A talk show had troop's mother call with disturbing report...

"...mother of one of our troops in Iraq called my show. She then told me that her son ... called her from Iraq with a very bad cold and fever. He had been up for 50 hours and told her the military didn't... have the right clothing for them. He needed Mom to go to the Army-Navy Store and send what amounted to $250 worth of military winter clothing to him."


http://www.newswithviews.com/Roth/laurie1.htm

Perhaps they forget to order bullets as well.

Accd to DH's uncle, they didn't have enough bullets to arm everyone in Vietnam.

This is *not* an issue of money. This is an issue of lining big corporations pockets, but not willing to even think of the "little guys." Makes me ill and has been happening the WHOLE time!

Even in the summertime one of the things families sent the soldiers was tshirts and socks.

I can't imagine what it is like with winter approaching. :(

Well, frankly, you know it's pretty damn bad when the *Army* is trying to get Halliburton removed as their contractor for certain supplies and services because of "overpricing".

The Army. That pays $50 for a wingnut and other outrageous overpriced garbage.

The troops don't have adequate water or food either, by all accounts. Of course, neither do many Iraqi civilians. Geez, you'd think that we'd fix the water supply ect. so that OUR people could use it too.

This whole situation makes me ill.

What the hell were we supposed to be solving when we went in there again? Gee, what with all this increase in terrorism and barbaric behavior, I forgot!

Ok.. I am not sure about in combat situations and the Army, but DH (who is Navy) is required to supply his own uniforms. It doesn't matter whether he is shore duty or sea duty. He gets a uniform allowance and uses it to buy books, uniforms etc. I think he gets $250 twice a year, maybe every quarter.

When he goes underway he is expected to have a proper seabag with all his dress uniforms, jackets, etc. ready to go. We have to sew on the patches ourselves, buy everything ourselves, iron it all ourselves. We had to spend $80 on a peacoat he has never worn since he joined but it has to be in his seabag.

We have been stationed overseas for two tours now (six years all together) and the uniform shops often run out of things. Heck, the commissary often runs out of things. This is common. We live overseas in remote duty stations and we expect this. I imagine in Iraq the situation is worse and with winter approaching and everyone snapping up warmer uniforms, they are running out of basic stuff. This happens here too. Sometimes we have called DH's mom to pick some uniform stuff up and express it out here if we needed it fast.

I am not saying I think the soldiers have it easy out there. I am just trying to say it isn't uncommon for any postings overseas to have to call home and ask for some help.

we're army. enlisted soldiers get a clothing allowance of $300 a year. at least up until this fiscal that's how it was, it may have changed.
some stuff we had to buy -- the regular dress uniforms and the battle dress uniforms, boots, shoes, etc. but a whole other set of uniforms was issued to our battalion because of their area of interest -- the middle east. they all got issued the desert combat uniforms. when they leave this unit, they have to turn in every piece or be charged for it.
DCUs are not standard issue, and i believe this is the uniform being worn in iraq, so the army SHOULD have ponied up on that outerwear. the t-shirts and thermals can be bought in any PX, and they are probably required to bring their own.