I edited my post. I'm a little frustrated. It was posted as a human interest story and nothing else. We all hate the war in Iraq made on false evidence, and how the soldiers didn't get their body armor and was not properly equipped. The soldiers are there now, though and it isn't up to them to decide whether they stay or go. We could focus on how they are doing, but instead I guess everything will just turn into a bash Bush thread. I would have posted this in the hangout but I figured people would turn it into a D&D thread anyway.
I'm sure it is frustrating but Sam is right (in a way). You really should have expected this to turn into a 'what a screw up to get in Iraq' thread. Even threads on totally different subjects like whether to buy American cars get these responses, so you can't be shocked. Most people like Sam assume you have to have competing positions (debate) and forget you could just have a discussion (the second D in D&D), so they just redirect the thread looking for an argument.
The US Military tried to buy a mat. That's what no one is getting. It's not like the sergeant who was treated so badly is buying it out of his own money. George W Bush (follow the chain of command way, way up) was trying to buy these soldiers a mat to sleep on with my money and your money.
amusing coming from you. this email highlights that this administration sent our boys into war without proper gear. without mattresses to sleep on. without headgear. without properly equipped vehicles. rummy fought with the army he had not the army he wish he had. this article is systemic of the problems of this administration. the fact that we have a jackass who might be of muslim descent is certainly not the greatest thing in the world but is nothing compared to the criminal actions of this administration.
why would you even post the article though? Some peon being an idiot and being rude to a soldier? You don't even know if the guy answering the email was an American! Why is this newsworthy? There's a million idiots in this country, and a billion in the world.
Thanks for talking sense into the Einstein's around here. Please people. A soldier gets a requisition order APPROVED from the higher ups... he/she then orders the MOST for the LEAST amount of money. Just like you would if you know how to budget and make a dollar stretch. NO WHERE in the article does it indicate that soldiers are "doing without bedding." Get over yourselves, please... Every story about the troops with video of their living quarters show bunk beds with mattresses for crying out loud... This is about troops. literally, out in the field... AWAY from camp or base. Duh.
Really? I don't remember regularly derailing threads with rants about Iraq. I don't think it said anything about headgear or vehicles, so I don't know where that came from - and I don't think matresses are 'proper gear' for most armies. The article of systemic? That doesn't make any sense. Not even sure what this means. This isn't the New York Times, it's a bbs. "Here, look at this situation where someone went off inappropriately on a soldier." There isn't anything wrong with posting that and it actually shows that some people DO take their opinions out on soldiers.
Too bad that guy wasn't from Houston. Mattress Mac probably would have given them all the mats they wanted for free...
hotballa, I am not sure what the problem is. We should be mad that someone treated soldiers like that. I think everyone was. But we aren't allowed to be mad that the troops were ill-prepared to begin with and left to try and buy mats from a place in Wisconsin with a rude employee. If we are really supporting our troops, aren't we allowed to be upset that the troops didn't have sufficient bedding from the beginning?
Have you ever ran a project in your life? Or supported one? Did you ever have everything you needed to support the project laid out before you got started? If so, I want to hire you. I don't care what you do, you are a perfect project manager. If not, you should understand. And the Iraq War is a lot more complicated than any project you've ever done.
I guess it's a matter of seeing what you want to see. I don't know why he was ordering the mats himself and not getting them through army supply. Maybe they changed the ordering procedure and decided to stop purchasing $30 toothpaste and decided to let supply officers order direct from civilians. Point is, that wasn't even a focus for me. I thought it would make a good human interest story to show how narrowminded some people are when it comes to our troops.
so you're not sure are you saying america's military don't have a purchasing department or a preferred list of vendors? doesn't stuff like this require bidding?
I agree with you the employee at the Wisconsin store was narrow-minded, rude, and ignorant. The point is that it doesn't matter if the policy is to let the supply officers order from civilians. The point is that the unfortunate soldiers didn't have what they needed when they left in the first place.
