Navy and Air Force Troops to be used for infantry duties in Iraq

[Ian David]

Appearing with Casey at a news conference, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he and other senior Pentagon officials are still studying how the military might keep up the current pace of Iraq deployments without overtaxing the Army and Marine Corps, which have borne the brunt of the conflict. Rumsfeld said one option is to make more use of the Air Force and Navy for work that normally is done by soldiers and Marines.

More:
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/nationworld/ci_4481096

[ck4829]

1. Navy - Water, Air Force - Sky

Does Rummy need a sign or something to remind him of that?

[htuttle]

2. They've been doing that for a couple of years now

MOS means nothing anymore.

[ThomCat]

3. That sounds like a recipe for total disaster.

There are damned good reasons for specialization.

[htuttle]

4. RUMSFELD: "Oh, come on. People are fungible. "

"You can have them here or there."

(From April, 2004)

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0404/15/lol.04.h...

[razors edge]

5. As a former marine aircraft mechanic,

I wonder if the have taken all army and Marine wrench flippers/desk jockeys and put them on the front lines already.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Hey! So was I.

VMF(AW)-542 plane captain.

Eat the apple and fuck the corps!

[razors edge]

11. VMFA 212 Hydraulics,

out for twenty years and still pumping oil for a living.

[leeroysphitz]

8. From what I've read many rear echelon types do go out on patrols

but I think they still leave most of the real heavy lifting to those with the proper training. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about that. Deliberately putting service men and women into combat without the proper training is an unconscionable breach of trust.

[razors edge]

12. Yeh, I can shoot with the best,

but ground tactics are french to me.

[INdemo]

6. This would be sending them to be slaughtered..

Rumsfeld is not that stupid is he? Navy and Air Force personnel certainly dont have the necessary training to attempt such a task..Surely the Sec of the Navy and Sec of the Air Force will step in and say no way ..and Congress needs to step in and step up and say no

[bridgit]

9. disgusting, everything about republican abuse of power is dusgusting...

[Octafish]

10. I feel a draft.

Warmongering traitors.

[Poiuyt]

13. My nephew, who is in AF Security, is going to Baghdad soon

He going to be escorting convoys. My sister and I are EXTREMELY worried. He's been to Iraq before, but he was in a safer area, and was just guarding the flightlines at USAF airbases. This time it looks to be a whole lot more dangerous. His term of enlistment is up next June.

[Subdivisions]

14. But, but, but...I thought it was announced recently that the Army

had not only met their recruiting goals, but exceeding them and set a record?

I guess that was a lie.

[Ian David]

15. They met their goals by lowering their standards.

They'd rather have smart Navy guys who don't know what they're doing, than stupid Moron Corps army guys who have been trained to the limit of their intelligence.