This Truck Saved My Life Lessons Learned from the Mrap Vehicle Program

Book excerpt: This Truck Saved My Life Lessons Learned from the MRAP Vehicle Program The subject of this book, the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected Vehicle Program, was unique in many ways. "MRAP" meant a vehicle that could survive in the face of the mines, roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and ambushes the enemy mounted throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. The program moved with lightning speed-one member of the team described it as "MRAP Speed"-not seen in large defense programs since World War II. It produced a flood of vehicles on such a scale that it was the largest single defense acquisition program in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010-an amazing fact given that the program did not even exist in FY 2006. This book is written to answer these questions by providing a history of the program. To deal with the fundamental questions, that history has to be told in thematic terms. So much happened in parallel that a chronology would be misleading. It would fail to convey the special character and achievements of the MRAP program.