If you want to help here is a way

[LaVitaBella]

http://www.operation-helmet.org/
Spread the word.

[Nyteshade]

Odd how they claim the Marine helmets are old. They started issuing new helmets when we went over.

[Zeonfiend]

They're still catching up with the ACH. There are divisions that are behind on issue.

[junglist bastid]

signing up / donating now.

[kalamu]

just curious, and this isn't an attack or anything i am honestly just curious but why isn't the government paying for these things?

i remember reading reports years ago about how the soldiers didn't have armor and parents were buying it on ebay and sending it over and all this stuff. is it really that bad? i think our govt should be equipping soldiers properly if they are going to ship them off.

[Nyteshade]

Apparently the military-industrial complex is keeping all those billions and not sending the merchandise.

[kalamu]

Originally Posted by Nyteshade

Apparently the military-industrial complex is keeping all those billions and not sending the merchandise.

lol. this issue wasn't addressed in Why We Fight. i'm serious though. when you were in the military, were you ill-equipped to do your job?

[Nyteshade]

We were fine for the most part. The Marine Corps has been focusing on personal gear quite a bit over the past 5 years. We've gotten during my time:

cammies
packs (twice now)
flak jackets
helmets
load bearing vests
sleeping bags
fleece sweater to go under our cammie blouse
the list could go on and on but to shorten it, we have basically had all of the gear that is either worn or carried in the field replaced with newer and MUCH lighter things.


The main disadvantage was the fact that our radar systems were built with the pinnacle of 1960s technology and getting replacement parts were pretty difficult.

[Dionysos]

I have to chuckle at the thought of Marines wearing blouses.


:ducks:

[Zeonfiend]

The '90s also burned a lot of the military budget (whatever Clinton left us) in maintaining the heavier and more costly pieces of equipment, to the detriment of the soldiers' personal gear. These things happen from time to time in standing armies.

[LaVitaBella]

USMC for the most part is hooked up when it comes to ppe. it is the USA and USAF (ground forces) that have shit for ppe. We have it way better than the USA does though.

[Zeonfiend]

Originally Posted by Edwin Watson

i would take issue with this assessment, since it was during the Clinton era that the military began its transition to "Lighter, Faster" rather than the divisional cold war mentality that had existed previously.

Ahh, but the "lighter, faster" mentality didn't come into being until post- Desert Storm, and none of the high-speed, whiz-bang stuff that's been kicked into the MTOE over the last six years even existed as anything more than drawing board material. The equipment that had been in existence since the Cold War era was still the equipment being fielded throughout the '90s, and it required just as much maintenance then as it did in the '80s, and it was going to take the bulk of a decade to re-transition away from the heavy combat MTOE to the lighter mech/high mobility MTOE that we see today; anything between the two was going to be using heavy armor/mechanzied, and that meant keeping up with what we had. When Clinton began slashing the military's budget, was there any wonder why it was the Army opted to cut personnel instead of equipment? OTVs take the back seat when you still have to maintain M1A1 tanks on half the operational budget your brigade used to have just two years prior. All the "moving to the lighter, faster Army" shit was just talk throughout the Clinton era; it's only now that it's becoming a reality.

[kalamu]

thanks for the answers. that is definitely something i wouldn't support my President doing, skimping on gear for the military is definitely not a good thing.

i could look it up but if someone wants to tell me they can... what Presidents have lowered budgets for gear? Edwin, are you saying that Clinton did that or just that he budgeted for new, lighter gear that wasn't as good?

[Zeonfiend]

Originally Posted by kalamu

i could look it up but if someone wants to tell me they can... what Presidents have lowered budgets for gear? Edwin, are you saying that Clinton did that or just that he budgeted for new, lighter gear that wasn't as good?

I'm actually committing a bit of slander here. The President doesn't set the budget for the military, Congress does; however, the President signs the final approving authority for whatever Congress gives him, and Clinton didn't exactly put up a fight, so I blame him too.

Congress chopped and chopped at the budget throughout the '90s, and their cuts to what the Army in particular had been enjoying for over a decade under Reagan and Bush v.1.0 as their operational money were very deep and very. . .profound. It was the Army that decided where the money that was left was to go, and that was into the vehicles that needed to be kept at full mission capability, not personal equipment issue. So come Bush v.20 and the Gulf War redux, the Army was pretty bad off when it came to stuff like OTVs, and what the soldiers were wearing (except the damn berets, of course) on a day to day basis was almost identical to what they'd been wearing throughout the '80s.