The Army We Have

Secretary Rumsfeld took a lot of heat for saying we go to war with the army we have not the army we want. It was his bad luck to voice this historical truism in front of a group of soldiers in Iraq; usually our leaders are a bit more circumspect about stating the obvious, especially to those in the trenches. It’s just not good for morale.

Those drawings of Revolutionary War soldiers in tatters aren’t exaggeration. Remember Valley Forge? There were draft riots during the Civil War. Even in World War II, considered a “good war,” there was resentment against the government extending terms of duty. The code for this was “OHIO” (over the hill in October).

We do tend to expect things to get better as time goes by, and certainly we expect that our loved ones will be well equipped before they are shipped off to a foreign land. I have a passing knowledge of this, and a more than passing knowledge of the broader effects of war on the family. Of the men in my immediate birth family, two were career soldiers and another served six years. My father was a platoon sergeant in Nam the year I was in first grade. Every time a Bob Hope USO show was televised my mother would tell me that it was unlikely it was taking place near where my father was stationed and that even if he was in the audience I wouldn’t be able to see him. Yet unfailingly I would be glued to the set and then cry when there was no sign of my dad anywhere in the sea of faces as the cameras panned by. My parents’ marriage broke up a year after my father’s return.

I think of that every time I drive up my street, past the house of a neighbor whose husband has been away for a year and isn’t expected to return until late spring, of then. Her young children have been without a father for long enough. I think of it when I pull into my driveway. Two houses down a family waits for news of their son who is currently in training and expects to be sent to Iraq this spring or summer.

We ask a lot of our men and women in uniform. I don’t remember my father or other family members talking about a lack of basic supplies while in the Army, but maybe they did and I don’t remember, maybe there was a lack and they just didn’t talk about it. One of Mr. Jane’s nephews served in Iraq at the beginning of the war. He said they only had two meals a day to eat and he took his own body army. Nor is this an isolated story, as the question about the lack of adequate vehicle armoring that Secretary Rumsfeld was asked demonstrates. Were that not enough, consider this item from the November 2004 issue of National Geographic:

“When Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Jerome Boganowski was sent to Iraq with his reserve unit, he decided to take along our October 2002 Middle East supplement map. It came in handy. His job in Iraq was directing convoys to military bases, but he had no maps along to guide him. “Several times,” he said, “we didn’t know where we were.” Jerome logged 3,000 miles on the road during three months in the desert, navigating with a GPS unit from home and his National Geographic map. “

Does this mean he was sent to Iraq and asked to direct convoys but never even given a map? Thank goodness he was the sort of man who kept National Geographic maps around. Our soldiers rise to the occasion. The boy two doors down didn’t do such a great job on our lawn a couple of years ago when my husband’s foot was broken and we asked him to mow. Yet, I am sure that he will be a fine addition to the troops.

A good friend of mine sent me a truly thoughtful Christmas gift, a copy of a chapter, “Making Citizens into Soldiers by Harold G. Moore, in the book Defining a Nation, edited by David Halberstam. There are several pages praising NCOs (noncommissioned officers, drill sergeants and the like). She knew my father fit this category and thought I would enjoy reading it. Moore discusses the valor American soldiers demonstrate in combat, and cites the example of Steelton, PA, native Bill Beck in a Nam firefight. Consider this statement Moore makes:

“It strikes me that the American military culture is an unusual hybrid of a highly individualistic culture blended with the traditional needs of discipline and order that the military requires. Thus the American soldier obeys orders when he needs to and thinks for himself when he needs to. There’s just the right amount of elasticity in the way we do it, and a surprising number of our greatest acts of courage – for which our highest medals are given – are driven by rare acts of individualism, of soldiers thinking for themselves.” (p. 97)

Our elected officials have been very evasive about the issues of troop readiness and supplies. I happened to see Sen. Specter address a group this past spring. He was asked about the lack of equipment for troops and said he thought it had been taken care of. I don’t think so, Senator. And, by the way, the old story about going to Washington to get your father’s World War I pension does not play well with the under 50 crowd, who consider WWI ancient history. Specter topped it off by saying that he still hadn’t secured the pension so he wanted another term in office. Surely there are better reasons to ask for a vote, like making sure the man down the street comes home to his family, and taking good care of the boy two houses down, that I still half expect to see skateboarding down the street. We ask a lot of the men and women in uniform and we owe them, at the very least, the basics in equipment and supplies.