SSG Edrese Johnson, a native of Eastman, Ga., from C Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, hands out some candy to a little girl while on patrol in a section of Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood.
Pic: SGT Michael Pryor

SGT Daniel Hood, native of Cincinnatti, Ohio, and a medic with B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, patrols through the main market of Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood.
Pic: SGT Michael Pryor

CPT Albert Marckwardt, a native of Columbia, Md., and commander of B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, talks with a shop owner in the main market of Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood during an engagement patrol.
Pic: SGT Michael Pryor

An Iraqi army convoy arrives at a Baqubah-area flour mill recently in expectation of a grain convoy, also escorted from Baghdad by the Iraqi military. Iraqi army units such as these will now be under the direct control of the Diyala Operations Command in Baqubah.
Pic: PV2 Kirby Rider

A group of Iraqi officers inspects an Iraqi military convoy near Baqubah recently, one of several unilateral operations undertaken by the Iraqi army in Diyala. Iraqi security forces in Diyala will now be under the DOC, which will receive orders from the Iraqis governmental security forces, instead of the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division.
Pic: PV2 Kirby Rider

After receiving their final issue of uniforms before their Sept. 12 graduation, Iraqi air force cadets joke with each other on Camp Taji, Iraq.
Pic: SSG Jon Cupp

Active-duty US troops become outspoken critics of Iraq war

By Brad Knickerbocker
Wed Aug 29
Christian Science Monitor


A recent op-ed about the war in Iraq charged that upbeat official reports amount to "misleading rhetoric." It said the "most important front in the counterinsurgency [had] failed most miserably." And it warned against pursuing "incompatible policies to absurd ends."

Five years into a controversial war, that harsh judgment in a New York Times opinion piece might not seem surprising, except for this: The authors were seven US soldiers, writing from Iraq at the end of a tough 15-month combat tour.

In books and professional journals, blogs, and newspapers, active-duty military personnel are speaking publicly and critically as never before about an ongoing war.

Respectfully, but with a directness and gritty authenticity that comes from combat experience – sometimes written from the battlefield – they offer a view of current strategy, military leadership, and the situation on the ground that is more stark than Pentagon and White House pronouncements.

Part of this reflects weariness with the war. But it also represents a shift in military culture where speaking up publicly is more usual and acceptable than in previous conflicts, experts say, thanks to changes in technology and society.

"This is the first post-Internet, post-digital-camera war" in which "the line between private lives and public lives has been blurred," says Eugene Fidell, a former military lawyer who teaches military justice at Yale.

Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), as long as uniformed critics do not speak or write using "contemptuous words" regarding the president or other senior officials, they are free to voice their opinions, notes Mr. Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice. "We're a nation built on free expression, and it can get pretty noisy."

Part of this criticism reflects weariness with the war, especially among those serving multiple extended combat tours.

"You could almost construct an equation to predict the rate at which dissension in the ranks will reach the public as support for a war sours," says military analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute, a public policy think tank in Arlington, Va.

"I have to tell you as somebody who deals frequently with the military, there's been a lot of disagreement for a long time about this war," he adds. "It just tends to get expressed obliquely and in private."

A May survey of Army soldiers in Iraq showed 45 percent with "low" morale compared with 19 percent who said their morale was "high." The percentage of West Point graduates who quit the Army after their five-year obligation has more than doubled since the Iraq war began in 2003.

More and more, a vocal minority is also speaking out publicly – a far cry from the World War II era when, in order to keep his political conscience clear, Gen. George C. Marshall never even voted.

Earlier this year, Army Lt. Col. Paul Yingling challenged his superiors head-on in an article in Armed Forces Journal.

The Vietnam and Iraq "debacles are not attributable to individual failures, but rather to a crisis in an entire institution: America's general officer corps," wrote the former West Point instructor and Iraq veteran who recently took command of a battalion. "In both conflicts, the general officer corps designed to advise policymakers, prepare forces and conduct operations failed to perform its intended functions.... As matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war."

Acceptable target: the systemColonel Yingling's target was institutional, not personal.

"He is going after the system – training, experience, the promotion system that produces mediocre generals because all the innovators get fed up and leave," says retired Army Col. Dan Smith, a military analyst with the Friends Committee on National Legislation who fought in Vietnam and later taught philosophy at West Point.

