Shortage of equipment

[Bombardier]

Has anybody suffered the shortages of equipment recently announced during "Gulf war 2" ?. I know when I was deployed on "Gulf War 1" I was wearing desert pattern trousers and normal DPM jacket for about 4 weeks in the field so I can understand the revelations made by the press and other soldiers recently.
Ive got to say though thats the only shortage I can remember, there was always plenty of ammo and food. :?:

[Drone_pilot]

Just before GW1 an excuse going around most R.Q.M.S.'s war FODOF.

Which stood for F*** O** Donningtons On Fire, donnington was the
largest store of british forces Equipment in Europe before it burned down. :)

[Bombardier]

Yep I remember the rumour, never found out if it was true though. :?

[Xtreme]

Its ridiculous that in this day and age any Army should be sent to war with shortages of equipment. perhaps i could understand some shortages occuring during the course of battle but not from the outset. :?

[Drone_pilot]

This has always been the problem with successive british governments, as they all seem to suffer with the ostrich syndrome (if there's something you don't like, stick your head in the sand, and it will go away).

you only have to look at the first World War, the infamous ammo shortage. Britain had 6-8 months warning that war was immanent, and when it came the artillery were restricted to 2/3 rounds per gun per day,
infantry had 5 rounds per man, grenades well they made there own from gun cotton and jam tin's.

Just when will we ever learn. :(

[Bombardier]

What follows is an article from the Scotsman News paper.

Five bullets a man for troops on front line

JAMES LYONS


A SERVING soldier has spoken out over equipment shortages during the Iraq conflict despite the risk to this career.

The unnamed serviceman told Channel 4 News last night that just five bullets each were issued to him and his men, who were serving on front lines in southern Iraq.

"We had five rounds each to defend ourselves. I actually crossed the border with five rounds," he said.

"The magazine held 30 separate bullets but I was issued with five separate bullets to last the entire hostilities of the war. We came under fire in Um Qasr three or four times. There were fire-fights going on all around us. It was scary."

The claims threaten to reignite the controversy over equipment shortages, dramatically highlighted by the death of Sgt Steve Roberts.

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, came under pressure when Sgt Roberts’s widow, Samantha, revealed he was ordered to hand body armour to a colleague, shortly before he was shot and killed.

By raising the latest case, the unnamed solider, who is reportedly based in Germany and served in Um Qasr, Az Zubayr and Basra, risks losing his job and pension.

"I mean, in training you get the equipment," he said. "You go through all these scenarios, I mean, if I’m ambushed in a truck, there’s five or six different scenarios you go through, but they all involve letting off around 200 to 1,000 rounds of bullets in a minute. I mean, what could we do with five bullets?"

As well as receiving just five bullets, the unit’s camouflage nets and many of their vehicles and uniforms were green, not desert brown, he claimed. They were also short of maps and body armour, Channel 4 News reported.


Im not sure about the validity of "five Bullets" but who knows, if it is true well............in speachless

[tosh66]

Me and twelve of my mates got called up for the the recent set to and were issued dessie trousers and shirts but only given boots if we were size 10 and we had one Bush hat between us (and that already had a sizeable hole right thru the front!)

[Bombardier]

Its an absolute disgrace, and as clint eastwood said in the film Heartbreak ridge "its a cluster F$%^k Sir"