Another US helicopter has crashed in Afghanistan, a CH-53E Super Stallion, the biggest single-rotor helicopter. Two servicemen were killed and five were wounded. It's interesting to note our material losses in this Afghani campaign now equal the losses of the campaign in Iraq, which were actual combat losses. This latest loss is again being blamed on "mechanical failure due to faulty spares parts and poor maintenance." It's the same reason for all previous crashes of both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft in Afghanistan. It's a pretty sad commentary on the preparedness of US armed forces.The answer, by the way, of course is that there is no difference between Enron and an offshore Republican slush fund...
The readiness status of our armed forces during the past ten years from Iraq to Afghanistan has declined enormously. Past GAO reports stated that in Iraq 53% of our fixed wing and helicopter fleets were serviceable. Now this figure has declined to 38%. Part of the problem is that the budgets for normal maintenance procedures have been cut in favor of buying a lot of high tech weaponry systems that don't work. We rush new weapons systems into production -- systems that we know have design flaws because contractors can't meet their deadlines. They're built with sub-standard materials because the budget for inspectors has been trimmed back. And there's no more quality control over the materials being used to make these weapons systems. And there's the problem with spare parts and mechanical problems, which are all ongoing. The commentator in the media calls these new weapons systems that don't work -- "political gravy weapons."
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