Military sources in Iraq and Washington also voiced their criticisms on the record in "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq ," Washington Post reporter Tom Ricks's best-selling 2006 book, The blogosphere is filled with soldiers grumbling, not only about lengthy repeated tours but also about the wisdom of invading Iraq in the first place.

Is all of this a good thing?

"In these times when so few have any personal experience of the military, it is good to have their voice in the public discussion," says retired Naval Reserve Capt. John Allen Williams, a political scientist at Loyola University Chicago who teaches civil-military relations.

But some observers worry that active-duty personnel speaking out in this way begins to trespass on the constitutionally mandated civilian control of the military.

"The notion that the military defends democracy but does not practice it still seems sensible to me," says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense-information website in Washington. "We have sufficient serious problems with civil-military relations without adding a politicized military as just another interest group."

There are obvious reasons for not speaking critically of one's superiors or the mission: harm to one's chances for promotion as well as potential legal difficulties from going too far under the UCMJ.

But here, enlisted men and women may have more freedom to speak out since the "contemptuous words" provision applies exclusively to officers. The seven soldiers who signed the column in The New York Times are infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division.

"To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched," they wrote. "Yes, we are militarily superior, but our successes are offset by failures elsewhere. What soldiers call the 'battle space' remains the same, with changes only at the margins."

Enlisted men freer to speakHowever harsh the language, the soldiers' status may protect them from military discipline.

"Enlisted men, so long as they ensure that they explicitly state that they are expressing their own opinion, can say anything they want, which is exactly what these men did," writes active-duty Army Lt. Col. Bob Bateman in a blog at the online information-exchange and discussion site Small Wars Journal.

But he takes them to task for asserting that they have knowledge about conduct of the war which is "way above and beyond their positions."

"The fact that they, like me, wear uniforms should not convey some sort of magic pixie-dust validity to their opinions on events way beyond their personal experience, just as it does not for mine," writes Colonel Bateman, recently back from Iraq himself.

From fighters to family men

Washinton Times, P1. August 29, 2007

By Sharon Behn - BAGHDAD — Thoughts have turned to home and family for soldiers in the 2-3 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, one of the first units set to complete extended deployments ordered by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to meet demands of the U.S. troop surge.

The conversation in the evening darkness outside the soldiers' "hooches," or where they live, is focusing more on wives and children, buying new trucks and that first cold beer.

"I'm looking forward to picking up my daughter from school," said Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Hale.

Other soldiers are more blunt about the first thing they want when they hit the ground. "Booze," said one staff sergeant, who quickly retracted that and said he was glad to be able to see his family again.

Some soldiers know they are coming back to Iraq within 15 months after they return home. The dates being mentioned are in 2009 — and that news has forced some to switch jobs to avoid spending another 15 months here.

Others are ready to return to the fight.

"I feel like it's my obligation. It's what I volunteered to do. It's what I trained to do," said Lt. Col. Barry Huggins, battalion commander of the 2-3 Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

While the soldiers have had continued tactical successes on the ground during the six-month surge, the lack of significant visible change on the trash-filled streets of Baghdad and the perceived attitude of the Iraqis has left many discouraged.

There is a level of bitterness among some departing soldiers, many of whom have lost close friends to bombs and sniper fire.

"I hate Iraq," said one, asking that his comment be kept anonymous.

Privately, many soldiers also think the U.S. war against the "bad guys" here has reached a stalemate because of a lack of political progress, even if the American military presence is the only effective bulwark against even more violence.

Asked in the small on-base coffee shop — which serves ice-cold strawberry smoothies and lattes — whether the war was worth the misery it had caused, one soldier just said:

"No, it's not worth it." He also declined to give his name or rank.

Maj. Alfred Williams of the 2-3 Stryker Brigade, who will have completed a total of 27 months in Iraq by the time he leaves for home in September, is philosophical.

"The new strategies in place were slowly gaining traction," he said, and winning in Iraq "was all about time."

Incoming officers and soldiers generally are taking the tough reports and operational ups and downs in stride, although some are clearly anxious at the beginning of their latest deployments.

Troops received word from Mr. Gates in April that tours of duty for members of the U.S. Army were extended from one year to 15 months, effective immediately.

One newly arrived soldier, sitting alone quietly in a tent on the first day of his first deployment to Iraq, said he was "a little nervous" but leapt up to join his unit when he got the order to roll.

Another new commander was clearly jumpy on his first outing through the streets of the capital's Sunni areas, causing some discreet smiles by those who have been around a while.

