Re: Modern vehicles (was Re: [ds] Ogres)

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> From: Kenneth Winland <kwinland@chass.utoronto.ca>
> To: FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
> Subject: Re: Modern vehicles (was Re: [ds] Ogres)
> Date: Friday, November 13, 1998 4:44 PM
> 
> 
>	Howdy!
> 
> On Thu, 12 Nov 1998, Brian Burger wrote:
> 
> > 
> > What? Good God...and I thought the gun trucks were a strange idea. I
mean,
> > give something lots of guns, tell it to shoot things, and it will
> > naturally attract incoming fire. Then forget to armour your vehicle.
Oops.
> 
>	After about 6 months, they REALLY had those gun trucks well
> armed/armoured.  Homemade spaced armour for RPGs, etc.  Some of those
> vehicles were slick.
> 
>	But, yeah, a LOT of the trucks were chewed up, especially in the
> early days.  The only truck that survived the entire period was the
"Big
> Kahuna", and that was most likely a combat myth...
> 
> > An M113/truck combo also seems to scream 'Breakdown waiting to
happen'
> > and/or 'watch this monster get bogged down in the first soft bit of
ground
> > we come to.' It would be a scary looking vehicle, but its actual
military
> > utility seems doubtful.
> 
>	Actually, they worked VERY well.  Those 5 tons trucks were
> turbocharged (!) and had non-regulation engines.  The whole Vietnam
Gun
> Truck experiment was a great success, and it was all don a the local
(BTN)
> level.
> 
>	After the Higher Ups said that they couldn't spare fighting or
> escort vehicles, the grease monkeys at the 8th came up with their
ideas
of
> gun trucks.  Most of them were young draftees, and had lots of
experience
> with cars, trucks and hot rods in the civilian world (it was a rather
> serendipidous event that had the right people in the right place). 
The
> first gun trucks were simply 2 1/2 ton trucks with .30 Brownings and
> sandbags, with a little extra under the hood.  Within 6-8 months,
there
> were some WILD stuff coming out of the 8th Transport.
> 
> > (my math & figures may be wrong, but wouldn't a 5ton-truck & M113
combo
> > weigh in at about 15 tons? Thus the basis for my 'bogged down'
comment...)	
> 
>	The M113 was completely stripped!  The only thing that was
mounted
> on the back of the truck was the armoured shell.  To cope, the put
non-reg
> engines with turbochargers.
> 
> > I know that gun trucks & beasts like this were stopgap measures for
convoy
> > escort where the real fighting vehicles were in short supply, but
they
> > still strike me as strange ideas designed to more efficiently kill
off
> > your own soldiers.
> 
>	The program was a success.  Although in the early months of
their
> introduction, there were a LOT of casualties in the 8th.  Nothing like
> RPGs and 12.7mm rounds coming through a lightly armoured cab...
> 
>	Laterish!
> 
>	Ken

If anyone has an interest in gun trucks, the current edition of Command
magazine has an article on the road war in Vietnam, including the
APC/truck
hybrid. (Brian you can get it at the magazine store across from city
hall)
	     Neil