The back-and-forth between a National Guard member and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld prompts strong reactions.
By now these words from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been broadcast hundreds of times……
"You go to war with the army you have not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."
Local reaction to Rumsfeld comments vary…….Maj General John Blair, NH's top national guard official declined to weigh in on the matter.……Jim Normand, army reserve ambassador for NH had a mixed respose.
"I give him credit for meeting with the soldiers and taking the heat……I mean what can he say….The heavy armored Humvees are not there. There's too short a supply of those Humvees for our Army reserve solders, we don't like that one bit."
The veterans enjoying an afternoon drink at the Concord VFW hall were also concerned about the lack of armored vehicles……..And they proved far less diplomatic about the Defense Secretary.
"Rumsfeld..... He didn't have an answer for them. He had a half-assed answer."
Ken Barron is an Army and National Guard veteran who fought in Korea.
"Yeah, this is the army you get what you got…and you don't get any more. That's what he said. Am I right or wrong?"
"My name is Rick Young. I'm a retired Senior Master Sargent USAF. I think Donald Rumsfeld doesn't care what those kids are going through over there. Think about this for a second, these kids, citizen soldier, are trying to do the best they can for the country, the people of Iraq, and they are being given inferior products. They're not being backed other than verbiage by the administration. George Bush is a wonderful man -- I think he means well I'm just not sure he has the right people advising him. My opinion, just my opinion."
To a man, the Veterans agreed the soldier who sought answers from Rumsfeld acted appropriately. Concord's VFW post commander Paul Lloyd, served in Desert Storm.
"He should question the authority. If they have to go out and scramble and get pieces of parts from the dump to protect themselves. Then yeah, he has every right to question that."
During a White House photo-op, President Bush told reporters that the concerns raised by the National Guard Member are being addressed…He added that if he were a soldier oversees defending the country he'd ask the same question.
