I'm guessing there was as slew of ideas that resulted in attempts to harden our soft skinned vehicles in OIF/OEF. These pics show what I did to try to harden a few HMMWV's I had in 2-6 Infantry, 2nd Armored Brigade, 1st AD while in Iraq, 2003-04. The pics are of our Bn Commanders' vehicle which was the first to get the add on armor. We also made the MG mounts which were made by our Iraqi contractors, this design was basically copied from a mount we saw being used by the Cav unit that was at FOB "Muleskinner", we made it a little more beefier and improved the mount pivot to allow the shield to be swung around when needed. This pivot was greased up with GAA grease to allow for quick movement. The plate steel was rather soft, one of my NCO's showed me how soft it actually was when they pumped a mag of AK-47 ammo in it at close range. unfortunately, this was all we could get in Baghdad proper. It did provide protection from scrapnel and IED frag. the last pic is of another HMMWV that operated on our FOB, this was one of the escort vehicles that accompanied the Command group when they ventured outside the FOB perimeter. While I was in the first Gulf War, we did the same thing by removing all the doors and hatches, the idea was that it would be better to fight from and easier to evacuate if damaged.
Ad Hoc armor for HMMWV 2003
