"INSERT PROJECTILE HERE"

Ohio Reservists just getting it done.

Good job, guys.

In a country full of targets, perhaps none widens the eyes and gladdens the hearts of the bad boys in Iraq like those 30-foot trailers rolling down the open road carrying 7,500 gallons of fuel.

For anyone with a weapon and trouble on his mind, the trucks are an inviting sight. They are traveling bull’s-eyes. Moving placards proclaiming “Insert projectile here.”...

The trucks have been shot at repeatedly and targeted by the improvised explosive devices that now have their own acronym — IEDs. But after nearly six months of driving the roads of Iraq, the unit based at LSA Anaconda, a logistics base north of Baghdad, has had no fatalities from the attacks and has lost only one of the 54 trailers it brought to Iraq.

In that time, the truckers have hauled 15.5 million gallons fuel across 930,000 miles of road...

“We move fast. We move 50 to 55 mph,” he said. “We ride in the center of the road. We have 100 to 150 meters of spacing between trucks.”

The speed does two things, he said.

First, it means the trucks are a harder target for rocket-propelled grenades or small arms fire. Second, it complicates the timing for the remote explosion of an IED.

“They have to be perfect when they hit the magic button,” Holben said...

There was no book detailing this. The ideas grew from experience and from a purposeful sharing of ideas by officers and enlisted personnel.

“Most of these were kind of ‘learn as you go,’ ” said Sgt. 1st Class William Phipps, a firefighter back in Ohio and the unit’s first sergeant here.

“Our doctrine is called common sense,” added Holben...

But here is the dirty little secret that would astonish the ambushers and terrorists who lick their chops when they see the trailers coming into their midst and envision a successful hit that will leave a crater the size of New Jersey on the highway.

The JP-8 fuel in the trucks is unlikely to explode, even with a direct hit.

“Technically, it could blow up,” said Phipps. “But the chances of that happening are not likely.”

He said the high grade of fuel in the trucks is less volatile than most fuel. In fact, bullets have penetrated the thin metal trailers and done nothing but cause extra work in the motor pool.