HUMVEE

This is the HUMVEE (that is how you say it). The vehicle is ubiquitous throughout this theatre and has been since the war began.
I have read often about its deficiencies and how they have tried to fix them over the years. More armor, a gun turret, more armor for the gun turret etc.

It wasn't till I came here and saw the vehicles that I realized how overburdened and fundementally inadequate they are. The uparmored models all ride low on their suspensions. You can see in the photo how close the tops of the tires are to the fender. They are top heavy and prone to roll over. When they drive around the base you can see them wallow in a turn and you realize how careful the drivers have to be.

The other thing I didn't understand until I saw it was how blind these things are. Nothing can be seen directly to the rear unless the turret is turned that way. The armored glass side windows look to be about the size of a cereal box and all the windows are dusty because of the environment.

This is a very flawed vehicle that the guys here have laboured heroically to make work. But they can only do so much. Most of the deaths here have been from bombs and I bet a large number of those people were riding in HUMVEE's.

The Army and the Marines have only just lately (the Army after the Marines) decided to replace the HUMVEE with larger armored trucks built to take a hit. The trucks are variants of vehicles the South African Army has had since the 1970's. We took a long time to learn but we did finally. Sad.