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| Afghanistan |
| Senior U.S. commander restricts Humvee use in Afghanistan |
| 2010-07-02 |
| The once-ubiquitous Humvee may become a rare sight in some parts of Afghanistan following a decision by the senior U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan to restrict the use of the vehicles in the field. Maj. Gen. John Campbell, commander of Joint Task Force-101, ordered this week that the use of Humvee vehicles outside a military base would have to specifically be approved by a colonel -- one of the most senior field grade positions in the military. Prior to this, the use of High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV, or Humvee) had to be approved by a lower-ranking officer, according to Task Force spokesman Maj. Patrick Seiber. Seiber said the decision was not specifically in reaction to a number of deadly IED attacks on troops in recent weeks, but is part of trying to improve protection for the force. The Humvee is heavily armored, but its flat bottom and low-to-the-ground profile has made it particularly vulnerable to attacks using improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. In recent years, the military has fielded a new series of armored vehicles with V-shaped hulls to deflect the blast of roadside bombs, but even some of those have been destroyed in large-scale attacks. Campbell's decision comes amid the release of figures showing that June has been the deadliest month of the war for the coalition across Afghanistan, with 101 coalition troops killed and about 400 U.S. troops wounded. Casualties due to IED attacks continue to skyrocket. The Pentagon reports that in May 2010, the latest data available, the number of coalition forces -- including Afghans -- that were killed or wounded by IED attacks was 284, more than double the 104 killed or wounded in the same month last year. The number of overall IED attacks reached 1,128, compared to 513 in May 2009. The Pentagon statistics on IEDs include Afghan troop casualties because those units are suffering very high attacks rates, according to the Pentagon. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #4 Why does it take so long to figure out the obvious--Humvees are anything but bombproof, but what do we constantly do? Patrol in Humvees. Seriously, I am so weary of hearing stories about this stuff. We have no stated winning strategy and just keep getting picked off. Goodnight U.S. Commanders, your disengenious, slow response in a kill zone part and parcel of a war that keeps grinding on has thoroughly sickened me again. |
| Posted by: Hugh Jass 2010-07-02 22:24 |
| #3 PID is bullshit.I don't care who you are if gunfire comes from your direction at me and doesn't kill me then you are dead as shit. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-07-02 19:08 |
| #2 Drop the 'PID' requirement and drop it NOW! (Requirement to have Pos ID of hostile fire) |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-07-02 15:49 |
| #1 60 US troops killed in June. This is around the average in Iraq at the peak of the guerrilla war there. Afghanistan is no longer a backwater conflict. They had better get those ROE's fixed if they don't want KIA's in the triple digits. Funny how the media's no longer harping on the number of deaths, now that Ogabe's president. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2010-07-02 13:32 |