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Friday, February 10, 2006
Getting out of the HEAT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeremy Redmon
Soldiers use the HEAT trainer to learn how to escape quickly from a Humvee after a rollover.
Camp Arifjan, Kuwait — Roll over!
It’s a Humvee on a spit, a wild carnival ride and a training tool all rolled into one. The U.S. military is also hoping it will be a lifesaver.
The odd-looking ride is meant to teach soldiers how to quickly and safely exit a Humvee that has rolled over.
Since the invasion of Iraq, 90 U.S. service members have been killed in vehicle rollovers, according to a military report. Fourteen drowned in armored Humvees.
In building the ride, workers repaired a Humvee damaged by an improvised explosive device in Iraq, mounted it on a tank engine repair stand and hooked it to a motor. The motor can turn the Humvee compartment up to 180 degrees to simulate a rollover.
The device is based on the “Dilbert Dunker,” which teaches pilots how to escape a submerged plane. The military loves technical language and acronyms, so the ride got the name HEAT, for Humvee Egress Assistance Trainer.
Soldiers are taught that a Humvee can roll over if it hits a 25-degree angle, depending on other factors such as speed and the abruptness of turns.
During their ride, the soldiers learn to shout “Roll over!” when they feel the vehicle tipping. That warns everyone in the truck to brace themselves.
Once they are upside down, the soldiers must balance on their helmets while unfastening their seatbelts.
Then, they must push open one of the armored doors, which weigh 240 pounds each, help one another out and be ready to fight the enemy.
When Sgt. 1st Class Sylvannus Jones, of St. Leonard, Md., went on the ride this week, he had the added complication of sitting in the gunner’s hatch.
He learned to resist the temptation of bracing himself on the hatch, where a limb can be severed in a rollover. He instead crawled quickly down into the vehicle.
“Your natural reaction is to put your hands up. Metal and flesh don’t mix,” said Jones, a Maryland National Guard soldier with the Baltimore-based 243rd Engineer Company. “It’s realistic training. Hopefully, my guys will never have to use it.”
