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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002068719_truckarmor21m.html

 

Thursday, October 21, 2004       -      Page updated at 01:21 A.M.

 

Lack of vehicle armor keeps troops on edge 

By Hal Bernton<mailto:hbernton AT seattletimes.com>
Seattle Times staff reporter

 

For Sgt. Joseph Bryson, driving an unarmored 10-ton truck across Iraq was 
like Russian roulette. In 15 months of duty, a bomb went off next to his rig 
and several bullets narrowly missed as they whizzed in through an open side 
window. 

 

"The lack of armor was a big concern," said Bryson, who returned home to 
Okanogan in August along with the rest of the 1161st Transportation Company 
of the Washington Army National Guard. "Multiple trucks had bullet holes, in 
the seat, in the windshields and the cabs." 

 

The plight of Army truck drivers in Iraq received national attention last 
week when 18 Army Reserve soldiers defied an order to go out on a convoy, in 
part out of a concern about a lack of armor. 

 

The hazards of driving Iraq roads in unarmored trucks have been evident for 
more than a year, prompting many units to sandbag the floors of their cabs 
and weld on extra steel plating, dubbed "hillbilly armor." 

 

Only in recent months has the U.S. military moved to systematically upgrade 
the truck fleet, which ferries food, fuel and ammunition to 135,000 troops. 

 

That effort involves adding armor and ballistic windshields and beefing up 
the cabs' undercarriages, which sometimes bear the brunt of roadside bombs. 
The upgrades also will improve suspensions to carry the extra weight of the 
armor, and add air conditioning so soldiers don't bake in sealed confines. 

 

But the effort is far from complete, with the timeline for production and 
installation extending at least to March, according to congressional and 
military officials. 

 

The truck overhaul reflects a broader rethinking of U.S. military operations 
in Iraq. Military planners had hoped the post-invasion Iraq would be 
relatively peaceful, and that the vulnerable trucks that make up the bulk of 
the transportation fleet could operate with little risk of hostile fire. But 
every time U.S. convoys venture out from fortified bases, they face the 
possibility of roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire. 

 

To help troops survive these attacks, the military-contracted upgrades 
include: 

 Adding armor kits to at least 2,806 medium-weight trucks. As of Sept. 17, 
just 385 of the "up-armor" kits had been produced and shipped to Iraq, 
according to the House Armed Services Committee. 

 Adding the armor kits to at least 1,600 heavyweight trucks. As of Sept. 17, 
just 446 armor kits for these trucks had been sent to Iraq, according to the 
committee. 

 

The upgrade is expected to include some of the trucks used by the Washington 
Army National Guard's 81st Brigade, which has about 3,500 soldiers stationed 
at bases in Iraq and Kuwait. 

 

"When our troops will get those armor kits is hard to say - it's going to be 
determined on need," said Master Sgt. Jeff Clayton, a spokesman for the 
Washington National Guard. 

 

The truck-armor overhaul has had congressional watch-dogging, with both 
Republicans and Democrats at times critical of the pace of military efforts 
to protect the troops. 

 

"We got an acquisition system that absolutely has a case of the slows. You 
guys can't tie your shoelaces," Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican 
who is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said last spring. 

 

Army officials say they are acting to upgrade the vehicles now in Iraq as 
well as those headed for deployment. In an April hearing before Hunter's 
committee, Acting Undersecretary Michael Wynne said these tasks involved 
testing new designs, ramping up production and ensuring efficient delivery. 
But he acknowledged that "there are some things that we could do better." 

 

Contractors say they are fully engaged in the effort. 

 

"The government is putting constant pressure on us, asking us to produce as 
many as we possibly can," said Bob Mecredy, president of the Aerospace & 
Defense Group of Armor Holdings, a subcontractor involved in the production 
of the new kits. "We're adding several thousand pounds of weight, and it 
takes a fair amount of engineering to come up with the protection that is 
needed and still allows the missions to be completed." 

 

It is not clear how many of the more than 1,100 U.S. military deaths in Iraq 
involved soldiers traveling in unarmored vehicles. 

The military also is boosting protection on Humvees. Early in the occupation, 
some of the biggest risks involved thousands of unarmored Humvees, which were 
frequently used in patrols and as convoy escorts. As the insurgency flared in 
the spring and summer of 2003, these Humvees proved easy targets for 
insurgents. 

 

As casualties mounted, soldiers turned to improvised methods of 
reinforcement. Meanwhile, angry parents of dead and wounded soldiers helped 
prod Congress - and the military - to speed up production of the armor kits. 

 

"Our son called us a week before he was killed and told us that they were 
exceedingly vulnerable in these unarmored Humvees, and were going to get 
ambushed," said Brian Hart, of Bedford, Mass., whose 20-year-old son, John, 
died in an ambush a year ago this week. 

 

The drive to beef up the Humvees gained momentum last winter as the Army 
contracted for thousands of armor kits. Currently, the Army plans to put 
armor kits on more than 8,300 of the Humvees in Iraq. That job is roughly 60 
percent complete, and has included the armoring of all the Humvees used on 
patrol by the Washington Guard's 81st Brigade. The entire Humvee armoring job 
is expected to be finished in March, according to the Army. 

 

In a news conference Monday in Baghdad, Brig. Gen. Jim Chambers, commander of 
the 13th Corps Support Command, said soldiers had been working hard to add 
steel protection to some 4,000 trucks in four brigades. 

 

"We've come a long, long way in 10 months," Chambers said. The brigade that 
included the soldiers involved in last week's disobedience, for example, had 
80 percent of its trucks reinforced with extra steel, according to a 
transcript of his remarks. 

Chambers said he was proud of the 13th Corps record, which involved 75,000 
missions since April. During those missions, the Corps suffered 26 deaths. 

 

"I take everyone of those fatalities personally, but most of the missions 
have gone on with success." 

 

The Washington Army Guard's 1161st Transportation Co. served under the 13th 
Support Corps during its Iraq duty that ended in August. Six of the soldiers 
were significantly wounded, but there were no deaths among the more than 100 
men and women in the unit. 

 

On June 12, 2003 - early on in their duty - the 1161st soldiers were 
sensitized to the dangers of the unarmored vehicles when a bomb concealed in 
a black plastic bag exploded beneath a truck cab. The attack seriously 
injured Spc. Audra Hauer and Sgt. Jeff Elliott, who continues to suffer 
severe back pain. 

 

Bryson - the soldier from Okanogan - said that in the months that followed, 
the unit's truckers thought about fortifying the cabs with steel. But, Bryson 
said, the unit couldn't secure metal or welders to tackle the task. And there 
were fears that the added weight might increase the chance of mechanical 
breakdowns in hostile territory. 

 

So, the convoy trucks ventured out each day with unarmored cabs. They used 
sandbags to fortify the floor of the cabs, and attempted to scout for hostile 
forces with rifles poked out of the side windows. 

 

"I can honestly say that the good Lord rode with us - every day," Bryson 
said. 

 

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or 
hbernton AT seattletimes.com<mailto:hbernton AT seattletimes.com>