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| Home Front: Politix |
| Soldiers talk of bureaucracy on battlefield |
| 2007-08-31 |
| LINCOLN, Neb. — Soldiers in Iraq are encountering a difficult obstacle that doesn’t have anything to do with their enemy: bureaucracy on the battlefield. Two of about 30 members of the Nebraska Army National Guard who met with Sen. Ben Nelson on Monday told him that before striking targets in Iraq, they had to make phone calls to get permission first. “If I see a target out there, I can’t shoot it,” Lt. Col. Martin Apprich, of Papillion, told Nelson. “I have to make a phone call first.” Apprich was commander of a unit that defended a joint Air Force and Army logistics base while in Iraq from March 2006 until June. “We have many ... roadblocks precluding us from what we could’ve done over there,” he said. In one case where Apprich said his unit detected somebody installing what appeared to be an improvised explosive device outside his patrol area, he felt obligated to bypass protocol and sent out soldiers without seeking permission. Another soldier shared similar stories with Nelson, who appeared taken aback. “It doesn’t make any sense,” Nelson said. Later, the senator said he would pass the concerns along to military leaders. Nelson will travel to Iraq next month with Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mt.; Ken Salazar, D-Colo.; and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine. It’s Nelson’s fourth fact-finding mission to the country. While Nelson, a Democrat, doesn’t support a set date for withdrawing troops, he said he supports setting a date for a “transitional mission” that likely would mean fewer troops. About 615 Nebraska Guard members remain in Iraq, 15 in Afghanistan and eight are heading to Kosovo, Army National Guard spokesman Kevin Hynes said late last week. Some soldiers at the meeting Monday said they are concerned that there aren’t adequate support services for troops once they return home. Soldiers who don’t live close to a major base are sometimes left in a lurch as they seek services to segue back in to civilian life, they said. “I’m still not confident we’re getting all the support services our returning veterans deserve,” Col. Tom Schuurmans said. Hynes said problems cited by veterans aren’t keeping people from signing up with the guard, “We’ve got the second or third highest enlistment rate we’ve seen in decades,” Hynes said. And he said 400 of the guard’s 3,600 soldiers have volunteered to go back for second tours. |
| Posted by:Cromert |
| #4 On occasion, you will get a video with an unedited 5-10 minutes section where the pilot waits and waits for the "layers" of *Higher Authority* to give him orders *TO STRIKE* a 10-man-rocket-team! Meanwhile: after 10 minutes has passed, the 10 maned team is now down to 1 rocketeer, the other 9 having left the area on foot in groups of onezs and twozs after they fired off all of their rockets. |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2007-08-31 11:14 |
| #3 It's what I've been saying for quite a while now, that one of the paradoxes of winning is that the ROE has to change. That is, while US military personnel want to intervene, they have to stand down at some point and let the locals take over. And does this get frustrating in a hurry. Being ordered to "call a cop" instead of doing something about it yourself. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-08-31 10:29 |
| #2 Again, more antedotal evidence of the ROE's being overlawyered. What's great about this is that the Senators going to Iraq are all lawyers and will only make matters worse by proposing changes that will require even more fricking lawyers. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2007-08-31 10:25 |
| #1 Hynes said problems cited by veterans aren�t keeping people from signing up with the guard, �We�ve got the second or third highest enlistment rate we�ve seen in decades,� Hynes said. And he said 400 of the guard�s 3,600 soldiers have volunteered to go back for second tours. But...but...but, the MSM insists that morale is low. How can this be? /sarcasm off |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-08-31 07:38 |