"I had new reason to grit my teeth the next day when Major General Dempsey announced to his assemble commanders and command sergeants major that in the wake of the current crisis in Iraq, the Secretary of Defense had extended the deployment of the 1st Armored Division for another ninety days. Irritated at a question from a reporter about why twenty thousand American troops had to stay ninety days longer than expected in Iraq, Secretary Rumsfeld had replied: "Oh, come on. People are fungible. You can have them here or there." Watching the news conference in the brigade tactical operations center, a young soldier turned to Major Mike Shrout and asked, "Sir, what does fungible mean?" For the record, it means replaceable or exchangeable. Try telling that to our families."
Bob Mansoor, Baghdad at Sunrise (2008)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment