US troops in private contractor vehicles
To:
Sen. Mike DeWine
Sen. George Voinovich
January 23, 2005
To whom it may concern,
It has recently come to my attention that the lives of U.S. troops in Iraq are being needlessly put in jeopardy because they are being forced to ride with untrained private contractors on various missions. For the most part U.S. troops are being forced to ride with Kellog, Brown and Root drivers of which none have had military training on defensive driving, proper convoy operations, avoiding ambushes, navigating around IED's[hidden roadside bombs], proper procedure for calling in support or medivac or fire support, procedures to follow after taking enemy fire, the list goes on. The vehicle operators for KBR have no combat training and are basically drivers ill prepared for operations in a war zone, yet they are paid 5-8 times what U.S. soldiers are paid.
As a U.S. citizen, I find this policy unacceptable. It's bad enough our troops are mired down in a quagmire that echos other great foreign policy failures, it's even worse that the policy making elites in Washington have apparently lost all touch with the reality on the ground in Iraq.
I beg of you to salvage any remaining shred of humanity that may have survived your political ambitions, and do what is right, by pushing congress and those who have ceased power in the White House, to change the policy of the U.S. military by making it mandatory for drivers to be properly trained for their duties in hostile situations.
"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is apt to spread discontent among those who are." -H.L. Mencken
