Shipping over the '113s.

Hey, Another drawback and maintenance nightmare of the M-113s is the Slobber Cup , I am not sure that your current American Soldier, would even want to touch, let alone do, this maintenance chore. Hell, they'd mostly likely be pukin'. This is my post Papa Ray West Texas USA

That's actually an LAV III, which is the third generation of the vehicle. The Marine LAV-25 is first generation. It's a good bit lighter, but not as well armored.

You make a valid point, he certainly has the certitude and passion on the subject that matches Vialls. But - you can look at his data, dump the editorial aspect, and still gather some info on the M113's and the mods being done to them. Just because you are over-the-top on an issue doesn't mean you don't have something to offer... Anti-gunners think I'm a moonbat, too! 8^D

That's no worse than me naming a B25 a B24, I suppose... As for 113s, I first learned to drive one in '74 and I spent so much time in them after that as an a11D wanna-be that I got to where I could sleep on the troop bench while they were moving. I never liked driving the 577, which always felt too top-heavy, especially when we were cutting across slopes, and mortar track was too crowded to enjoy being a passenger in, but I did love driving a 113. One of the tracks I drove even had a suicide ramp, and guess who the dummy was that pulled the ramp release handle once without 1st checking for victims... Fortunately, I only knocked a guy over, didn't crush him, but I was lucky to escape with just a butt chewing. And once I was driving for a guy who liked to "tap" my CVC with the .50 barrel to screw with me. I told him several times to stop, but he thought it was funny and kept doing it--right up until I locked the latterals and jolted him almost out of the TC hatch. I told the 1SG I had to stop for the deer that ran across the road. Suffice to say, he stopped hitting me with the .50! Of course, I am not sure I'd want to use one where RPGs are in abundance, but they were the best for tooling around on Hood, Graf, and the FRG countryside. aaahhhh the memories... -SangerM

Well....ok, it's not quite the same. :-)

please tell me y'all aren't taking Mad Mikey Sparks seriously..... a quick google search of some of his greatest hits in the military newsgroups on Usenet should be enough to convince most folks that his military exspurt-tease is best restricted to retreiving boxes of grid squares, cans of squelch, and coils of track tension.... for fun, ask him why he was kicked out of the Marines. %-) i've cleaned slobber cups, greased all the PITA grease fittings, not just the easy ones, and pulled up floorboards, just to clean underneath. let's not EVEN begin to talk about checking all the track nuts after a run, as well as the road wheel lugs, and, and, and...... the 113 is a good vehicle for what it was designed for, and you can always stretch it a bit, but after a certain point, one is well served to remember it's a 1950's design, and it's now 2005. redc1c4, 11H/11B M-220/M-113A1,A2,A3/M-577 delta B-9-2 Harmony Church Apr 83 40th ID, CA ARNG