Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

British soldier dies in Iraq due to MOD bureaucracy.

admiraladz

11:49 / 20.01.04

The investigation is still continuing, but it appears Sergeant Roberts had handed over the ceramic plate from inside his flak jacket to a colleague who was felt to be in greater need of it, because there were not enough to go round.

Some facts at Times online

I don't know what you all think, but the idea of sending our troops into foreign lands to do our dirty work is in my opinion bad enough. BUT expecting them to do this under these circumstances is more than irresponsible... it's downright criminal!

admiraladz

11:54 / 20.01.04

sorry about the double post (frikkin' firewall!) - don't know how to delete the other one tho !

sleazenation

12:50 / 20.01.04

This story has been rumbling on for a while now - yesterday UK Defence Secutary Geoff Hoon visited Sgt Roberts Widow - she apparently told him to consider his position

This comes on top of speculation that Hoon will likely be the fall guy when the Hutton report is published.

But stories of poor equipment are not new - this report from last year reveals that some soldiers have been without basic equipment such as boots. Reportedly British troops have become known as the borrowers because their continual need to borrow things from their better equiped collegues in the US army.

Cailín

16:08 / 20.01.04

Hell, not all of the Americans are appropriately equipped. Excerpt taken from a letter posted on michaelmoore.com about a conversation the writer (a Navy veteran) had with a young man about to leave for Iraq:

'What disturbed me most was when I asked him what weapons he carried as a truck driver. He told me the new M-16, model blah blah blah, stuff never made sense to me even when I was in. I asked him what kind of side arm they gave him and his fellow drivers. He explained, "Sir, Reservists are not issued side arms or flack vests as there was not enough money to outfit all the Reservists, only Active Personnel". I was appalled to say the least.'

w1rebaby

00:23 / 21.01.04

I read somewhere that some US troops have started using AKs instead of their M16s, not just because they reckon it's a better weapon for street fighting and better in the environment, but because there's ammunition around for it - they don't have a sufficient supply of 5.56mm rounds.

It does seem a bit odd to be complaining about the status of the occupiers, but there's a point to be made here - the people who ordered them in really don't give a shit about anyone there. They're not out to protect us, "our boys" or anyone else.

Lionheart

17:53 / 26.02.04

Actually, I want to elaborate a bit on the biggest difference between an ak and an m-16. AKs fire 7.62 rounds while m-16s fire 5.56mm rounds. So the AK is not only a better gun for desert battle but it's also more powerful. M-16s are used for varmint hunting. They are used to hunt squirrels and coyotes. Some guy, in some gun mag, wrote how he put 5 shots into a coyote from an m-16 and it still had the energy to walk for a few hundred yards before it collapsed. So for military purposes the m-16 is a very, very weak gun which tends to jam a lot and stuff.

Oh, and I'm still wondering how the Pentagon "misplaced" one trillion dollars.

w1rebaby

17:08 / 27.02.04

Well, the AK has significantly higher muzzle energy and is supposed to have better stopping power, but 5.56x45mm is powerful enough, certainly up to a couple of hundred yards. The coyote thing just illustrates that you can shoot creatures a lot of times and unless you hit a vital area, they'll keep going for longer than you expect.

The jamming thing is more significant though I understand later models are a bit better.

Add Your Reply