Getting MRAPs To Iraq A Challenge

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.