(NOTE: Consider this part 2 of 2 I guess of "I'm mad at Congress and I can't take it anymore" pair of essays. I probably will make more parts of it if Senator Reid and his political sharks keep at their game of political chicken with the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.)

I’m sure if you have followed up with the military news now, that you may have heard of the military’s plan to buy up large numbers anti-mine “route clearance” vehicles to replace the current armored humvees. These vehicles have a v-shape style underside that diverts an IED explosion away from the soldiers in its cab, providing much better protection than flat-bottomed humvees. They are so successful that insurgents, wanting to take out as many as possible, have made issued massive rewards on some of these vehicles. Still, these vehicles can take all but the very worst explosions, and have led to the sparing of surely hundreds of the lives of our soldiers.

Needless to say, the operations making of these vehicles have to work at full speed and efficiency to keep up with the relatively sudden massive requests from our troops(keep in mind, it takes several years to fully equip the army with a particular vehicle normally, and these things are harder to make than your standard model Honda Civic. With the current surge going into effect, and with the Marine Corps saying that EVERY Marine humvee going into direct combat will be replaced with a particularly tough and safe new anti-mine truck, there’s little room for a slowdown.

This takes a lot of money to better protect soldiers like myself with these things, but Nevada Senator Harry Reid will have none of it. Just days ago, Harry Reid, using his new title of “Civilian General of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq” said that if his party’s withdraw bill is vetoed, that he will force a bill cutting off funding proper of operations in Iraq, including the troops in it.

Just the fact that this idea is being seriously floated around is threatening to damage the operations and logistics of the desperately needed anti-mine vehicles, while they’re especially needed with those entire brigades involved in the surge being equipped. It’s hard enough just replacing the ones that get destroyed, much less make a surplus of them. Of course, Reid and particularly people of the granola-consuming variety will have none of it, safe transportation (and the people inside of them) be darned.

The biggest part of my problem with Reid’s withdraw threat is two things. First, last time I checked, Congress wasn’t part the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They can’t simply override actions of the chain of command, especially in the middle of an operation. To do so is complete recklessness in our separation of powers, especially the part of civilian legislators pretending they have ever worn a uniform when they haven’t. Don’t serve, don’t command. Also, while withdrawing funds is currently the only way for Congress to stop the war, it may be the worst way for it to be stopped. While it may take them seemingly forever to vote on something, they can work faster than the army logistics system. Any sudden change from the powers that be can set the logistics system back anywhere from weeks to months. Of course, soldiers outside the wire see more than one IED in a few months.

Lastly, I will give no explicit details in casualties in my company, but I do know a few soldiers I know who literally were mere centimeters and inches from death. I get angry about what Senator Reid is doing because it affects me and my friends personally, and risks their lives of people who need as much protection as they can get.

By the way, remember those anti-mine vehicles I was talking about? The 875th needs them for us to do our duties, and keep us safe from harm, so we can come home to see our loved ones, so we too are guaranteed to be affected by Reid’s hi jinks. Now, you see, I’m not the only one who should be angry.

(Next blog I’ll hopefully be ready write finally about the most influential but most frightening experience here, though I will be glad to say that it does have a happy ending.)

Shumard Out.