Thank you for your service to our country.
I have no stock or other interest in any of these companies
I have no financial interest in General Dynamics Land Systems or United Defense. I am interested in their products and how those products do or don't get to the troops.
nor am I as jaded as you.
Perhaps you haven't been listening to the "tracks vs. wheels" debate as long as I have.
I think that trying to make an armored vehicle out of a light truck like the humvee is stupid.
I think "stupid" is too harsh. Many armored vehicles are based on trucks. We probably both agree that a purpose-built wheeled armored vehicle with a V-shaped, blast deflecting hull would be better than the M1114.
But a few sandbags on the floor protected from mines and if you tripped one you had to change a track - not go to a bunch of funerals.
I wasn't in Vietnam, but I have seen a lot of pictures of M113's with the crew riding on top because they preferred being shot to being blown up. Sandbags on the floor are a good idea, but don't completely solve the problem.
One question that doesn't get addressed much is why we have M113's parked in Kuwait and Iraq in the first place, instead of in daily use.