Free Republic

CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq — When Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Summers arrived last fall, the Army knew he’d be able save lives. The 7th Transportation Battalion asked the ship hull technician to attach makeshift steel plates to trucks and Humvees. Poorly protected vehicles had been coming under fire every time they left this central logisitics hub for points all over Iraq. Many of the vehicles did not have the extra protection of “armor-up” kits. And the Army didn’t have enough to go around. “I’m a welder by trade,” said Summers, a 33-year-old Naval reservist from Frisco, Calif. “When I got...

Seabee Ingenuity Creates New OIF Vehicle ArmorStory Number: NNS040504-08Release Date: 5/4/2004 7:16:00 PMBy Chief Journalist Siegfried Bruner, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group Public AffairsCAMP MOREELL, Kuwait (NNS) -- Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 74 used ingenuity and initiative to fabricate vehicle protection for convoys heading into harm’s way during Operation Iraqi Freedom in April. Steelworker 1st Class (SCW) Jeffrey Ballas and a crew of eight other steelworkers from NMCB 74 developed an enterprising armor concept and presented the cardboard templates to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group (MEG) for review. Once the brainstorm was approved,...

The U.S. Army fielded the HMMWV (or “Humvee,” as we call it) in 1983. At that time, the Humvee represented the pinnacle of automotive technology. Over the last 21 years however, the Humvee has begun to grow long in the tooth. In 1991 the Army began fielding the M998A2 model, which addressed some of the concerns voiced by units after Operation Desert Storm. The A2 version of the M998 accounts for less than half of the Humvee fleet however, and despite efforts in the mid 1990’s to rebuild the aging fleet, cost ultimately precluded the proposals execution (see a related...

BAGHDAD — The ideal, soldiers say, is that no one in Iraq should have to go outside the wire in anything less than M-1114 factory up-armored Humvee. The reality is, little more than 20 percent of Humvees in Iraq are armored, and some soldiers trust their survival to a few sandbags and steel sheets. Until the ideal is attainable, Master Sgt. Dennis P. Lichtenberg is striving to create the best-protected Humvees short of an M-1114. Lichtenberg has invented a system he calls “The Lick Kit,” a play on his nickname “Lick,” pinned on by fellow reservists from the Pensacola, Fla.-based...