Getting MRAPs To Iraq A Challenge

Lifesaving Armored Vehicles Are Slow To Reach U.S. Troops

(CBS)  It's certainly not a silver bullet, but the MRAP is the best thing the Pentagon has come up with yet to counter the threat of roadside bombs in Iraq.

MRAP stands for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected. What it does is save lives, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

"It's kind of like, 'Wow. You know, I just survived a major attack and I'm walking away from it," says Marine Sgt. Gabriel Wilson.

Wilson survived two direct hits from roadside bombs in an MRAP. His unit took 33 direct hits without losing a man.

"You may have broken windows. You may have cracked metal. You may have burned, charred tires and stuff — but the crew inside is basically unscratched," he said.

The question everybody has about MRAP is not "does it work," but "why is it taking so long to get it to the troops?"

The first request for them came in from the field in May 2006. But the Pentagon bureaucracy had to first study that request and then find companies to make the vehicles, so testing did not begin until February of this year.

Now they're working around the clock at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. For test driver Bill Mullis, it's not just a job. His son is a Marine in Iraq.

"Does he tell you to hurry up?" asks Martin

"Yes sir," says Mullis, who tells his son, "We're getting them there as fast as we possibly can. We're working an insane work schedule getting them there as fast as we can."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered the MRAPs airlifted to Iraq as soon as they come off the assembly line.

"What I was told is it will save a lot of lives overseas, and our job is to get it to the guys who need it overseas," says Rickey Gathers, an airport loading supervisor.

Soon, there will be three MRAP flights a day to Iraq, but that's not nearly enough. Right now there are only 225 of the vehicles in all of Iraq.

"This piece of equipment weighs 67,000 pounds, so it's pretty massive. Two of these will fit on one of our C-5 aircraft," said Master Sgt. Jared Breyer at the Charleston, S.C., airport.

The rest will have to go by sea, which takes 35 days. By the end of the year there will be 1,500 MRAPs in Iraq — about half of what was originally promised.

[xzavierbrown]

I swear, kids, if you abuse drugs and alcohol, you''''ll end up with less and less brain cells and soon you''''ll be dribbling in your nappies like GW Bush.
Posted by mcdazz at 06:53 AM : Aug 25, 2007
+ report abuse

****************

DONT LIBERALS USE A LOT OF DRUGS AND ALCOHOL???
they do??just checking

[oakishpines]

'' ...

had a million dollars wanted ten million, not one million dollar film, or 1000 $1000,
but 100 million kids with free medical you are here map song dance skit kits, to make a hundred million dollars for nothing

me verse the world i deserve 99%, the world occupys 99% space time so deserves 99%, so 50% / 50% may be rational and equitable shareing of my market share

210 million represents the richest 3% with over 95% of wealth, poverty lines range $2 to $60 each work day, so giving to 440 to 730,000 each workday for tips of a penny to a dollar from 1/2 % to 11 % of folk marketed to


6 or 10 billion folk is 90,000 counties of 90,000 folk is 300 trail groups of 300 folk, girls get bored and move each 20 seconds to 20 nminutes so i not call them communities?)

$12,000 per year poverty line will buy $60,000 of 2500 sf land and 340 sf home

2500 sqft (50 ft x 50 ft) is 200 lineal feet perimeter, 2.2 to 3650 ''grapes'' per lineal foot (grapes as example or seaweed / algae song / dance art / craft wutever)


... if only 2500 square feet could float like some kind of spore bloom weed dragon tinkering densitys and surface areas and such ...


trails of life is more like kindergarten class, what do you like what do you want to do this that ok well show you how now like this now like that now like this now like that

... ''

[toshi43]

The MRAP is just another step in the never-ending battle of armour protection vs. munitions. The MRAP may be effective for a while, but by the time you get enough of them to Iraq, the insurgents, read the Iranians, will have figured out how to deal with them. Who wants to bet that they won''t? The best way to save lives is to get out of this unwinnable ''war''.

