[ OUR OPINION ]

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Soldiers deserve adequate
equipment and training

THE ISSUE Relatives of Hawaii Army National Guard soldiers to be deployed in Iraq say they are not receiving adequate training or equipment.

MORALE problems among U.S. troops in Iraq caused by equipment shortages have extended to bases where Hawaii Army National Guard soldiers are being trained for deployment in Iraq. As Rep. Ed Case began making inquiries into complaints about inadequate training and supplies, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld testily responded to a soldier's plea for more armor in Iraq by saying, "You go to war with the Army you have." That is no excuse for failing to provide the Army with necessary equipment and training almost two years after fighting began.

The problem gained public attention in October when 23 Army Reserve soldiers under the command of the 13th Corps Support Command, or Coscom, refused to deliver fuel to a base in Iraq. The soldiers complained that they were not being escorted by armed vehicles, that their fuel was contaminated and that their vehicles were not properly outfitted. They are receiving nonjudicial punishments, which could include reduction in rank, loss of pay and restricted movements, for disobeying an order.

A soldier assigned to that unit told the Christian Science Monitor that the 2 1/2-month predeployment training had focused on testing fuel and related functions instead of combat tasks. Likewise, many Hawaii citizen soldiers assigned to the 29th Infantry Brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas, haven't fired their .50-caliber and M240 machine guns because there is no ammunition, according to the wife of a Big Island guardsman.

"Even if they could fire the machine guns," she told the Star-Bulletin's Gregg K. Kakesako, "there are no mounts on the vehicles for them."

Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, who heads the Hawaii National Guard, says Brig. Gen. Joseph Chaves, the 29th Brigade commander, has tried at Fort Bliss to replicate conditions in Iraq. True enough, the soldier interviewed by the Monitor said none of his unit's tractor trailers, tankers and Humvees had armor or mounted guns when it was deployed to Iraq a year ago. In October, 20 percent of Coscom's 4,000 trucks were not fitted with custom steel armor plating.

Army Spc. Thomas Wilson of the 278th Regimental Combat Team, comprised mostly of soldiers from the Tennessee Army National Guard, asked Rumsfeld, "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to uparmor our vehicles?" Before Rumsfeld's dismissive response, the question produced a resounding cheer of confirmation from the 2,300 soldiers assembled in the Kuwait hangar to hear the secretary's pep talk.

Congressman Case has asked Lee to respond to complaints that Guard soldiers at Fort Bliss lack cold weather gear, live ammo for target practice and mission-specific training, such as training of maintenance units for upkeep of vehicles in a desert environment. Several soldiers have contacted the Star-Bulletin recently with similar complaints. It is long past time these problems were corrected; lives depend on it.