more on how bush "supports" the military!

Dad picks up $600 tab for son's Iraq body armor

Marine Pfc. Jeremy Tod, 19, called home with news that his superiors were urging him and fellow Marines to buy special military equipment, including flak jackets with armor plating, to enhance the prospects of their survival. The message was that such purchases were to be made by Marines with their own money.

"He said they strongly suggested he get this equipment because when they get to Iraq they will wish they had," Tod said. Total estimated cost: $600.

Tod said his son's call about two weeks ago from the Marine Corps Air Station-Yuma was a sobering reminder that the military is not prepared to equip Pfc. Tod and fellow Marines with the best equipment.

Besides the essential flak jacket with steel "trauma" plates, the shopping list for the 5-foot-5 155-pound Marine included a Camelbak (water pouch) special ballistic goggles, knee and elbow pads, a "drop pouch" to hold ammunition magazines and a
load-bearing vest.

Tod, 45, is picking up the tab for a son who blew most of his savings on a new pickup truck. And dad says he is tempted to forward the bill to the Pentagon. "Or maybe I can write it off in taxes," he said with a grin.

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Americablog comments:

US Military telling recruits to have their parents buy them armor

What's next, a bake sale?

Good God, what has George Bush done to our military? And you, the 70% of US soldiers who reportedly voted for Bush in 2004, do you military folks out there realize that the ONLY candidate and the ONLY media and the ONLY grassroots talking about the body armor problem in Iraq were LIBERALS? FOX News wasn't on Bush's case for not giving you the armor you needed. But Dan Rather was. Candidate Bush said you had all the body armor you needed. Candidate Kerry said that was a lie.

I'm serious about this. The GOP has screwed our military and put our troops at risk, while denying the problem from day one. It's now gotten so bad that they need to have these kids' parents buy the armor themselves, like these are their school supplies (I wonder if they make those cool yellow raincoats in kevlar?)