----- Original Message -----
From: "William R. Benson" <Benson@eqe.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2000 11:23 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] S-t-r-r-r-r-e-t-c-h-e-d- Humm-Vees
>
>
> To add my snarl to that of the Wolf's (great handle, by the way...!)
>
> "A bunch of Warner Bros. network people were doing a
> promotional event for this 'Freedom' show, and one of
> them came over to the HMMWV I brought along to show
> me a picture of some white stretched limo Hummer from
> either L.A. or Vegas - I forget which - and said he
> bet we "didn't have any like <that>!" He'd win!"
>
> And my response:
> Why the hell would we want one. It ain't tactical, it ain't real, it
ain't in
> the US Armed Forces inventory, and unlike the big networks, we actually
have to
> pay for our folly...
Heh. Further on that, when you trot out military vehicles to
set - be they HMMWV'S, Deuces, Land-Rovers or
what-have-you - you always attract a crowd of the L.A.
Dodgers (my pet name for the Los Angeles execs up here)
who, when faced with a vehicle that's a monument to tactical
engineering, usually wind up saying:
"Wow. Don't these things come with padding?"
"Isn't it really noisy to drive?"
"There's not much room, is there?"
"Pretty basic, aren't they?"
"Does it have a heater?"
"My buddy has one like this, but IT has....
<insert superfluous chrome-plated accessory of choice>
One thing I will say for some of the vehicles in the Navy's
inventory is that they seem to be a bit more...concerned...with
how pretty a vehicle looks. We just got an ex-Hilea, HI
Navy EOD '87 Chev dually crewcab - specifically ordered
by the Navy to a set of specifications - but with a version of
high-gloss O.D., chrome trim, straight civilian bumpers, grille
and interior components, and gasoline to boot.
It could be argued that this vehicle isn't 'tactical' in the sense of
something like a HMMWV, but regardless, it's an EOD
(explosives ordnance disposal) vehicle that was at one time a
shipboard ports-of-call type vehicle, and went to
hotspots like the bombing of a certain civic building
not-long-enough-ago.
> Betcha it would snap in half when it hit the first major rockpile...
Heck, it'd probably wind up looking like so much AMG origami
after encountering something as pedestrian as a McDonald's
speed-bump. Plus, some L.A. luminary would spill his
martini, which, after careful consideration,
is certainly the greater tragedy!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Nov 01 2000 - 21:37:52 PST