We SHOULD give all our Humvees to the New Iraqi Army

[jmowreader]

The Defense Department has basically said that if this war ever ends the US is just going to hand the keys of our Hummers over to Iraqi motor sergeants and leave.

This is a good idea for quite a few reasons, but the most important is that we've finally proven what a piece of crap the Humvee really is. It has an aluminum floorpan; when you're fighting a mine war an aluminum floor is useless and bulking up that vehicle to make it withstand mine blasts makes it too slow to get out of its own way. (And if the species is anything like the one I had, they overheat if you look at 'em funny.)

We need a new vehicle. It needs:

* 300-horsepower diesel engine
* two-inch rolled homogeneous steel plate for a floor
* six-speed automatic transmission
* GPS in the dashboard
* a winch
* a pintle in the floor so a heavy machinegun can be mounted without destroying the floor
* seating for six and a cargo area that will carry a sheet of plywood
* a drain in the bed floor so it's easy to wash (anyone who thinks this is funny has never been in the army)
* 5000-pound cargo capacity so they can ship it as a deuce-and-a-half, not a jeep

I've seen calls here for hybrid power in the new Army vehicle. I think it's the wrong thing in a tactical vehicle--those have weight restrictions, and not putting 20 batteries under the floor will go a long way toward meeting them. I personally don't care whether the new Army vehicle has a 1936-vintage Detroit Diesel or a new Duramax, just so long as it goes fast.

[Lisa]

1. the drain is a great idea!

I've never been in the military, but I did have to clean out any number of truck beds when I was working up north.

[havocmom]

2. Leave the hummers in Iraq? Haven't we killed too many Iraqis already?

Those things are not right. We will assure even more greiving families hate us if those lemons are left to the poor, unsuspecting Iraqi Army.

Round em up and make the Gropenator eat them

[TomInTib]

3. They're leaving them anyway. The sand is eating them up.

The suspensions alone are so chewed up that replacement parts quit fitting.

Humvees are crap and were not designed for this type of use.

[Historic NY]

4. The little old Jeep never succumbed to conditions...

like this supposed modern vehicle. Unfortunately the Army didn't quite plan this one out, like the original Bradley's.

[jmowreader]

7. The Jeep wasn't designed with Profit Uber Alles

The three worst items the Army fielded during the Reagan era were the Hummer, the Bradley and the M-9 pistol.

I can remember back to before they fielded the Hummer. I was in training at the time, and they had a story on the leading contenders in either Popular Science or Popular Mechanics--I think it was PM but it was one of the Popular books. Anyway, there were four vehicles and I thought a couple of them looked real good, one was okay and one was a piece of crap that no one in their right mind would choose. Unfortunately, the worst one was also the lightest one, so that's what they picked due to air mobility concerns.

One of the losers had an aircooled diesel in it. Now that's good thinking--I wonder how many Humvees we've lost in this war because someone shot up the radiator.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Better to give them to Iran. Why inflict them on the Iraqis after everythi

else we've done to torment those poor people?

[0007]

6. The bases the planes the tanks all the navy ships

Just bring the troops home and let Halliburton & the Carlyle Group stay. Leave these three there on the hot sandy desert.