Reply to Boos Heard At GOP Debate After Gay Soldier Asks About 'Don't Ask'

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]
I'm not parroting. I've been in the military for 19 years, so I think I have a better grip on the facts than you do, and it is supported by all evidence.[/quote]

I didn't serve in the military, but I pay attention to the news. I remember that in the early years of the Iraq war soldiers were buying their own body armor and using "hillbilly armor" on humvees.  
[/quote]
Jeff, I thought you'd have thought this through!

If you look at the graphs, it shows clearly the lack of defense spending in the 1990s. Defense spending did not shoot up until after 9/11.  Acquisitions of military technology take time. First, there's following the very lengthy Federal Acquisition Regulations (the FAR). Then there's the time spent on R&D. After R&D, things usually have to go through yet another bidding process. Then there's more blocks to be checked and safety requirements and interoperability requirements that must be tested and met through milestone reviews.  That's keeping it very high level. It is a complete PITA.  The only things the government can procure quickly are things already on the GSA, which is commercial of the shelf, so things like passenger vans and playgrounds and computers and pens.  If something is an urgent operational need, there are ways to short cut it.  But it has to be signed off at very high levels, so to get the requirement from the tactical guys that need the gear to the combatant commander for signature to the people that buy the stuff still takes a lot of time.

Also, at the start of OIF, they approached it like Desert Storm II. The military was unprepared for IEDs and essentially guerilla warfare. That is why troops were willing to shell out money out of pocket to buy any gear they could. The military did not have things developed to counter this, and the acquisition process is slow.  We did ot have a lot of armored vehicles, and the ones that we did have were designed to be hit from the front, not the side. Most vehicles had no armor - they were designed to go over rough terrain and not flip over.

Don't get me wrong - the acquisition process is slow for a reason. It's to protect the taxpayer from buying $400 wrenches and toilet seats. And supposedly to get the right equipment to the troops, although this rarely happens, no matter who is in power.   [/quote]

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