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AMC delivers lifesaving armor for Humvees

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (USTCNS) --- The streets of Iraq cannot be traveled lightly. The challenge of moving a convoy is not only dangerous, it can be fatal. Insurgents use rocket propelled grenades and roadside bombs to attack coalition forces while in their Humvees. But until now, when American Soldiers and Marines survived their reward was the chance to do it all over again, day after day, hoping their vehicles can withstand the terrorist strikes. That is until now.

Sgt. Maj. Dale W. Miller, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, St. Louis, Mo., survived just such a frightening experience last March and recalls his brush with death. His convoy ran into four roadside bombs built from mortar and artillery rounds.

"There were big explosions. I was inside the blast radius on the first bomb, but left without a scratch," said Sergeant Major Miller. "Death came knocking at our door that day, but we denied him access."

Despite his windshield being pounded by golf ball-sized pieces of shrapnel, the sergeant major and his fellow Marines were able to walk away because their Humvees had been equipped with armor survivability kits delivered by Air Mobility Command.

Lt. Col. Steve Westerback, chief of the Contingency Division, Tanker Airlift Control Center, Scott Air Force Base, Ill., described the "factory-to-foxhole" transportation effort.

"The armor kits are moved from the factory locations to one of three on-load locations: Travis AFB, Calif., Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, or Tinker AFB, Okla. Once we receive validation from the U.S. Transportation Command, the kits are moved overseas on commercial airlift and then to the warfighter via C-17s. The typical commercial carrier moves 85 tons of armor kits per load with a delivery to the theater within 72 hours," said Colonel Westerback.

Developed and manufactured by the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division and the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, the kits include armored doors with ballistic resistant windows and seatback protectors that provide greater survivability, and can be installed in about two hours for standard Humvees.

For Sergeant Major Miller and his fellow Marines, the timing could not have been better. "By the Grace of God, we have no casualties. We are alive and uninjured because the armored doors and reinforced glass on the windshields worked."

According to USTRANSCOM officials, the "armor is still flowing" to the warfighters, to help protect military forces in the line of fire.

Office of Public Affairs - transcom-pa@mail.mil
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