Better armor

[Walt's Daughter]

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer Fri Aug 12, 5:00 PM ET

 

WASHINGTON - More and better armor on trucks and other U.S. military supply vehicles in

 

Iraq has reduced casualties in supply convoys, even as roadside bomb attacks on the convoys have doubled, the general in charge of the logistics network says.

 

 

All vehicles used in supply convoys now have some degree of armor protection, and non-armored vehicles are restricted to secure bases, Brig. Gen. Yves J. Fontaine, commander of the 1st Corps Support Command, said Friday.

 

"Because we've up-armored our vehicles, the casualties have decreased significantly, even though the IED attacks have increased significantly," he said, using the initials for "improvised explosive devices," or roadside bombs. The number of bomb strikes on supply convoys has doubled to about 30 per week, he said.

 

"So now our soldiers are safe in their Humvees and their trucks, and they walk out of the incidents when the incident occurs," he said.

 

The 30 attacks per week that he cited are a relatively small part of the broader insurgent violence, which frequently includes the use of land mines and small arms as well as mortars launched against fixed sites such as the air base where Fontaine has his headquarters. U.S. military officials say there are about 500 attacks a week across Iraq, on average.

 

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from Balad air base north of Baghdad, Fontaine offered no figures to illustrate lower convoy casualties from roadside bombs. A spokesman for his command, Maj. Sean Wilson, said in a telephone interview later from Balad that there had been no recent fatalities from IED attacks on 1st Corps Support Command convoys, but he had no specific figures available.

 

Wilson said that when Fontaine took command last November his top priority was improving armor protection for supply troops, many of whom travel main supply routes from Kuwait that are targeted by insurgents.

 

In early December the issue of inadequate armor got wider attention when a soldier with the Tennessee Army National Guard asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during a stop in Kuwait why troops preparing for duty in Iraq had to scrounge in junkyards for scrap metal to armor their vehicles.

 

Rumsfeld replied that the Army was doing all that was possible to provide more armor, although the exchange with the soldier is now better remembered for a phrase Rumsfeld uttered during a lengthy reply: "You go to war with the Army you have, not with the Army you might want or wish to have."

 

Fontaine said that although the armor protection for his soldiers is much improved, they are still adding armor to their fleet of M915-series tractor trailers.

 

"Bottom line: all our trucks are up-armored when they go out the gate to different levels, which protects our soldiers," he said.

 

To a degree, the addition of lifesaving armor to the thousands of combat, support and other vehicles in Iraq has worsened the logistics challenge for Fontaine. The extra weight on the vehicles creates more maintenance problems and lowers gas mileage, which means Fontaine must acquire and distribute more spare parts and fuel.

 

In mentioning that the number of roadside bomb attacks against his troops had grown to an average of 30 a week, Fontaine did not elaborate except to say that most of the strikes are in the Sunni Triangle north and west of Baghdad.

 

"Our main threat is the IED for the logistics convoys coming from Kuwait, Jordan and Turkey, and then going to the Baghdad area," Fontaine said.

 

He also said his force, which numbers about 18,500 troops based at five main hubs, has responsibility for helping the Iraqis develop their own military logistics system to sustain their combat forces.

 

So far two of the three existing Iraqi motorized transportation regiments are capable of operating on their own, Fontaine said. The goal is to have nine or 10 fully independent Iraqi support regiments by this time next year, he added.