Range of Debate: Equiptment, Tactics, Gender, and the Unavoidable Consequences of War

...The ambush in Falluja made June 23 one of the worst days in the history of women in the American military. Yet it faded into the running narrative of Iraq, tallied up as another tragic but unavoidable consequence of war.

…The military sent the women [now dead] off that day with substandard armor, inadequate security and faulty tactics,… The problems mounted in a lethal chain.

The cargo truck the women rode in was a relic, never intended for warfare with insurgents, and had mere improvised metal shielding that only rose to their shoulders.

…Their convoy was protected by just two Humvees with mounted machine guns.

…the security team let the suicide bomber pull to the side of the road as the convoy passed, rather than ordering him to move ahead to keep him away from the women.

…“The females should never have been transported like that,” said Sgt. Carozio V. Bass, one of the marines who escorted the convoy. “We didn't have enough people or proper vehicles.”

…Some marines questioned whether they should have been traveling at all.

…The day after the attack…the Marines in Falluja increased to five the number of Humvees in the convoy transporting a new crew of women, added more weapons for protection and stopped letting cars wait on the side of the road for the convoy to pass. Eventually, they switched to armored Humvees instead of cargo trucks.

…some marines said that their trucks, training and personnel were more suitable for their traditional mission of establishing beachheads than for combating a sustained insurgency.

…Making sure the women's commute was safe was the responsibility of the men who provided convoy security.

…There were no hard and fast rules on how many Humvees to use, nor were there any on how to position the women in the convoy.

…Long before that June day, Marine commanders were wrestling with a vexing problem: their troops lacked the right protection for a war exacting its toll in roadside bombs.

…The women's truck that was hit in Falluja had been fitted with the plates and General Catto said he had been told that they repelled the blast. But the makeshift shielding, just 36½ inches tall, left the women's necks and heads exposed.

Michael Moss, “Hard Look at Mission That Ended in Inferno for 3 Women,” New York Times, 12/20/05.