No cushy ride for supply troops in Iraq

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=18215

Supply missions. No sweat, right? Piece of cake.

Load stuff on trucks. Haul it to the soldiers who do the real fighting, the “killers.” Then back to life in the cushy rear.

So why is 1st Lt. Greg Hotaling, supply platoon leader, telling his troops prior to a mission, “Be ready to fight”? Why is he reminding them to line their vehicles with sandbags and to respond to any attack with “overwhelming firepower”?

“Route 1,” he tells his soldiers, “is an ugly place. Nobody likes us on Route 1.”

Forget what you think you know about supply guys. Down here, there may be few more dangerous missions than driving supply routes, taking hot chow and cold ice, bullets and bedding to far-flung outposts in vehicles described as “thin skinned.”

I thought supply was subcontracted to Kellog Brown and Root? Guess they cashed the check and got the hell out of the hot zone.

Poor bastards. Hell of a way to pay for college.