The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
Hot Hummers Double Death Rate
by James Dunnigan
March 27, 2005
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
The U.S. Army in Iraq is faced with a dramatic growth in the number of deaths
from accidents involving Humvees (“hummers”). Last year, some 39 soldiers died
in such accidents. But the rate of accidental deaths from these accidents has
doubled in the last four months. That's about five percent of all deaths. Most
of the accidents involve new hummers, the ones with armor installed at the
factory. The hummer was always considered a safe vehicle, because it had a low
center of gravity, and it’s width made is less prone to rollovers. But now there
are more rollovers, and they appear to be caused by the increased weight of the
armor, and the higher speeds troops use to avoid, or get away from, ambushes.
Combat casualties have been falling sharply over the past three months, and part
of that has to do with the high speed driving tactics adopted by troops using
hummers. Such tactics have evolved over the last two years. But all that hot
roding comes at the cost of more fatal accidents. The army is studying the
situation, and will probably come up with new driving techniques to minimize the
dangers.
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