these were the first military vehicles to have more armor on the bottom than on the sides or front. they have a v shaped hull that can direct the pressure from an ied up the sides of the vehicle. when we got them, the Taliban kept upping the size of the bombs trying to see what would penetrate them, but after they got to 500lbs of explosive, they realized it's easier to just cause casualties by ambush, and would destroy the vehicle and have secondary bombs planted to kill people after they got out, or hit us with small arms. we used them as general transport, but they also have a weapon mounted up top, making them much better gun trucks than humvvs. fun fact, the design was taken from a south African school bus. I guess people kept blowing white kids, so the v shaped hull was designed for their protection, and it turned out to be incredibly effective.