The thing that always amazed me, is that prior to OEF/OIF, only rangers had any real ballistic protection from rifle caliber rounds, and the news early on made it sound like everyone was supposed to have armor and that we were cheating our support troops by not giving them armor. I was very happy for the armor I had, being in an National Guard Infantry unit. SImalier with the upgraded Humvee armor debate, purely political. Now the results I think were mostly promising, i.e. more armored vehicles for the troops (especially the trucks), but the public perception is off. This has lead to the MRAP, which I feel is mostly a negative. Too expensive and not eneough utility to be widely useful outside of Iraq. I seem to be drifting so I will end for now.
Reed