Photos

Lance Cpl. Eric R. Sparkman, a motor vehicle mechanic with Maintenance Company, Combat Logistics Battalion 1, 1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward), installs an upgraded armor door frame as a part of a humvee modification project in Al Asad, Iraq. The Marine Corps has increased the strength of the protective plating on vehicles since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The upgraded doors help protect servicemembers against fragmentation from the blast of an improvised explosive device. Some humvees are arriving in Iraq with the armor kits already installed; the Marines at CLB-1 ensure the rest are upgraded to the same level of protection. The team is also making modifications to the vehicles already on hand, some of which have previously damaged. ?When we receive damaged humvees, the door has to be fitted precisely on the frame even when it?s bent,? said Lance Cpl. Eric R. Sparkman, 21, a Lawrenceburg, Ky. native. ?Sometimes it could take hours to do just one humvee, but one way or another that armor is going on.?