Surprise! Helmets for Troops Substandard, So Bush Administration Orders More

Prepare to be disgusted.

At a time when a new acronym, TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), has entered the American lexicon because of injuries sustained to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the New York Times reports that not only are many combat helmets being given to our troops substandard, and not only was there a lawsuit about it, but the government actually placed an order with the same company for more helmets just days before the suit was settled.

Reports the Times:

A North Dakota manufacturer has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a suit saying it had repeatedly shortchanged the armor in up to 2.2 million helmets for the military, including those for the first troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Twelve days before the settlement with the Justice Department was announced, the company, Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten, was given a new contract of up to $74 million to make more armor for helmets to replace the old ones, which were made from the late 1980s to last year.

The issue at the heart of the suit were two former employees of the company who maintained (and never were disproved) that Sioux was not weaving their Kevlar at the mandated 35 by 35 thread per square inch count, but 34 by 34, and making up the weight difference by just applying more hardened resin. I think in anyone's book, that would be considered reason enough to never place a contract with the same company again. But, what's worse, that extra resin makes the helmets more brittle, which doesn't give the necessary head protection to the troops.

In the suit, it seems like everyone at the company knew what they were doing:

In the evidence in the suit were hundreds of daily inspection records showing repeated violations of the weaving standards, as well as tape recordings of six managers and employees' admitting covering up violations.

In a conversation Mr. Kenner secretly taped, Rhea Crane, quality assurance officer, worried "if we ever had someone get killed, and they decided to investigate because they thought maybe the helmet wasn't any good."

"If we ever got audited," she said, "you know what they would do to us. Shut us down and fine us big time. Probably never see another government contract."

Oh, you think so, Mrs. "Quality Assurance Officer?" Well, lucky for you all at Sioux Manufacturing, the Bush administration is on the scene, where substandard products for the troops are awarded with MORE contracts! We've truly entered the Bizarro World.

Thankfully, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has taken up the case and written to Congress to investigate this matter. We at VoteVets.org fully support their call for an investigation, and we'll be doing more in the coming days to support their efforts.

There have been many, many things wrong with how the wars have been waged. I don't think I need to go through a litany of them. But, to me, there is no issue more tragic than how Donald "The Army You Have" Rumsfeld, and this administration have been absolutely and totally irresponsible -- indeed wreckless -- in how they go about protecting our troops at the most basic levels, from body armor, to Humvee armor, and now, to helmets.

As always, you can read more about this, and how the troops and veterans see this, at VetVoice.com

Follow Jon Soltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jonsoltz

Comments

[indypete]

Let's hear it for accountability and respnsibility, eh!

[Veri]

Tell that to the American voter and public. Therein lies the problem.

[desmirl]

Just when you think that no Republican can sink lower into the slime, along comes an article that shows us THEY CAN! Making substandard helmets gets troops killed! That should be a crime, and the people who were responsible for the substandard helmets should be tried for at least negligent homicide. Knowing that the body armor is substandard, and now that the helmets are substandard, why do the troops re-enlist? Oh, that' right. They aren't. And good for them.

[LeftRight]

Wow. Once again I really want to be outraged, and I will go so far as to write to my congressperson and Senator (since Obama's the other one) but I really can't be truly outraged about this one. I'm just worn out.

[Veri]

You being worn out means giving up. And this is what the corrupt in power are counting on. Thank you. You have now been conditioned into accepting your fate and place in society.

[LeftRight]

No, I just can't afford the additional energy to get up and care about this one when I've got too many other issues to give a damn about! The war itself, the illegal domestic spying, the illegal torture, the stolen elections, the rest of the substandard armor, etc...etc.­..etc....

[V4Vigilance]

And the GOP claims to be the party that "supports the troops"?!?

YEAH, RIGHT!

OBAMA '08

[Veri]

Think the Democrats are going to do anything either?

[1dogs2]

They already have. You really need to follow congressional business more carefully. May I suggest C-Span?

[hopeless277]

And no one can stop him. Congress has abdicated their role in our government. They simply will not challenge Bush on ANYTHING. It is a worldwide disgrace. When you have a president who flatly refuses to obey the law, any law, and congress activly supports this behavior, nothing is surprising. Support the troops, keep 'em in Iraq forever with faulty equipment and no plan. What a county!!!

[deminmo]

hopeless,
And a lot of "conservative" America has become
more degrading to anyone who opposes the Bush
policy or his actions. What happened to holding
people, and government, responsible for their
actions?

[MuseScavenger]

It has fallen out of fashion, like the dollar.