Back in early 2003, the United States army only had a hundred or so armored
trucks available for operations in Iraq. In the last 20 months, another 16,000
trucks in Iraq and Afghanistan have had armor added (15,000 Humvees, 450 medium
trucks and 650 heavy trucks). The Humvees are actually light trucks, and are
used not just to move people and supplies around, but to carry troops and
weapons to escort convoys of unarmored trucks. This is the heart of the current
controversy of the shortage of armored trucks. Currently most of the trucks in
Iraq and Afghanistan are not armored (5,000 Humvees, 4,300 medium and 3,600
heavy trucks). The drivers of the larger trucks want armor.
About a third
of the casualties in Iraq are from roadside bombs (IEDs, or Improvised Explosive
Devices in milspeak.) This is where the non-combat troops driving trucks are
most vulnerable. There are also a lot of ambushes with AK-47s and RPGs, but
these cause fewer casualties to truck drivers. There are 300-400 convoy
operations a day in Iraq, most of them being supply runs. This involves over
3,000 vehicles, and some 6,000 troops. The drivers of the trucks are usually
reservists, and finding themselves exposed to this kind of danger, when only
months earlier they were civilians, is a shock to the system. While non-combat
troops are trained to use their rifles, and other weapons, this is understood to
be for emergencies, not for a regular part of their job. Worse yet, the danger
is in the form of an ambush, usually from a roadside bomb. Casualties from these
attacks are relatively low, although soldiers who drive dangerous routes
regularly have about a five percent chance of getting killed or wounded during a
12 month tour. That's a very high casualty rate for non-combat troops, although
the reservist military police guarding many convoys were trained for this sort
of thing. Many of these army, marine and air force drivers take it as part of
the job. Not a pleasant job, but one they can be proud of. None of these men and
women want to get a Purple Heart, but if they do (and especially if they have no
permanent, or fatal, injuries), it?s something they can be proud of. Make no
mistake, when it comes to ?respect? in the military, it?s the combat troops who
are always at the top of the pecking order. A REMF (Rear-Echelon Mother?, as the
combat troops lovingly refer to their non-combat brethren) with a Purple Heart,
or even those who can say they ?rode the MSR (Main Supply Route) in Iraq,? will
get an approving nod from infantry veterans.
But right now, the truck
drivers are not all that concerned about respect. They are worried about flying
objects coming through the windshield or door of their truck when they least
expect it. Infantrymen are prepared psychologically for combat, non-combat
troops are not. You?ve got a lot of anxious truck drivers in Iraq. This is
especially true of the hundred or so drivers hauling ammo and fuel on any given
day. What has made the attacks more of an issue is the aftereffects of the
battle of Fallujah last month. Two weeks of combat caused over 2,000
anti-government fighters to be killed or captured. Several thousand more fled to
other areas in central Iraq. Now roadside bombs and ambushes are showing up on
routes that used to be safe, or increased the number of attacks on routes that
were already dangerous. The unarmored trucks are mainly used on the ?safe?
routes. Unarmored trucks are also used on dangerous routes, but they are located
in the convoy where they are less likely to suffer damage. Truck drivers are
seeing more violence and they want more protection.
The marine drivers
look at their army counterparts with some disdain. In the marines, ?every marine
is a rifleman.? That means every marine is expected to be ready to face the
enemy, and the danger that entails. The army has a lot of drivers who don?t mind
going into harms way, but would prefer to have a better chance of coming through
uninjured. The problem is that there?s no way the army can armor all their
trucks any time soon. It took 20 months to get 15,000 of them armored, and it
could take months to get the rest of them armored. While army commanders wish
they had marines as drivers, they don?t. The army drivers are concerned, and
will remain so until they have an armored truck to ride. In the meantime, more
attention will be paid to convoy protection. If you can keep your convoys away
from roadside bombs and ambushes, you make the drivers feel a lot better. But
for now, the word travels fast when a convoy is hit, and drivers are killed or
injured. The drivers can do the math, and know that for every twenty or so
convoys, a driver is killed or wounded. While odds like that would be popular in
the infantry, non-combat troops driving trucks want some more protection while
they face those kinds of risks.
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