The last time I deployed, maybe one in five of our HMMWVs were up-armored. I remember initially rolling to the border of Kuwait and Iraq in a four seater, cloth-covered M-1097. It looked just like this one, only painted in desert tan.
Thankfully, prior to crossing the border for the invasion into Iraq, our First Sergeant swapped trucks with us since we were going to be on the front lines of the invasion and needed more armor. We didn’t get an armored truck, but we got the 1036 model which was hard-topped to at least SLOW the bullets down and prevent some shrapnel from coming through the material.
As you know, I was injured in Iraq and wasn’t able to deploy for a long time. Even with this deployment, I had to request and fight for a waiver. Now that I’m here, I don’t even recognize most of the vehicles in the Army inventory. Keep in mind, for many years I wasn’t in the conventional forces, so I didn’t have your typical motor pool. Our vehicles were up-armored civilian 4-wheel drive trucks.
The Army has come a long way from the days of deploying with “the Army you have, not the one you want.” Our trucks are now so well armored that we’re able to bring more troops home. And they’re mean looking. I don’t think we have one HMMWV in our unit. We use MATVs, MaxxPros, and RG-31 MRAP something or others (I saw one today for the first time). I’m happy to see that our country is doing what it takes to keep our Soldiers alive.
This image was taken today while prepping for a convoy to another FOB.
