"One soldier was home on leave in December and called me personally to talk about this problem and the consequences that he feared for the members of his unit," said Senator Collins.
Secretary Brownlee told Senator Collins that the army is expected to be able to supply body armor to all soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan by this coming Friday. To fulfill the immediate need, the army had increased production of body armor to 25,000 sets per month since December 2003.
"I am very pleased to hear of the progress that has been made," said Senator Collins. "But I want to know, and I think our servicemen and women and their families deserve to know, why were we so ill-prepared? Why didn't we have more body armor and more fortified Humvees available to protect our troops?"
Secretary Brownlee said that when operations in Iraq began, the military was not producing body armor at a rate that would allow it to equip all the soldiers with body armor. He said the military used supplies on-hand to equip infantry and frontline soldiers that were deemed most likely to come under attack. He also said that the military estimated most Humvees would not be used for tactical operations, so not all had to be fortified.
"It was when we got into the operational environment in which we found ourselves, that begin in June and July of last summer, that we realized that all soldiers were being exposed to these kinds of attacks and that convoys in particular were exposed to these kinds of attacks," said Secretary Brownlee. "I also regret that we were not more far sighted. We simply were not prepared for that kind of a counterinsurgency that attacked our convoys and out soldiers in the rear as it has proven to be."