But a lot of attention is going into preparing the incoming troops for the reality of today's Baghdad.

Even for those who have served here before, there is a lot more sniper fire, more bombs and more physical deterioration than two years ago. Sectarian lines are more clearly drawn and a lot more violent.

Lt. Col. Rod Coffey, the incoming battalion commander for the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment that will be replacing the Stryker Brigade, was in Iraq during the initial invasion.

This time around, he has made a point of visiting the different Iraqi Army patrol stations — sitting on the floor for a meal of cold fried fish and rice — in the Massafee neighborhood of Dora, a former al Qaeda stronghold.

"I fought over the same ground that we've been crisscrossing," Col. Coffey said later, sitting in a large tent that serves as his temporary headquarters.

"You do not ever want what we've sacrificed here to be in vain. Part of our job is to overcome obstacles, no matter how hard they look," he said.

Many of the incoming soldiers are combat veterans.

"I already did my 12-month adrenalin tour — now it's my 'be smart and use your head tour,' " said Sgt. Joseph Cox, 37, from Texas.

Sgt. Cox re-enlisted after his first tour, which stretched from Sept. 2004 to Sept. 2006, and has worked with many in his unit before.

"We came and lost 16 friends last time, and God knows how many we will lose this time," he said calmly smoking a cigarette in the intense heat of the Baghdad afternoon. "No matter whether we make a difference or not — we tried."

Sgt. Cox recalled reading a book about Teddy Roosevelt, who said he would not support a war that he was not willing to fight.

"Honestly, there were times I had my doubts," he said of his first tour. " I'd love to be back home. I'd rather be at Taco Bell with my kid — but someone's got to do it."

Early morning sunrise over Rawa Marine Base, Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Pic: Specialist 2nd Class Eli J. Medellin, US Navy

1SG Steven Farr, a Houlka, Miss., native, first sergeant of B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, out of Fort Stewart, Ga., gets into a friendly shadowboxing competition with an Iraqi man who said he was a boxer while on patrol in Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood.
Pic: SGT Michael Pryor

1SG Steven Farr, a Houlka, Miss., native and the first sergeant of B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, out of Fort Stewart, Ga., jokes with some Iraqi children by pointing out "Ali Baba," the common Iraqi nickname for a bad or evil person (who, in this case, was actually Farr's Troop Commander) while on patrol in Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood.
Pic: SGT Michael Pryor

PFC Manuel Deluna, left, a native of Orlando, Fla., and SSG Eric Bull, a native of Perryville, Ark., native, both of the Fort Stewart, Ga.-based C Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, enter a room while clearing each floor of an apartment building in Adhamiyah, Baghdad. The Soldiers were searching for a suspected bomb-maker believed to be hiding out in the building.
Pic: SGT Michael Pryor

SSG oseph Faulkner, top of the stairs, a native of Evansville, Ind., and SFC Larry Doerfler, a native of New Braunfels, Texas, both of the Fort Stewart, Ga.-based C Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, move tactically up a stairwell while clearing each floor of an apartment building in Adhamiyah, Baghdad. The Soldiers were searching for a suspected bomb-maker believed to be hiding out in the building.
Pic: SGT Michael Pryor

Iraq Weapons Are a Focus of Criminal Investigations
By JAMES GLANZ and ERIC SCHMITT

(Note: Just be careful if you are a Whistleblower - there is virtually no protection and often Whistleblower's are left on their own to fend for themselves.)

BAGHDAD, Aug. 27 — Several federal agencies are investigating a widening network of criminal cases involving the purchase and delivery of billions of dollars of weapons, supplies and other matériel to Iraqi and American forces, according to American officials. The officials said it amounted to the largest ring of fraud and kickbacks uncovered in the conflict here.

The inquiry has already led to several indictments of Americans, with more expected, the officials said. One of the investigations involves a senior American officer who worked closely with Gen. David H. Petraeus in setting up the logistics operation to supply the Iraqi forces when General Petraeus was in charge of training and equipping those forces in 2004 and 2005, American officials said Monday.

There is no indication that investigators have uncovered any wrongdoing by General Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, who through a spokesman declined comment on any legal proceedings.

This article is based on interviews with more than a dozen federal investigators, Congressional, law enforcement and military officials, and specialists in contracting and logistics, in Iraq and Washington, who have direct knowledge of the inquiries. Many spoke on condition of anonymity because there are continuing criminal investigations.

