Hi!
I am building one of Tamiya’s MUTT and one of the marking options is for an Ariozona NG unit of some kind.
The bumpercodes goes like this: AZ-NG 158SS 3666MT-100.
Just curious to know that kind of unit it belongs to.
AZ NG stands for the Arizona Army National Guard (2-letter state code AZ and NG is standard)
3666MT is the 3666th Maintenance Company (an Arizona National Guard unit), vehicle -100 of that company. MT or sometimes MNT is the abbreviation for maintenance. The “-100” is the section or platoon and individual bumper number of the vehicle, not that it is the hundredth vehicle in the company.
158SS refers to the 158th Service Support Battalion which is the battalion the company belongs to.
Yes that was obvious to me too. But I was more curious about 158SS 3666MT-100 part of the bumper codes.
Sorry, I wasn’t finished typing and accidentally hit the reply button instead of the “use rich formatting” link.
Ok, well Mr Tamiya tells me just the same, Arizona National Guard. Could it be some kind of Support and Service unit or what?
Yes, if you read what I finished writing above, it has everything you need to know.
I loved the kit; I probably built a dozen or so in different versions. I know it’s rather dated by today’s standards, but in the 1980s, it was a great kit of the US Army’s last jeep.
Nice!
What kind of duties have that sort of battalion? Maintenance of that kind?
The reason to my curiosity is because I myself is connected to what kind of branch as volunteer in the Swedish Armed Forces.
A service support battalion (now called a sustainment battalion) is normally comprised of various numbered companies*, each of which has a variety of logistics functions. It can add or subtract companies as the mission deployment dictates. Normally it will have a maintenance company, transportation company, several quartermaster companies (regular supply, laundry & bath, textile repair, parachute rigging, fuel servicing, etc.), maybe an ordnance (ammo) company and units along those lines.
*Regular combat battalions usually have lettered companies like A, B, C, D. Support battalions (except forward support battalions) usually have stand alone numbered companies, like that 3666th Maintenance Company.
Thanks! As I said before nice to build up the knowledge.
I can also say that I like the Tamiya MUTT even if it is not up to the latest standards. I myself built it also in the late -80’s for the first time, and now I will give it an second try and have some more laying waiting to get built in on or another guise.
Well I just learned someting new here. I never knew anything about support units and how they were designated. Thanks for the info sir.
FYI the acronym MUTT is fictious. We simply called the M151-series trucks “Jeeps” or “Quarter Tons”. I believe that when the kits came out, the name Jeep couldn’t be used because it was now a brand name.
There are basically two types of support battalions, divisional and non-divisional. Divisional support battalions are dedicated to a brigade or division. They have lettered companies. A typical divisional support battalion will have an HHC, A Company (quartermaster), B Co. (maintenance), C Co. (medical). It will provide direct support to the maneuver unit it is dedicated to.
Non-divisional support battalions are the ones that consist of numbered companies that have no regimental affliation to any of the other companies within the battalion. Although the non-divisional support battalion can be re-arranged as mission requirements dictate, they normally have a mix of companies similar to a divisional support battalion and have a habitual relationship with those companies in garrison and while deployed.
So the 158 Service Support Battalion might consist of the 3666th Maintenance Co., 1234 QM Co., 567 Transportation Co., etc. These types of battalions provide area support to any units that may be in the corps rear area like Corps artillery units, theater ADA, MP, engineer, signal, etc.
Rob - that MUTT name is discussed in the Signal/Squadron book about the M151. The name MUTT shows up in the early sixties in the FORD internal newspaper, so it wasn’t invented by plastic model companies. That the soldiers didn’t know or use it, it is another thing. By the way, that book is cool, very helpful for all modellers. Thanks for reading, have a nice day
Paweł