CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait (Army News Service, Aug. 8, 2005) � An Aug. 1 ceremony officially started operations for a new Humvee refurbishment and up-armor facility near Kuwait.

The facility has Army orders to roll out 300 ready-for-combat vehicles per month to support operations in Iraq.

The large, 87,000 sq. ft. air-conditioned warehouse was leased in early June by Eagle Support Services Corporation, Huntsville, Al., and falls under the Army Field Support Brigade, Southwest Asia.

Humvees are transported here by convoy from Iraq and receive whatever maintenance is required, along with added armor prior to their return to combat. To date, more than 20,600 combat vehicles have been up-armored in the Southwest Asia Theater.

�Look around you today and you see vehicles. Not just any vehicles, you see up-armored Humvees . . . All of those vehicles tell a story, and in some cases it�s the story of men and women that were kept alive by the very fact that they were in an armored vehicle,� said Brig. Gen. Kevin Leonard, commander of the Army Materiel Command, (Theater) South West Asia.

The refurbishment site operates 12 hours per day, seven days per week, and requires a work force of more that 350 workers. Most are mechanics specialized in engine work, air conditioning, transmissions, wheel assemblies and electric motors.

This is the first facility in-theater designed specifically to repair and up-armor Humvees. Other smaller facilities within Southwest Asia have the ability to up-armor and repair a combination of the Army�s tactical combat vehicle inventory.