The inquiries are being pursued by the Army Criminal Investigation Command, the Department of Justice, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, among other agencies.

Over the past year, inquiries by federal oversight agencies have found serious discrepancies in military records of where thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi security forces actually ended up. None of those agencies concluded that weapons found their way to insurgents or militias.

In their public reports, those agencies did not raise the possibility of criminal wrongdoing, and General Petraeus has said that the imperative to provide weapons to Iraqi security forces was more important than maintaining impeccable records.

In an interview on Aug. 18, General Petraeus said that with ill-equipped Iraqi security forces confronting soaring violence across the country in 2004 and 2005, he made a decision not to wait for formal tracking systems to be put in place before distributing the weapons.

“We made a decision to arm guys who wanted to fight for their country,” General Petraeus said.

But now, American officials said, part of the criminal investigation is focused on Lt. Col. Levonda Joey Selph, who reported directly to General Petraeus and worked closely with him in setting up the logistics operation for what were then the fledgling Iraqi security forces.

That operation moved everything from AK-47s, armored vehicles and plastic explosives to boots and Army uniforms, according to officials who were involved in it. Her former colleagues recall Colonel Selph as a courageous officer who was willing to take substantial personal risks to carry out her mission and was unfailingly loyal to General Petraeus and his directives to move quickly in setting up the logistics operation.

“She was kind of like the Pony Express of the Iraqi security forces,” said Victoria Wayne, who was then deputy director of logistics for the overall Iraqi reconstruction program.

Still, Colonel Selph also ran into serious problems with a company she oversaw that failed to live up to a contract it had signed to carry out part of that logistics mission.

It is not clear exactly what Colonel Selph is being investigated for. Colonel Selph, reached by telephone twice on Monday, said she would speak to reporters later but did not answer further messages left for her.

The enormous expenditures of American and Iraqi money on the Iraq reconstruction program, at least $40 billion over all, have been criticized for reasons that go well beyond the corruption cases that have been uncovered so far. Weak oversight, poor planning and seemingly endless security problems have contributed to many of the program’s failures.

The investigation into contracts for matériel to Iraqi soldiers and police officers is part of an even larger series of criminal cases. As of Aug. 23, there were a total of 73 criminal investigations related to contract fraud in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, Col. Dan Baggio, an Army spokesman said Monday. Twenty civilians and military personnel have been charged in federal court as a result of the inquiries, he said. The inquiries involve contracts valued at more than $5 billion, and Colonel Baggio said the charges so far involve more than $15 million in bribes.

Just last week, an Army major, his wife and his sister were indicted on charges that they accepted up to $9.6 million in bribes for Defense Department contracts in Iraq and Kuwait.

Investigations span the gamut from low-level officials submitting false claims for amounts less than $2,500 to more serious cases involving, conspiracy, bribery, product substitution and bid-rigging or double-billing involving large dollar amounts or more senior contracting officials, Army criminal investigators said. The investigations involve contractors, government employees, local nationals and American military personnel.

Questions about whether the American military could account for the weaponry and other equipment purchased to outfit the Iraqi security forces were raised as early as May of last year, when Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia and then the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a request to an independent federal oversight agency to investigate the matter.

But federal officials say the inquiry has moved far beyond the initial investigation of hundreds of thousands of improperly tracked assault rifles and semiautomatic pistols that grew out of Senator Warner’s query. In fact, Senator Warner said in a statement to The New York Times that he was outraged when he was briefed recently on the initial findings of the investigations.

“When I was briefed on the recent developments, I felt so strongly that I asked the Secretary of the Army to brief the Armed Services Committee right away, which he did in early August,” Senator Warner said in a statement.

An Army spokesman declined to comment on the briefing by the secretary of the Army, Pete Geren. In a sign of the seriousness of the scandal, the Defense Department Inspector General, Claude M. Kicklighter, will lead an 18-person team to Iraq early next month to investigate contracting practices, said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.

Mr. Morrell said Mr. Kicklighter, a retired three-star Army general, would stay in Iraq indefinitely to investigate contracting abuses, and was empowered to fix problems on the spot or take action if his team identified potential criminal activity.

Congressional officials who have been briefed on the Defense Department inspector general’s inquiry said Monday that one focus would be on weapons, munitions and explosives. In addition, Mr. Geren, the Army secretary, is expected to announce later this week the creation of a panel of senior contracting and logistics specialists to address any systemic problems they identify.

