staff were aware and assisted the 278th in obtaining these materials," Hargett said in a news release.
About 19,000 armored Humvees are in the Central Command's area of operations, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan, Di Rita said. That is about 2,000 short of what commanders have requested, he said.
Di Rita pointed out it is Pentagon policy that troops driving Humvees into Iraq drive only armored vehicles. Unarmored Humvees are transported into the country on flatbed trucks and used only inside compounds and other relatively safe areas, he said.
The Army has about $1.2 billion in its budget for armored Humvees and armor kits, Di Rita said.
Another soldier asked Rumsfeld about the stop-loss order. Critics of the policy have called it a "backdoor draft." A group of soldiers filed a lawsuit this week challenging the policy.
"My husband and myself both joined a volunteer Army," said the woman, who identified herself as a staff sergeant in a logistics unit from Fort Bragg, North Carolina. "Currently, I'm serving under the stop-loss. I would like to know how much longer you foresee the military using this program."
Rumsfeld said the policy "is something you prefer not to have to use in a perfect world."
"It's based on unit cohesion," Rumsfeld said. "The principle is that -- in the event there is something that requires a unit to be involved in, and people are in a personal situation where their time was ending -- they put a stop-loss on it so cohesion is maintained."
He did not specify how long the stop-loss order would continue.
"It's basically a sound principle. It's nothing new; it's been well understood" by soldiers, Rumsfeld said. "My guess is it will continue to be used as little as possible, but that it will continue to be used."
About 7,000 U.S. soldiers have been affected by the stop-loss order, Army officials said.
CNN's Mike Mount contributed to this report.