Flagg
02-26-2004, 02:29 AM
Soldier sent to Iraq with five bullets
26 February 2004
LONDON: A British soldier says he was given only five bullets to last the entire war in Iraq, a claim that could spark more questions for the British Government already accused of sending troops into battle ill-equipped.
The soldier, who served in the British frontlines near the towns of Um Qasr, Az Zubayr and Basra in southern Iraq, said he had been given just five bullets for a five-month tour of duty during last year's war.
"We had five rounds each to defend ourselves. I actually crossed the border with five rounds," he told Channel 4 News, which used an actor in its broadcast yesterday to mask the soldier's identity.
"The magazine held 30 separate bullets but I was issued with five separate bullets to last the entire hostilities of the war."
The soldier's claims are likely to be used by critics to increase the pressure on British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon who has been lambasted over previous revelations of equipment shortages.
The most serious concerned Sergeant Steven Roberts, who was shot dead near Basra on March 23. He had been asked to hand in his body armour because it was in short supply. His widow Samantha and the opposition Conservative Party said Mr Hoon should have resigned over that case alone.
The families of six Royal Military Police officers who were killed by a mob in Iraq on June 24 have also called for a public inquiry into their deaths.
Mr Hoon has said the invasion was not hampered by equipment glitches, and that the force was deployed twice as fast as in the 1991 Gulf War.
"While the logistics effort as a whole was a tremendous success, some shortages were encountered within individual units," the Defence Ministry said yesterday.
The unnamed soldier, now serving in Germany, said as well as a lack of bullets, there was a shortage of maps and body armour, and his unit's camouflage nets were green and not desert brown.
"You see the defence secretary standing up saying 'they had this kit, they had that'," he said. "I just want . . . somebody from the army to speak out about what the army actually runs like."
A report in December from Britain's public spending watchdog the National Audit Office said the logistics effort had been successful overall but the means of tracking supplies had been ineffective. At the peak of the Iraq War, Britain had about 45,000 troops in the Gulf, its biggest troop deployment since Korea. Fifty-eight British servicemen have been killed.
I just caught this on the news down here......
It doesn't state specifically what his role was.....if he's a REMF it's not as big of a deal...if he's truly "frontline" which implies teeth arms, 5 rounds wouldn't go far in a contact.
I wonder if our Pom friends "in the know" think this is a real story or just a slow news day covering a whinge.
26 February 2004
LONDON: A British soldier says he was given only five bullets to last the entire war in Iraq, a claim that could spark more questions for the British Government already accused of sending troops into battle ill-equipped.
The soldier, who served in the British frontlines near the towns of Um Qasr, Az Zubayr and Basra in southern Iraq, said he had been given just five bullets for a five-month tour of duty during last year's war.
"We had five rounds each to defend ourselves. I actually crossed the border with five rounds," he told Channel 4 News, which used an actor in its broadcast yesterday to mask the soldier's identity.
"The magazine held 30 separate bullets but I was issued with five separate bullets to last the entire hostilities of the war."
The soldier's claims are likely to be used by critics to increase the pressure on British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon who has been lambasted over previous revelations of equipment shortages.
The most serious concerned Sergeant Steven Roberts, who was shot dead near Basra on March 23. He had been asked to hand in his body armour because it was in short supply. His widow Samantha and the opposition Conservative Party said Mr Hoon should have resigned over that case alone.
The families of six Royal Military Police officers who were killed by a mob in Iraq on June 24 have also called for a public inquiry into their deaths.
Mr Hoon has said the invasion was not hampered by equipment glitches, and that the force was deployed twice as fast as in the 1991 Gulf War.
"While the logistics effort as a whole was a tremendous success, some shortages were encountered within individual units," the Defence Ministry said yesterday.
The unnamed soldier, now serving in Germany, said as well as a lack of bullets, there was a shortage of maps and body armour, and his unit's camouflage nets were green and not desert brown.
"You see the defence secretary standing up saying 'they had this kit, they had that'," he said. "I just want . . . somebody from the army to speak out about what the army actually runs like."
A report in December from Britain's public spending watchdog the National Audit Office said the logistics effort had been successful overall but the means of tracking supplies had been ineffective. At the peak of the Iraq War, Britain had about 45,000 troops in the Gulf, its biggest troop deployment since Korea. Fifty-eight British servicemen have been killed.
I just caught this on the news down here......
It doesn't state specifically what his role was.....if he's a REMF it's not as big of a deal...if he's truly "frontline" which implies teeth arms, 5 rounds wouldn't go far in a contact.
I wonder if our Pom friends "in the know" think this is a real story or just a slow news day covering a whinge.