Homestead mailing list

["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT dtnspeed.net>]

<<The stuff they are ordering now is anything but cheap or old, and is heavy
by necessity.>>


I have no idea what's going on with body armor these days. OTOH, troops
going to Iraq don't seem to have much good info either, and their families
have been -- at great expense -- buying them armor to take with them because
the armed forces were not supplying them with anything much, at least for
the first few months. After the families spend thousands of dollars, the
Army tells the troops they have to leave the armor behind.

For a government that depends on volunteers for cannon fodder, the
information disconnect is hideously stupid. Do they honestly think that the
tales of body armor are not going to spread and alienate families and
would-be cannon fodder? It's no big surprise that recruitment is
waaaaaaaaaaay down. 

Even with the best armor, soldiers cannot cover all vulnerable areas. When I
read the 80-percent-could-have-been-saved statistic, I wondered if the
survivors might have been saved but perhaps limbless. There's no glory in
losing body parts for Uncle Sam: look at Max Cleland.

Marie