Senator Warner’s request last May for an independent federal oversight agency to investigate the accountability of weapons and equipment given to Iraqi security forces underscored concern about the issue.

That federal agency, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, responded with a report in October 2006 that found serious discrepancies in American military records of where thousands of the weapons actually ended up. The military did not take the routine step of recording serial numbers for the weapons, the inspector general found, making it difficult to determine whether any of the weapons had ended up in the wrong hands.

In July 2007, the Government Accountability Office found even larger discrepancies, reporting that the American military “cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 rifles, 90,000 pistols, 80 items of body armor, and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi security forces as of Sept. 22, 2005.”

James Glanz reported from Baghdad, and Eric Schmitt from Washington.

Paratroopers from 1st Battalion, 501st Airborne, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division take cover after being dropped off by a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq.
Pic: SGT Marcus Butler

Paratroopers from 1st Battalion, 501st Airborne, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, search for roadside bombs and buried weapons caches.
Pic: SGT Marcus Butler

LTC Robert Balcavage, commander, 1st Battalion, 501st Airborne, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, shakes the hand of the sheik in charge of the area being cleared.
Pic: SGT Marcus Butler

A Soldier hands a soccer ball to one of the locals in the Concerned Citizens Program in the area of Jurf as Sakhr during Operation Gecko.
Pic: SGT Marcus Butler

SGT Shawn Hatley, with arm extended, a native of Hickory, N.C., and SGT Christopher Meinke, behind Hatley, a native of Rosemount, Minn., both from of A Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, brief newly arrived members of a quick reaction force on the situation near the site of a roadside bomb attack on a U.S. convoy in Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood.
Pic: SGT Michael Pryor

SGT Christopher Meinke, left, a native of Rosemount, Minn., and SGT Shawn Hatley, a Hickory, N.C., native, both of A Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, pull security near the site of a roadside bomb attack on a U.S. convoy in Baghdad's Adhamiyah neighborhood.
Pic: SGT Michael Pryor

PFC Christopher Novak, of 2nd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, and native of Stewart, Fl., scans his sector at Forward Operating Base Ellis in southern Baghdad. Novak is a gunner for the 'Wild Deuces' of 2nd Platoon.
Pic: SPC Ben Washburn

Iraqi Special Operations Forces advised by U.S. Special Forces finish clearing a house during a combat operation to detain suspected terrorist leaders of an insurgent force in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in Baghdad, Iraq.
Pic: Petty Officer 2nd Class Laurel Johansen

Iraqi special operations forces advised by U.S. Army Special Forces conduct a combat operation to detain suspected terrorist leaders of an insurgent force in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in Baghdad, Iraq.
Pic: Petty Officer 2nd Class Laurel Johansen

Sen. David Vitter, right, of Louisiana, dines with SGT Marchello Jimerson, a native of Bastrop, La., and SPC Robert Smith of Baton Rouge, La., both cavalry scouts a from the 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, during a visit to an outpost near Taji, Iraq. Jimerson and three other senators spoke with troops from their states about extensions and other issues affecting the Soldiers during their rotation in Iraq. While at the outpost, the senators also took the opportunity to meet with local area tribal sheiks to discuss reconciliation efforts in Taji.
Pic: SGT Raymond Kokel

Sen. Lamar Alexander, second from right, of Tennessee, and COL Paul E. Funk II, right, commander, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, listen through an interpreter as a local tribal sheik explains on-going reconciliation efforts within his area during a visit to an outpost near Taji, Iraq. Along with speaking to tribal sheiks, Alexander and three other senators, who represent the states of Tennessee, Ohio and Louisiana, also met and dined with 1st BCT Soldiers from their states. During their meal, the senators chatted with their constituents about deployment issues and the war in Iraq.
Pic: SGT Raymond Kokel

Sen. George Voinovich, left, of Ohio, speaks with his constituents to include CPL Brian Schwettman, right, a cavalry scout with Troop C, 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment who hails from Troy, Ohio, during a visit to an outpost near Taji, Iraq. Over the course of their visit, four senators representing the states of Louisiana, Tennessee and Ohio took time to meet with Soldiers from their states and to talk with local tribal sheiks at the outpost about reconciliation.
PIc: SGT Raymond Kokel

