Study: Lack of MRAPs cost Marine lives

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of U.S. Marines have been killed or injured by roadside bombs in Iraq because Marine Corps bureaucrats refused an urgent request in 2005 from battlefield commanders for blast-resistant vehicles, an internal military study concludes.

The study, written by a civilian Marine Corps official and obtained by The Associated Press, accuses the service of "gross mismanagement" that delayed deliveries of the mine-resistant, ambush-protected trucks for more than two years.

Cost was a driving factor in the decision to turn down the request for the so-called MRAPs, according to the study. Stateside authorities saw the hulking vehicles, which can cost as much as a $1 million each, as a financial threat to programs aimed at developing lighter vehicles that were years from being fielded.

After Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared the MRAP (pronounced M-rap) the Pentagon's No. 1 acquisition priority in May 2007, the trucks began to be shipped to Iraq in large quantities.

The vehicles weigh as much as 40 tons and have been effective at protecting American forces from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the weapon of choice for Iraqi insurgents. Only four U.S. troops have been killed by such bombs while riding in MRAPs; three of those deaths occurred in older versions of the vehicles.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080215/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/marines_mrap_deadly_delay

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Findings of study on military MRAPs By The Associated Press

• A February 2005 "urgent" request from a Marine Corps commander in western Iraq for nearly 1,200 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles became bogged down in bureaucracy when it reached the United States.

• Rather than send the more expensive MRAPs, which cost as much as a $1 million each, the Marine Corps decided Humvees with more armor were the best solution to beating increasingly powerful improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

~snip~


• The defense industry could have begun rapidly producing MRAPs if the Marine Corps had told contractors they wanted the heavy vehicles in large numbers.

• By March 2007, with IEDs causing the majority of deaths and injuries to U.S. troops in Iraq, the Marine Corps commandant made sending the MRAPs to Marines a top priority.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080215/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/deadly_delay_glance_1

[gateley]

1. We owe Joe Biden a thanks for getting the MRAPs to our troops. He was strongly

opposed but refused to budge until it was included in the budget.

What I find appalling, is that they didn't want to SPEND THE MONEY on these. Shows what the priorities are.

And that reminds me, Biden's dad used to tell him "don't tell me what you "care" about - show me your budget." Excellent example in the MRAP instance -- we care about the troops, but don't want to spend money on them.

Despicable behavior from our representatives.

[maddezmom]

2. agree, and I didn't realize the author had requested whistleblower protection

Gayl filed for whistle-blower protection in May with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel. He said he was threatened with disciplinary action after meeting with congressional staff on Capitol Hill.

Biden and Bond rebuked the Marine Corps in September for "apparent retaliation" against Gayl.


from more indepth article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/15/AR2008021502331_4.html

[Muttocracy]

7. wow, shame upon shame nt

[Arctic Dave]

3. Maybe

How about not having marines occupy another country illegally. I bet that would have saved all of them and would have cost zip. If they can take out an M1A1 tank I don't think these things will do much better.

[ConcernedCanuk]

4. Nothing, absolutely nothing can protect the invaders - the occupied citizens will kill them.

.
.
.
USA is an invader, occupier, torturer and murderer.

When a people watch their friends, family and loved ones blown to pieces, tortured, imprisoned and generally abused by an occupying force

They will not stop until they have killed the occupying forces, or driven them out.

So as long as the USA is in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other country as an aggressive presence, they will kill them, even if they kill themselves in the process.

There IS a simple solution.

YANKKEE GO HOME!

[east texas lib]

5. It's Business as usual...

Remember the shenanigans that went on with the Bradley IFV?

[Sam Ervin jret]

6. you send you soldiers to die with the crap equipment you have, isn't that what Rummy told us

Funny, I didn't see him or his riding around Iraq in crap equipment.

[Muttocracy]

8. pretty much

http://biden.senate.gov/newsroom/details.cfm?id=229939 (Dec 2004)

“The Secretary was asked about the shortage of body armor and armored vehicles. One National Guard scout from Tennessee talked about scrounging for scrap metal to protect his vehicle. In fact, a spokesman for that Guardsman's unit said that 95% of the unit's 300 trucks were not properly armored.

“Here's what Secretary Rumsfeld replied: "All the armor in the world" might not save you from a roadside bomb. By that logic, we should send our troops into battle on bicycles.

“And here's the kicker. Secretary Rumseld said "you go to war with the army you have, not army you might want or wish to have at a later time."

“Mr. Secretary: We did not go to war with the "army we have." Many of us, including our leading uniformed generals, urged you to go to war with a large ground force; you were determined to prove your theory we could fight light, with high tech weapons and drones and special forces. You went to war with a fraction of the ‘army we have.’ And that's made our troops’ mission even harder and more dangerous."

[JPZenger]

9. Had to Drive Thin-Skinned Amphibious vehicles in the desert

A year after the invasion, it was absurd to watch the news and see the Marines having to drive amphibious vehicles in the middle of the desert. These vehicles were old to start with and were never designed for long-range transport or for desert warfare. They also were thin-skinned and not bomb resistant.

These vehicles were mainly designed to be launched from ships and deliver Marines on a beach. The Marines were not equipped to hold territory and fight insurgents - they were equipped to land and quickly defeat an enemy.

That is why the Marines Commandant last year asked that they be shifted to Afghanistan. Bush's response was to send more Marines to Afghanistan, but to also keep them in Iraq.

[Muttocracy]

10. thanks for your service and insight nt