Iraq death spurs push for Humvee armor
In the days before his death, Private First Class John D. Hart called his father to tell him how unsafe he felt riding around Iraq in a Humvee that lacked bulletproof shielding or even metal doors.
It would be the last conversation Brian T. Hart would have with his 20-year-old son. On Oct. 18 near Kirkuk, Saddam Hussein loyalists ambushed his son's Army convoy, killing two. A hail of bullets felled the Bedford High School graduate while he fought from his Humvee.
"When he died, all his ammunition had been spent," the unit commander wrote in a letter to Hart's parents. "Your son gave everything he had for the safety of others. . . . As a commander, I struggle to find words that adequately capture the depth to which we honor Private First Class Hart."
For Brian Hart, a 44-year-old Bedford businessman, his only son's last words have come to haunt him, especially after learning that other families who lost loved ones in Humvee attacks had complained to the Pentagon about the lack of armor in vehicles.
In fact, an average sport utility vehicle found on US roads provides more protection than Hart's Humvee. "He would have been better off in a
Turning grief into action, Hart cobbled together a loose network of soldiers, their relatives, politicians, and defense contractors to pressure the military to beef up its Humvees. Since his son's death, Hart has seen results: Since January, the Marine Corps has ordered $9 million worth of bulletproof Humvee door panels from Foster-Miller Inc. of Waltham, and last week the Army said it would double its order of heavily armored Humvees from its contractor.
More Humvees in Iraq still need extra protection, but Hart's headway is remarkable for how quickly he has navigated the byzantine military-procurement system. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, whom Hart enlisted in his cause, believes the father's success can come only from a parent who "feels a desperate sense of loss that he doesn't want it to happen to another parent."
Most versions of the military transport known as the Humvee, short for High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, use body panels made from thin aluminum or fiberglass. That reduces weight but stops few bullets.
Military planners thought tanks or armored personnel carriers would be used for combat patrols. But there are not enough to go around in Iraq, where American troops drive more than 10,000 Humvees, according to the Army.
Last spring, the Army sent more than 500 "up-armored" Humvees made by
The protection became more valuable last summer, as the guerrilla warfare began. Patrols faced more attacks and land mines, making reinforced vehicles critical.
How they would get more, quickly, was unclear, since the Pentagon's original 2005 budget request included 818 up-armored Humvees. An unarmored Humvee costs about $75,000, while an armored one costs about twice as much. Of the total number of Humvees in Iraq, just over 2,000 are fully armored, according to an Army tally, about half of what it says it needs.
Designers at Foster-Miller, a closely held engineering company, proposed a quick fix: use armor panels made from ceramic and Kevlar that could be attached to Humvee doors with Velcro. The idea is less unusual than it sounds. Since the early 1990s, the company has used fabric strips made or designed by Velcro USA Inc. of Manchester, N.H., to attach similar panels inside the cockpits of military transport planes.
While the Army tested Foster-Miller's product last fall, the service still has not ordered any. Other companies that proposed similar add-on armor kits complained Army officials were not interested.
The Army acknowledges it has been slow to fortify its Humvees, but says it is moving as fast as it can. Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee told a Senate Armed Services Committee last week that when US troops first arrived in Iraq last spring, "there wasn't a feeling that all Humvees should be up-armored," partly because the extra weight slowed them. By June, the Army saw that its Humvees needed more protection from the flood of land mines.
"We realize that all soldiers were being exposed to these kinds of attacks and that convoys, in particular, were exposed," Brownlee said. "That's when we began to ramp up to provide those as soon as we could."
The effort was not fast enough to save John Hart.
As a teenager, the strapping Hart knew he wanted to be in the Army and prepared himself by joining Bedford High's rifle team and Junior ROTC program.
Even his teenage mischief had a military bent. Longtime friend Ben Chambers recalled sneaking out of their houses at 2 a.m. to plaster Army stickers around town.
Hart's mother, Alma, sent his name to a Navy recruiter, thinking that service might be safer. But Chambers said Hart was determined to wind up as an Army soldier "on the ground actually doing something as opposed to sitting behind a desk. He wanted to be the person making a difference."
After enlisting in September 2002, Hart joined his unit, the 173d Airborne Brigade, in northern Iraq last summer. A trained paratrooper, he was in several firefights and earned a Combat Infantryman Badge.
Others in his unit have since told his father how they also felt vulnerable on patrol in Humvees. One was Specialist Joshua Sams, the driver of Hart's Humvee who was injured during the ambush.
In a telephone interview, Sams said he was not sure whether armor would have saved Hart, because he was riding in the open bed of the Humvee when the squad came under fire. Sams said armor would have protected another soldier, Lieutenant David R. Bernstein, 24, who died in the attack.
A graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Bernstein bled to death after being hit by a bullet that tore through the Humvee, Sams said. "You could see the hole" in the vehicle, Sams said.
On Oct. 19, Brian and Alma Hart woke to a 6 a.m. knock at the door at the family's Bedford home. A policeman, a local priest, and an Army officer delivered the news.
At the time, the family was scheduled to move to Illinois, where Brian Hart was to start a new job as an executive at a drug wholesaler. The family remained in Massachusetts, fearing a move would be too stressful, and Hart began a local job search. He has devoted much of his time to researching armored vehicles.
Working the Internet and phones daily, Hart learned about more soldiers killed in unarmored Humvees and which defense contractors made add-on armor for the vehicles. He also became an outspoken critic, appearing on national radio shows, granting newspaper interviews, and making trips to meet with politicians in Washington, D.C.
After his son was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Hart took up the issue with Kennedy, who attended the service. Kennedy said he had heard concerns about Humvees, but embraced the issue after meeting with the Harts. Of the 18 soldiers killed in Iraq who were either Massachusetts residents or who have next of kin in the state, six died in unarmored Humvees or trucks, according to a count by Kennedy's office as of mid-January.
Hart touched base with others in Washington, including Democratic Representatives John Murtha of Pennsylvania and Brian Baird of Washington. Other politicians got involved after hearing concerns from their constituents.
They, in turn, began to contact Army officials about the Humvee armor and why more units did not have it. At a Senate hearing in November, Brownlee, the acting secretary of the Army, said the service had ordered as many up-armored vehicles as its contractors could produce, but that it would take until mid-2005 to deliver them.
That seemed like a long time to Hart. He went to the Web and learned that the armor makers were not at full production. Later, a representative from O'Gara-Hess confirmed that. Hart took those details to Kennedy's office.
Armed with that information, the senator urged the Army to speed its approval and acquisition process. Under pressure, the Army tested bulletproof door panels from Foster-Miller, the Waltham defense contractor, making them ready for the Marine Corps to buy in January.
"The political questions raised the profile of the issue," said Doug Thomson, business development manager at Foster-Miller.
A major breakthrough came last week, when Brownlee unveiled plans to double orders of heavily armored Humvees, from 220 to 450 a month.
While a good start, Brian Hart said, he hardly calls it a victory. He still plans to spend much of his time working the phones to make sure the plans get fully funded.
"It's an obligation," Hart said. "Pretty much an obligation from a father to his son to try to protect his friends."
Ross Kerber can be reached at kerber@globe.com.
