“The Pentagon has offered varying statements over the years about the protection offered by the truck, whose trademark V-shaped hull helps deflect the force of roadside bombs away from the troops inside. Former Defense secretary Robert Gates, the MRAP's chief patron who credits learning about their safety from reading about them in USA TODAY, has said they were 10 times as safe as a Humvee in a blast and have saved thousands of lives. Another Pentagon estimate went further, putting the number of lives saved at 40,000. Since then, the military has ratcheted back, adopting Gates' estimate.
The figures cited by Carter, he said, are based on examining data from roadside bomb blasts in Iraq and Afghanistan, examining the crater, the damaged truck and the wounds to those inside. Data have also been collected from blowing up 200 MRAPs containing dummies at the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.”
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