Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
FNC
February 27, 2008
Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: For some years, the debate over protection for U.S. troops in Iraq involved complaints that both body armor and vehicle armor were inadequate. The Pentagon has taken remedial steps in both cases, but now national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports some troops say their gear is so heavy it may be putting them in more danger.
JENNIFER GRIFFIN: Marine corporals like Bret Crow remember their buddies who died in Anbar. Each outpost pays tribute to the dead by putting their names on the base wall. When it comes to saving lives, the one thing partisans on Capitol Hill agree on is whatever it takes, protect the troops. But now that Congress has authorized millions of dollars to make body armor heavier and military vehicles impenetrable, some troops are saying stop. They are so heavily armored they can’t fight. Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles cost $1 million a piece, weight 40,000 pounds, and for the most part are too heavy to be used in Afghanistan on mountain roads and poorly constructed bridges. In 2006, before General James Conway became commandant, Marine procurers bought 84,000 flak jackets, known as modular tactical vests or MTV body armor, awarding a $34 million contract to Protective Products International in Sunrise, Florida.
CPL. BRET CROW [U.S. Marine Corps]: The problem with it is it’s way too heavy. I mean it’s way too heavy, bulky. The other ones were just real quick. If you needed to get it off it was ripped off. And this one is – I don’t even think that would fall off even if I ripped the quick release.
GRIFFIN: The vests have additional armored side plates and a new quick-release rip cord that many said got caught on their vehicles and caused the vests to fall apart.
CROW: Everyone I’ve talked to said it was too heavy. All the infantry guys that I know say that they like the old ones better.
GRIFFIN: Begging the question: How much armor is too much armor when you need to fight? The Marine commandant refused to wear the new vest on a trip to Iraq last week. We followed suit, using the old interceptor vests.
GEN. JAMES CONWAY [U.S. Marine Corps Commandant]: I had an email come in from my commander at Quantico who said they’re about to make a purchase for the remaining 24,000 of those vests, and I said, okay, time out, stop.
GRIFFIN: The procurers at Quantico now have heard the complaints loud and clear, we were told in a statement. “In Desert Storm, we wore flak jackets that were a fraction of the weight of the lighter vest we wore before the MTV. They wouldn’t, however, stop a bullet or even a knife, so if we were going to a gunfight, I know what piece of gear I’d take” – meaning the new vest.
CONWAY: Marines don’t like it, in the final analysis. I didn’t like it when I wore it. It is pounds heavier. I’m not quite sure exactly how we got to where we are. What I do know is that it’s not a winner, and I think it’s foolish to buy more.
GRIFFIN: And so now they are not. Traveling with the Marine commandant, Jennifer Griffin, Fox News.
HUME: And Jennifer continues her series of reports from Iraq and Afghanistan tomorrow. She interviews a soldier whose whole leg was amputated. He’s back in Iraq and back in the fight.
February 27, 2008
Special Report With Brit Hume (FNC), 6:00 PM
BRIT HUME: For some years, the debate over protection for U.S. troops in Iraq involved complaints that both body armor and vehicle armor were inadequate. The Pentagon has taken remedial steps in both cases, but now national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports some troops say their gear is so heavy it may be putting them in more danger.
JENNIFER GRIFFIN: Marine corporals like Bret Crow remember their buddies who died in Anbar. Each outpost pays tribute to the dead by putting their names on the base wall. When it comes to saving lives, the one thing partisans on Capitol Hill agree on is whatever it takes, protect the troops. But now that Congress has authorized millions of dollars to make body armor heavier and military vehicles impenetrable, some troops are saying stop. They are so heavily armored they can’t fight. Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles cost $1 million a piece, weight 40,000 pounds, and for the most part are too heavy to be used in Afghanistan on mountain roads and poorly constructed bridges. In 2006, before General James Conway became commandant, Marine procurers bought 84,000 flak jackets, known as modular tactical vests or MTV body armor, awarding a $34 million contract to Protective Products International in Sunrise, Florida.
CPL. BRET CROW [U.S. Marine Corps]: The problem with it is it’s way too heavy. I mean it’s way too heavy, bulky. The other ones were just real quick. If you needed to get it off it was ripped off. And this one is – I don’t even think that would fall off even if I ripped the quick release.
GRIFFIN: The vests have additional armored side plates and a new quick-release rip cord that many said got caught on their vehicles and caused the vests to fall apart.
CROW: Everyone I’ve talked to said it was too heavy. All the infantry guys that I know say that they like the old ones better.
GRIFFIN: Begging the question: How much armor is too much armor when you need to fight? The Marine commandant refused to wear the new vest on a trip to Iraq last week. We followed suit, using the old interceptor vests.
GEN. JAMES CONWAY [U.S. Marine Corps Commandant]: I had an email come in from my commander at Quantico who said they’re about to make a purchase for the remaining 24,000 of those vests, and I said, okay, time out, stop.
GRIFFIN: The procurers at Quantico now have heard the complaints loud and clear, we were told in a statement. “In Desert Storm, we wore flak jackets that were a fraction of the weight of the lighter vest we wore before the MTV. They wouldn’t, however, stop a bullet or even a knife, so if we were going to a gunfight, I know what piece of gear I’d take” – meaning the new vest.
CONWAY: Marines don’t like it, in the final analysis. I didn’t like it when I wore it. It is pounds heavier. I’m not quite sure exactly how we got to where we are. What I do know is that it’s not a winner, and I think it’s foolish to buy more.
GRIFFIN: And so now they are not. Traveling with the Marine commandant, Jennifer Griffin, Fox News.
HUME: And Jennifer continues her series of reports from Iraq and Afghanistan tomorrow. She interviews a soldier whose whole leg was amputated. He’s back in Iraq and back in the fight.