One thing you can do is to join the MVPA (see their web site
http://users.aol.com/supplyline/mvpa/mvpa.html) and urge the MVPA to push
politically on this. Maybe an alliance of MVPA and some vets groups would
have enough clout to get something done about it. MVPA has been pretty
effective on some issues and they do a good job of keeping everyone informed
through their pubs.
chuck
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To the best of my knowledge, trucks such as Dueces and five tons are
never mutilated. The commericial type vehicles such as half to ton Dodge
(M880 series) and Chevy (M1008 series) trucks and blazers are also not
demilled. M151s and M998 (series) HMMWVs are demilled due to a
purported failure to meet DOT safety standards. An unofficial line is also
the concern by the manufacturer of liability if these vehicles were sold to
the private sector. In reality, I's sure that the Big Three seems to think
that surplus jeeps and Hummers will take away a significant portion of
the utility vehicle market. Of course, I don't think Mrs. Suburbia would
want to trade in her Jeep Cherokee or Chevy Suburban for an M151
anytime soon, that is one angle I've heard. At any rate, the government
requires certain vehilces such as the jeeps and HMMWV to be busted up
pretty badly. The M151 will be sold to you intact, however, you have to
mutilate it on site before being allowed to remove it from the installation at
which it was sold. On an M151A2 this involves the cutting of the
A-Frames, drive shafts and the body (X across from front to opposite
rear fender, both ways). On the latest bid sheet I saw, certain items
were not part of the sale and had to be removed and left with the
government. I seem to recall it was part of the suspension system. This
was in an attempt, I suppose to keep some enterprising individual from
putting one back together. In the old days of simply cutting in half and
hauling them off, this was feasible, today however, it really isn't.
The Army is also fond of using the M151 as targets for live fire ranges. I
saw in excess of 100 jeeps destroyed during an artillery and armor fire
power demonstration. They stacked three jeeps together and shot them
with 120mm main gun rounds from M1A1 Abrams tanks. I was able to go
down range later and look at them. Not much left unfortunately. Several
more were destroyed by arty fire during the excercise. Any that were
still relatively intact after that excercise were simply left to for targets for
training units. In Germany, I had six Gama-Goats as targets on a direct
fire range for my 155mm howitzers. By the end of the day, there was
nothing left larger than about 2' x 2'. It is a crying shame, but, that is
what the government has decided to do with all this surplus equipment.
Hey, why recoup some significant dollars when you can simply destroy
it and then pay to have someone haul it away. That is the case with the
vehicles used in the impact area.
I'll get off my soap box now, though I wish more concerned citizens
would get on. We in the Military Vehicle collecting field are such a small
minority that we will never have a voice strong enough to stop the
madness.
Jim Rice
>>> William C. Beilschmidt <bbeilschmidt@worldnet.att.net> 11/13/96
02:30am >>>
In my travels around the web in search of information about military
vehicles, i've encountered numerous horror stories about what happens
to
such vehicles when they're sold at government auctions. I've heard of
poor, innocent trucks,(excuse me, i'm a sensitive person), being chopped
up into little pieces and crushed by heavy mechinery all in the name of
something called the "demilitarization process". How then do fortunate
trucks such as mine escape this violent, brutal death and wind up in the
hands of caring civilians? Wolf