RE: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,164410,00.html

RE: http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,164410,00.html

Considering that we can't even get ACH's or new IBA's because "you have to get deployed to get those". Well, some of us aren't scheduled to go for another year or so and meanwhile I'm stuck with gear thats 15-20 years old and worn out. It wouldn't be too bad, but I'm on ADSW and in the field every day. I WANT NEW GEAR!!

I have to take that article with a grain a salt. Expecially the statements made by McCaffery. I do agree with Ketchum though, his statements in the article ring more true than those of the nay-sayers.

Thanks again George Dubba!

This is a really good subject cause I've seen both sides, in the reserves we got equipment as new as the active duty got, and then I join the guard and boy did I get a wake up call where you lie,cheat and and everything else to get even the new MRE's. The only time we ever seen new equipment is for deployments. So I can see shortages when your haveing to take your own equipment over seas.

This is news? The Guard/Reserves didn't have the proper equipment during Desert Storm! When my unit got activated, we had M-151-A2 jeeps for christ sakes! And all of our other equipment was at least 30 years old! It's been that way for the Guard/Reserves for eons, and they're just now making it an issue?! Sounds like the Boy Scouts are more prepared than todays Reserves!!
"SAPPERS BREECH HELL"

Similar stories have been published time and time again in the last few years.

Then what are you getting at? Why did you post this?

What are you talking about?

Nothing new here guys. This happened throughout the cold war and pre-post World War II.

The military is one of the few government entities that scales based on the threat.

If every service member thinks they are going to get the latest and greatest (especially reservists) they are prepping for disappointment.

quote:

Originally posted by 6145060:
Thanks again George Dubba!

It's not like the Guard was fat, dumb and happy under Clinton, Bush 1, Reagan, Carter, etc., etc.

History always in our Army repeats itself generatiopn after generation!
In WWI the doughboys of Harry Trumans day barely had uniforms to wear when their Guard units were called.
In WWII we sent poorly equiped Guard units to the Phillipeans in time for Battan.
In Korea we recalled whole Divisions of the Guard with the best of WWII equipment and food.
In Vietnam the politics did not permit mass commitment of Guard units except for the Air Guard who flew the wings off what we had available.
Now comes the latest...and is anyone really surprised when all we expected for years was the Guard to act as fillers to the active units. To conduct 48 drill periods and 2 weeks active duty with the minimal training areas, minumal ammo and equipment. Lead by a generation of Vietnam vets who wanted to make sure a few grunts new a few tricks in staying alive.
Naa I am not surprised the Guard is short of everything! Hell it is a tradition!

I know,...but they did not send us into a war to amke up for their DADDYS failure when he was president,..Big George should have done this in 1990, and 911 would not have happened,...ask Ollie North,...Semper Fi!!!!

I do not care for the Bush's.

Yep nothin' new. If you get a chance to read the book "A Very Long Weekend" you'll see that history is just repeating itself. The contrast is starker now with the two uniform changes in the last 5 years. The Army makes sure everyone going in theater is well equipped but after years of 2nd and 3rd rate equipment you have to cram all the new technology in a very short time. The Guard is training with equipment and some outdated tactics it will never use in combat.

My memory of the reserves (Before I gave up in disgust (1974)) was that equipment was scrapped (by directive) to avoid support costs. Never mind that the equipment was needed to maintain some minimal level of readiness.

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,164410,00.html[/QUOTE]

quote:

Originally posted by SheepdogA39:
some outdated tactics it will never use in combat.

What do outdated tactics have to do with money?

I'll have to go with Rumsfeld on this one:"You fight a war with the Army you have not the Army you might want or wish to have ..."

we all do our part...

quote:

McCaffrey, a Vietnam and Desert Storm veteran who also was head of U.S. Southern Command, argued that the Guard's primary mission must be to respond to domestic crises.

Ergo, Governor's of each state have been granted millions of dollars from DHS to modernize and expand their response capabilities. Some states have been unable to spend their money in a timely fashion. Seems to me that some state NG units have been neglected in obtaining DHS funding and supplemental state funding.

Once you get deployed to Iraq or AFGN, is it true for the rest of the States Guard Units, that you have to leave your vehicles In-Country ?
The military procurement system for equipment, vehicles and materiel has ALWAYS been focused on the Active Army, then the Reserves and finally the National Guard.
Blaming the individual states Adjutant General or the Governor for negligence in procurement of Mission Essential MTOE is ignoring the order of precedence the DoD uses.

This is news? The National Guard has suffered from shortages since its inception...

quote:

Thanks again George Dubba!

I take it by this thought provoking statement of yours, that you blame George Bush for ALL the evils in the world...INCLUDING, it would seem, the perpetual equipment shortage in the Guard and Reserves? GWB must've dreamed up Saddam, must've concocted bin Laden, must've just imagined 9/11.

Same thing I said above applies to this ridiculous statement. The president didn't make this problem...it's been around as long as the National Guard's been the National Guard.

Grow up. War is hell, I believe someone of some merit once said It's not cheap, it's not pretty, and no one WANTS to see our soldiers come home in body bags. If Clinton hadn't been such a sissy the FIRST time bin Laden showed his true colors, we wouldn't be where we are now.

~LT