Was Rumsfeld surprised about the Armor? Was the Media Surprised? WHY?

[juliagoolia]

They should not have been. Remember the suprise visit to Iraq when the troops were asked to stay over and Rumsfeld made a suprise visit to Iraq May 13 2004. At that time he was asked about it, and he deferred the Question to Gen Myers. They should have had answers by the time the soldier last week asked him AGAIN

http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/2004/sp20040513-secdef0423.html
snip

Question. Here's a mike, and anyone who has a question, why don't you wander towards one of the fellows with mikes? There's one right here. Good.



Q How you doing, sir? (Inaudible.) I have force protection questions, sir.



SEC. RUMSFELD: You have what?



Q Force protection.



SEC. RUMSFELD: General Myers. (Laughter.)



Q Sir, my unit, the 2nd Brigade -- (inaudible) -- Cav, we have five out of the six red zones in this country. And with the up- armored humvees, the new -- (off mike) -- humvees they're bringing over with the -- (inaudible) -- those doors are not as good as the ones on the up-armored humvees -- (inaudible). We even lost quite -- we lost some soldiers due to them, and we're trying to make a change -- (inaudible). The question is, are we going to get more up-armored humvees?



And the second question I wanted to ask is, they have the new -- (inaudible) -- vests out that covers your -- (inaudible). We need those because we have taken some casualties due to the shrapnel from IEDs going through the side. The front parts are good, but the sides are not.



Thank you.



GEN. MYERS: Good points. Excellent points.



You can imagine we spend a lot of time on force protection, and our responsibility, I think, is to ensure we have the resources and protection lines and all that cranked up to get the equipment we need.



You mentioned the vests and now the part for the armpits and the sides that are not covered with the SAPI plates and not covered adequately by the vest. They're -- we producing them and sending them over here as fast as we can.

You do not have all the up-armored humvees you need. You got about -- around 3,000 out of the 4,400 roughly that they want over here, that your leaders want. Production is ramping up this month. I think it's around 220, 225 per month. We've gathered them from all other services that had them except for a few we held back for a nuclear security role back in the United States. The rest of them shipped over here. We're trying to get them to you as fast as we can. We understand the difference they can make, and for that matter we're shipping some armor over as well. You know, some of the units came over lighter, and you're probably one of them, and so you're going to get some of your stuff back to do the job that you have to do.

But that's something that I have a chance to talk to Congress about a lot
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Still passing the Buck it seems

[Willy Lee]

1. Just surprised that a serviceman had the gall to ask such a question. nt

[LuminousX]

2. One wouldn't think

that it takes the bravery of a U.S. soldier to ask hard questions of our leaders. I guess it does. I guess these soldiers not only have to put their lives on the line but also do the job of the press.

[juliagoolia]

3. Thats the POINT.. why didnt they make a big deal over it in MAY

When a serviceman asked pretty much the same questions.????

He certainly should have been prepared to answer it knowing the last time he was there it was asked.