>>A Guardsman asks, 'where the hell's our decent gear'? Our bargain
>>basement Augustus replies: "I'm told that the army is breaking its
>>neck to see that there is not a differentiation" in the quality of
>>equipment..."
>>
>>"I'm told", he says, "I'm told". When someone whose job it is to
>>know these things (maybe I'm wrong but you'd think it'd be part of
>>the Sec of Defense job description) tells you, "I'm told" in that
>>context what he's really saying is: listen, I don't give a fuck.
>
>Interesting to me is that miltiary people are indoctrinated with the
>concept of chain of command.
This amazed me this morning <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/international/worldspecial/10reporter.html?oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=>:
>The soldier with the Tennessee National Guard who asked Defense
>Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld a pointed question in Kuwait on
>Wednesday about the lack of armor on military vehicles was prompted
>by a reporter for The Chattanooga Times Free Press, according to Tom
>Griscom, the newspaper's publisher.
>
>The reporter, Edward Lee Pitts, is embedded with the 278th
>Regimental Combat Team of the National Guard. His article on the
>town hall meeting made no mention of his own role; that came to
>light yesterday, when an e-mail message he wrote to a colleague at
>the newspaper boasting of his involvement in the questioning was
>posted on several Web sites.
>
>His account prompted criticism from the Pentagon and from
>conservative commentators.
>
>[...]
>
>Rush Limbaugh, however, said on his radio program yesterday that Mr.
>Pitts had engaged in "cheap theatrics" that distorted the coverage.
>"For two days we think that this is an act of courage and bravery
>and, 'Oh, wow! Rummy got his,' " Mr. Limbaugh said. "We found out
>the whole thing today is a setup."
So Limbaugh sides with the evasive boss and not the fightin' men (and women). This is patriotism and populism?
Doug