Thank you for birddogging this, I and I am sure many others appreciate the effort.

How many combat and medivac helicopters were left in or given to Iraq? Could many of them not have been transfered to Afghanistan?

For those who say the hard work won't pay off, I would counter that it has indeed started. Now, we must redouble our efforts and quadruple the signers to this letter. Michael, thank you for all you have done for our troops.

Great letter to panetta. Now we'll wait and see what kind of response it gets. At least these Reprosentatives grasp the problem.

"These delays are apparently due to the dearth of attack helicopters to escort medical evacuation helicopters." Huh?

My sincere congratulations to these Congressmen and Congresswomen. I am deeply grateful for their attention to this important issue.

There is no question that issues of policy are interfering with the optimal evacuation of wounded soldiers. There can be no excuses, no rationales, no explanations, to justify this. If we lose just ONE service member when they could have been saved by a faster evacuation, then everything that can effect these changes in policy must be undertaken.

If Rules of Engagement need to be modified, modify them.

If "ownership" of the airframes needs to be addressed, then address it.

If authority to launch, and authority to land and effect evacuation needs to be pushed down to the aircraft commander and to the commander on the ground, then do it. Make the changes.

Above all, quit screwing around. Quit wasting time. Quit putting service members lives in danger for bad reasons of policy.

Downsize the staff weenies in the Pentagon! Not the grunts.

Begin with the worthless Sergeant-Major of the Army (SMA), a political Command Sergeant-Major if there ever was one. How long did he homestead at the Sergeants-Major Academy? How many years? During the height of the war?

Was there no veteran, no veteran of multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan to promote to SMA? Instead we promote a bureaucratic jackass who has the balls to ask soldiers how many of them are wearing their dog tags?

Get this through your head, SMA: I do not care whether a soldier has his dog tags on his person. I want to know how much combat that he has seen, and where. So should you.

Do us all a favor and retire! You waste of oxygen! You are emblematic of what is wrong with the Army today!

That is all.

Kudos to these 17. You bet they know we're backing them up. Watch their backs.

for the SAME reason they hog ISR and CAS assets. Because once they get something they refuse to give it back. They dont care who dies because of it. The more stuff you have the bigger budget you get the more bullets on your OPR the more funding goes your way and the better chance you have at success just based of MASS.
They couldnt care less if some unit is taking fire or casualties. They have it and they will keep it. There is so much political gain ( not dem -rep) to be had.
They want to have Helo's to tool around in and if they let someone else use them then maybe a guys that can use them will. Then when your worthless NON LINE Officer needs a ride its not there.

Getting the red crosses off and putting guns on the medevacs will only solve part of the problem. The launch authority--the process and chain of command that gives the okay to launch--also needs to be improved. Arming the choppers won't matter one bit if they have to sit and wait for launch authority.

The Aviation and AMEDD people closest to that launch authority process should look at how it can be made faster. They're the experts and they're the people who can suggest improvements. Getting buy-in from those higher up to actually implement those improvements will then be a lot easier.

I hope our representatives understand that.

I'm very happy to see my representative' s signature here - Rob Whitmann of VA. When are we going to see a similar letter signed by Senators? I've contacted both of mine and one, Jim Webb, is siding with the Army...I don't get it. He's a Marine, his son is a Marine...

MICHAEL, please advise re the Army has been given orders for 2-week stand down w/o pay with a 75,000 troop reduction, other branches to follow.

Why only 17? Where are the rest?

Thank you, Michael for following this story. I wrote my representative last week and asked him to also look in to this matter. I received a response yesterday and directed his Legislative Correspondent to your website. She responded this morning that she has contacted Rep. Adkin's office and asked them to keep their office apprised of the situation. I hope that it is not just talk and that Rep. Inslee will also jump on board. Keep up your fantastic work. As a veteran, former military wife and sister to a military member I appreciate all you do.