Comments for Troops doing what troops do

Troops doing what troops do

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 06:33:09 -0600

Given Flintlock's comments on the "More focus, people!" post yesterday, I offer up this picture of things you might see driving down the highway in various parts of the country. For most of us, the sight of military vehicles on the road in the US is a curiosity. Unlike Germany at the height of the Cold War, it's been a long time since people in the US have seen literally divsions of soldiers and vehicles on the roads and in the towns (the Louisiana Maneuvers in 1941), much less divisions of foreign soldiers (the Civil War for the South, War of 1812 for the North). This scarcity of contact, given our internet-fed, 24 hour news cycle politics, makes for interesting reactions. For some, when it's "their guy" in office, they derive a sense of satisfaction. When the "other peoples guy" (or gal, eventually) is in office... the same vehicle (and, I would point out, same occupants) take on a sinister pallor. Of course, the black helicopter crowd views them all with fear and loathing all the time. They're at least logically consistent...

Comment from Cannoneer No. 4 on 2009-03-11

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:56:03 -0600

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Comment from Josh on 2009-03-10

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:48:05 -0600

Yeah but there ARE 30 mph roads with speed traps...I'm just saying...what if you drove an Abrams through one of those?

Comment from J.M. Heinrichs on 2009-03-10

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:32:30 -0600

Josh
It was a freeway with a speed limit of c.67 mph.

Cheers

Comment from NevadaDailySteve on 2009-03-10

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:58:04 -0600

I often see convoys on the roads around here. I would attribute it to having Camp Clark close by but a lot of times they bypass it so I don't think they originate or are headed there. A couple of months ago a convoy was on 71 highway with a bunch of stuff John would like. I followed for awhile since I was going to get off at the next exit and I noticed there wasn't any cover on the muzzle of one of the guns like the others had and I figured someone was going to get a talking to when the convoy got to where it was going.

Speaking of Camp Clark and artillery they had an artillery unit there a year or two ago that was training but they didn't fire anything. Of course since Camp Clark is only one mile by two miles it's kind of small for that kind of thing. I just thought it was strange they didn't do that at some bigger base.

Comment from Josh on 2009-03-10

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:15:10 -0600

Josh... is that a woody, I see?

Indeed it is!

2. Ever driven through a radar trap in a Cougar?

According to the internet, the Abrams can be pushed to 42 mph...if you blasted through a 30 mph speed trap at 42, do you think they'd have the balls to pull over an MBT?

Comment from Martin on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:29:52 -0600

After admin convoys down I-90 for years to Yakima with my Guard unit, I was pleased to see a serious convoy a few years ago. It was mostly Strykers, with guns mounted, and crew at name-tag defilade in the hatches. We see a lot of convoys between Ft. Lewis and Yakima, even with a MATES at Yakima. The wheeled vehicles still make the trip. We see Canadians between Bellingham and Ft. Lewis a lot, too.

Comment from AFSister on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:36:07 -0600

Oh, come now John... you know WereKitten would never disturb the PG-17C!
Now the that the D's out though.. she may have a slap comin' to her.

Comment from J.M. Heinrichs on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:35:55 -0600

1. In Gagetown, the Schools generally have their Grad Parades on the second Sat of Aug, after which they close for two weeks of block leave and such. On the Thurs and Fri prior, one could watch the convoys of US Arty units passing through the front gate as they arrived for their summer gun camp. It was apparently quite popular for New England and New York gunners.

2. Ever driven through a radar trap in a Cougar?

3. Leopards in Texas: http://www.strathconas.ca/images/csqn/20feb09/P1200304.gif

Cheers

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:13:35 -0600

[PG-17D stirs uneasily in it's charging cradle... as if troubled by disturbing dreams}

Comment from WereKitten on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:57:32 -0600

Josh... is that a woody, I see?

Comment from AFSister on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:50:07 -0600

She also wanted to take it out and try to do donuts in the parking lot, but we were shot down quite quickly on that matter, I am afraid to say.

Farkin' kill-joys... *sigh*

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:27:41 -0600

On a tangentially related note - the Canadians have been doing a lot more training in the US than was the case in the past.

And they're doing it with far larger, heavier units, too, as I've alluded to with all those german Panzers at Fort Bliss.

