Here's an article currently hot on the news.

 This is to all those who tell us how wonderful the military is
 doing under Rumsfeld's Iraq policies.

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 Top Army Reserve Official Says His Force Is In Trouble

 In an internal memo first obtained by the Baltimore Sun, the
 Army Reserve’s most senior officer, Lt. Gen. James Helmly,
 says the force is so hampered that it is "rapidly degenerating
 into a 'broken' force."

 Helmly writes in the memo addressed to Army Chief of Staff Gen.
 Pete Schoomaker that the Reserve has reached the point of being
 unable to fulfill its missions or regenerate its forces for
 future assignments.

 The Army Reserve has about 200,000 soldiers, nearly 52,000 of
 whom are on active duty in the war on terrorism, mainly in Iraq.

 About 50 have died there.

 Two officials who saw the original memo confirmed its contents
 to The Associated Press.

 In read in part, according to AP reports: "The purpose of this
 memorandum is to inform you of the Army Reserve's inability
 under current policies, procedures and practices ... to meet
 mission requirements associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom and
 Enduring Freedom."

 "The Army Reserve is additionally in grave danger of being
 unable to meet other operational requirements," including those
 in classified contingency plans for other potential wars or
 national emergencies, "and is rapidly degenerating into a
 'broken' force.”

 Helmly's memo is the type that rarely becomes public, although
 some private defense analysts and members of Congress have
 openly raised similar questions.


 Find this article at:
 http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/1327181.html

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BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Soldiers in Iraq don't get to say, "Turn this baby around and go home."
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