Army Seeks To Replace Humvee In Urban Combat Role

One of the biggest mistakes of Donald Rumsfeld's poorly planned Iraq War, was the use of the lghtly protected Humvee as a sort of police patrol car in Iraq's urban combat. Donald Rumsfeld had been involved in planning for the Iraq War since 1997 according to his participation with the Project For The New American Century as documents on their Website will clearly prove. Yet Rumsfeld seemed to spend little effort to plan for the proper equipment to execute this mission in Iraq. This has contributed to many needless deaths in Iraq.

Some National Guardsmen from Oregon even have used pieces of plywood and sandbags to protect their National Guard Humvees that they nicknamed "plywod coffins". And while there are 24,000 Humvees in use in Iraq, more than 350 deaths have taken place of American soldiers in these poorly protected vehicles.

In Vietnam, the far better armored M113 Gavin was used, and offered far better protection to the troops in that war. Yet with very poor war planning from Donald Rumsfeld, the Humvee ended up playing a far larger role in Iraq than it ever should have played. The Humvee has a place in the military, but not in urban warfare like Iraq. The Humvee is way too vulnerable to roadside bombs and other attacks. In fact it almost reminds one of the primitive warfare of WWII with jeeps such as the 1960's Rat Patrol TV show portrayed. For a modern combat role, the Humvee is absolutely the wrong vehicle to use.

Georgia Tech Research Institute has been working on designs such as a boat bottom design to deflect roadside bombs and a lightweight armor shell to protect the soldiers from bullets and light shells and explosives. However it may be 2008 or later before a new vehicle to replace the Humvee is available, which also proves that the U.S. intends a role in Iraq after 2008. And this fact is in itself depressing.