Brij Patnaik’s Nov. 20 letter, “American woman died for principles,” was so funny I actually laughed — then I realized it was a serious letter. If Brij had actually ever been to any construction sites, then she would have noticed Caterpillar’s D9 bulldozers are used quite often. If you need to haul any sizable amount of soil for a medium distance, then the D9 is not a bad choice of equipment. If you need to tow a larger piece of construction equipment, the D9 would be a good pick.

As for a D9 being a “weapon of war,” armored weapons of war have big things on them called machine guns or gun turrets which shoot very large bullets. A Cat D9 is about as tactical as an H2 Hummer convertible in low gear driving 10 mph. It is not a weapon of war — it’s a piece of construction equipment.

If you are that concerned that the snowblower you are buying doesn’t support such an “evil” company as Cat, then you should not under any circumstances drink Folgers coffee — its creator, Procter & Gamble, makes Tide, which has bleach in it that can be used in terrorist-made explosives.

Ryan Edwards

Senior

Construction Engineering