REPORTS: Harney District Hospital in Burns is on lockdown - Ammon Bundy is in custody - shots fired

[happyslug]

122. No License plate, probally US Army or National Guard trucks left over from the War in Ieaq

Federal "Cars" by Civilian Agencies generally have some sort of License plate, even US recruiters cars have such plates. On the other hand actual vehicles intended to actual military use carry numbers not plates. Photos are NOT good enough to see what if any numbers are on the trucks. Some of these vehicles have been given to local Police:



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/not-your-typical-police-car-military-vehicles-put-to-new-use-back-in-the-us/



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAP

Now, these appear to be PRE-MRAP US Armored vehicles. No V -Haul for mine resistance for example.

You must understand the three generation of Armored whelled vehicles in Iraq:

Generation one: Up-armored Humvees. Humvees were NEVER designed to carry armor and putting armor on them reduce their over all capacity. Armored Humvees were viewed as a stop Gap in the early years of the guerrilla war in Iraq. The Un-armored Humvees did an excellent job during the invasion of Iraq, they did the jobs their were designed for General Transport and supply. , The problem was when that war was over and the Guerrilla War started, patrols in unarmored Humvees became dangerous, for they wer targets of the Guerrillas. Out of these attacks came the push to increase the armor on such Humvees, a stop-gap solution at best. It was proposed by some in Iraq to bring back the M113 tracked Vehicles for such patrols. This proposal was dismissed out of hand. While the troops in the field asked for the M113, no one in the Pentagon were pushing for their use. The main reason for NOT using the M113 were that the M113 tracks need replaced every 2000 miles of use (as compared to 20,000 to 50,000 miles when it came to rubber tires on a trucks) and increase fuel consumption. While this was the REASON given for NOT using the M113, it appears the real reason was the M113 was already in stock and no contractors were needed to get them ready for use.

Generation Two - The first attempt to provide armored wheeled vehicles to the Troops, used Medium Duty trucks frames with increase armor, engine and transmissions. This was NOT intended as a stop gap but a solution to the problems with Armor on Humvees. Problems with the designed were noted even before any were built. South African had an extensive history with IEDs (Individual Explosive Devices) and found a V-shape haul is best for deflecting the blast away from the troops inside the Vehicle. None of these Second Generation Armored Vehicles had this design, all were enclosed boxes. Good protection against small arms and RPGs, but terrible against mines and other IEDs and it was later that the troops in Iraq faced.

Generation Three: These are the MRAPs mentioned above, all have V-shaped hauls and all built since 2007.

These trucks look like Generation Two Armored Vehicles, Vehicles the US Army no long want for they are inferior to the Humvee when in comes to the roles the Humvee perform in the US Army (General Transport) AND inferior to the MRAPs that replaced them where armored trucks are needed,