OK – another bitch about the Army…

It is hot here – REALLY freakin’ hot –

In March I started trying to requisition the new Army Combat Shirt (ACS) for my troops.

http://www.massif.com A GREAT piece of kit that is not only fire resistant, but keeps you cool under all of that body armor…a double lifesaver where we brave temperatures that are over 100 degrees all summer long – sometimes as high as 145 or 150. All while preventing flash burns when we get blown up.

I went to the manufacturer’s website and bought 2 for myself to see if they were all they were cracked up to be.

Meanwhile I started tracking down how to get them issued or how to purchase them directly.

I put in all of the paperwork then…in late March and early April.

We have been denied timely issue of these shirts as the fielding plan is to issue them to the major combat units first.

The Army did not buy enough of the shirts to meet its self imposed goal of 4 shirts per Soldier – so even the “Major Combat Units” are only being issued 2 shirts per Soldier. Now when I say “Major Combat Unit” I am talking brigade sized units here - So ALL members of a brigade, 2/3 of which are not “front line” troops and do not, on a normal day leave the wire, will be issued these shirts. Then Separate “combat units” and so on until everyone has been issued two of them (unless supplies are exhausted prior to completion)

My command is mostly….umm… desk jockeys. We are the ONLY combat maneuver unit in our command – but because we are not a “Major Combat Unit” we are at the bottom of the list . Hence – with army math – one can surmise that we will NOT get issued these shirts.

SO – I went around the other route – asked the command to purchase the damned things directly…

Again, all of this well before summer started.

We are *still* pushing through the red tape – now that the JAG lawyer have the packet – they have to decide whether it is “legal” to spend money set aside for “special equipment required by our mission” on the ACS.

*sigh*

I am surprised we get *anything* done.

Posted by: Misha Moriarti at 03:04 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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