To Up-Armor or NOT

To Up-Armor or NOT
The evidence of “Hilly Billy” armor is everywhere. Hill Billy armor is metal plates installed on the vehicle, be it welded or just rigged somehow to provide some sense of safety. These plates are dug from trash bins and piles left by other units. As you can imagine these metal plates are hard to come by in the desert. I can imagine that if a unit brings them with them from the states that they would have to guard them 24/7. Would another soldier steal this to insure his safety? I am sure that there are a few but I myself would steal them if it insured not only my safety but also the safety of my fellow soldiers. It is like stealing from a cousin to help out a brother. We are all family just at different family levels. This is something that I believe is in the process of being fixed. With the question to Mr. Rumesfeld, himself comes some kind of fix or evidence of a fix for his problem. The president has begun to check into this I believe because he speaks of it in his speeches. I thank God for Mr. Bush because he seems to have a genuine concern for the soldiers of the Armed Forces. If the 507th would have had up-armored vehicle would Johnny still be alive? With the exception of a convoy of up-armored HUMMV’s there is just not enough to go around. I saw an up-armored HUMMV this morning on my way to chow. It appeared that it had been shot at and the front of it was mangled. The shots where on the drivers side right where the drivers head would be. The bullets did not penetrate the ballistic glass installed on the vehicle. Are WE prepared for such encounters? The answer is most definite not as none of our vehicles have even a shred of Hill Billy much less the up-armor.