ANOTHER CASULTY OF IRAQ

Equipment. I've read that we will have to spend 10s of billions to repair or replace equipment used in Iraq but in the meantime, other needs are ignored. This is just one example:

A-10 radio woes brought to light
By Carol Ann Alaimo
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 10.13.2006

A soldier under siege in Iraq radios for help from above, summoning aid from an A-10 attack jet. But the pilot can't hear the first three to five seconds of what the soldier is saying.

"The soldier could be saying 'hold your fire,' but all the pilot hears is 'fire,' " said 1st Lt. Natasha Waggoner, a spokeswoman at Air Combat Command.

But because of wartime budget pressures, the Air Force says it can't afford a fix for most of the A-10 inventory.

Air Combat Command, the higher headquarters D-M reports to, issued a news release on Thursday decrying the service's inability to buy $60 million worth of new radios for the aging aircraft, which were introduced in the 1970s and are being upgraded to extend their life span.