Chuck
I'm with you. For $5,000,000 bucks you'd think they could have gotten the
M151 reborn with a Diesel engine. I guess the Peter Principle, whether in
the military or big business, is still going strong.
JB
-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Rothfuss <crothfuss@coastalnet.com>
To: John Beckett <landspeedracer@email.msn.com>; land-speed@autox.team.net
<land-speed@autox.team.net>
Date: Saturday, January 01, 2000 11:04 PM
Subject: Re: government
>John, List,
>
> That really hit a nerve with me. Being a recently retired Marine Corps
>motor transport maintenance officer I can tell you that when I first heard
>this news I was both completely disgusted and totally amazed. Amazed that
>the Corps was getting anything NEW, that the Army hadn't already worn out,
>and disgusted that they were finally doing away with the last of the "Super
>Jeeps."
> I was wrenching at Camp Lejeune when the first HMMWV's appeared, and it
>was immediately apparent that these monsters wouldn't fit on a ship in the
>numbers that the good old M151 (Jeep) would. You sure wearn't gonna stack
>them in a warehouse either. They were big, noisy and expensive, which
>didn't make them the greatest gun platforms. The solution to this problem
>was to convert a bunch of old M151's into "Super Jeeps." The boys in the
>body shop would weld very crude water pipe roll cages into them to support
>the gun mount and add a few extra ammo can mounts and seat belts atop the
>rear fenders. To overcome the M151's tendency to roll over when cornering
>at much above 20 MPH they fitted civilian style white "wagon wheels" that
>were about twice as wide as the stock rims. The wider rubber and overall
>increased track width did wonders for stability, even with a M2 .50 Cal
>Machine gun or a TOW missile launcher on the top.
> Small, agile, fast, nearly unstoppable off road, and cheap enough that
the
>National debt wouldn't jump up if one got taken out, the Super Jeep was as
>close to perfect as any vehicle the Marine Corps ever had. The only draw
>back is that it has a gasoline engine. Mogas ("What you get when you add
>water to gasoline." Old joke.) had to either be carried along on
deployments
>or local gas acquired while overseas. The "single battlefield fuel" of the
>future is eventually gonna be JP8 avaition fuel, so a diesel engine is
>required to make NATO exercises simpler. So why not retrofit a diesel into
>an M151? I heard the story that all the old M151 fleet was worn out and
>repair parts wearn't available, so a new vehicle was necessary. Well, the
>only reason we don't still have plenty of parts and M151's in war reserve
>storage is that we gave them all away to "developing" third world countries
>when the HMMWV came out. Same reason that my fuel & electric repair shop
>couldn't be forward deployed or even mobile mounted during the Gulf War; we
>gave away all the maintenance vans and had nothing to replace them! The
new
>Mercedes vehicles will probably have the same horrific supply problems that
>we have with the Mercedes "Sea Tractor", which is basically a truck mounted
>back hoe.
> As American tax payers this all oughto bother us. Wanna really get
>annoyed? Take a look at what the Commanding General at the nearest
military
>base is riding around in.
>15 years ago when I was a CG's driver I had a white over green Volare', and
>the Chief of Staff's driver had a K-car, both exactly like the MP's were
>driving. Nowadays the MP's are driving white Chevy Corsica's and other
>bland inexpensive fleet vehicles while the CG is tooling around in a
$42,000
>Cadillac and the Chief of Staff's in a big Lincoln. Why the change? What's
>wrong with the General riding in an unmarked Corsica? Apparently nobody has
>asked. Sounds like a good question for the Corps new Commandant.
> That's what I enjoy most about being retired, I can ask these questions
>and not get called onto the carpet. Freedom is a wonderful thing!
>
>Chuck "Grumpy military retiree" Rothfuss
>Near Camp Lejeune, NC
>
>
>At 04:16 PM 1/1/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>>Here's a good one. The US Marines have used up their old W.W.II style
Jeeps.
>>Guess they really loved those old CJ's. The new Hummers are two damn big
for
>>there usage. So instead of buying something American like a new Jeep they
>>went out and bought 62 new Mercedes sport-utes. Maybe it was the Diesel
>>engine, but at $80,000 apiece it looks like there trying to singlehandly
>>prop up the German economy.
>>
>>JB
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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