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FORWARD OPERATING BASE SWORD, Kuwait, April 26, 2006 – Participants in the Joint Civilian Orientation Conference got a taste of what U.S. forces running convoys through Iraq experience every day as they took positions on Humvees and navigated the hazards of a counter-improvised explosive device training course here. The participants, civilian business, civic and academic leaders from around the United States, donned flak vests and Kevlar helmets before maneuvering with Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit through the notional Al Bassayab province of Iraq. Their 13-vehicle convoy's mission was to deliver materials from Forward Operating Base Dagger to Forward...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2006 – Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England called on what he called some of the best minds in the country today to help come up with new solutions to the threat improvised explosive devices pose to U.S. troops. Speaking to some 600 leaders from industry, academia, the national laboratories and all branches of the military at a two-day industry conference focused on the IED threat, England challenged participants to find better ways to counter what has become terrorists' weapon of choice in Iraq and, more recently, Afghanistan. "We owe it to the troops," he told the group....