Light Duty Military trucks.

Joe Kent · #1 11-26-2009, 11:56 AM

With the vast number of Army vets that we have as Forum members do any of you know why we do not use "standard" or slightly modified production 4-wheel drive vechicles like we did 20plus years ago for the Guard and Reserve forces here stateside? It seems like it would help the American auto mfg. while stretching our military dollars with more "bang" for the buck. I realize that they are not up-armored and could probably not be forward deployed but at least here locally our Guard leaves their rolling stock at the Armory when they deploy and standard Ford, Chrysler or GMC trucks and SUV's would appear to be able to handle most stateside call-ups. I'm curious if any of you know if there were problems with life span or other resons why we got away from using them on a wider scale. For the record I have seen Air Force crew cab Ford trucks being used but not Army or Marine Corp.

OKFC05 · #2 11-26-2009, 12:26 PM

On the nearby USAF and Army bases, they use commercial vehicles for many routine functons, including base security patrol.

However, when you're in the field training for deployment, it's best to use the real thing. Learning to use an unfamiliar vehicle in actual deployment or combat equals accidents and casualties.
"Practice like you're going to fight."

klondike · #3 11-26-2009, 02:14 PM

Every third world military in the world uses Toyota pick-ups. I think that Ford/Dodge (and GM) is missing a great marketing opportunity.

therevjay · #4 11-26-2009, 04:47 PM

Mainly because the military needs vehicles all the same. With few (if any) changes year to year, to simplify maitinance & resupply.

NG units do use a lot of "off the shelf" light trucks for admin uses.

Munsterf18 · #5 11-26-2009, 08:37 PM

The Iraqi police forces are using white F250 Crew Cab pickups. Wonder who gave them those......

Muley Gil · #6 11-26-2009, 10:13 PM

The Afghan Police have 4 door 4WD Rangers.

pberry · #7 11-26-2009, 10:18 PM

Now we know why ford didn't need Obama money. They already had it. Thats good.
Phil

Muley Gil · #8 11-26-2009, 10:41 PM

"Now we know why ford didn't need Obama money. They already had it. Thats good."

I'll be the first to point the finger at Obama's sins, but this didn't happen on his watch. The Rangers started showing up when I was over there in 2006-2007.

truckemup97 · #9 11-27-2009, 12:57 AM

The military buys a lot of civilian vehicles. They just don't use them for combat ops. They also sell them after several years, which is how I got my '93 F-350 Crew Cab.

GLV · #10 11-27-2009, 07:41 PM

We were using crew cab vehicles for alert crews in the 60s.

The Last Standing Knight · #11 11-27-2009, 07:55 PM

When I was in the Marines back in the 80's, we had CUCV's...military terminology for camoflauged, modified Chevrolet pickups and Blazers.

When I was in Jeep school (shortly before the Jeeps got phased out for the HUMMMV's) it was discussed that they were not as durable as military-dedicated vehicles like the jeeps, gamma goats, deuce and a half's or six bys. I noticed a lot of them were in the motor pool shop being worked on at any given time.

Gotta remember they were civilian vehicles "drafted" for military service and all of the issues, care, and maintenance that goes with such service.

bummer · #12 11-28-2009, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Last Standing Knight

When I was in the Marines back in the 80's, we had CUCV's...military terminology for camoflauged, modified Chevrolet pickups and Blazers.

When I was in Jeep school (shortly before the Jeeps got phased out for the HUMMMV's) it was discussed that they were not as durable as military-dedicated vehicles like the jeeps, gamma goats, deuce and a half's or six bys. I noticed a lot of them were in the motor pool shop being worked on at any given time.

Gotta remember they were civilian vehicles "drafted" for military service and all of the issues, care, and maintenance that goes with such service.

Gamma Goat what a ***.Deafness ruled with that machine

Joe Kent · #13 11-28-2009, 04:32 PM

The Last Standing Knight, that is the info that I was looking for. I suspected that that was the reason for not using more of them. Time goes by quick. It did not seem that long ago, but thinking about it you are correct. Our local Guard and our local Reserve units had a full supply of Military duece and half and larger Military trucks but an even bigger supply of "light" duty 1-1/4 ton pick-ups and SUV's in camo. If I remember correctly ,at the time the military and for that matter ,the Post Office bought a large number of "civilian" vehicles to "help out" the Auto industry.

safearm · #14 11-30-2009, 11:09 AM

When I commanded an Air Support Operations Squadron, we had 20 HMMWV set up as mission vehicles, and another 6 HMMWV set up as maintenance/support vehicles. We also had a "tactical" Tahoe, painted in flat olive green, and a Ford F-350 crew cab, painted in standard AF blue. Both of the commercial vehicles were 4WD, and both had a lot more miles put on them than the HMMWV. They were also much more comfortable to drive and ride in.