Armored vs. Un-Armored Vehicles in Iraq

Okay, let me try and make things perfectly clear. I do not want anyone to go into harm's way without the equipment, weapons, or ammunition required to complete their assigned mission. On the other hand, I have to fault the leaders, tacticians, and national command authority on their conduct of the war on insurgents, IEDs, and RPG ambushes. Here's my idea about how to fix the problem...


1. We've all heard about the "highways of death" and "ambush alleys" throughout Iraq. It's time to get tough here...and the interim government can certainly help us here. We need to start patrolling, conducting surveillance, and absolutely hammering ANYONE that approaches these routes under the cover of darkness. Maybe it's time to really "let loose the dogs of war" and start dealing with the sneaky little cowards that choose to fight us from the shadows.

2. We need to figure out how to get the "good" Iraqis that are willing to be tolerant of the differences between all the different peoples of Iraq AND to give up the "bad" Iraqis that are attempting to re-establish a heavy handed regime like the Baath Party...or a theocracy based strictly on Islam. It cannot happen for a number of reasons, but mostly because you can't get the different Islamic factions to work together very peacefully.

3. We need to start going back to the days of "Loose Lips Sink Ships." There is so much information available in the unclassified press for ANY enemy to help establish their own doctrine and tactics to defeat our forces. We need our press to act more responsibly. I'm not advocating military gag orders...but just because a reporter happens to talk to a bitching soldier, doesn't mean that the story is necessarily newsworthy.

The firestorm created by the Rumsfeld "Town Hall" meeting in the past few days....never should have happened. While I believe that soldiers might not understand why every HMMWV over there isn't armored, that tells me that their leaders have done a poor job explaining the "whys" of the answer. The bottom line is that HMMWVs were never intended to be armored vehicles. This changed within the past ten years where SOME HMMWVs were upgraded and given a little thicker skin to operate in certain areas of the battlefield where their brothers with vinyl doors have no business being.

Without going into any details that would put my butt behind bars in Leavenworth...trust me that there are better things on the way to the troops in potential trouble spots around the globe. Pretty soon it will be funny to watch the results. We'll get the "bad guys" or maybe better yet, they'll get themselves.

This issue really had me twisted around today while I cruised back toward home...but maybe my real bottom line is that the session was intended to be between the SecDef and the soldiers. If I were king and had my way, I'd ensure that the press was given something better to do than to make mountains out of molehills on topics they have just a fleeting familiarity with.

What If They're Angels??? You Never Know...

Got the inspiration for the audio post above while driving home to the Major Family this afternoon. As I'm driving alone, couldn't make it all in one slug, but put about 400 miles behind me. 230 or so to go in the morning. I think I can be home by early afternoon.

In any case, the title might be familiar to some country western fans...modified from Tommy Shane Steiner that sang "What if She's An Angel" several years back.

As I pulled into McDonalds in I think it was Fort Stockton, Texas...I noticed a guy and a dog (yes, like the audio says...that was wearing sunglasses) and thought I could do my first good turn of the holiday season by going in and buying them each a double cheeseburger (dollar menu item) and a large cup of coffee. The West Texas wind's been blowing pretty good lately and there is a hint of a chill in the air, so I figured the coffee would be a nice touch. I bought a double cheeseburger for myself and headed out the door. By the time I turned the corner...there were two guys and a dog. I walked up....handed them the bag and the coffee and chatted with them for a little bit.

The two guys were hitching to Florida to be with a daughter home on leave from Iraq over the holidays. Duke, the sunglass wearing dog, was hers...and they were taking him along for the trip. They were very appreciative of the gesture...and thanked me over and over again. Like I said, I intend for this to be the first of a number of gestures I'll make for the holidays....my next mission is to get some toys into the Fort Hood Santa's Workshop for some military kids that might not have much of a Christmas otherwise. I usually buy durable toys/sporting good stuff that will last longer than the time it takes to break the average $50 toy. After that...I don't know where my compassion will be directed. Any suggestions?

See...conservatives enjoy being compassionate too...but we tend to like to do it in our own special way. If we all felt like this....and gave the way I try to do.....I'll be willing to bet that if we were all to give where we thought money was needed most, we could cut the government out of the picture and actually get more money into the hands of those that need it most.

I'd like to challenge you all...to commit some random act of kindness. CAUTION though....MajorDad runs about 5'10" and 200 lbs...has no nonsense oozing from every pore, so probably isn't going to have to take any guff from too many other people. Be careful when you deal with strangers....especially out on the road.

See you all on the high ground!

MajorDad1984