JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. – It was the great Chinese philosopher, strategist and military leader Sun Tzu who said, “Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.”

At Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, U.S. Army trainers have applied this ancient strategy to the modern-day battlefield through training and familiarization on military vehicles, much like the training July 13, 2012.

Sgt. 1st Class Paul Francis of the 2nd of the 309th Training Support Battalion, 174th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division East, recalls his experiences around smaller and less protected military vehicles during his 2002-2003 Iraq deployment.

“We had soft-top humvees padded with sandbags and plywood,” said Francis. “If you wanted armor on the trucks, you had to make it and bolt it on.”

The high mobility multiwheeled vehicle or humvee was the predominant source of transportation on missions for numerous military units. Initially many of the units in the early years of the war traveled in vehicles with little to no armor. As the enemy threat began to escalate, military forces and insurgents alike found themselves in an intricate race for the next strategic move in a high-stakes game of chess.

In 2007, a company by the name of Navistar began to produce a line of vehicles called the mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle or MRAP and thus began the trickle of large armored military vehicles into both the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters. Confronted by a high threat and almost “infinite variety of circumstances,” courtesy of the enemy, researchers and engineers began taking lessons learned on the battlefield to strategize how best to defeat an evolving enemy.

Today the MRAP family of vehicles comes in various models – complete with upgrades, such as improved armor kits, equipment to mitigate rocket-propelled grenade attacks and the ongoing threat of IEDs, to foreshadow the enemy threat and prevent service members from becoming vulnerable pawns.

Another strategic move has been the education of service members from combat lessons learned. Part of First Army’s pre-deployment educational curriculum includes mandatory vehicle rollover training to teach service members on immediate actions in the event of a vehicle rollover. At the mobilization platform in JB MDL, deploying service members receive Humvee egress assistance training or MRAP egress training.

“If you’re going outside the wire, the chances of a rollover are there,” emphasized Sgt. 1st. Class Keith Hands, 1st Battalion, 134th Infantry, 174th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division East. “In 2004 I lost a close friend to a rollover and it was in water. This was before egress training ever existed.”

Hands trains Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard personnel on immediate reaction drills to mitigate casualties and to honor the memory of his fallen comrade. Part of Hands’ curriculum includes teaching how to escape from a rolled vehicle in the event of a rollover landing at a 90-degree angle in water.

“Doing this training is the best way that I can honor his memory.”

Although Hands states that rollovers will happen and that personnel cannot prevent them, he is still dedicated to training service members to react to them and survive through the incident.

Many service members felt much more confident about the potential of traveling in MRAPs after receiving driver’s training and egress training on the MRAPs.

“I was definitely very nervous at first,” laughed Pfc. Robert Hardison of the 1109th Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group, Connecticut Army National Guard. “I’ve never driven big vehicles before – I drive a small sedan at home, but now I’m really comfortable.”

The Army in conjunction with other non-government organizations continues to test the infinite circumstances to improve its tactics and equipment, taking from combat lessons learned – even ancient ones.

Connected Media