why are our boys still dying in Iraq in vehicles with no protection ?

Question

we hear the MOD have no funds for new vehicles but they have spent £188million in nine years trying to build one and its still only a concept then you got the goverment spending billions on an olympic village nobody in there right mind would put before the saftey of are boys in iraq or afghanistan what do you think of this your views wanted

Answer 1

There have been a surrge of upgraded vehicles in theatre over the last 6 months. The Latest is the Bulldog it offers good all round protection from attack and has been up-armoured to deal the the increased threat of Explosive Formed Charges (EFP's).
Older vehicles still remain in theatre and i'm affraid that soldiers will continue to loose their lives unless they are upgraded. Almost all of the othe vehicles in theatre have been defeated at some time by EFP's.
The insurgents are very clever people and their tactics are evolving all of the time as are the british.
The forces in Basrah are due to take delivery of the Mastiff soon, this is a monster of a vehicle and has excellent protection for those on board.

Here are some links to look at.

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/BulldogVehiclesOnPatrolInBasra.htm

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/EquipmentAndLogistics/NewProtectedPatrolVehiclesForIraqAndAfghanistanPutThroughTheirPaces.htm

Answer 2

I was in Iraq from june05-june06 and when I got there we still had on our vehicles what the called "hillbilly armor" meaning we would weld whatever metal we could get from the dump onto the outsides of our vehicles to reinforce it. About midway through our tour they had "up armoured" all the vehicles on my base but I was shocked by the fact it wasnt already done by the time I got there. Then a few months before we went home we had to exchange our body armour because the found that when it gets wet its no longer functional. Its 120 in the summer (sweat) and has a very heavy rainy season where we were so basically we were lucky noone was lost in that time. This was made by the same company whos owner had the multi-million dollar for their kids bar mitzvah. Remember that scandal. Anyway this is what the American military went through so its all across the board and its sickening. I was angry when I found out the 30+lbs of armour we were wearing was defective. We all need a major government overhaul.

Answer 3

There's two new vehicles coming into service shortly:
The Vector, based on a 6x6 pinzgauer chassis has protection against small arms and anti-personal mines and the Mastiff with is again 6x6 weighs around 20 tonnes and is designed to fill the gap between Saxon and Warrior. It is fully protected from all small arms and mines and these vehicles are coming into service as we speak

Answer 4

Vehicles with no protection? What the fuuuuuuuuuck. Have you never seen the armor ona tank, on a humvee, when you standing up out of a turret theres only so much protection you can get, when an IED goes off and your car flips while your standing with no seatbelt no armor is helping that. 188 million isnt enough to buy additional armor for even 1/4 of the troops

Answer 5

I think that the people of Britain do not give positive support our boys in Iraq.
It only takes five minutes to email or put pen to paper to your local M.P and tell them that they will not be getting your support at the next election, if everyone did this then things would soon change it seems most British People are all talk and no action.

Answer 6

Here is a clue for the previous answers:

The question was discussing _British_ troops. So unless you have real information on British vehicles being used in Iraq you should withdraw all of the nonsense answers.

Answer 7

Why? This is why, because the other political parties complain about the money spent on Iraq. Complaints are aired through the media of how much this war is costing us. Congress then reduces the budget, and of course that means less money for equipment. That translates to lack of equipment or protection.
You cut a war budget, you cut the survivability rate of our troops, you then complain about troop deaths...
I'm for giving them all the money and equipment they need to come home alive, and complaining about a budget is not helping.

Answer 8

You need to lobby your government to buy more vehicles from a company called "force protection" their vehicles are in the field and have been hit by various mines and IEDs and have had ZERO casualties because they are so well made. In fact, the worst they have had is a broken arm.

Answer 9

i thought the British army would have learnt lessons about road side bombs mines and so on with what happened in Northern Ireland over the years its about time there house was put in order how many more lives will be lost because of fat a holes sitting smoking cigars and drinking brandy

Answer 10

Yes , I agree, but why did our Country elect Democrats, who prefer to side with the Terrorist against our Military. It is a
complex problem, when the enemy has so much support in Congress.