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Hard Work, Pride at Factory Making Humvee Armor

Flo Moore oversees the weld and fabrication unit of armor production at the Rock Island Arsenal. She hopes her work helps protect her son and his comrades in an Illinois National Guard unit. They recently left for Iraq.
David Schaper, NPR
Flo Moore oversees the weld and fabrication unit of armor production at the Rock Island Arsenal. She hopes her work helps protect her son and his comrades in an Illinois National Guard unit. They recently left for Iraq.

The job of protecting U.S. troops in Iraq from land mines, roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire is largely falling on factory workers back home.

At the U.S. Army's Rock Island Arsenal, located on an island in the middle of the Mississippi River between Illinois and Iowa, workers labor around the clock to produce armor for Humvees and supply trucks. It's the Army's only complete, start-to-finish factory for add-on armor kits.

Since production began just over a year ago, the arsenal has sent nearly 3,000 armor kits to Humvees in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On factory floors stretching the length of several football fields, three-eighth-inch thick armor steel is shaped into Humvee and fitted with bullet-proof glass.

Marty Bollman was hired as a temporary worker at the plant last month after losing his job of 24 years at a steel mill that shut down. After being jobless for 10 months, he's not just thankful to be working -- he says he has a strong sense of honor and pride in his work.

"You know you're working for something," Bollman says. "It's not just putting a nut and bolt together. This is for the troops and it's a good feeling. It's easy to get up in the morning."

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

David Schaper is a correspondent on NPR's National Desk, based in Chicago, primarily covering transportation and infrastructure, as well as breaking news in Chicago and the Midwest.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.