WASHINGTON, April 19 (UPI) -- U.S. troops need more armored vehicles to survive close combat, the U.S. Senate was told this week.
"We learned in Iraq that more soldiers can be kept alive in combat by placing more of them under armor and allowing them to remain under armor for longer periods," retired Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, now the president of Colgen Inc., told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday.
Scales' testimony added to the growing calls for extensive reform of Army equipment designs that are rising because of U.S. combat experiences in Iraq.
"Experience in close combat in places like Fallujah suggest that survival rates increase when soldiers are able to move in closer to the enemy before dismounting in the tactical fight," Scales said in his testimony.
"In addition lighter, more agile, reliable and fuel-efficient armored vehicles will greatly reduce the size and vulnerability of the logistical umbilical cord that has proven so costly to maintain in Iraq," the general said. "Medium-weight brigade combat teams carry far more infantry into combat, the essential component for counter-insurgency operations."
"Fifty years of experience in American wars has shown that fighting on foot is very costly in human life. Since the end of World War II, four out of five Americans from all the services killed at the hands of the enemy have been light infantry, not soldiers and Marines, but light infantry, a force that comprises less than 4 percent of those in uniform," Scales said.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld poured huge funds into high-tech sensors and integrated computer systems, and he was enthusiastic about the increased use of special forces. But he neglected any comparable investment in the development of updated but low-tech, improved armored vehicles.
