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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, July 21, 2005

New 'up-armored' Humvee 'makes a world of difference'

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Spc. Petero Taufagu, 24, of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, carries a .50-caliber machine gun past a row of new M-1114 Humvees recently delivered to the 29th Brigade Combat Team.

RICHARD AMBO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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LSA ANACONDA, Iraq — At a time when the Hawai'i National Guard has lost two lives to roadside bombs in eight days, greater protection has arrived in the form of 50 of the most heavily armored Humvees in the U.S. military.

The $148,000 M-1114 factory "up-armored" vehicles, each weighing more than 5 tons with bullet-proof steel and plate-glass cocoons around their occupants, were trucked in recently from Kuwait.

"I will tell you, the confidence level in the soldiers will go up 100 percent knowing they are riding in an M-1114," said Brig. Gen. Joseph Chaves, who commands the 29th Brigade Combat Team in Iraq. "It makes a world of difference."

Chaves, who has direct control over some Hawai'i units and administrative oversight for others, assigned 30 of the up-armored Humvees to the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry. Last week the vehicles were being outfitted with radios and weapons systems.

Roadside bombs are the No. 1 troop killer in Iraq. The U.S. military has tried — with limited success — to counter the threat by adding more armor to vehicles and with technology such as Warlock signal jammers that interrupt cell-phone or walkie-talkie remote detonation of bombs.

Up-armored Humvees are being produced at a rate of 500 a month to meet the need in Iraq and Afghanistan — up from 15 a month in August 2003.


TOO LATE FOR SOME

The 29th Brigade Combat Team will continue to use a combination of the fully up-armored Humvees and older vehicles with side, door, window and floor armor kits that provide added protection, officials said.

But the new vehicles give soldiers a better chance of survival.

A 46-year-old soldier with the "Go For Broke" battalion was killed Saturday evening by a roadside bomb on Route Raider outside Logistical Support Area Anaconda.

Staff Sgt. Frank F. Tiai from American Samoa, a reservist with the battalion for more than 20 years, was the fourth member of the 29th Brigade Combat Team to be killed in Iraq, and the third to die as the result of an "improvised explosive device," or IED.

Two of the four deaths were from a California battalion attached to the 29th Brigade Combat Team.

On July 8, 20-year-old Sgt. Deyson K. Cariaga of Kalihi was killed in an Air Force Humvee near Logistics Support Area Anaconda when a 155 mm artillery round planted in the road exploded almost directly beneath him.

A service for Cariaga, who was part of a Tactical Human Intelligence team with the 229th Military Intelligence Company out of Hawai'i, will be today at 5 p.m. at Mission Memorial Auditorium, 560 S. King St. in Honolulu.

The 2002 Roosevelt High graduate, the first Hawai'i National Guard soldier to be killed on the yearlong deployment to Iraq, will be buried tomorrow at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

Spc. Francisco Arvizu, 32, who joined the battalion from Arizona, said the new M-114 Humvees will give him greater peace of mind — "to a point."

"We've found IEDs that would blow away a tank," Arvizu said as he prepared to head outside the base by convoy on another mission. "You feel a little more safe, but ... "

One undetonated roadside bomb included three 105 mm mortars, a white phosphorous round, TNT and a high-explosive round. "So if that would have hit an 1114, it wouldn't matter," Arvizu said.


ACCIDENTS A CONCERN

The 100th Battalion also has had to re-emphasize driving techniques with the heavier up-armored Humvees.

Recently, there were three vehicle accidents in five days, including two rollovers. One soldier suffered a collapsed lung and another, medevaced to Germany, was in critical condition with a head injury.

The spate of accidents prompted a temporary stand-down in operations to focus on safety.

"We feel it's really dangerous. Besides the IEDs, when there's gravel, it's slippery for vehicles," said Sgt. Winnie Agapy, who's with the 100th. "We Charlie Mike (continue mission). We suck it up."

Chaves said nine new M-1114 Humvees have been assigned to a Hawai'i military police platoon, some went to a "quick-reaction force" out of Oregon, and others will be used by the 229th Military Intelligence Company and Task Force Konohiki, a unit working to train an Iraqi army battalion.

The 30 received by the 100th Battalion, which has security responsibilities on three sides of LSA Anaconda, double the number of up-armored Humvees the unit has in its inventory.

The M-1114s, which roll off the assembly line 3,000 pounds heavier than its predecessors, have turbochargers and beefed-up suspension to handle the extra weight.

The vehicles provide protection against AK-47 armor-piercing rounds, 155 mm artillery air bursts and 12-pound anti-tank mine blasts.


BETTER RESULTS

The 100th Battalion has awarded or is in the process of awarding more than 25 Purple Hearts — most from roadside bomb strikes on Humvees. In some cases, the injuries were concussions from the blasts.

Spc. Nick Tuiolosega, 29, a reservist from American Samoa, was injured April 21 in an older Humvee when a land mine tore through the bottom of the vehicle. He suffered a leg injury, and was medevaced to Hawai'i.

Since then, the battalion has had several similar strikes on up-armored Humvees with better results.

"Hit the same place, the same spot, and they suffered minor injuries," said Maj. Mike Peeters, the executive officer for the battalion. "Words can't describe how happy we are to have (the new up-armored Humvees)."

Cariaga was in an older Humvee, soldiers said. The type of vehicle Tiai was in was unclear.

The U.S. military has maintained a steady march to greater and greater armoring of vehicles as the enemy continues to adopt new techniques.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Votel, director of the IED Defeat Task Force, in May told the House Armed Services Committee that "certainly we can characterize the enemy by being very adept and very smart, very learning, very innovative in what he's doing."

Napalmlike accelerants are being added to roadside bombs, which in some cases can be planted in less than a minute, and be triggered by contact switches that defeat signal jammers.

Sgt. Ionatana Ala, 37, a UPS driver who lives in Mililani, said he doesn't worry too much about roadside bombs. But, he added, "Every time we leave (the base), we say a prayer."