"Harry Krause" wrote in message
. ..

I appreciate the skill. It's certainly nothing I could do. But I don't
understand why soldiers are engaged in those kinds of activities when we
are short of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Good grief Harry. We have about 140,000 military personnel in Iraq out of
over 2 million total in all the armed forces.

Sailors are not "soldiers", are not trained as soldiers (other than very
basic weapon skills) and are normally not part of a ground based, armed,
fighting force. There are some exceptions, but in general it's a fact.
About a year ago the Navy sought regular service volunteers to attend some
advanced training in weapons and other specific skills to serve as part of
the military capability in Iraq. They got more volunteers than they needed.

Eisboch