Which gives rise to the interesting visual here in Leavenworth, which has a Union Pacific trunk line running through it - of seeing trains of Canadian military kit going north and south through town.

Kinda fun to a vehicle junkie like me.

Comment from Blake Kirk on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:15:09 -0600

In times past, it wasn't unusual for a National Guard or Army Reserve unit to keep all of its go-to-war equipment at the unit's armory. So, when they needed to go to Annual Training/"Summer Camp," that required that they load up all their stuff on their trucks and convoy off to wherever they were scheduled to train. Travelling the Kansas Turnpike in the summer in the 1960's often included working ones' way around and through long convoys of green trucks jheaded to or coming from Fort Reily.

The problem with that system was that it turned out that a lot of that hardware was NOT getting necessary preventive maintenance as it sat in the unit armories. And driving it back and forth to the training sites in 45-mph convoys was expensive both in terms of money and of time. So now MOST of the Guard and Reserve keep most of their equipment at regional facilities referred to by designations such as Equipment Concentration Sites, (ECS,) or Mobilizationa And Training Equipment Sites (MATES.) These are usually located on a military installaition, and have a small corps of civilians who are paid to do the necessary maintenance. Marrying the soldiers up with their equipment is now a matter of getting them on a bus and driving them to their assigned storage site and drawing their hardware. And in the meantime, the equipment can be issued on a temporary basis to ANY unit which needs it for training at the installation where the site is.

So we now see a lot fewer military convoys on the road. any more.

Comment from KCSteve on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:15:47 -0600

It's my understanding that Mr. Dillon started his little reloading business pretty much just to reduce his costs in playing with his toys.

I've read that he has a twin AA gun in his collection and absolutely delights in piling the brass up over his ankles (and who wouldn't?)

Not too uncommon to see a convoy transporting - mosty trucks and trailers with a 'free' vehicle or two but I can't recall the last time I saw anything that looked like a unit moving itself around.

Comment from Josh on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:23:01 -0600

Kickass! Now THAT is how a PSA video should be made.

They're so cute, like little baby GAU-8s, every one of them *tear*

I remember reading once about a .22LR minigun, and how even in THAT tiny (and cheap-as-water) caliber, it was prohibitively expensive to fire. Just imagine, if they ever surplused them to civilians, how expensive it would be to fire 30x173mm at 4200 rounds per minute!

Comment from wolfwalker on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:19:31 -0600

Well, the aforementioned M1117 convoy encounter was the first time I'd ever seen combat vehicles traveling on a road under their own power. However, I've often seen Army trucks, humvees, and jeeps on the move. During the run-up to Desert Storm in 1990-91, I recall seeing the rather odd sight of big Army-painted flatbed trucks carrying smaller trucks, two to a load.

Comment from olga on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:56:15 -0600

Personally, coming from a city that was a major joint services base and also had at least 30 military multi-service schools, I seriously miss men in uniform in the streets of our cities/towns... Having lived in the State for many years now, however, I began to have an American reaction to the military vehicle convoys in the streets...

Comment from Argent on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:51:28 -0600

That minigun naval video was very good. It must be loads of fun to fire *if* someone else pays for all those rounds.

I don't think I've ever seen a military vehicle on the road. oh wait i think I saw a truck when headign to Mildura. No soldiers a marching or even walking regular though. I think I saw some foreign sailors in town once. At least I hope they were foreign, I'd be mortified looking like that and they don't look like the pictures on the official site.

Comment from Jon The Mechanic on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:43:01 -0600

The vehicle in question is an M1117 Armored Security Vehicle.

I have been in several as part of my duties as a National Guard Mechanic, and they will accept a 6'4", 260 lb carcass with little to no fuss. The turrent and seats are designed to take a variety of sizes and shapes, as evidenced by the fact that a 5'3", 130 lb mechanic also fit into it and had no problem reaching all the bells and whistles. She also wanted to take it out and try to do donuts in the parking lot, but we were shot down quite quickly on that matter, I am afraid to say.

Comment from wolfwalker on 2009-03-09

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:14:56 -0600

I saw a convoy of about eight of those things on a highway a month or so ago. Couldn't figure out what they were. I notice the photo caption doesn't actually give the vehicle model name either. What, exactly, is it?