My most vivid HMMWV moment was accidentily driving thru an Air Force cluster muntions minefield. I was leading an M88 to a broke M1A1 when the M88 hit a mine. Muffled thump, a huge cloud of dust and some minor track damage. We stopped in place, I climbed out onto the hood of the HMMWV with my little legs dangling over the brushguard and directed the truck and M88 thru the rest of the danger zone.
“some minor track damage”…lol rob. those m88’s are beasts (yeah i dont need to tell you [(-D]). im surprised there was even any track damage!!! i remember being at hood and the first time i came across one of those i was pumping fuel at the 2nd ad fuel depot and two came ROARING past me!!! all i felt was a little rumble then it got louder and louder and louder the drove past me with everything in its wake shaking wildly!!! [(-D] scared the hell out me first time!!!
Wow! Rob, this is as good as it gets! Thanks so much. Could’nt ask for more. Hope others who will start a HMMWV build will see all this great photos.
Hey constructor, I found this photo in my files and thought it would make a good addition to the ones Rob G. sent. It is the interrior of a new M1151 in Afghanistan-2008. They came with green interriors straight from the factory. Note the lack of space after adding all the communications equipment and the ECM jammers. Hope this helps.
Tim Ellis
Ok…watching all you spring chickens, the old gas passer will throw in his two cents. I agree with Rob in many aspects, the HMMWV was a fantastic design originally and a great leap forward over the M151. But lets remember what it was designed for…a small combat/cargo vehicle. It excells at that.
Because of the situation we are in and the advent of IEDs we have tried to turn it into an armored car…not what it was designed for. The old M998 was great for towing 105mm artillery and light enough to lift yet big enough to carry the crew and some ammo.
Many units over there now have a mission that does not match the unit…Artillery units assigned to secuirity details.
In this smaller leaner Army of today we do a lot more with a lot less. There are not enough MP, Engineer, etc. units to go around so we make do. That includes using the HMMWV in ways it was not designed for.
The Army will always need a vehicle like the HMMWV. We need more diversity ( and more troops) not more armor plate and gun mounts.
Our goverment to save money has forgotten to use the right tool for the right job…If you don’t have the tool, you need to get it…a strap wrench cannot be used for everything!
The humble opinion of the retired old gas passer.
Rounds Complete!!
Thanks for the picture Tim. Just looking at it gives me claustrophobia. You could hardly move inside with the gears stowed and attached inside!
Ahhhh … memories …
Yeah, and that’s before the gunner jumped in. So imagine a person standing in the hatch there manning the MG. Let me know if you need any other shots of the armored Humvees.
ellis - if you’ve got more interior pics, please post or PM me. For some reason, I’m missing them from my albums … must have been when my ext HD crashed … RRRRrrrrrr…