[designer69-2009]

I''m currently working on the MRAP program for a company in Texas. We are just one of many companies working around the clock to get these trucks to our troops in Iraq. Ours started rolling of the line this week, but some companies have already been supplying their version.
Sgt. Wilson''s comments make me proud of what I am doing to support the effort. It''s okay to disagree, but I believe you love this country or leave it. I''m fed up with the whiners.

[endofempire]

Turning Damascus and Teheran into large parking lots would do lots towards reducing roadside bombs... Dresden anyone?

[farmerbb]

What was missing from this story was a really key piece of info-----where the MRAPs are made. One plant ? Many ? In the U.S. ? I know South Africa has built a number of military hardware being used by other countries. And as for all these explosive devices buried in the roads - in WW2 they had flail tanks to explode mines. Why on earth has no one built some updated versions for use in Iraq and Afghanistan ? Run them as the first vehicle in the convoy. That will get the mines, although maybe not many of the remote controlled IEDs. Ask the scientists to come up with a way to explode anything buried under the road, using magnetic fields or something, generated by the first vehicle. A strong enough radio signal should be able to induce a current in a wire-controlled explosive, or to blank out a radio signal. We sometimes have to turn off phones/radios when driving by construction sites using explosives. Is there no way those spy-in-the-sky aircraft can detect the heat of people digging holes in the roadside for IED''s, probably at night ? "We have the technology", I would think, but maybe no imagination to connect the dots.

sevenveils wrote:

"This is a sad response to Bush''''s call to nations that support terrorists. instead of building vehicles that can survive the roadside bombs developed in in Iran we should be destroying the factories that make them.

Its time to call Syria and Iran out."

Or maybe if just had a President that was half way f**king competent.

I swear, kids, if you abuse drugs and alcohol, you''ll end up with less and less brain cells and soon you''ll be dribbling in your nappies like GW Bush.

[sevenveils]

This is a sad response to Bush''s call to nations that support terrorists. instead of building vehicles that can survive the roadside bombs developed in in Iran we should be destroying the factories that make them.

Its time to call Syria and Iran out.

[starleo146]

Posted by drummer94 at 07:11 PM : Aug 24, 2007

Drummer, this to me is the saddest part of this whole mess. I know I have been talking about this MRAP for a long time I have written everyone about it and they can''t get them there? They can get tanks and God knows what over there, how many amputee''s these things would of saved. The da***mn pen pushers in the Pentagon I bet you Gates will see to it and someone''s arse should be gotten over this.

[mitywhity]

Our military is the finest in the world and so is our country with or without improvements. I am glad to see this new vehicle coming to our country''s sons rescue. For those of you who believe we will leave AF or IQ anytime soon need only pull out a map and notice which country lies between them. That is why we are there in the long run.

[donbl1]

The current MRAP was not originally chosen as the best design and there were some development (reliability) problems that had to be worked out if they were going to be deployed with lives at stake.

The military buys hardware to last 25 years and work in all terrain. Lot tougher than just buying a car off the lot.

I think there are less than 100 (98?) of the C5''s so it is going to take a while to get the MRAP''s all there. Plus, the support equipment and trained mechanics.

I can''t imagine changing major equipment on the fly during a war. The product must really be worth it.

[mattcbsmatt]

Well it is about time. Is the pentagon doing political stuff or business money stuff? I have other thought that shall not be written here.

[middleman8]

Not one of these troops would have been injured or killed if they had stayed at home where they belong...

More costly fancy equipment to attack people equipped with sandals and rags.

doesn''t say much for a modern army.

[money131369]

keep up the good work troops.

[money131369]

the mrap may be the best thing the pentagon has done for the troops. we need too hold back for just a short time for the mrap to get over there.
it is not because of the pentagon .the mrap is not in full use as of yet.those who had the money have played games for some time.now stop and look around and ask how can we help get them there. you may not like the war that( ok )but back your troops. they need you now more then every.

[drummer94]

The Pentagon had to study the request, from May of 2006. ***? And if we are at war, as shrub and some posters believe, why wasn''t our full resources thrown into the effort to get these life-savers to the troops? It''s been proven in the past that America can gear up quickly to provide everything the warriors need to win a war. So, whats up?