We're fighting a war with spit wads

and our government won't provide spit.

Bulletproof vests Iraq-bound

Mims mother collects nearly 500 [bulletproof vests] to help protect Marine son's unit

BY TOM BREEN
FLORIDA TODAY

Joanne Homer would do anything for her son, the Marine.

Joanne Homer of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Department hands Susan Johnson some bulletproof vests. Central Florida law enforcement agencies donated the vests to Homer’s son, Marine Sgt. Jessie Holton and his fellow Marines, who will be deployed to Iraq in January. Image by Rik Jesse, FLORIDA TODAY
And the Mims mom is doing it now -- trying to keep him from harm by helping gather nearly 500 bulletproof vests for the troops in his unit to use to protect the Humvees they'll ride through the war zone in Iraq.

Similar concerns about a lack of armored protection for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are growing.

On Wednesday, a Tennessee National Guard soldier in Kuwait asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why "we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor vehicles."

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