Officials said the U.S. military has completed a project to transfer
about 8,500 Humvee vehicles to the Iraq Army and security forces, Middle East Newsline reported. They said
the vehicles, meant to replace pickup trucks and civilian platforms, have
undergone refurbishing in Kuwait before deployment in Iraq.
The Humvee training has taken place at the Kirkush base and assigned to
the Iraq Army's 5th Division. Officials said Iraqi cadets have been
undergoing 25-day courses in an effort by the army to assume full
responsibility for the Humvee fleet.
"We're trying to show them not just PMCS [preventive maintenance checks
and services], but taking them to the next level so they're able to quickly
identify the fault, fix the fault and get the truck back on the road in
order to go on with their mission," U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Roger Peterson, in
charge of maintenance training, said.
Officials said the training would be vital to maintain Iraq Army
operations in wake of the U.S. withdrawal in late 2011. They said the army
has been plagued by gaps in logistics that have hampered numerous combat
units.
The training program for mechanics was meant to develop a cadre of Iraqi
instructors for the Humvee. Officials said the U.S. military has supplied
Humvee manuals in Arabic to facilitate classroom instruction.
"I've dealt with these Humvees for three or four years, but I need to
learn more details about these trucks in order to complete our missions,"
Iraq Army 1st Pvt. Kalid Mahde Mosser said. "Working with the manuals they
gave us makes the training very easy to go into detail and do it step by
step."
The U.S. military has also established a database to order Humvee
parts. Officials said supply units within the Iraq Army's 5th Division would
be linked to a computer network that would contain data on supplies and
availability.
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