Nearly 2,000 National Guard troops have deployed to Washington, D.C., either to fight out-of-control crime or as an "ominous and stupid" show of force, depending on who you ask. Troops have succeeded in their mission to keep D.C. safe from crime by T-boning a civilian SUV at an intersection, reports WTOP. Emergency responders had to use the Jaws of Life to extract the trapped driver, who suffered minor injuries in the crash.
The crash occurred in the early morning hours on Wednesday, August 20, at the intersection of 8th Street and North Carolina Avenue. ArmyTimes reports that the military vehicle involved was a 14-ton Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle, or M-ATV. It was part of a five-vehicle convoy that, along with a D.C. Metropolitan Police cruiser, immediately stopped and rendered aid, according to NPR. We don't know the circumstances of the crash itself or who was at fault. It doesn't really matter because any civilian vehicle is going to lose in a contest with a big, tough military vehicle, no matter who's right or wrong.
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Developed For Afghanistan, Not City Streets
According to Military.com, the M-ATV is "the U.S. military's off-road vehicle of choice, ideally suited for operating in mountainous terrain." It was developed specifically for Afghanistan, whose difficult terrain is exactly like Washington, D.C. city streets, I guess. As an armored vehicle that can take a blast from an IED, the windows are small and visibility is extremely limited, making its urban use questionable, at best.
"You know what we drove around Kabul?" one Reddit commenter said. "Up-armored Land Cruisers, Suburbans, and other such SUVs. The MATVs and MRAPs were for QRF [Quick Reaction Force] or if traveling out of the city. This is why. Even though once a year or so an SUV would get blown to s*** in the city by a VBIED [Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device] that an MRAP could have survived, they made the decision that it wasn't worth all of the accidents and dead pedestrians. Shows how much they value their own cities and people."
But troops on the ground in our nation's capital is a small price to pay to ensure that nobody joyrides on the National Mall again. (Let's just ignore the $45 million price tag for road repairs after President Trump's birthday military parade, which was absolutely essential for national security.)
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