Supporting the First Stryker Brigade in Iraq - Army Logistics ...

Welders assigned to the 548th Corps Support
Battalion during Operation Iraqi Freedom create
an armored “box” (above) for positioning in the
back of a gun truck. Note the gun mounts on the
armored box in the back of the vehicle (below).
Collateral Benefits
The gun truck crews lived and trained every day
with the other soldiers in the convoys, which created a
level of cohesiveness and familiarity that was helpful
in developing unique TTPs to counter the numerous
threats the convoys faced. Owning the gun trucks also
allowed the convoy commanders to execute the convoys’
duties more effectively. They no longer had to
wait for a linkup with external security assets and
undergo the laborious tasks of synchronizing communications,
inspecting equipment, and conducting convoy
briefings and battle drills. Having organic gun
trucks permitted inspections, convoy briefs, and rehearsals
to be conducted ahead of time, which allowed
the convoy commanders enough time to conduct
last-minute checks and make corrections to ensure safe
operations. Having organic convoy security assets also
gave the units significantly more freedom of movement
since the gun trucks exceeded the minimum security
requirements for convoys. Other support
battalions soon recognized the increased effectiveness
provided by organic security assets and asked to use
our gun trucks for convoy security or as models for
creating their own gun trucks.
Drawing from our experience in conducting daily
convoy operations from Balad to Mosul, Taji, and
Kuwait for 10 months, we developed effective convoy
procedures and battle drills. We determined that the
minimum effective convoy security configuration included
two gun trucks, one positioned in front of the
convoy and one in the rear. Each gun truck was fitted
with two mounted crew-served weapons with
180-degree fields of fire. We found that, in addition to
the gun trucks in front and at the end of the convoy, the
most effective gun truck-to-convoy ratio was one gun
truck for every eight vehicles. Maintaining this ratio
during really large convoys was not practical because,
to do so, we would have had to convert more lift assets
to gun trucks, which would have further decreased the
unit’s ability to transport supplies.
Gun Truck ‘Specs’
An effective gun truck must be a 2.5-ton or larger
vehicle that can keep up with convoy movements. It
must be hardened with armor plates to withstand small
arms fire and have at least one mounted crew-served
weapon (7.62 millimeters or larger). High-mobility,
multipurpose, wheeled vehicle (HMMWV) gun trucks
were widely used out of necessity because of the
unavailability of large trucks that could be transformed
into effective gun trucks.
HMMWV gun trucks worked well in HMMWV convoys
and as command and control vehicles, but larger
gun trucks had additional benefits. Armored 5-ton vehicles
with mounted crew-served weapons discouraged
ARMY LOGISTICIAN PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN OF UNITED STATES ARMY LOGISTICS 39