Armor shell games & body bags

WND ^ | February 4, 2004 | Tom Marzullo

[Cannoneer No. 4]

The S.A.G.™ Turret has been designed as a lightweight shielded turret for the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle ("HMMWV", commonly pronounced Hum-Vee). US Global is designing similar units for NATO and Coalition Forces vehicles including Land Rover and Unimog vehicles.

The S.A.G.™ Turret weighs less than 200 pounds and offers rapid rotational capability. Traditional armored turrets are far too heavy and impede a gunner's ability to effectively and rapidly rotate the turret during battle situations.

The S.A.G.™ Turret is approximately 4 feet in diameter, is designed to interface precisely with military HMMWV rotating turret rings and can be installed by two people in less than one hour using common hand tools.

The S.A.G.™ Turret, made primarily of USGN's proprietary G-Lam™ nano-fiber material, is designed to be impervious to petroleum distillates and to maintain performance at temperatures in excess of 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

In one test using 7.62 cal ammunition, six successive strikes near the same spot did not penetrate the armor, outperforming ceramic faceplates in conventional composite systems. The S.A.G.™ Turret is available immediately for controlled export to allied countries with U.S. government approval.

The durability, strength and low weight of the S.A.G.™ Turret System comes from US Global Nanospace's G-Lam™ nano-fiber anti-ballistic material. G-Lam™ is created with a patent-pending computer-designed weaving process that results in a crimp-free material with tensile performance far superior to common anti-ballistic composite materials. US Global designs each G-Lam™ nano-scale weave to address specific threat characterizations.

[PsyOp]

Doubt me if you wish. Tonight I'll be putting round through my 1911 Colt.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

[Cannoneer No. 4]

More new Humvees, armoring kits are making their way to Iraq

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Going to fight in Iraq? Lessons from an infantry company commander

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Up-Armored Humvees Still a Priority

[Cannoneer No. 4]

After the Civil War, someone asked General Pickett why the Battle of Gettysburg had been lost: Was it Lee's error in taking the offensive, the tardiness of Ewell and Early, or Longstreet's hesitation in attacking? Pickett scratched his head and replied, "I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it."

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Army questioning soldiers' plan to armor vehicles

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Soldiers modify vehicles for convoy defense

[PsyOp]

Great quote. But I cannot even begin to tell you how angry that article has made me. Sh**head pencil pushers are going to get troops killed.

There is absolutely excuse for this. I am ready to accept her being hurt in the course of normal combat ops. But in this case, the unit had the opportunity to buy armor for it's vehicles with approved funds, and were denied for NO GOOD REASON!

If something happens to her that could have been prevented by this armor, I won't rest until I have someone's head on a spike. This is no idle bluster or threat. In fact, I plan to write a few Congressmen and Senators on this issue.

[Lurker]

What's up with this?

L

[Ranger]

Ernest, its true, I independently confirmed this last week. The situation is even more outrageous than presented here. I can cite two other examples of the same delay and denial. I wish it weren't so, but it is.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OK, I am not surprised, some heat needs to be applied.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I am agreeing with you!

[PsyOp]

Thanks.

[Lil'freeper]

ping

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Verify WND's facts - then trust.

Take for instance the very expensive "SAPI" ceramic body-armor inserts that have been in desperately short supply. The Army will be almost up to supplying the needs in combat areas this month (if suppliers meet their deadlines, but none of them are).

According to the head of 3rd Corps, all troops in Iraq now have SAPI. The supply convoy drivers travel from Kuwait to the Baghdad 15 hours a day on Iraqi Hwys to bring supplies to the troops. Over 180 have received purple hearts so far.

It is a big, complicated effort involving many.

There are powerful politicians without scruples using this as an election year issue - Senators who do nothing but criticize, hold up necessary funds, undermine the war effort...but CARE about the welfare of our troops.

PsyOp, please tell your daughter thanks for her service from a very grateful civilian.

8 An Iraq success story: SAPI plates ~ Interceptor body armor ~ Stars & Stripes | 1/31/04 | Lisa Burgess
8 CPA Briefing with Brig. Gen. Boles ~ DoD | 1/28/04
8 3rd Corps Support Command Delivers Goods for OIF Forces ~ DoD-AFPS | 1/28/04 | John D. Banusiewicz

[Ranger]

I'm afraid there is a real issue here and its not a political stunt. FYI on the ceramic body armor, the Pentagon promised congress after hearings were held exposing the problem, that all troops in Iraq would have it by 12/31/04. DoD didn't get in on the issue until Congress put a blow torch to them which to me is amazing as it would only be common sense from my perspective. DoD didn't make that deadline which is probably where the commentator gets a dig in on them in the article. The army also issued a misleading press release a few weeks ago announcing that all troops in country or in route had 'vest'. What it didn't say was that they didn't all have plates. I confirmed this from several first hand sources. What is happening is that the plates are behind schedule and being shipped directly to Iraq where they hopefully will join troops inbound and those outbound will hotswap their ceramic plates with their replacements. Hopefully we are close (weeks to months) to having the body armor issue resolved. The vehicular armor is a more severe problem and is not nearly resolved. Pure incompetence within the Army is the root cause of it. Marines are more together in addressing the issue. It is namely sole sourced by the army. If you need details I can supply them. I would recommend being pro-active on this issue because otherwise supply vehicles and humvees will get their budget swiped by more glamorous projects and we'll face another year of 500 or so KIAs.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Maybe the congressman can get some action going, but looks like the army is in CYA mode to a degree.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

The shortage of M1114's is being turned into a political issue by people with agendas I do not trust.

What better way to bring a war to a screeching halt than to convince the troops and their mothers that they have a right to a level of protection that cannot always and often should not be provided.