Soldier Who Tipped Off Media to 'Armor' Problem in Iraq Comes Home

By: When Staff Sgt. Brad Rogers, 34, came back to his Hebron home after 14 months overseas, things just weren't the same. And then there are the reporters who want the interviews.

"I never wanted this to be a big story," Rogers says, sitting down in a local restaurant to eat the definitive American food -- a cheeseburger.
"I only wanted to do what was best for all of us. And it worked.
Fortunately for all of us, we came back home."

The story begins April 3, 2005. Rogers, and his fellow members of the Kentucky National Guard's 2113th Transportation Company based in Paducah, had been in their mission for only about a month -- running convoys, sometimes hauling troops or equipment or escorting contractors who delivered supplies from city to city.

Rogers, a 16-year veteran of the Kentucky National Guard who served in Operation Desert Storm, said bombs hit other vehicles in his convoy.
"God must've put a bubble around mine," Rogers says.

"Thankfully, I never was hit. But was I scared? Yes."

An April 3 mission sent some of the unit to escort contractors to Bayji, two hours north of Baghdad.

Rogers was not on that mission.

On the way to Bayji, an explosive device sent shrapnel into Sgt. James A. Sherrill's vehicle. Sherrill, a 27-year-old from Ekron, Ky., in Meade County, became the unit's first member killed in the war.

Word spread back to the base at Camp Speicher near Tikrit, where soldiers were waiting for other orders. When Rogers heard of Sherrill's death, he was convinced it was because of a lack of protective armor.
Days later, he made his feelings known in an e-mail to his co-workers and employers at Hemmer.

"This didn't have to happen, and this shouldn't have happened. I don't feel right in my heart to sit here and not do anything," Rogers wrote.
Rogers' employers forwarded the e-mail to media outlets across the state.

"All he wants is for them to have the right equipment," Hemmer vice president Kathryn Groob told The Enquirer in April.

In the e-mail, Rogers said his unit drove military tractor-trailer trucks that were up to 26 years old and apt to break down. Rogers alleged the trucks in the convoys were equipped only with what is called 'hillbilly armor,' or one armor panel behind the passenger side seat and another panel behind the driver's side.

He said the vehicles had no ballistic windows that could prevent shrapnel from coming inside.

The windows on the trucks were rolled down, so another armor panel could be attached to the doors, he said. Some vehicles had armor near the floorboards as well.

Ballistic windows, Rogers believed, could have saved Sherrill's life. At least having the windows installed would protect other soldiers.

When Rogers' e-mail became public, officials did not immediately support the claim. Adjutant General Donald Storm announced that all vehicles had been outfitted with at least the same armor as a Humvee, but soldiers said that was not true.

It was at least the third time in eight months that American soldiers questioned the protective gear they were using.

In October 2004, some members of a South Carolina-based Army Reserve unit refused a mission in Iraq, saying their trucks lacked armor. Two months later, a Tennessee National Guard soldier asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld why their vehicle armor was in such poor condition.

Rogers' e-mail appeared in local Kentucky newspapers, including The Enquirer, and the official stories began to change.

A few days later, Storm admitted that the complaints could be valid.
"There may be some merit to that," Storm told The Enquirer. "And every soldier has a right to express those concerns. But I do really wish that I would've had this information earlier. He should have gone through his commander if he had problems. But I'm on his side here. Whatever will increase the well-being for our soldiers is what we have to do."

He said the unit would not participate in any other missions until the soldiers' safety was assured.

Within days Rogers said it became obvious that changes were being made. While the unit was waiting, vehicles were re-equipped, and some vehicles were replaced, Rogers says.

"I don't like all the negative tones about this," Rogers says. "They fixed it. Yes, they did wrong. And it's not like stubbing a toe -- this was a person's life. But I believe in forgiveness. They were Johnny-on-the-spot. They did right the wrong."

And when the changes were made, Rogers was thanked by his fellow soldiers.

"I wish I could say I was doing this just for everyone else, but that's not true," he says. "I was doing it for myself too, because I was afraid to go out with the kind of equipment we had. But afterward, I was treated very well, and many told me they were proud of what I'd done."

The unit suffered no casualties for the rest of its mission.

Now Rogers is home, facing his new mission: getting used to normal life again.

But for now he will keep doing what he can to help the soldiers.
"Everyone deserves to be protected," he said. "Only God knows what would've happened if we didn't get that armor. I think we would have lost several other people. I just hope that from now on, if one person sees something that's wrong, they will speak up."