Word: noncombatant
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...moved from base to base in the final days of December, Vermeesch urged Iraqi commanders to pay more attention to noncombat tasks like equipment maintenance - another fresh responsibility as January gets under way. And even in "combined" patrols, like one Tuesday to search houses for a U.S. soldier's lost weapon, the relationship remains unbalanced at best: a handful of Iraqi police acted as little more than chaperones for a U.S.-led search...
...normalize relations with Vietnam, he nearly came to blows with Charles Grassley of Iowa. Smith served on a tanker in the Gulf of Tonkin, but he says that when he was the Senate's only Vietnam vet to oppose normalizing relations, McCain belittled his service to other Senators as noncombat busywork. "That's way over the line," Smith says. "McCain was nasty, vindictive and mean-spirited. Those are tough words, but that...
...Iraq Shock And Awe U.S. military facilities in Iraq were damaged or destroyed in 283 electrical fires in a six-month period, and 13 Americans there have been electrocuted since 2003, making wiring problems the biggest noncombat safety issue, according to recently publicized Army findings. A July 11 Senate inquiry revealed that contractor KBR Inc. hired inexperienced workers and Iraqi civilians who didn't speak English to construct some facilities...
...Those soldiers were restricted from front-line combat duty, but they played integral noncombat roles. Under enemy fire, they piloted amphibious truck units during perilous shore landings, unloaded and shuttled ammunition to the front lines, helped bury the dead, and weathered Japanese onslaughts on their positions even after the island had been declared secure. According to Christopher Moore, the author of a book about African-Americans' myriad contributions during World War II, "thousands" more helped fashion the airstrips from which U.S. B-29 aircrafts could launch and return from air assaults on Tokyo, about 760 miles northwest. Hosting that...
...Criticism of the Army’s weapons procurement system has not been limited to noncombat units or even the Iraqi theatre of operations. In Afghanistan, the M16’s little brother, the M4 carbine, has also been the target of a litany of complaints. A 2006 survey of returning veterans revealed that 19 percent of those who had been issued an M4 had suffered a stoppage during combat, and that almost 20 percent of these users had not been able to clear the jam without assistance. Considering that the M4 is a specialty weapon mainly issued to elite...