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For Immediate Release
October 15, 2004
Military Families Speak Out About Bush’s Failure To Provide Body Armor And Equipment
In response to Annenberg Poll showing sixty-three percent of the military sample, compared to only 41 percent of the public generally, approves of Bush’s handling of Iraq, the Kerry campaign released the following statements from military families.
"As a mother of a marine in Iraq, I'm especially angry at this administration for failing to give them the proper equipment. My son had to go online to buy his own helmet. My other son's unit had to buy their own desert boots. And the Bush administration keeps insisting there are no supply glitches. It's just not true. For these troops to be fighting without armored vehicles is like sending them on a suicide mission. George Bush should be held accountable." - Nita Martin, Mother of two Marines.
"My husband's unit, in 14 months in Iraq, had an armored vehicle for one day. They hit a landmine on that day, and it saved the lives of 4 Marines. Then, they had to do the same mission the next day with vehicles that weren't properly armored." - Lara Bertsch, Wife of a recent returnee Operation Iraqi Freedom
"The humvees were done with makeshift kit armor. You just attach these big plates to the doors. It was a step up from the way they came, but if one of these hit a mine, you were pretty much up a creek." -Jeff Mussman, Operation Iraq Freedom Vet
BUSH SENT TROOPS TO IRAQ WITHOUT BODY ARMOR
Military Leaders: George Bush Sent Troops To Iraq Without Proper Protection.
§ “In reference to armored vests, there was a shortage. … This is a long-term problem that should have been fixed, however, well before the Iraq war started.” (Brigadier General David Grange (ret.), CNN, 3/14/04, emphasis added)
§ “I visited one of these units in December that was getting ready to deploy. That was December, they were deploying in January, and they were short basic equipment: radios, vests, armored Humvees, et cetera. We're better than that as a nation, and we're better than that as a military.” (General George A. Joulwan (ret.), CNN, 3/14/04, emphasis added)
§ “Everybody had flack jackets and some body armor, but not the new body armor. They showed us the schedule, and said it was going to be done. They were short at that time, I believe, around 1,400 up-armored Humvees that were coming into the country … it does leave you wondering why couldn't we have done this before the war, and we simply didn't.” (General Don Sheppherd (ret.), CNN, 3/14/04, emphasis added)
§ Could not “answer for the record why we started this war with protective vests that were in short supply.” (Gen. John Abizaid, House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, in Washington Post, 10/4/03, emphasis added)
Soldiers Lacked Armored Vehicles, Still Buying Their Own Equipment as Late as This Year. In late March 2004, the AP reported, "Soldiers headed for Iraq are still buying their own body armor - and in many cases, their families are buying it for them - despite assurances from the military that the gear will be in hand before they're in harm's way. The Portland Press Herald wrote that “In early March, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee about the shortage of body armor and fortified Humvees for troops serving in Iraq. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said after a visit to Iraq in mid-June that U.S. forces still need better armored equipment. Of the 15,000 Humvees in Iraq, about 1,500 to 2,000 are armored, according to the Army.” (Associated Press, 3/26/04; Portland Press Herald, 7/2/04)
Dan Britt, Soldier’s Father: “If I Can Raise the Odds, Then I’ll Feel Better.” “‘In war, as we've learned through all our history, who gets killed and who doesn't is just happenstance,’ said Dan Britt of Hamilton, Ohio, a father who paid about $1,400 for body armor that included a groin and neck protector. ‘But if I can raise the odds, then I'll feel better.’ Britt heard last week that his son, a medic stationed in Kuwait with orders to move soon into Baghdad, finally received last week the armor he bought. Britt said it is reassuring that his son has protective armor, even if he had to pay for it.” (Associated Press, 3/19/04)
Cpl. Dan McBride’s Parents, Sisters, and Brothers Chipped In to Buy Him a Kevlar Vest. “Families of soldiers deployed to Iraq would be reimbursed for the cost of body armor not provided to them by the military under legislation approved by the Senate on Monday night. That’s good news to the family of Cpl. Dan McBride, who is with the Washington National Guard’s 81st Brigade. His parents, two sisters and two brothers chipped in to buy him a $600 Kevlar vest before he left for Iraq last February.” (Spokane Spokesman Review, 6/16/04)
First Lt. Christian Boggiano Wrote Home Seeking Bulletproof Vests To Arm Humvees. “Before his unit shipped from Kuwait to Iraq in March, First Lt. Christian Boggiano, 23, made a special appeal to his mother, Mary, by e-mail message. Please, he asked, scrounge around for a few old police bulletproof vests and mail them to me. ‘Once I get up north, we'll use them on the doors and floors of the Humvees so when roadside bombs go off they'll catch a lot of shrapnel,’ wrote Lieutenant Boggiano, a 2002 graduate of West Point. … Over the last two months, state troopers and police officers around New Jersey have donated about 1,000 outdated, surplus bulletproof vests they owned, all in the spirit of making the thin-skinned, vulnerable Humvees safer for the soldiers and marines who ride them, Mrs. Boggiano said.” (New York Times, 5/22/04)
Nancy Durst, Army Reservist’s Wife: “They're So Sick Of Being Treated As Second-Class Soldiers.” “Nancy Durst recently learned that her husband, a soldier with an Army reserve unit from Maine serving in Iraq, spent four months without body armor. …Her husband also has told her that reservists serving in Iraq have not been given the same equipment as active duty soldiers. ‘They're so sick of being treated as second-class soldiers,’ she said.” (Associated Press, 3/19/04)
Paid for by Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc.
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