From: Doc Bryant (rbhonk1@cox.net)
Date: Fri Aug 29 2003 - 22:20:26 PDT
Paul,
This is where I disagree with you and Steve.
Just because it meets a standard (i.e. it is accepted) does not mean that
it is acceptable for civilian use. I think that is what who ever decided
the Mutts got the cruncher instead of surplused out to unrestricted civilian
use was thinking.
A grey market BMW is still a car. Not some device built for military
purposes.
"But it's over 25 years old." Hey, don't apply a civilian vehicle standard
to a military vehicle. They get built under different rules and used under
different rules. Aside from some inner city residential areas, most drivers
of civilian vehicles do not venture into free fire zones. Most drivers do
not have a mission statement past being a delivery vehicle for soccer kids
that includes combat medevac, ammunition resupply or carting Generals about.
I do not see where you can come up with some "standard" that the Mutt meets,
and then take that logic jump and say it's okay in civilian use. You can
say, well, in the past other military vehicles have been sold off to
civilian ownership. That is true, some were sold to State and Local
governmental agencies, and then wended their way into civilian hands. And
no one paid too much notice. As time passed, the rules regarding vehiclar
safety got changed.
Now here comes the Mutt. It gets bad press as an unsafe vehicle for even GI
use. And we all feel our GI's are pretty well trained in doing what they
do. Yet, it gets a bunch of them hurt in accidents. Someone takes notice,
and the reaction from the Powers That Be is, "Well, these deathtraps are not
going to go anywhere but the smelter.."
Some do get out. Now, here comes another sticking point. Just because a
few find civilian homes, should what ever ban seems to have been placed on
them be released?
But somebody, somewhere, above your and my pay grade, decided the Mutt was
not supposed to be a civilian vehicle. Go back to the conspiracy theory.
That's more fun to blame every zig and zag of human misdaventure on a
conspiracy.
I feel this way about it. If you want a Mutt, and you are accepting of the
fact that it has a bit of a sordid history, and you understand that like
many other choices you make in life, it may prove to your next of kin to be
a bad one, if you can accept that, and not go whining off to lawyers when
you roll it into a bus load of Nuns, then buy the damn thing. And if your
state DMV has some category for licensing it, hey, knock your self out. Buy
two even, they're small!
And if you can buy a Mutt, I sure would be interested in owning an F-4E
Phantom II, or an F-106 Delta Dart!
I hate to be in the position of devil's advocate here, but I have yet to
really see anything that would change my opinion of the Mutt story.
Doc Bryant
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