My cousin is a Marine who has been to Iraq twice. I asked him about he lack of "up-armored" HMMWV's. He is speaking in general and not about the specific situation of the soldier who questioned Rumsfeld.
This is his reply. (I've added emphasis to some parts.)
Yes, there is a lack of "up-armored" HMMWV's in theater, though this can be misleading. The up-armored HMMWV (the M1114) was actually only minimally in the Army inventory and was never a Marine Corps vehicle. We went into Baghdad the first time with just the highback HMMWV's with soft doors and the hardback HMMWV's which have supplemental armor (for shrapnel protection -- won't stop 7.62 small arms fire)
So there you have it. Straight from a Marine LT's pen.When the insurgency began they started kicking up production of this M1114 vehicle, but that's a large feat, as it comes with it's own supply trail, plus the up armored HMMWV can't carry gear, just personnel and a gunner. In the meantime they were outfitting the highbacks (gear/personnel carriers) and hardbacks (personnel/gunner) with supplemental armor -- the green kits you see, which will stop a round.
When I first rolled into OIF II we had first generation pieces of this, but a few months in we were outfitted with a thicker gauge with better hinges. Policy was that no vehicle left the forward operating base without supplemental armor.
I have numerous friends and colleagues that survived significant blasts in HMMWV's with the supplemental armor, including one where an artillery shell detonated in front of and behind the vehicle. I believe between the supplemental armor and kevlar blankets, Small Arms Protection Inserts, and ballistic glass that we have fairly good protection, though nothing's perfect and my battalion sadly did lose Marines to IEDs while in vehicles.
Keep in mind these insurgents have blown up entire M1 tanks, so no armor is perfect, and ultimately the mission takes priority. It's not feasible to roll around in tanks alone and we'd ultimately fail if we tried.
As for the soldier -- I feel it's unprofessional. Rumsfeld's comments about going to war with the gear you have is right -- the enemy is constantly evolving and we'll never be able to engineer the danger out of war. So many of these "conscientious objectors" and guys that just go UA are simply cowards feeding off an excuse the media is fueling -- we don't just quit because it gets hard.
I don't know the whole story, there may be more to it, but when I was there armor was a hot topic. Advances were being made every day.
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