With billions of dollars already spent on the war in Iraq, one would think that all of our troops are adequately supplied to ensure their up-most safety; however, many Reserve and National Guard members are lacking many important items such as updated radios, sufficient body armor and vehicles equipped with the proper armor.

Many Reserve and Guard members have been forced to either wait for sufficient gear or provide it for themselves. You can not put a price on a human being’s life; however, the price to ensure and provide the proper armor that would greatly increase a soldier’s survival, if under fire, comes to around $1,500 for the appropriate body armor.

Though all types of soldiers are complaining about insufficient gear, it seems the Reserves and National Guard have been hit the hardest. This may be because they are only part-timers, serving one weekend a month and two weeks a summer and were not taken into account when materials were supplied when the war initially started.

Should that really matter?

Now the Reserves and National Guard encompass about 40 percent of the soldiers in Iraq. Many are given outdated equipment such as radios so old they can not communicate with newer ones, and a lower grade body armor, such as the flack jacket types from the Vietnam era, if any at all.

In turn, this means many worried mothers and families have been forced to shell out thousands of dollars out of their own pockets because the government doesn’t feel concerned enough to provide for them.

Personally, I would think that body armor would be one of the first items the government would supply to the troops — along with weapons, of which they definitely don’t have a shortage.

It seems the government is more worried about striking the opponent than the opponents striking our men.

This is just another example of the gross incompetence and ignorance, which makes me question our government’s motives and concern for our troops. You hear every day how President Bush declares we will be victorious in this war on terror, but at what costs?

Does this mean we focus all of our revenues on many high-powered tanks and bombs and other weapons of destruction, and leave the safety of our troops on the bottom of the lists to things to spend our money on? Because that is the message I am getting.

You never hear on the nightly news how we have insufficient heat-seeking missiles or long-range rockets, but you may hear how an American vehicle was blown up, killing more of our soldiers.

Perhaps even more important than human body armor is vehicle armor. Vehicles on the road are at some of the highest risks for being attacked because they can be ambushed out of nowhere. General James E. Chambers of the 13 Corps Support Command has even said, “The most dangerous job in Iraq is driving a truck. It’s not if, but when they will be attacked.”

So one would believe that being the richest nation in the world, we would have multiple factories making and improving armored vehicles. However, there is currently only one company in the United States that puts armor on their vehicles.

According to figures by the House Armed Services Committee, there are plans to produce over 2,000 medium weight trucks with armor kits, but as of September, about 380 trucks received these kits in Iraq.

Though I am not on any special government committee or know how we spend our war budget, I do know that ever since kindergarten, I’ve always heard teachers, police officers and other governmental officials always preach about safety first.

When it counts most, where is it? We trust our government to make the right decisions for our troops and us. When they do not, what happens? What happens is we get excuses. Though no one likes excuses, what we want is results. Like the old saying goes, “Excuses are like ass****s — everyone’s got one.”

For me, personally, it is just beyond my fathom that we cannot supply our troops with adequate materials to ensure them coming back all in one piece.

If we cannot ensure the proper safety of our troops and do everything possible to make sure they are not wounded in the line of duty, we should never have been there in the first place.

These are human lives and cannot be reproduced in a factory like some machine when they die.

When we hear on the nightly news about how many soldiers are lost, it is just a number to us. But someone that is a son, daughter, father or grandson, they should be treated like such, with the up-most care and consideration.

This should be before any missiles, radar or any other high-tech equipment. Because what good is the equipment if there’s no one to use them?

E-mail Steve with comments at [email protected].