Well, he's right. You go with what you got. BUT! you do your damnedest to insure that what you got is what you need and should have. That didn't happen here and now the grunts are paying for it with their eyes, their arms, their legs, and their lives.

Does anyone else remember last summer, when a bunch of reservists were trying to outfit their vehicles with locally-produced armor before they were deployed and their actions were deplored by the Pentagon?

Okay, old timer's time. When my NG unit was activated back in '68, prior to deployment we took everything we thought we might need, including a barber chair painted green and black. We took extra ammo, private weapons, whatever we thought would make the deployment a) safer and b) more comfortable. Especially safer. Most especially safer. And once in-country, members scrounged, swapped, and did everything but steal (and they did that from the Special Forces) stuff that would make it a) safer and b) more comfortable. From talking with the folks who deployed out of here around the 4th of July, they did the same things we did: a) safer and b) more comfortable.