re: Soldier gets charged $1000 for gear he was told to leave in Afghanistan

quote:

---

but the armed forces have been a mess since the 1960's and the failed Vietnam campaign.

---

Nah, our military was a great cold war deterrent force.
We could also thump a solid large military (Iraq pt 1)
When it was tasked by Slick Willie to SE Europe and Africa and multiple small conflicts, the stress of the (non-existent) deployment system was evident.
It was reconstructed to allow COCOMs to pick and choose pieces it needed in theater and put the flow on a schedule instead of brogaming it like previous.

Then 911, and all the activity that followed ensued. It consistently depleted equipment and shifting the mil to requirements to skirmish as opposed to brutal force weapons (Abrams, F-15Es, etc).

But none of that has anything to do with a command shitting on a soldier.