Marcus Humvee Up-armor: Bad idea to begin with
June 11th, 2006 by Marcus
From the good folks over at Wizbang! comes news that I, and probably many of you, have known all along. Armoring Humvees = bad. The Humvee was never designed to be armored! The real point of a Humvee is get a few troops and perhaps a bit of cargo from here to there as fast as we can. Then terrorists started using bombs on the side of the road. Liberals got all up in arms that the Humvee wasn't armored and so we started armoring them. Now the Humvees roll easier from all the extra weight and kill troops. I'm sure the liberals will be up in arms about that, too. Trust me, they'll find a way to blame President Bush.
Just go read the rest. I'm shaking my head at the obvious train as it passes by.
Edit: I (Cpl M) have had some problems with my account over the last few days. CJ is looking into one of them and now I guess I should let him know about this one. I wrote this post last night and didn't realize until this morning that it was showing CJ wrote it. I apologize for any confusion, and I'll make sure the Post author box in WordPress reads Cpl M from now on.
Update: I hate to admit it, but I was right. The liberals have attacked the comments section of the Wizbang! post and have blamed President Bush. Their reason?
"If we never went to Iraq we wouldn't have this problem! Or the other 2500 dead Americans!"
Thats a paraphrase of one or more comments, but you get the point.
So let me get this right. We shouldn't have gone to Iraq, allowed Sadaam to continue any research he was conducting, continue to slaughter his people, and ignored any possible threat from him or his terrorist buddies. Wow, that sounds like a great plan. Thank you oh so wise liberals for endowing me with your vast knowledge.
H/T to Cindy from the comments.
Cpl M,
I have been there and seen and talked to soldiers and Marines that have this armor on the Humvee. Heck, last year I hauled some of them around and had to drive them on and off my trailer in Kuwait. Despite the fact that the extra weight wreaks havoc on the suspension and breaking system, which was not designed to handle that kind of weight, you can't see a damn thing out the windshield or the side windows! I don't know how my son or any other soldier can drive them safely! They didn't go into what happens when the Humvee rolls over, how the soldier's are getting killed. The gunner can be cut in two or crushed, or if it catches fire, the doors are very heavy and you may not be able to get out, especially if wounded, just to name a few ways. This brings up bad memories and images in my mind! Besides, the insurgents have found a way to penetrate the armor with their IED's.
BTW, did you read the comments? Now that is something to shake your head about as well. How can there be people out there that think invading Iraq was a total mistake? Oh, I know how they can think that….they have not been there and seen what you and I have seen and only take in what the main stream media feeds them! I am still shaking my head at how people can be so blind and stupid!!
Cindy
Cindy, thanks for your insight. I hope you don't mind that I edited your post to address me. No need to confuse the boss. But anyway.
I'd love to hear more about your time in Kuwait. I'll shoot you an email or something after work.
I don't think there were many comments to read when I first saw the post. I'll take a look at them.
CPL M,
You know I didn't even think about the armored Humvee being hazardous. I guess I was just thinking about protection from IED's and gunfire.
They should invent some other kind of vehicle for soldiers to drive in war zones. Something that would give them protection but still wouldn't be hazardous or too heavy!
Of course people will blame President Bush, no matter what happens. They just invent ways to do that it seems!!
Cpl M,
dont mind that you changed it and I look forward to your email.
Cpl M,
Once again you've had a negligent discharge of your mouth/keyboard. LOL
UpArmoring Humvee's started back around (or just before) the days of the missions into Bosnia and Kosovo. The liberals didn't have much to do with it.
The Humvee is an inadequate platform to conduct combat operations from, either offensive or defensive. It was never meant for the use it's seeing in OIF or OEF. Its a LIGHT UTILITY vehicle, not a APC or AFV.
Numerous people have pointed this out as far back as Somalia, do a little googling and I'm sure you can find it.
Maybe if the damn DOD would cut back on the # of F22's or new Subs we could be buying some real combat vehicles and perhaps even switch back to 7.62mm rifles (5.56mm works but poorly).
Regards,
DA (Also serving.)
DA,
Negligent discharge? You'll excuse me if I take a bit of offense at your comment.
I never stated that Iraq was the first time we armored the Humvee. The Humvees used in Iraq during the first phases of the war were not armored. That changed once IEDs came into play. Yes, the liberals had everything to do with it in this case.