Well, Duh!

For want of a nail, a kingdom was lost.

Exactly why did they need a study to prove the armor wasn't working? The Iraqi snipers figured it out quick enough. Did someone stateside miss the cartoon on death and dimemberment?

THREE years into this stupid war and our troops still don't have armor on either their transport vehicles or themselves. What they do have is a slew of excuses. It has been a year since Spc. Thomas Wilson was informed that you go to war with the army you have, not the army you want. Have we outsourced so many technical and manufacturing jobs that we can no longer produce equipment for our military within our own borders?

Pentagon Study Links Fatalities to Body Armor - New York Times: "A secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor. Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials."

Oh, what do they know? You can't take care of every contingency.

The ceramic plates in vests now worn by the majority of troops in Iraq cover only some of the chest and back. In at least 74 of the 93 fatal wounds that were analyzed in the Pentagon study of marines from March 2003 through June 2005, bullets and shrapnel struck the marines' shoulders, sides or areas of the torso where the plates do not reach.

Thirty-one of the deadly wounds struck the chest or back so close to the plates that simply enlarging the existing shields "would have had the potential to alter the fatal outcome," according to the study, which was obtained by The New York Times.

Heckuva a job, who came up with that brilliant design? And here is another shining concept.

For the first time, the study by the military's medical examiner shows the cost in lives from inadequate armor, even as the Pentagon continues to publicly defend its protection of the troops. snipThe vulnerability of the military's body armor has been known since the start of the war, and is part of a series of problems that have surrounded the protection of American troops. Still, the Marine Corps did not begin buying additional plates to cover the sides of their troops until September, when it ordered 28,800 sets, Marine officials acknowledge.

The Army, which has the largest force in Iraq, is still deciding what to purchase, according to Army procurement officials. They said the Army was deciding among various sizes of plates to give its 130,000 soldiers, adding that they hoped to issue contracts this month.

Better late than never? Kinda, sorta, maybe?

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is still relying on another small factory in Ohio to armor all of the military's principal transport trucks, the Humvee, and it remains backlogged with orders. The factory, owned by Armor Holdings, increased production in December after reports in The Times about delays drew criticism from Congress. But the Marine Corps said it was still waiting for about 2,000 of these vehicles to replace other Humvees in Iraq that are more lightly armored, and did not expect final delivery until June.

An initiative begun by the Pentagon nearly two years ago to speed up production by having additional companies armor new Humvees remains incomplete, Army officials said.

Nothing like supporting the troops, Republican style. All money, no tangible results. I can't even go through the rest of the article I'm so irritated.

Obviously no members of their family are in or are going to Iraq anytime soon.

Tags: Iraq, marines, armor, Rumsfeld, Pentagon, Army, ceramic plates, Humvees