Blackwater armored truck

[JAsher45]

here is a truck i ran into the other day. i didn't know which country or force it belonged to until i seen blackwater guys getting out of it. it sounds like it is cat powered, not quite the same turbo sound from the cummins. but it was fast moving..... more get up and go then the M1114's

 

[acetomatoco]

The V shaped hull is a design for defeating mine blasts.. Used in Africa for years...Oshkosh is developing one for us... Please give definition of Blackwater guys... Thanks for serving and be home safe.

 

[JAsher45]

blackwater is more or less merc's hired by the goverment. they provide secuirty here in theater and do other missions. you don't hear anything about them unless something like when there helicopter got shot down in bagdad a few months back.

 

[yonder]

PBS had a documentary about the Blackwater guys a couple of years back. Very interesting. They operate pretty much with no civilian or military oversight (or at least they did at the time) so while they are driving down the Iraqi highways they have tail gunners shooting at any driver they feel is getting too close. But since they have no real oversight, they aren't held to the same standards that our men & women in uniform are. So some of these guys can just be killing random civilians for their own amusement and not be held accountable.

 

[readyman]

The Blackwater firefight videos are impressive.

 

[mcinfantry]

Re: RE: Blackwater armored truck

PBS had a documentary about the Blackwater guys a couple of years back. Very interesting. They operate pretty much with no civilian or military oversight (or at least they did at the time) so while they are driving down the Iraqi highways they have tail gunners shooting at any driver they feel is getting too close. But since they have no real oversight, they aren't held to the same standards that our men & women in uniform are. So some of these guys can just be killing random civilians for their own amusement and not be held accountable.

id take killing random civilians over rediculous rules of engagement that result in me being killed since i cant prove to a senator 10,000 miles away that it was 100% an insurgent.

 

[Recovry4x4]

RE: Re: RE: Blackwater armored truck

Good point Lee. Boot the media, take off the handcuffs and let our warriors go to work. The probems would be quelled in weeks.

 

[readyman]

RE: Re: RE: Blackwater armored truck

Could the truck be one of the newer AM General Eagle Series?
Look's like the South African Oryx with a new lower HMMWV front end.

 

[mcinfantry]

war is destruction and death.

you destroy and kill each other until one side surrenders.

we are surrendering because we cant stomach the destruction and death inflicted upon our troops.

 

[rmgill]

RE: Re: RE: Blackwater armored truck

ROE have been all over the map. The Blackwater chaps are doing a job. In some respects they're US troops with training and experience who are over there volunteering to do the work and provide security from the bandits and terrorist who want to snatch civilians and especially people trying to shore up that bloody country. Painting them with a broad brush doesn't really accomplish anything but helping out people like Hillary who do exactly the same thing AND would be perfectly willing (demand) to have the same sort of protection were she in the exact same place.

Re those ROE, they're pretty constrained almost to UN stupidity levels and with requirements for bullet counts after actions is approaching insanity.

 

[yonder]

RE: Re: RE: Blackwater armored truck

Folks, I wasn't trying to post anything pro or anti-war. In fact I would argue that if we were going to run this war right, another Dresden should have been done in Sadr City or maybe Fallujah to make an example.

But these aren't soldiers we're talking about. These are civilian contractors. Our soldiers have oversight, both civilian and military. It is acting to their detriment right now but at least it's something. These blackwater guys answer to nobody, they are not uniformed soldiers in this war, and it bothers me that they can run free killing anyone they think might be a threat while the soldiers we sent over there have their hands tied by extremely restrictive ROE.

Blackwater was operating with similar lack of oversight right here in CONUS during the Katrina aftermath. They were sent in to secure part of the affected areas of the Gulf Coast region and no questions were asked about the body count that resulted from their presence.

 

[mcinfantry]

well, as far as katrina goes. it either
1) didnt happen
2) no one cares, as no questions have been asked.

i dont care. it was a madhouse here.

 

[Michael]

Getting back to the original post, that is an interesting MV. I can't seem to find one exactly like it. This has a similar rear end but it isn't the same truck.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...e-mineresistant-bushmaster-vehicles/index.php

 

[rmgill]

Oh, the truck in question isn't an RG-31, looks a lot like it though... RG-33 perhaps? Its not the aussie Bushmaster nor is it the Couger.

 

[JAsher45]

here is the company that makes this MV they also make a few others that we use over here http://regis.co.za/ma3.html they are out of south africa

 

[readyman]

JAsher45,
Nice work in searching that out, SA vehicles have a unique look to them. I see some SA companies have contracts to supply vehicles to the Iraq police/military as well.

 

[BKinzey]

First. What the hell is that post for mounted to the front bumper?

As for the civilian contractors IIRC there are over 100,000 of them there. Blackwater is the name we hear but there are several companies there. Triple Canopy is one.

They stay in the green zone and leave it on specific missions. Like escorts for dignitaries and such. They don't do patrols. They have a much easier time than our military.

As for random shooting for no reason I would caution those who think this could happen to do some deep research and find out what is happening and not what could happen.

We've got military vehicles, I'm sure many here have firearms, even military firearms. There is plenty of military experience here as well. Ho-boy, with the internet we could start our own military



As for the civy drivers in Iraq. Those that don't know the new rules of the road? Well they probably don't know what side of the road to drive on either.

 

[JAsher45]

the piece that is on the front is for IED. when they head out of the gate it is lowered about rides about an inch off of the ground. it can catch the trip wires and optical sensors on some of the IEDs. what ever helps. some M1114's and M1151's have the same deal on them with coolant lines and a small heat exchanger to detonate the thermal triggered IEDs.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I'm a little late to this party but BKinzey hit the nail on the head.

Remember PBS doesn't necessarily stay on the straight and narrow when they report stuff. They're left leaning and government funded.

This reminds me of the book that's out right now that basically makes the case that all of the civilian contracting companies, be they sucking $hit or killing terrorists, are bilking the government and somehow hurting our troops. It however doesn't mention the fact that the whole reason we have to rely on civilians is the Clintons slashed the military a decade ago. It also does a really good job of only hitting the big points for their case and then using them to gloss over everything else...
As far as New Orleans and what Blackwater did down there...they really didn't do much other than act as police officers after the NO department fled the scene. Heck, we were told the body count was in the thousands and it turned out to be far less than that. FAR less.

Don't believe all of the "news" that you read in the papers, hear on the radio, or watch on TV. 90% of it has been "pasteurized for your protection."




The truck is South African whatever it is.

 

[ratman]

As someone who is/was in new orleans directly after the storm I can tell you I heard many
rumors about blackwater, I heard some directly from NOPD sergeants, I still take it with a grain of salt.
As for my actual viewing of blackwater people? The only thing I saw them do was act as security in recovery centers. They were hyper-professional even with people acting basically like animals from time to time.