Responding to recent questions regarding the need for more armored high-mobility, multi-purpose wheeled vehicles (Humvees) for U.S. troops in Iraq, Saxton said the Army has had to adapt to attacks on U.S. convoys, and is in midway of armoring all the Humvees. Congress funded the programs in the 2003 supplemental bill.

"We have ramped up production of armored Humvees 30-fold since the terrorist insurgents began attacking our patrols with IEDs in the summer of 2003," Saxton said, referring to the use of roadside bombs known as improvised explosive devices. "Seventy-five percent of the Humvees in theater are now armored, and every month more armored Humvees or kits to upgrade vehicles already deployed are shipped out to the troops."

As a matter of Army policy, un-armored Humvees are generally confined to base-camp operations. There are approximately 19,000 Humvees operating in the theater, and more than 15,000 are "up-armored" or have been fitted with add-on armor. In response to the IED threat, the Army adopted a program with three sets or levels of armor protection, and is attempting to make all Humvees in theater either level 1 or 2.

▸ LEVEL 1 - About 8,100 level 1, or "up-armored" Humvees are required in theater, of which 6,000 are now there, with 267 en route.
▸ LEVEL 2 - There are another 13,900 Humvees in theater, of which 9,402 have level 2, or "add-on" armor kits installed.
▸ LEVEL 3 - The Army has used a temporary stop-gap measure designated level 3 to protect Humvees awaiting the stronger level 1 and 2 protection. Level 3 consists of welding or bolting steel plates on about 4,500 Humvees and other trucks awaiting "add-on" armor kits.

"Earlier this year at a Ramstein Army hospital, a solider told me that steel plates welded onto his vehicle the day before he was injured in by IED saved his life," Saxton said. "I do believe the Army is attempting to meet the threat by increasing armor protection."

In addition to the equipment they take with them, units often inherit armored Humvees from other units leaving the theater. This is the case with the National Guard unit in which Spc. Thomas Wilson, the Guardsman who posed a reporter's question about Humvee armor to Secretary Rumsfeld earlier this week.

All up-armored Humvees deployed to the region will stay there.  Generally, armored Humvees are distributed according to a unit's mission, and are not standard equipment. Different versions of Humvees are designed for different missions, and many are more lightly armored so as to move rapidly in battle and are often used by special forces.