BETTY ANN BOWSER: Not only are the guardsmen training for new skills, they're also leaving behind old skills, and that has sparked criticism. Until recently, the 81st was a heavy armor brigade, with big Abrams tanks and armored personnel carriers. Now the 81st and one other National Guard brigade are being trained for the mechanized infantry, and to move around using lighter trucks and Humvees. The Pentagon made the decision to leave most of the heavy armor behind because it felt troops could move around more easily in the smaller, less imposing Humvees.
LT. GEN. STEVEN BLUM: Tanks are intimidating at least, and they're actually too heavy, too large, and too cumbersome for the missions. You don't need to button up in a tank and be in an armored vault and be able to do your job. You're not going to be able to interface with the people. You're not going to have good situational awareness. You're certainly not going to build any relationships buttoned up in a vaulted armored tank.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: But moving around in Humvees without heavy armor also makes soldiers more vulnerable when they're attacked with bullets, rocket-propelled grenades, and improvised explosive devices, or IED's. More than 100 troops have been killed in Iraq by IED's since the end of the combat phase of the war. That accounts for about 40 percent of all casualties. Defense consultant Victor O'Reilly, an advisor to a member of the House Armed Services Committee, says the decision to leave heavy armor was a mistake.
VICTOR O'REILLY: Improvised explosive devices, RPG's, and rifle rounds wreak havoc on the human frame. You need armor. They're in harm's way, and some will die unnecessarily, in my judgment. If they had armored vehicles, fewer would be injured, fewer would die. It's very difficult. I think it's inexcusable.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Most of the National Guardsmen we talked to weren't quite sure what to think, especially the men who've been driving tanks for years.
SGT. JOHN HANCOCK: I've been a tanker since I've been in, going on 11 years. This... not really dismounted, but the infantry aspect of running around on Humvees is really new, but we are adjusting well.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: Do you think you're going to be as safe?
SGT. JOHN HANCOCK: The armament protection is not there, but our tactics are sound. We have some very good leaders, especially in our platoon.
SGT. CHRIS WELLS: You kind of get used to having that armament around you, kind of get this godlike feeling that nothing can hurt you. And now with the Humvees we have, the IED's, the mines that we're going up against... there's a definite sense of vulnerability there. The Humvees we have now, they don't have enough protection against certain IED's. The reports that we're getting are that they're getting bigger and better.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: The use of Humvees with no metal armor has become an issue with Brian and Alma Hart of Bedford, Massachusetts. Last year, they lost their son, PFC John Hart, when he was killed in Iraq.
BRIAN HART: He ran out of ammunition, and their vehicle had no armor or protection, and so they were essentially shot up in a vehicle with no doors or side paneling. And John was shot at least in the neck, and possibly in the shoulder as well. And his lieutenant was shot in the leg, left leg from the right side, because the bullets literally went through the vehicle, through his leg, and out the back of the vehicle.
BETTY ANN BOWSER: The Harts and other families who've lost loved ones in Humvee incidents have pressed the Pentagon to put metal plating on all the 11,000 Humvees in Iraq. So far, the military has plans to do that to almost half of those currently in use there, a process known as up-armoring. But it could be a year before the work is finished. The military has also accelerated production of new up-armored vehicles, but critics like O'Reilly say that won't provide enough protection.
VICTOR O'REILLY: The Humvee is essentially an SUV. It's a vehicle. It's a truck, if you will. It's not a fighting vehicle. It was never designed to be. It was designed as a transport vehicle which could go over rough terrain, and that's it. And by adding armor to it, by the way, you also restrict its mobility. It can't go off-road nearly as easily. So what you've got is a big, heavy lump that offers you some protection, but it's not adequate, in no way.
LT. GEN. STEVEN BLUM: An up-armored Humvee is not going to give the soldier inside that vehicle the same protection afforded by a tank. But you can't do the same job with an up-armored Humvee that you can do with a tank, or vice versa. If you need a tank, you need a tank. If you're looking at an armored vehicle to patrol urban areas, then the up-armored Humvee makes some sense. Let me tell you that there is... no one in uniform puts anything at a higher priority than protecting our soldiers. But putting someone inside a ballistic protected vault is not always the answer.