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« More hurry up, less wait | Main | Operation DENY CHRISTMAS - a series of blasts from the past »

December 19, 2009

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Wheels of War

By Greyhawk

Email from a friend: "If I were Santa, I'd give everyone in this group one of these for Christmas."

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Coalition Soldiers provide security, with an all-terrain vehicle, inside a school, at Jalrez, Afghanistan, Nov. 11, 2009. The school was the site for an Afghan Medical Personnel Skills Improvement Mission, taking place between November 12 and 13. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Teddy Wade.)

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Anyone who's spent a bit of time downrange has seen (or dodged) these multi-purpose vehicles zipping around the FOBS. They're great to have for moving lots of spare parts or tools from where they are to where they're needed, or for bringing to-go dinner for 12 back from the DFAC a mile away. But this is the first I've seen configured for outside the wire use. (An "A" model, I guess...)

But they've been in the fight from early on. From Doug Stanton's Horse Soldiers, here's the story of how the Gator first went to war in Afghanistan. To set the scene, Captain Mitch Nelson and his Special Forces team were the first in-country in 2001. After a few operations, a second team was inserted. With a second team in country, a higher headquarters was an obvious necessity (insert winking emoticon here). We join the story with Nelson awaiting their arrival in the middle of the night at a remote landing zone...

About 100 yards from the landing zone, Nelson and his communications officer Vern Michaels crouched behind some rocks, waited for the bird to land. They feared being mistaken for unfriendly forces lurking around the landing zone, and Nelson knew that the guys in the helicopters had a habit of shooting at anything that moved. So they stayed hidden as the aircraft lifted away. He could hear the rumble of a small, motorcycle-like engine starting. Nelson wondered what it was.

Through his night vision goggles, Nelson watched as the guys on Mitchell's team loaded two six-wheeled motorized "buggies" with rucksacks and assorted bags of gear. The vehicles measured about the length of a midsize car. Upon inspection, they looked like big golf carts on steroids.

The green-and-yellow-painted buggies were called Gators, manufactured by the John Deere farm implement company; with their knobby six wheels and rugged frame, they could navigate trails that a truck couldn't travel along. Max Bowers had thought to bring along the vehicles after reading the reports that Nelson and his men had trouble finding enough horses.

"Trouble finding enough horses..." - good story. So (surprise!) the now-ubiquitous Gator has been at war since the very first "higher headquarters" unit was boots-on-ground.

Now you know. :)


Update: I figured these had to be out there...


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Posted by Greyhawk / December 19, 2009 2:11 PM | Permalink

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S.D. would love to trade his Four-wheeler for one of these!

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March 19, 2010


Dawn Patrol 03/19/2003
[Greyhawk]
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"Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and various sources around the world."

Mudville was founded in March, 2003. Our efforts to bring the thoughts, words, and deeds of milbloggers to a wider world evolved to become The Dawn Patrol in March, 2005. With today's entry we're going to reset the clock - but not re-write the history - and recreate the world as it was - on a day the world changed...

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(More front pages here.)

Updating... more to follow....

MILBOGS

Andrew Olmsted, 19 Mar 2003, Stateside: It would appear that the liberation of Iraq has begun.

Greyhawk, 18 Mar 2003, Germany: A united world could have, just maybe, brought down Saddam without firing a shot. We will never know. 19 Mar: We'll never know what a united world could have achieved... the UN could not agree on anything, the situation degenerated, and here we are. Status quo was not working. The French were too desperate for oil and trade at any cost. Well-intentioned Americans were led into the streets by Communists (and others) with an agenda. The media distorted the split. Many in America and abroad thought they could manipulate the situation to their personal gain. They miscalculated. The fire is lit.

Pontifx ex Machina, 18 Mar, undisclosed location: Rolling out the gate, the guard gets a quick "hook-em, horns" sign as we weave through the barricades. Then we're off, cruising through the desert in a battered-up SUV. On the eve of war, only one thing passes through our minds: is there going to be any appropriate music on the radio?

Lt Smash, 19 Mar, undisclosed location: Read the President's speech today. The clock is ticking.

Chief Wiggles, 22 Mar, Kuwait: The war started Wednesday morning for us right after the president gave a speech to the American people that lasted about 4 minutes. We were all very anxious for this whole thing to be either over or get it on its way.

Will, 22 Mar, en route: I am going to Baghdad to personally shoot that paper hanging son of a bitch!

Lt Smash 20 Mar, undisclosed location:
From: Public Works Department
To: Saddam Hussein
Subj: BLASTING OPERATIONS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Sgt Stryker, 20 Mar, Stateside: Iraq to File U.N. Complaint About Attack

Primary Main Objective, 30 Mar, undisclosed location I Dare Kofi to Come Get Me.

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BruceR, Flit, 19 Mar, Canada: AND SO IT BEGINS. Godspeed, Yanks. Come home safe and soon.

Andrew Olmsted, 20 Mar 2003, Stateside: The most important thing to remember over the next few days is this: the first reports are almost always inaccurate. First reports are generally submitted in the heat of battle before any real analysis can take place. Therefore, they're highly subjective, based on limited information, and rarely hit the mark. So as the first reports of 'surgical strikes' on Iraqi forces come in, it's best to take those reports with a grain of salt...

Iraqi Blogs

Salam Pax, Baghdad: The bombing aould come and go in waves, nothing too heavy and not yet comparable to what was going on in 91. all radio and TV stations are still on and while the air raid began the Iraqi TV was showing patriotic songs and didn't even bother to inform viewers that we are under attack. at the moment they are re-airing yesterday's interview with the minister of interior affairs. THe sounds of the anti-aircarft artillery is still louder than the booms and bangs which means that they are still far from where we live, but the images we saw on Al Arabia news channel showed a building burning near one of my aunts house...

American Blogs

Glenn Reynold's has a ton of links.

Newpapers

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Updating... more to follow....


(The Dawn Patrol's Archives are here.)



Posted 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)


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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
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The Mudville Gazette is written and produced by Greyhawk. Unless otherwise credited, the opinions expressed are those of the author, and nothing here is to be taken as representing the official position of or endorsement by the United States Department of Defense or any of its subordinate components. Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house.

I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email.

Original content copyright © 2003 - 2009 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed.

Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com

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