SPC Jerry Cullinan, a military police Soldier with 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Briagde Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), out of Fort Drum, N.Y., lines up Iraqi men to apply to become Iraqi police officers during a recruitment drive south of Baghdad.
Pic: SGT Ben Brody

SSG William Thompson, a native of Newark, Ohio, who serves as a military police squad leader with the 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), out of Fort Drum, N.Y., counts as an Iraqi man does pull-ups as part of the Iraqi police application process. Military Police from 2nd BSTB processed over 200 applicants during a recruitment drive south of Baghdad.
Pic: SGT Ben Brody

Everyone Survived

The Pentagon Releases Orders for more than 1300 Armored Vehicles

The Pentagon has approved the expansion of the MRAP program to over 20,000 vehicles. The US Army plans to increase its fleet of MRAP vehicles from the previously planned 2,300 to 17,700 vehicles. The Marines's allocation will remain at 3,400 and special operations forces will receive about 300 (170 have already been ordered). This plans will virtually phase out the HMMWV from use in combat patrols and high risk missions. Responding to the urgent requirement, the Army plans to have all 17,700 MRAPs in theater by April 2009. To accomodate this plan all suppliers are expanding their production facilities to speed up deliveries, reaching several hundred vehicles per month by the automn of 2007.

The Defense Department’s Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) endorsed procuring as many MRAPs as industry can provide in fiscal 2008. The top-level panel, which validates military requirements, recommended evaluating the situation in Iraq periodically and adjusting the acquisition plan based on the need. "the department is embarking on an aggressive acquisition strategy to put as many of these armored vehicles into the field as fast as possible,” Bryan Whitman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs said. Defense Department and military services are reaching out to industry to “incentivize” companies to boost production while reducing the production timetable, Whitman said.

Last week the Pentagon released another batch of orders for armored vehicles, as part of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) and other armored vehicle programmes. The new orders cover additional orders from Force protection and International Engines and Trucks (IET), for 395 Category I (Cougar) vehicles and 76 Category II vehicles (60 from Force Protection and 16 from International). Further orders for 441 RG-33 based MRAP vehicles were awarded to BAE Systems.

Under a parallel program the Army is buying at Textron Systems 369 additional M1117 armored cars. However, with production capacity running short with all US based armored vehicle production facilities, deliveries of the recently awarded orders are to be fulfilled only next year. The US Army is also buying additional 44 RG-31 Mk 5 vehicles from BAE Systems, these vehicles produced by OMG in South Africa and are scheduled for delivery within 4 – 5 months.

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Armored Vehicles

The Pentagon has approved the expansion of the MRAP program to over 20,000 vehicles. The US Army plan to increase its fleet of MRAP vehicles from the planned 2,300 to 17,700. The Marines's allocation will remain at 3,400 and special operations forces will receive about 300 (170 have already been ordered). This plans will virtually phase out the HMMWV from use in combat patrols and high risk missions. Responding to the urgent requirement, the Army plans to have all 17,700 MRAPs in theater by April 2009. To accomodate this plan all suppliers are expanding their production facilities to speed up deliveries, reaching several hundred vehicles per month by the automn of 2007. By July 2007, 6415 vehicles are on order and the Pentagon expects 3,500 of them to be delivered to US forces in Iraq by the end of 2007.

With a combat weight of 8,400 kg., the RG-31 MK3 4x4 Mine Protected APC is built from an all-steel welded armor monocoque hull, typical of South African mine protected vehicles, providing excellent small-arms and mine blast protection as well as small arms fire. The vehicle accommodates a crew of 10 including the driver. Dismounting is provided via a large rear door and two front doors. A different version, the RG-31M features a military wiring harness, central tire inflation and several other new characteristics.

US Army Orders RG-31 Based Category II MRAP

General Dynamics Land Systems Canada received a third production order worth $338 million for 600 RG-31 Category II Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles for the US Marine Corps. This is a new and extended variant of the RG-31 Mk5, already operated by the US Special Operations Command and Army. The vehicles are scheduled for delivery by March 2008. These vehicles will be produced by GDLS Canada in will be manufactured by Demmer Corporation of Lansing, Michigan and By BAE Systems OMC of Benoni, South Africa.

