OUR MEN DESERVE BETTER

Read this column by Ralph Peters in the NY Post. It puts the tragic loss of 31 men yesterday in Iraq into some perspective that might be valuable as we move forward, if only the right people will listen.

The defense of freedom is dangerous work even in the absence of an enemy. Our aging military helicopters have crashed on training missions in Texas and North Carolina, in Germany and elsewhere. The Marines we lost yesterday were aboard a CH-53 Sea Stallion, an aircraft that first flew in 1964 and entered the operational force in 1966. The Sea Stallion's been upgraded over the years, but it's a safe bet that the airframe that went down was older than most of the Marines aboard. It's not only combat that puts our troops in danger — training with aging equipment takes lives as well. Marines and soldiers die during administrative lifts from a base to an exercise site. No matter how good the maintenance, the crew's training or the safety procedures, old aircraft go down. And those in uniform die unheralded. There's something else at play, as well, when we lose yet another bird in Iraq or Kentucky: Our aging fleet of transport helicopters is a symptom of the neglect of practical military needs in favor of glamorous fighter aircraft and submarines of no real use. Our land forces have been treated as stepchildren far too long. We see the price daily in Iraq, where too few soldiers and Marines, not always adequately equipped, are in battle on freedom's frontiers.

Amen, brother.