MRAPs

I recently learned that we're going to be rolling in all MRAPs once we get in country. I'm not sure I approve of this. (Not that my opinion as a near-expendable junior enlisted soldier matters to anyone.) For those who don't know, MRAPs are Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles. Originally it was a Marine Corps acquisition program for replacing HMMWVs. From all the reports I've read, the V-hulls and extra armor do a fine job of protecting my buddies out there from IED attacks. But I'm not convinced that it's nothing but improvements over the humvee.

Firstly, it's a big damn vehicle. There's several issues with this, but most important for Civil Affairs types is the potential for hampering our mission. It's pretty intimidating, which cuts us off from the civilian population. And it fucks up roads something good, which we then have to turn around and get fixed or risk pissing people off.

Second, there's also a loss of mobility and the extra logistics support needed, both because it sucks up more resourceas and because it's fairly new.

Third, I haven't been trained on anything close to the 14 to 20 top-heavy tons some of these things weigh. I've barely been trained on a humvee...if you ask me to drive one of these things, there's a pretty damn good chance for a potentially fatal rollover accident. I'm sure we'll have some training when we get to Kuwait, and damn do I hope it'll be enough.

And finally, there's only so much extra protection you can get by just adding more armor. EFPs will still chunk it and concussion will still be knocking people's brains around.

When we get to the next war, will IEDs still be such a big problem that we'll need all of these massive trucks? I'm far from omniscient, but I'm guessing there wasn't much serious cost-benefit analysis put into this. It's reactive behavior, and reactive behavior doesn't win wars. If that sounds cold, I'll say it again: I'm the guy gonna be riding in one of these. Decide on your own if this program sounds like it's worth it...Congress is writing the checks, after all.