Armor

[Andy]

Don?t mean to beat a dead horse, especially on such a sad day but this needs to be said. Some people in as well as out of congress have spent a lot of time beating the drum saying our troops are not well enough equipped. One of the big complaints, as you all know, has been that humvee?s (a juiced up jeep) aren?t armored well enough.

Today a Marine AAV was destroyed by a roadside bomb. Unfortunately 14 Marines were killed in the explosion. A tragic incident indeed. For those who don?t know, an AAV is something like a pregnant APC, larger, more armor and more seaworthy. If one of these road side bombs ripped apart an AAV, killing all on board, an extra armor kit attached to a humvee will accomplish what?

Having ridden on two APC?s that were blown up, (one with an anti-tank mine, one with RPGs) I can tell you we did things to try to make them safer. But deep down we knew it was psychological on our part, sort of like removing the buttons from your shirt so you could get closer to the ground.

Those beefed up armor kits remind me of all the extra security we have at airports that pick out grandmothers on crutches for special searches. Common sense should not be used sparingly.

Stay healthy,
Andy