The rush to get MRAPs to Afghanistan is all about reducing casualties. Anyone in these vehicles is much less likely to be killed by a roadside bomb. The math is simple. If all the troops who encountered these bombs were in a MRAP, casualties would be about 65 percent less. About two-thirds of all casualties in Afghanistan are from roadside bombs. Thus these vehicles reduced overall casualties by about a third.
Our Afghanistan surge will result in more casualties since we will have more troops and will use them more aggressively, but if we get enough MRAPs into the theater in time to participate in our surge offensive, our casualty rate will be lower than what I expect this year.
