Extra Armor Could Have Saved Many Lives, Study Shows - New York Times

From the NYTimes:

A secret Pentagon study has found that at least 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra body armor. That armor has been available since 2003 but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.

I saw a Bill Maher special the other day and it had a mock up of an old WW2 style 'homefront' poster. it had a picture of a big SUV with american flag/yellow ribbon stickers on it. the sign read (roughly):

Put a sticker on your car! It's REALLY the very least you can do.

The idea being that our country has equated a bumper sticker with supporting the troops. Our nation has been guilty of this from the politicians down to the average joe.

We have been guilty of trying to fight a war on the cheap. We have this belief that our soldiers are somehow supermen. They don’t need armor, do they? They can probably take control and stabilize the whole of Iraq with ½ the troops needed 10 years ago to simply engage the Iraqi army. We can somehow be the first nation in the history of human history to somehow, rationalize fighting a war with a CUT in taxes.

We have supported our troops not by protecting armor, not by belt tightening, and not by giving of our own services in the military. Instead we’ve given them all the support a little yellow bumper sticker can provide. Last week saw the deadliest day of the war so far. If this government is unwilling to properly fight this war after 2+ years, we should get out. Our soldiers deserve more than being some politician’s backdrop for a re-election campaign.