Welders Develop First Up-Armored Iraqi Police Truck

U.S. Army welders designed and built the first up-armored truck for the Iraqi police to use at checkpoints.
11 October 2007
By Pfc. Bradley J. Clark
4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ, Iraq, Oct. 11, 2007 — Members of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division here are often faced with unusual and difficult tasks, most recently creating an up-armored truck for the Iraqi police.

Welders from the 27th Brigade Support Battalion, currently assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment said that designing and building the up-armored pickup truck was a novel, and difficult, experience in part because it had never been done before.

“Especially the doors,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Jewell Loving, “because we had to make our own hinges and fabricate a lot of stuff for them, but we had all the supplies that we needed. The project took us two-and-a-half weeks from start to finish.”

The purpose of the pickup truck is to provide security for the IPs manning checkpoints.

One of the things the welders worried about was the added weight as a result of up-armoring the pickup truck. “Even though the vehicle isn’t intended to chase after insurgents when it was taken on a test drive it had pick up, it wasn’t top heavy and it handled well, very well,” said Loving. Because the welders did such a good job accomplishing the task put before them, they have been tasked to up-armor four more pickup trucks.

“The next ones will be less time-consuming because we already have the design and we are in the process of receiving more equipment for them,” said U.S. Army Pfc. David Durham.

Accomplishing a mission as difficult as inventing something that cannot only help save lives, but also help secure a nation, made these soldiers feel great.

“I get a sense of pride by having the ability to do this for the IP,” said Durham. “We were able to work with the equipment and materials that we had. On top of all of that, I gained much more job experience due to this project.”

Photo - U.S. Army Pfc. David Durham completes the final part of welding on the first ever up-armored pickup truck for the Iraqi police on Forward Operating Base Marez, Iraq. Durham is a metal worker with Bravo Company, 27th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Bradley Clark.

Source: Defend America.

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