An Iraqi bank teller counts out Iraqi dinars at the bank in Baqubah, Iraq. About 35 billion dinars were transported from the Iraqi Central Bank in Baghdad, Iraq, to Baqubah, Iraq, by the Iraqi army, without the help of coalition forces, Aug. 22
Pic: PFC Kirby Rider

An Iraqi man verifies his money voucher before receiving his salary at the bank in Baqubah, Iraq, Aug. 22.
Pic: PFC Kirby Rider

Air Force Capt. Craig Dorn, advisor to the Iraqi air force, Coalition Air Force Transition Team, and Army Chief Warrant Officer Pierre Julien, property book manager, 67th Signal Battalion, load their truck with care packages for troops and Ugandan security forces on Camp Victory, Iraq.
Pic: SPC Laura M. Bigenho

A U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk with 3rd Infantry Division Aviation Brigade, banks over the target area during a leaflet drop mission over North Babil province, Iraq. The purpose of the leaflet drop is to persuade residents of the area not to support anti-Iraqi forces operating in the area.
Pic: SSG Sean Foley

CPT Cruz, a tactical psychological warfare officer, checks for the release point from a UH-60 Black Hawk during a leaflet drop mission over North Babil province, Iraq. The purpose of the leaflet drop is to persuade residents of the area not to support anti-Iraqi forces operating in the area. Unfortunately strategic planners and Army leaders do not fully appreciate the fact that the enemy soldiers led by regular Iranian ground forces have moved to locations where there are currently little to no U.S. soldiers in avoid the surge and wait it out.
Pic: SSG Sean Foley

Paratroopers with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, detain two suspected Islamic Fascists during a raid in Samarra, Iraq. Like in Vietnam (Laos and Cambodia), much of the military aid and military fighters infiltrate across the border from safe havens located in Syria and Iran. US Forces and strategic leaders do not fully realize that they are fighting a conventional war against the Iranian Army.
Pic: SPC Joshua Ford

Paratroopers with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, secure a courtyard during a cordon and search mission in Samarra, Iraq.
Pic: SPC Joshua Ford

An Iraqi national policeman with the 6th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Division, searches a home during a mission in Samarra, Iraq.
Pic: SPC Joshua Ford

Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police work together to keep traffic a safe distance from a coalition route clearance team as it checks the area for roadside bombs in Baghdad Province, Iraq.
Pic: SPC John Crosby

An Iraqi Army soldier mans a traffic control point to provide security and keep traffic moving as a nearby coalition route clearance team checks the area for roadside bombs.
Pic: SPC John Crosby

Soldiers from the 38th Engineer Company, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., perform route clearing operations, north of Baghdad.

Pic: SPC John Crosby

Iraqi civilians walk past a Stryker vehicle from the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., as it secures a road north of Baghdad.
Pic: SPC John Crosby

Soldiers of the 26th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, form up to “shout out” a Labor Day greeting to loved ones back home from Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Aug. 15. LTC Mark J. Weinerth , commander, 26th BSB, and CSM Clifton H. Johnson stand in the forefront as Soldiers of the brigade prepare to yell, "No challenge too great, send me. Happy Labor Day." The 26th BSB conducts vital combat logistics to areas in the 2nd BCT's area of operation, Arab Jabour, Iraq.

SPC Ashley Martin, of Columbus, Ga., and SPC Johnny Simmons, of Columbia, S.C., Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, drive and test the radios on the Dragon V around Combat Outpost Cleary.
PIc: SPC Ben Hutto

SSG Corey West, of Pelhan, Ga., a platoon sergeant in Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, hands out a humanitarian aid bag to local teenagers during a medical operation in the town of Wuerdiya, in al-Ja’ara.
Pic: SGT Natalie Rostek

An MQ-1 Predator prepares for landing at Balad Air Base, Iraq, after a combat mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Pic: Senior Airman Olufemi A. Owolabi

U.S. Army Soldiers convoy on small vehicles toward an objective as part of Operation Lightning Hammer. U.S. and Iraqi forces are engaged in the operation, which aims to remove al-Qaida and other militant groups from the Diyala area.
Pic: SFC Robert Brogan

A CH-47 Chinook helicopter carries supplies as part of Operation Lightning Hammer. U.S. and Iraqi forces are engaged in the operation, which aims to remove al-Qaida and other militant groups from the Diyala area.
Pic: SFC Robert Brogan

SSG Jason Pemberton from B Troop, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, stands on a fence so his squad can enter an area of palm groves during Operation Pericles in Abu Garma, Iraq. This operation aims to eliminate al-Qaida's presence within the Diyala River Valley.
Pic: SSG Martin Newton