Civilian contractor endangers troops (Again)

U.S. Army Sgt. Shawn Snyder displays the helmet that saved his life from a sniper in downtown Tikrit, Iraq.
Photo: Staff Sgt. Mark Wojciechowski

This time it is the company that makes the Kevlar helmets. They were not making them to specifications thereby endangering the lives of all those who wear them. This is not the first case of a civilian contractor taking shortcuts on military equipment. But what does our illustrious government do?

Fines them $2 million and then turns around and awards them a new $74 million contract to make helmets to replace the ones they had already built. The company's name is Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten. And get this part:

Soldiers generally cannot sue the government. And Sioux is owned by an Indian tribe, the Spirit Lake Nation, that can, he said, assert sovereign immunity against private suits.

The company also benefits from a 5 percent federal incentive program for Indian contractors and preferences for disadvantaged small businesses.

The company is located in North Dakota. Here is who represents North Dakota in Congress. In the House it is Earl Pomeroy. In the Senate it is Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan. They are all Democrats. Oh what a coincidence. Dorgan sits on the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee and is the chair of the Senate Indian Affairs committee.

Oh, look at this. Senator Kent Conrad also is on the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee.

I am pointing this out because the New York Times doesn't.

Something else the Times doesn't point out is the history of the contracts the parent company of Sioux Manufacturing, named Lake Spirit Tribe has received.

In looking at that list do you see something slightly out of kilter?

Now I wasn't able to see who dropped this little contract into a bill as an earmark, but I keep hearing something about the "most ethical Congress evah".

But what has really gotten under my skin is that these are self same Democrats who moan and groan about our soldiers not having the proper equipment and always wanting to keep them safe and yet here we have their hypocrisy on full display.

Soldiers lives have been endangered, they have no recourse and there is no real way of proving if anybody actually sustained injuries that could have been prevented or because of the faulty equipment simply because that is the nature of warfare.

But what pisses me off is after this is brought to light our congress critters turn around and reward the company.

It is time to vote all incumbents out of office. Endangering our soldiers lives is not a Democrat or Republican issue, it should be an American issue. It should make you so mad when a company does this sort of thing that you want to take to the streets with torches and pitchforks, but alas except for the couple of dozen folks who see this nobody will give a damn and neither will they do anything.