NEWS \o7item:
WASHINGTON -- Under pressure from Congress, the Pentagon on Wednesday issued overdue regulations for reimbursing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for body armor and other gear they bought to protect themselves. The program, effective immediately, allows reimbursement for helmets, ballistic eye protection, hydration systems and tactical vests, including body armor inserts to protect areas such as the throat and groin.
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I'm sure that electrifying flash of generosity has our warriors dancing in the streets of Baghdad and Kabul. Well, maybe not dancing but filled with a sense of well-being, which they no doubt discuss during quiet conversations with one another when they are not busy trying to stay alive.
Buying your own combat implements is not like running down to the 7-Eleven for a six-pack of Bud. Helmets, for instance, run as high as $545 on one military website, although a lightweight version, normally $375, is on sale for $335 if you act fast.
Body armor is even more costly, with a full-body blast suit going for about $9,000. But for those unable to afford serious protection, a set of dog tags can be purchased for a mere $10, to assure that otherwise disconnected human remains are properly identified. Silver chains are included.
You were probably under the impression that our men and women overseas were issued as much protection as possible in their effort to save the Middle East, and its oil, from exploitation and destruction by the forces of evil that President George Bush identified in his speech the other night.
But apparently that isn't so. Even under the Pentagon's new policy of generosity, the cost of each item intended to keep a soldier or Marine alive cannot exceed $1,100, and the items become government property once their use is no longer required. That is unless they're, you know, destroyed or somehow no longer usable.
The directive follows a perk added two years ago when the House of Representatives approved a bill allowing free meals for hospitalized troops wounded in combat. It not only eliminated the $8.10 a day they were paying for their hospital food, but also doubled survivor benefits to $12,000, tax free, should they die.
All of this, of course, is an effort to stimulate enlistments by making the war in Iraq seem somehow safer, and perhaps even desirable. Weapons of various kinds and their ammunition are, as I understand it, free, as are the bombs and missiles we drop enthusiastically on whoever happens to be in the way.
