The Ft. Irwin National Training Center is regarded as the best facility to prepare troops for what they will confront in Iraq when dealing with IED weapons. At Irwin, soldiers experience simulations and analyze mistakes that might result in loss of life. In the early stages of the Iraq war, Bush’s rush to judgement resulted in few troops receiving such training and this undoubtedly resulted in the death of many soldiers. It is now four years later and three of twenty-two Army brigades in Iraq –15,000 men — have not received IED training at Irwin or other sites offering such training. Even at Irwin, there are no armored vehicles, electronic equipment and other tools used in preventing IED attacks. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Mass, recently visited Camp Shelby which offers IED training. He pulled over a soldier and asked him if was familiar with jammers –signals used to detonate IEDs. The soldier had a confused look on his face and then turned toward the dashboard and asked if the JAMMER designation was what the congressman was inquiring about.
During World War II, America produced a hundred thousand planes, fifty thousand tanks, and ships sliding into the water literally on the hour, but, for some reason in the current Bush war, our fighting men and women lack proper equipment. This is a national scandal. During World War II, Senator Harry Truman conducted extensive investigations about wartime incompetence in furnishing our soldiers with the proper equipment. We need a modern version of the old Truman investigating committee.
