We know the army is broken. We hear the tales of inadequate equipment and armor. But no one knows this better than the troops themselves. Here is a letter from a soldier in Iraq to Senator Olympia Snow’s office. This letter is making the rounds in anti-war email forums. I’ve changed his initials, until and unless he would give me direct permission to use his name.
From:
To: J C
Sent: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 00:29:57 -0400
Subject: Re: HMMWVs
J C
Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff
U.S. Senator Olympia Snow
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. C
We have not received all the 1114 HMMWV’s that are required for our mission.
I still head out of the gate in a 1025 Humvee that doesn’t have floor armor, basically all you have is armored windows and sub par armored doors. As evident by the bullet holes and shrapnel cuts that you can look directly through I would say they aren’t very effective.
Most of these trucks have been through two tours here taking numerous poundings and are starting on their third. We have inadequate maintenance manpower to maintain these vehicles having much less maintenance staff, and when I mean much less that is a gross understatement.
It is being felt at all levels, many vehicles have to be hot started which
means a switching of the crews leaving no time for proper aintenance. Our maintenance guys are champions working there butts off to keep us going.
The command structure at the highly levels has grossly mismanaged this brigade.
The only thing we had going for us through the 6 months at Camp Shelby was that we were training together. At the last moment most of the groups have been re-task organized splitting us up. It amazes me that the command could not have foreseen this earlier since they could have talked and consulted with the group in this area.
Shelby taught us nothing and was a waste of the tax payers dollars, a
tremendous misallocation of resources. Nothing we learned there is
applicable here and I learned more in our “right seat ride” with the 1/9th than the whole time at Shelby.
General Honare (Sp) made the statement at our deployment ceremony we are the best trained, best equipped soldiers, ever sent from Camp Shelby. If that is true the Army is broken which it is and is quite evident.
My vehicle constantly breaks down, my turret which is the main weapons platform hardly spins and some don’t spin, and our tanks which have had problems since Shelby are now breaking down. I think the tankers would want me to tell you of their woes since no one else seems to care.
When I asked about my trucks condition to one officer his only comment was fix it, I am not a mechanic and spend 12 hrs preparing and working on my mission am I to spend the other 12 hrs fixing my vehicle.
The higher command leadership is gutless and appalling. They all seem to have 1114’s and I haven’t seen one of them outside the wire.
This is just the equipment issues.
The people here hate us and will always hate us until we go home.
Some officer might blow smoke up the proverbial ass and say that people like us but I work with them everyday.
They hate our interference in their government which only serves as a
recruitment drive for the enemy and makes life miserable for the moderates.
I was talking to a friend of the 1/9th, the group we replaced, and he said when he first arrived the market was open and the economy was puttering along after the war, now the economy is gone and the lure of hard currency to become and support insurgent activities is more common place.
On top of things you cannot win a hearts and mind campaign here so every time we play that game people get hurt because it looks like weakness on our part and they take advantage of it.
We fight for survival my men and I. There is not greater or ethereal agenda, it is to survive. They have sent a National Guard unit in the worse place in the world according to the state department.
People here are tired of being lied to and are frustrated with the apparent lack or care of anyone.
The people of this land want us gone and if we support a democracy and true democratic processes then we should do as they bid and let them become a sovereign nation again.
I most likely will be reprimanded and or punished for telling you about the inadequacies of the Army and its run down nature right now but the truth needs to be heard and that is something that not one here or at home seems to want to face.
Our hands become more tied here everyday, we fight by rules of engagement that do not apply to the war being fought here. We were reprimanded for test firing our weapons outside the FOB the other day to see if they were in good working order. Then were apologized to when we told them what goes on out there and that you need your weapon up. Now we are hesitant to fire our weapons and here that will get you killed.
The commanders here exist and try to convince themselves that everything is fine which it is not. It is very frustrating and I look forward to coming home and leaving this broken Army.
Integrity, honor, selfless service, and many of the cornerstones of the Army are gone and they began their demise at the very top of the chain of command.
Please feel free to ask questions it makes it easier for me to respond.
I thank you for your concern and help and look forward to returning to the
shores of Maine.
Take care, sincerely, SGT D S