Bradleys and Baghdad on the 'Hootch'

Maj. Shane Sims goes through a final checklist with the driver of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle on the testing pad at Fort Benning, a day before trucking the 25-ton tracked vehicles into Columbus on Thursday, June 5, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Two Bradley Fighting Vehicles – tank-like personnel carriers – clanked along in downtown Columbus traffic on Thursday, in order to test out hi-tech camera gear.

A Bradley Fighting Vehicle pulls into traffic in downtown Columbus for a test run. The tank is sandwiched between two of the test team's pickup trucks to minimize the chance of hitting a civilian vehicle , June 5, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Cpl. Jason Wade of Columbus State University police watched as the vehicles rolled by his post near a parking garage on Front Street:

“That's something downtown's never seen before. It's pretty neat! Couldn't imagine being stopped at a red light and seeing this big 50-caliber gun stuck in my rear view mirror (laughs).

He's watching an army test to better protect soldiers out on patrol from bombs, bullets and the mayhem on Iraqi streets.

They want to keep soldiers safely buttoned up in an armor plated, 25-ton Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The steel and aluminum-hulled heavyweight runs on treads, carries a three-man crew and up to seven infantrymen.

Fort Benning officials are here to acid test a new camera vision system that's supposed to transmit a 360-degree color and infrared view of what's going on outside to the crew's tv-screens inside.

But the system's camera and infrared scanners – which translate degrees of heat and cold into a black and white image – are blinded by southwest Georgia's scorching 100-degree heat reflecting off walls, cars and people.

Spc. Kyle Jolley and another crew member take a break on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle's ramp, between sorties through downtown Columbus to test camera systems, June 5, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Specialist Kyle Jolley, who monitors the cameras is having a tough time interpreting what's on his screen:

“It's kind of overwhelming at this point, because there's so many noncombatants that are there, and a lot of them have cameras, so it's hard to distinguish an actual video camera or something like that. Also, you're trying to pick people apart in groups, and by the time you do, you're already passed them and moved on to the next group.”

Interviewer:
What about the infrared signatures?

Jolley:
“Infrared's difficult during the day, because the sun heats up the surrounding areas so much, that people don't stand off against the background as well as they do during the nighttime.”

Jolley has to pick out eight soldiers who are wearing street clothes, and posing as insurgents. They're brandishing long black tubes as make-believe weapons, and hiding in the deep shadows of windows and doorways, and behind bushes and foliage.



Second Lieutenant Alfred Spiteri, posing as an insurgent, points a mock anti-tank rocket at the Bradley Fighting Vehicle as it drives by a parking garage, June 5, 2008. The maneuver is meant to test the vehicle's on-board camera system in real life situations, similar to those encountered in Iraq. (Dave Bender)

Infantry Second Lieutenant Alfred Spiteri quickly points his mock anti-tank rocket out the window of a parking garage, and then pulls back:

“Our job here is to work as an enemy for this exercise, so that they can see if the new camera systems they're trying to incorporate into the Bradleys' are effective. Other people out here have mock rifles, so that the Bradley crews can differentiate between what weapons we're using.”

But despite the snafus the army says it wants all the feedback – positive and especially negative - from the camo-clad troops, so they can fix the bugs before the system is deployed in Baghdad's back alleys.

I ask Major Shane Sims, who's in charge of the field testing, about other possible battle scenarios:

Interviewer:
“You're running through downtown Baghdad; a kid runs up with spray paint, gets two cameras out; someone throws a grenade on it – you can blow out a camera...”

Sims:
“You're very attuned into what some of the issues are. those are very good questions, and those are issues we're all addressing in this experiment.”

After the Bradleys are trucked back to Fort Benning, and the field reports are filed, Sims says additional system testing and adding improvements will take place at the Army's armor center at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Crewmember undergoes an inspection before deploying his vehicle on a test sortie in downtown Columbus, June 5, 2008. (Dave Bender)

Click here for more GPB News coverage of events at Fort Benning and the post's effect on Columbus and the surrounding area .

Columbus: Nat'l. Infantry Museum gets Bradley Fighting Vehicle

Crane gingerly lifts vehicle to waiting
construction team. (Dave Bender)

An Army Bradley Fighting Vehicle that saw heavy action in Iraq was donated Thursday morning to the new National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning.

The 25-ton weapon was hoisted into place two stories off the ground on a reinforced steel platform.


Construction workers align Bradley on
cradle in museum (Dave Bender)

BAE Industries, who make the gun-studded armored car, made the donation at a ceremony among the girders and hard-hats at the still-under-construction, 180,000 square-foot facility.

Company officials say the vehicle saw hard fighting with the 4th Infantry Division around Baghdad in 2004.

Mark Willhoft, BAE project manager: “It was hit by an IED and had pretty significant damage to it; and we were able to take it in and refurbish it, and supply it back to the museum for display here at the new building.”

Soldiers manning the vehicle were not hurt in the attack.

Close to 40 Columbus and state officials, National Infantry Foundation and army representatives broke into applause as the vehicle was deftly set down for future generations to see.

Andy Hove, BAE Systems’ director of Bradley Combat
Systems looks on as workers remove cables.
(Dave Bender)
The museum is set to open late next year.