Failing to SUPPORT THE TROOPS

Armored Humvees are in short supply

The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle was designed to replace the Jeep. It can roll through neck-deep water and scale harrowing grade, according to AM General of South Bend, Ind., which makes it. But its body panels are thin sheets of fiberglass and aluminum. They offer little protection from the jury-rigged mines, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles typically used against occupation forces....

One Pennsylvania Army National Guard officer in relatively calm Bosnia saw about 600 armored Humvees being used for patrols this spring and about 200 more just sitting around. He was so upset that he wrote the Army Times last month and complained that failing to move them to Iraq "bordered on negligence."

There really ought to be a bigger deal being made about this, by the Press, by Congress, by everyone. We have a $400 Billion military, but we can't even properly equip units on the frontline and the new budget doesn't even include any money for Humvee armor kits. There is absolutely no excuse for the failure to properly supply our forces in Iraq.