I have to agree. I had a HMMWV (M998) stuck only once at the Combat Maneuver Training
Center (CMTC) Hohenfels, Germany. We were evading a BMP and after some serious rough
terrain at moderate speeds, we popped out of the woods to what looked like the surface
of the moon, but all the craters were full of water. If, you've ever been so fortunate
as to visit Hohenfels, you know what I mean. At any rate, when we came out of the
woods, we say water any directions you could go.
My driver asked "Which, way?"
I answered, "Right." It really didn't matter, I figured we would get stuck either way.
We did. The HMMWV hit the water pretty fast but bogged down almost instantly as the
water poured over the doors and top. We punched out the other side just as the engine
died from ingesting too much water. When we stopped, we lacked only about one to two
feet completely clearing the water. We popped the hood and I used my Leatherman tool to
remove the air cleaner cover. When I popped it off, water literally poured out. I
removed the filter element which felt like it weighed ten pounds due to water
saturation. We let the intake system air out a few minutes and then tried cranking the
engine. It cranked and just about the time we ran the battery down, it began to hit
occasionally. In the meantime, I had contact the Battalion for recovery, under the
watchful eyes of a platoon of M1A1 Abrams, we were pulled the rest of the way out of the
water, slave cables attached and the engine fired off after about six more turns. It
rolled white smoke for about three minutes and then we DROVE it back to the Field
Trains, grabbed another filter and continued the mission. When I left Germany two years
later, that same HMMWV was still running and had had nothing short of normal period
maintenance peformed. They are extremely tough.
On another occasion, again attempting to evade the "bad guys" we had our M998 fourseater
airborne. We also slide down into a very large tank hole and rolled around with our
left rear hanging down in the hole and the rest on the outside. My driver continued to
gun the thing until we picked up enough speed to sling ourselves out much like a marble
in a bowl.
I really liked and trusted my M151A2, but it would never have done what my HMMWV did.
Jim Rice