Journey long, demand high for MRAP amid cut

[unhappycamper]

Journey long, demand high for MRAP amid cut
By Tom Vanden Brook - USA Today
Posted : Monday Dec 17, 2007 12:32:08 EST

BAGHDAD — When the new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle rolled over a roadside bomb on Thanksgiving, the explosion shredded the right front tire, gouged the passenger door, destroyed the radiator and shattered the windshield’s thick ballistic glass.

But Army Sgt. Peter Rosie, perched atop the vehicle in the gunner’s turret, survived with only a minor concussion. No one else was hurt; Rosie returned to duty.

Rosie, 45, a New York City firefighter who re-enlisted after the Sept. 11 attacks, was glad he had not been in an armored Humvee, the standard combat vehicle since early in the Iraq war.

“There would have been a lot more damage,” he said. “I might have been killed. The MRAP saved my life.”

MRAPs are designed to save lives. Their chassis, high off the ground, and their V-shaped hulls deflect the explosive force of roadside bombs away from the vehicles’ occupants. Such improvised explosive devices account for at least 60 percent of U.S. combat deaths in Iraq, the Pentagon said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/gns_mrap_071217/