TWO SOLDIERS KILLED AND TWO SOLDIERS WOUNDED IN ACCIDENT(#2067)

[leftchick]

November 14, 2005
Release Number: 05-11-21C


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


TWO SOLDIERS KILLED AND TWO SOLDIERS WOUNDED IN ACCIDENT

LSA ANACONDA, BALAD, Iraq – Two 3rd Corps Support Command Soldiers were killed and two Soldiers were injured in a vehicular accident while performing a combat logistical patrol northwest of Kirkuk at about 6:15 a.m. on Nov. 11.

The incident is currently under investigation. The names of the Soldiers are being withheld pending next of kin notification.

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/Casualty_Report.asp?CasualtyReport=20051121.txt

[wtmusic]

1. Why is it that soldiers get unbelievably clumsy

when the monthly death toll appears that it will set a new record? :shrug:

[henslee]

2. Gollll-eeee, Sarge, I just don't know.

[acmavm]

3. I asked the other day about the high rate of deaths in motor vehicular

accident and no one explained it to me. Again, why so many traffic fatalities?

[Kagemusha]

5. First, they drive fast when shot at. Second, armor unbalances

So the handling of the vehicle is worse than designed and rollovers tend to be more frequent. Depending on exactly what happened to the vehicle, in part.

[ECH1969]

6. There is also alot of soldiers in Iraq

I live in a city of about 200,000 and we seem to have a deadly accident every other day. We have 160,000 US soldiers in Iraq, and they have far worse driving conditions to deal with.

[ClintonTyree]

7. Plus they have all of that homemade armor bouncing around....

in the vehicles. You know, the stuff they salvage from scrap yards because our Commander in Chief sent them there with inadequate equipment. When one of those trucks or Humvees roll, thousands of pounds of steel are flying around, not a pretty thought.

[acmavm]

8. Thanks. Now, are these deaths counted (I understand that they'll say

not combat related) somewhere. Is there a talley of deaths for non-combat related deaths or is that included in the 2068??

[Xithras]

10. Military vehicles aren't designed to handle well.

When the military begins developing a new vehicle, they typically put handling near the bottom of the list of important features. Durability, combat worthiness, and cross terrain capabilites outweigh all other concerns. They have no crumple zones, no airbags, no reinforcing bars for side impact protection, and they aren't rated for rollovers at all. As if that weren't bad enough, many military vehicles don't have seatbelts, and in combat areas those that do don't get used.

Now imagine that scenario for a moment. Some poor 19 year old sap just got handed the keys to a 2.5 ton Humvee with a thousand pounds of armor destabilizing its already high center of gravity. That soldier goes out on patrol, and while rounding a curve snags a pothole at 45MPH. Those big, bouncy tires and massive springs bounce the vehicle to one side, forcing the wheels to the opposite direction...off the side of the road into whatever unfortunate obstacle happens to be in the way. If the obstacle is a solid one...like a ditch, a stone building, or a massive tree...the vehicle will come to a dead stop. Without crumple zones, all of the impacts energy will be transferred to the people inside. Without seatbelts, that energy will cause them to fly forward and strike the windshield and steel dashboard at 45MPH.

Understand why so many of them die now? The Humvee isn't just a gas hog, it's a completely unsafe vehicle. The H2 was developed for the civilian market SPECIFICALLY to correct the safety (read: legal liability) issues that plague the Humvee. Safety wasn't a concern when it was designed.

And lets not even get into those troop transport trucks. Nothing says stupid like 20 guys piled into a poorly balanced transport with bad suspension and a cloth roof. My uncle used to tell me that their only advantage was that the cloth top could double as a cover for the bodies when they inevitably rolled and crushed their passengers.

[saigon68]

11. rolled and crushed their passengers

Lot of these "passengers" listed as casualties

[UpInArms]

4. perhaps the vehicle "accidentally" hit an IED?

RIP soldiers :cry:

Period	US	UK	Other*	Total	Avg	Days	
4 	630	12	18	660	2.29	288	
3 	579	25	27	631	2.92	216	
2 	718	27	58	803	1.89	424	
1 	140	33	0	173	4.02	43	
Total	2067	97	103	2267	2.33	971

[0007]

9. Pile 'em high

GrassBush

Pile the bodies high in Austerlitz and Waterloo Iraq
Shovel them under and let me work--
I am the grass; bush; I cover all.

And pile them high in Gettyburg Baghdad
And pile them high in Ypres and Vedum Mossoul and Al Fallaujah

Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?

I am the grass bush.
Let me work.

Carl Sanburg

[deadparrot]

12. RIP.

...