I found this interesting pic while looking for another ODS pic. I find it really interesting as I haven’t seen the dolly and additional trailer setup with an M35A2 truck. Also, the trailer looks like an old Vietnam era M127 trailer, but with a single axle. Very interesting. Anyone seen this done before?
Interesting indeed…As far as I can tell the pictured truck is not the cargo truck version. The load bed is much different. I’d vote for a fire truck… P-530C Pumper model ?
https://www.militarytrader.com/military-vehicles/military-vehicel-spotlight-530b-pumper
H.P.
Yes, even more interesting. I didn’t even look at the truck bed. I was more focused on the dolly and trailer.
I was just going to mention this! You can just see the water pump hook ups behind the cab and the M 34 style rear wheel openings. But it has the dual rear wheels instead of the single wheel set up of the M34, so a later M35 version. Wayne
I would dare say it’s a 3d ACR or 13th COSCOM vehicle, or really any unit from Ft. Bliss, all of our stuff was in that desert cammo long before Desert Storm
A lot of the USMC pre positioned stuff afloat or at Diego Garcia was also painted in the Gray Desert MERDC camo. Not to mention that the vehicles of many Army Reserve units in the Western US also were painted in that scheme.
Not sure where the truck came from, but apparently the unit was detached from 10th MTN Division:
“During Operation Desert Storm, the 10th Mountain Division (LI) did not deploy as a unit to Southwest Asia, but approximately 1,200 soldiers deployed in support of the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division in Iraq. This support involved units like the Combat Service Support Detachment 10 (CSSD-10), which was responsible for maintaining the base camp. The 10th Mountain Division also provided other support to the 24th Infantry Division during the conflict, including medical support.”
Interesting. I do recall that the 197 Inf Brigade out of Benning was attached to 24th ID and used in place their GA ARNG “Round Out” Brigade
Guess it could be USMC, no real bumper numbers except for the left side in the pic, but can’t really make it out
This was common as many National Guard units were woefully under trained and under funded and never qualified to be sent to Saudi. One unit was stuck at the NTC for over 6 mos. attempting to certify for deployment but never did.
The same happened to 3ID during the '03 Iraq invasion as well. My unit, 1-39 FA (MLRS) was supposed to receive a round out battery from 118 FA GA Nat Guard. They never joined us. An active-duty Battery out of Ft Sill did.
I am tracking. I was not aware they were still being used in ODS. The trailer looks weird w/just one axle as well.
Whatever it is, I bet it wasn’t a great ride!
Edro
But a very cool subject to model! Then again even finding references for that pumper would be hard, not to mention the parts to model that rig…
I probably have seen it. This is not it, but just saw this three days ago in an entirely different location than the batch from last year:
I thought it might possibly be of interest. The other batch almost certainly has one. I just didn’t photograph them all because it was HAB that day.
I was in 3ACR from 1989 to 1991, including Desert Storm and I don’t recall seeing anything in desert MERDC. Most of our stuff was 3 color NATO; also, what little you can see of a bumper number is wrong, 3ACR vehicles started with FRC.
Ken
8/85 to roughly 89, HHT 1/3 and D co 1/3, everything we had was desert MERDC, when we started getting M1A1’s things started to change to the three tone, a few things straight NATO green, our M88 and one of our AVLB’s. Must have been a dramatic change after I left, we didn’t even have Bradley’s yet. This pic is around 87/88.
I got there summer 89. They had Bradleys then, and everything was green camo. I thought it was weird to have green camo on a desert base, but that’s how it was. Some of the older vehicles had been painted in a green MERDC, I got put on the M577 and it was painted like that. So was the M88 and the mechanics’ M113. Brads were forest green, Abrams 3 color NATO.
This is a crappy photo of the M577:
Ken
My cousin was in the National Guard and served in Desert Shield/Storm and later was deployed to Waco during the standoff.I remember being told how lucky they were to get enough funding and training.