Arlington, Virginia- The Inspector General of the Defense Department has discovered that a request by commanders in the field in Iraq for MRAP vehicles was basically ignored by the Commandant of the US Marine Corps.
The Commandant of the US Marines decided in 2005 to field up armored Humvee vehicles, despite reports that showed conclusively that the Humvees, even with increased armor did not do the job, and the MRAP vehicles did.
The MRAP vehicles are specially designed vehicles that act to prevent injuries in mine and explosive intensive battle conditions. The roadside bombs and explosives that are encountered on the battlefield in Iraq are not very damaging against the US Military MRAP vehicles.
Despite impassioned and urgent requests for the MRAP vehicles, the Commandant of the US Marine Corps made a decision to ignore the request and sent Humvee M1114 up armored vehicles instead. The Humvee vehicles did not protect US Marine and US soldiers against the IED attacks and explosives that were being used in Iraq at the time.
The Inspector General Report is part of the response to allegations that the US Marine Corps ignored what was in the best interest of the US soldier and did what was financially feasible, ignoring the safety of the soldiers in the field.
