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| Staff Sgt. Leonard Bergantzel, a track mechanic for the 286th Ordnance Company, uses a blow torch to fabricate a piece of side armor inside the maintenance support team's workshop on Kirkuk Air Base Aug. 18. The side armor will be used to protect Soldiers situated in the rear of cargo HMMWVs. (Photo by Spc. Sean Kimmons, 25th ID (L) PAO) | |
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KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq – In order to prevent injuries or deaths due to small arms fire and improvised explosive devices, add-on armor kits are being installed onto many 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division (Light), High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles here.
An eight-Soldier maintenance support team (MST) from the 286th Ordnance Company, Nebraska National Guard, affixes these kits onto HMMWVs six days a week.
As part of their mission here since April, the MST has installed more than 350 add-on armor (AOA) kits, 100 ballistic windshields along with a long list of other up-armor needs for 2nd BCT units.
Spc. Marcos Moreno, a heavy-wheel mechanic for the 286th Ordnance Company, has played a part in this vast mission and knows what his team does out here will help shield fellow Soldiers who go outside the gates.
“There are a lot of hazards out there,” Moreno said. “You’ve got people shooting AK-47s at you and IEDs going off, so it’s good to have some sort of protection.”
The armor in the AOA kits has been tested to withstand a .50 caliber gunshot while the kit’s windows can take a shot from a 7.62 mm round.
A two-door AOA kit can be installed in about 45 minutes and adds another 900 pounds to a HMMWV. A four-door AOA kit can take up to two and a half hours to mount and adds 1,300 pounds.
The AOA kits were established in response to an Operational Need Statement from U.S. Central Command's Combined Joint Task Force 7, who requested increased survivability for Soldiers mounted in "non-armored" HMMWVs operating in theater.
Before these AOA kits, Soldiers’ only defense against insurgent actions were their Interceptor Body Armor, Kevlar helmets and the HMMWV’s soft doors, in which, shrapnel or bullets could easily rip through.
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| Spc. Ryan Koehn, a mortarman with Alpha Company, Task Force 1-21 Infantry, pulls security behind an add-on armor door during a mission in Kirkuk. These steel armor doors have been tested to withstand a shot from a .50 caliber round while the window can take a shot from a 7.62 mm round. (Photo by Spc. Sean Kimmons, 25th ID (L) PAO) |
