Jungle Camouflage on America’s Desert Warriors? by Pat Choate (NAPSA)—The right camouflage in battle saves lives and reduces casualties. Yet, thousands of American troops fighting in the Iraqi desert were wearing dark | green jungle battle dress. eS Why? Because neither the U.S. Army nor Marine Corps have enough > desert-colored uni“= forms to give each Choate fighter the required three outfits. This crisis, moreover, goes far deeper than traditional shortterm supply management. The problem is that a succession of Presidents and Congresses have allowed U.S. manufacturing to deteriorate so far that the United States now lacks the capacity to supply manyof its basic defense needs quickly, such as the proper uniforms, flak jackets, boots, and tents. A quarter of a century ago, for example, the United States had a large and prosperous shoe industry. It employed tens of thousands of workers in New England and the Southern United States. When foreign manufacturers and U.S. retailers began to flood the American market with imported shoes from penny-wageforeign factories, however, the U.S. government passively stood by as America’s shoe industry was destroyed. Now, when American troops need several hundred thousand boots immediately, we do not have a domestic shoe industry that can produce them quickly. So too, U.S. apparel manufacturing has been deeply hollowed. As recently as the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the United States had a large apparel industry that was fully able to shift from civilian to emergency military production. Then in the 1990s, hundreds of U.S. apparel makers went bankrupt or moved their factories to places such as Mexico and China. The lesson is basic—Superpowers cannot depend upon others to produce quickly the materials of war they require—including shoes, uniforms, flak jackets, and tents. That capacity must exist within the national borders. Otherwise, superpowersoldiers are forced to fight a desert war in jungle uniforms. Mr. Choate is director of the Washington, D.C.-based Manufacturing Policy Project.
