Thanks in large part to Joe Biden's fighting like a pit bull on this issue and not letting go until funding was approved.
It is shameful that he was met with a lot of resistance because of the COST! :grr:
And before you get going, I agree that we need them HOME. But until this administration -- or the next -- starts the ball rolling :grr:, everything we can provide to make it a little safer for our troops is to be appreciated.
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By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Troops traveling in the military's new Mine Resistant Ambush Protected trucks have survived attacks from the most lethal explosives in Iraq, according to military commanders and a Pentagon report.
Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of Multi-National Division-Central troops south of Baghdad, said his soldiers are facing more attacks from explosively formed penetrators (EFPs). These weapons fire a molten slug of metal that can slice through armor even on tanks. MRAPs also have withstood blasts from huge improvised explosive devices (IEDs) deeply buried in roads.
GROWING CONCERN: IEDs spread beyond Iraq, Afghanistan
"The MRAPs, in addition to increasing the survivability of our soldiers from underbelly attacks, also have improved force protection for EFP attacks as well," Lynch said. "So I've had EFPs hit my MRAPs and the soldiers inside, in general terms, are OK."
Lynch's soldiers received their first MRAPs in November and now have 323, Maj. Alayne Conway, a military spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. Lynch blamed Shiite extremists for the rise in EFP attacks.
more....
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-04-03-MRAPs_N.htm?csp=34
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