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Well, again, time for a little perspective. I was at Scania for the majority of my deployment. During that time, we did not have one Abrams, Bradley, or any other fighting vehicle heavier than a HMMWV. We didn't even have defensive mortar crews until mid-2004. Heaviest weapon on post was MK-19 Grenade machine gun. Nearly every logistical support item that went to Baghdad and North came through Scania.

Why weren't those defensive capabilities there? Lack of equipment (tanks go down for maintainance, and that takes a huge toll on your combat readiness) and trainted troops.




Note that I specifically stated that getting tanks to where they were needed was a problem (lack of crew, logistics, maintenace). I was disputing the comment that we didn't have enough tanks available in the first place.

We deployed less than 1/4 of our total Abrams and Bradleys to Iraq at the beginning of the invasion and while no numbers exist on the reduction since then it is purported to be "dramatically reduced" from that number. So if you didn't see any, don't blame it on them not existing, blame it on whomever decided how many you needed.

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