Marines halt study critical of MRAP program

[babylonsister]

Marines halt study critical of MRAP program
By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY


WASHINGTON — The Marine Corps has ordered a civilian scientist to stop work on a report critical of its efforts to obtain new armored vehicles, saying he exceeded his authority, a Marine official said Tuesday.

Franz Gayl, a retired Marine officer and civilian science adviser, alleged in a Jan. 22 report that "gross mismanagement" of the program to quickly field Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles had resulted in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of Marines in Iraq. Gayl had planned to continue his investigation.

"He's been told to stop any further work," said Col. David Lapan, a Marine spokesman. "It's gotten beyond its initial purpose."

Lapan said Gayl exceeded his authority by writing about MRAPs because the proposal that requested the report never specifically mentioned the new armored vehicles by name.

Today, top Marine generals will appear before a House Armed Services subcommittee to testify about the Corps' budget request and the status of the Marines' MRAP program. Rep. Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat and subcommittee chairman, said he would ask about the Gayl report.

Gayl's report was first made public by the Associated Press on Feb. 15. The report said Marine procurement officers spurned requests from commanders in Iraq for blast-resistant vehicles because they didn't want to derail other projects.

more...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-02-26-marines_N.htm?csp=34

[Gold Metal Flake]

1. I'm confused...

Has the effectiveness of MRAP vehicles been called into question? Or, is it that units in the field have not beeen able to get them?

[babylonsister]

2. I saw a report on this last night on Olbermann.

The MRAPs are effective, but it took the Pentagon or whomever was responsible 6+ years to get them into the field. They realized troops were dying, and no one seemed to care.

Yesterday, Marines wanted a probe. Today they're trying to squash it.

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Marines want probe into armored vehicle program delays


From Barbara Starr

(CNN) -- Casualties could have been reduced by half among Marines in Iraq if specially armored vehicles had been deployed more quickly in some cases, a report to the Pentagon says.

Marine Corps spokesman Col. David Lapan said the Defense Department's inspector general wants to investigate the report's claims that bureaucratic delays undermined the program to develop the armored vehicles.

The program was designed to provide combat forces with Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, known by the acronym MRAPs.

The Marine Corps requested an investigation last week after receiving Marine technology expert Franz Gayl's report.

"If the mass procurement and fielding of MRAPs had begun in 2005 in response to the known and acknowledged threats at that time, as the USMC is doing today, hundreds of deaths and injuries could have been prevented," Gayl wrote in the report.

more...

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/26/iraq.main/

[bdamomma]

3. Senator Biden will not be too enthusiast about this.

he has been very involved with the MRAP situation.