Silly String Finally On Its Way to Iraq (seriously...)

Source: WCBS



Read more: http://www.wcbs880.com/Silly-String-Finally-On-Its-Way-to-Iraq/1091112

---

I suppose it's cheaper than actually reinforcing the Humvees...

Reinforcing the Humvees and finding new ways to detect IEDs are not mutually exclusive, after all.
Being opposed to the war doesn't mean we need to be cynical about the situation our troops find themselves in. One of my colleagues at work has a son in Iraq. If this helps him come back alive I am all for it.

...merely the circumstances that require it.

any help they can get.

when we actually did house to house searches and stuff. Now we rely on both Sunni and Shiite intelligence to conduct raids and we left the Iraqis enter first (tripping any trip wires). Anyway, it was a good idea and when we were doing house to house searches for people... it was an important tool to have. Not so much now. Still... it won't hurt, maybe as we leave (I hope) in a few months, we can leave them behind for the Iraqi children to play with.

I heard about this years ago.

...but as usual, that doesn't mean that the troops have received the items or armor they need (no matter how trivial it sounds - the silly string has saved countless lives and limbs by detecting trip wires). Does anyone have the cumulative dollar figures appropriated for the MRAP Vehicles (and the additional funds approved to ship them to Iraq) versus the number of MRAP Vehicles that have actually arrived in Iraq and physically received by our troops still stuck over there?

(They don't actually know how much the "New and Improved" version the Army wants will cost, but the old ones are about $1 Million Dollars each.)

Army wants 10,000 new armored vehicles

By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Army has decided to ask for 10,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicles to counter the threat of makeshift bombs in Iraq, according to one of the program's top congressional supporters.

The new request is nearly four times the 2,700 vehicles, known as MRAPs, that the Army had sought. That's still not enough, said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., who was briefed on the change by the Defense Department. Biden cited a request this year for 17,770 of the vehicles for the Army by Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the No. 2 military commander in Iraq....

(edit)

...Requests for more MRAPs may not matter, because manufacturers don't have the capacity to make them fast enough, said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House subcommittee that writes the Pentagon budget. John Young, chairman of the Defense Department's MRAP Task Force, has said the Pentagon hopes to build 1,300 a month by December.

Army and Pentagon officials declined Tuesday to comment on the new MRAP request. So far, the Pentagon has ordered 6,500 MRAPs, valued at about $5 billion. The cost of the Army's new vehicles is unknown, because the newest MRAPs will cost more than the current $1 million each. They will be required to have extra protection against deadly armor-piercing weapons known as explosively formed penetrators....

(more at link) <http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2007-09-18-mrap_N.htm>

Actually, I'm pissed about how the media jumped on and reported the hilarious way the GI's countered the early IED's using simple Radio Shack type remote control toy joy sticks!
WTF !

oh, it was funny until word got back to "the bomb makers" they needed to modify their tactics after reading the 'field reports'.

thanks MSM for reporting the # of KIA's directly responsible for putting out such "Breaking news" items.


they never understood the 'loose lips' analogy when deadlines were to be made.
stupid phux

/screed

get the fuck out of Iraq....

close your eyes and pretend its a bad dream and never happened

Some local group was creating care packages and looking for silly string donations to put in the packages.

WTF?

If that stuff helps the troops detect booby traps when entering buildings, why wasn't it provided immediately?

I know, dumb question.

The Pentagon could buy Silly String in bulk from the manufacturer and ship it in military transports. Instead, according to the linked article, we see people donating cans at their churches. We see the coordinator of the effort holding thousands of cans that she has trouble getting to Iraq, because the military won't even transport it for her.

If only Halliburton made Silly String, things would be different.

since they can't seem to get anything wholesale.

.

That's just what "the terrrorrists" would expect them to do!:banghead: :eyes: