The end is near.
Well looks like the HMMWV is officially being phased out with the last orders being put in for this year. But since the HMMWV has been in service for so long I thought it would be fitting to write something about what I remember about it.
I have been in the soft shell versions, to the ambulances to the Up-armored ones. They have taken me all over Fort Benning Georgia, to Fort Irvin California to the different bases in Iraq. I sat as a passenger in every seat and even drive them. I even got a chance to ride in a Iraqi HMMWV. All in all a lot of memories but over all a long overdue for being replaced.
Also I am sure that there are other stories that our readers willing to share.
Category: Pointless blather
Never rode in one. Rode in Jeeps, and Deuce & a halfs. Rose a few times in a 113. Sigh.
Me, either…a lowly 5 ton, deuce, CUCV, and jeeps. Couldn’t really drive the deuce. Being Vertically challenged doesn’t help- Soon as the clutch was down the steering wheel was big enough to spin me…
I was in during the transition from Jeep to CUCV to Hummer. Drove them all (plus a few others. Licensed for just about anything wheeled short of the HEMMIT).
I don’t know if this design flaw was ever corrected in later HMMWV models.
As the driver, you had to BE VERY VERY SURE that you turned on the glow plug warm up switch (sometimes twice to be extra sure) before you started the vehicle. Otherwise, your lack of attention to detail would cause the glow plugs to swell and crack in the piston chamber. THEN you’d get to learn some new words as you listened to the mechanics attempting to remove the pieces of glow plug from the engine block. Not easy, and not easily reached, I assure you.
So, what’s taking the HMMWV’s place? Or is this one of those transition periods similar to when the Army was replacing the Jeep, but hadn’t fully settled on the HMMWV design. So they bought, converted and used the CUCV.
I guess I feel the same way about the HMMWV as Willy & Joe felt about their beloved Jeep. (Now where’s my .45? Got to put her out of her misery)
I didn’t get to drive them very often but was tasked with hauling Reserve officers around Ft. Hood when there armored units came for their summer gunnery. I loved driving those things, they went about anywhere. I wasn’t too happy about fjording Cowhouse creek in the soft top though, doesn’t do much to keep the water out and spent the rest of the night driving around with wet balls……
During Desert Storm the 1SG’s HMMWV ran over a mine, fortunately it was an anti personel mine and it blew the tire off and wrecked the right front suspension but Top and the driver where none the worse for wear, getting them out of the mine field was fun though… Come to think of it, the driver of that HMMWV is still in and a CSM now….
there = their
I’ve driven a few, but mostly got to ride. During my year in Iraq we had unarmored ones, mostly without covers or doors. A single sandbag in the floor was supposed to “protect” us against mines. I did get to drive a couple times over there, once was while conducting a cordon and search for one of the card guys. SFOD-D was tasked with the snatch while we acted as decoys. The passengers in my HMMWV loved me as I avoided every pothole on the way back at a high rate of speed. The second time I drove we were on a counter-recon mission. It had been raining steadily and we was passing through mud that went up to the hood at times. Not being the most experienced, and having to adhere to light discipline I put the truck in 4-Hi. When we got back to Tallafar later that night I looked down and saw it was in 2WD the entire time. My last time spent driving one was an M-1025 we used for recruiting. It was painted black and gold and looked tacky, but it was still an actual HMMWV and I preferred it to the H3 Hummers we also have. I was tasked with providing entertainment for a kid’s birthday party one Sunday and the damned thing ran out of fuel in my driveway (the fuel gauge was broken and I didn’t know it), on the way back that evening I found the headlight switch was worn out, so I had to do a roadside disassemble and rig job. We turned that in last year. To its credit, the H3 redeemed itself when I was leading a bike race for over 4 hours. I had to run 40-50 mph down gravel roads to stay ahead of the leaders. It was surprisingly agile and the fulltime 4WD worked pretty well on roads that were better suited to a rally car than an SUV. My comrades in the H3 leading the second race were surprised when they saw our truck. It was covered in mud while there’s only had a… Read more »
I went through the Jeeps, the M880 series (power wagon) the CUCV and and the HMMWV. Loved them all for their own reasons. OK except for the 880, the bodies self destructed in no time. Hopefully they will listen to what the troops really need, not what some district needs for a handout and get the best vehicle for the job.
Yup drove jeeps, CUCV and HMMV’s during my time. Did you know the needle on the speedometer on a jeep would keep going long after you ran out of numbers? Also driving above 70 MPH’s on the autobahn in a jeep can result in some real handling challenges. Like changing lanes unintentionally when the air gets under it.
When the HMMV first came into existence I cursed it since nothing could replace my beloved go anywhere jeep. Over time I adapted, but it got some getting used to with the wide stance and the fact that it doesn’t lean in the curves.
Just to date myself I rode around in M113’s but never transitioned over to 11M, stayed 11B so I never had the “pleasure” of riding around in a Bradley.
GOOD FREAKIN’ RIDDANCE, HUMVEE! Gawd, I won’t miss your ass. Cramped, loud, hot (in the earlier versions that were armored) and basically maneuver-prohibitive, they were some of the worst vehicles. H.A.T.E.D them. Rather take my chances in a jeep/M151A2.
Had Humvee’s in all sorts of places, and once you got one stuck, good luck removing it. Caught in trees, in-between narrow ruts, you name it. And now, we basically move to a deuce-n-a-half with armor. Bloat, anyone? WTF, can’t we make them a bit smaller and LESS of a target?
Start over. We’re getting just a bit too fat, ground-wise.
Wolf
You must of not known how to handle the beast Mr. Wolf. The HMMV got my ass out of the fire on more than a few occasions. I could see improvements but getting rid of the old girl? Damn you wasteful spending.
The XM 1151 up armored saved my life. Drove about 40k miles throughout Iraq over sixteen months. Wish I had one. Maybe someday….
I put a lot of miles behind the wheel of my 1114. I am saddened by it being phased out, but all good things come to an end.
Spent 6 months living out of my Hummer during Desert Sheild/Storm. I had the soft top and doors held together with 100mph tape and it leaked like a seive when it started raining! I will say that it was a little unnerving driving it in around the M1’s and Bradleys when they were buttoned up, I didn’t want to become a speed bump for them. Also got ahold of an extra flack vest to put in the wire door frame, not much extra protection but it was better than nothing, glad I didn’t need it though! They also were very good at pissing off Germans on the Autobahn!! I got the bird more than once by Herman when he was going by me at very high speeds!
Spent a few weeks here and there in ’06 in an 1114. My back starts hurting, cramped inside with body armor and gear, and I hated being a passenger, just waiting and watching people shoot at you, so I always rode turret. My M9, as I explained to the driver, was for him–I wasn’t dying alone if we started to roll over.
Apropos link:
http://archive.sigspace.net/files/images_/The%20Illustrated%20Turret%20Gunner-2.JPG
I was in 2ID when we trade our M-151 jeeps for humvees. At the time, the newest jeep in the platoon was built in 1963, and all of them were pretty beat up.
The day I signed for the platoon’s new humvee’s, I took my squad leaders out to “torture test” one on the two worst roads in 2ID’s AO, the way to Casey-39’er (Hill 754?) and Kamaksan (Hill 675). The humvee made it nicely, albeit at its own pace.
We liked the apparent thought that went into the design and layout, and the power, and all of that. But the thing was quite a bit wider than the jeep, and it put quite a bit of terrain off-limits that we used to traverse in a jeep; rice paddy dikes come to mind.
They don’t have any ventilation even rolling fast with the windows down… that sucks, believe me (especially when you’ve got a fly buzzing around or bunch of ejected fart inside the cab). A lightly loaded M998 two-seater tops out at 75mph on the Autobahn. Being crammed right up against the door (which is normally just plastic) and only have seats (safely) for four guys in a vehicle that big with lots more room also stinks. Then even is the armor the crap out of it, the floor’s only sheet metal, flat and real close to the ground.
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