You go to war with the army you have, Rumsfeld tells angry soldiers

DISGRUNTLED US soldiers complained to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday about the lack of armour for their vehicles and long deployments, drawing a blunt retort from the Pentagon chief.

“You go to war with the army you have,” he said in a rare public airing of rank-and-file concerns among the troops.

In his prepared remarks earlier, Rumsfeld had urged the troops (mostly National Guard and Reserve soldiers) to discount critics of the war in Iraq and to help “win the test of wills” with the insurgents.