On Dec 11, 2004, at 11:59 AM, Damon Agretto wrote:
Apparently armor-plate manufacturers are currently working at only half capacity. They say they can double output any time the Fed asks them to. (Presumably they are not outsourcing.)
Do you have a cite?
Took some digging. It was initially something I caught on a Phoenix CBS affiliate's newscast.
<http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1210armor10.html>
Excerpt:
'Valley firm disputes Rumsfeld, is ready to supply Army armor
Joseph A. Reaves The Arizona Republic Dec. 10, 2004 12:00 AM
A Valley firm that provides critical armor for military vehicles in Iraq is operating at only half-capacity despite complaints from soldiers who say they are being sent into combat without adequate protection.
"We've been telling the Pentagon for months that we have the capacity to double our production," said former U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon, a consultant for ArmorWorks of Tempe.
"We're ready, and we haven't heard a thing."'
==
There are other stories that can be found; Google provides headlines here:
<http://news.google.com/news?q=add- on+armor+kits&num=30&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&sa=N&tab=nn&oi=newsr>
All Rummy and co have to do is send a team to Iraq, evaluate the different field solutions our troops have come up with, select the best ones, disperse appropriate templates along with several tons of RHA sheet, perhaps .5" thick, and allow the Engineering units go to town.
They don't need to do that, even; there are up-armor kits already available, and not just for humvees. They just need to increase production. Rummy can remain safe behind his armor-plated desk.
Just like they did in WWII, just like they did in Vietnam. Of course I won't go into detail how troops make do without such supplies (the Super Pershing, sent to Europe specifically to kill Tiger tanks, was uparmored using plate scavenged off of dead German Panthers), but the solution is so simple to implement...
Which reinforces my contention that the current administration has not learned from Vietnam.
Which is even more disgusting, since half of them were AROUND when Viet Nam was taking place. How pig-stupid ass-backwards do you have to be to not even recall the lessons of history you've lived through?
-- Warren Ockrassa, Publisher/Editor, nightwares Books http://books.nightwares.com/ Current work in progress "The Seven-Year Mirror" http://www.nightwares.com/books/ockrassa/Flat_Out.pdf
_______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
