Tonight’s features is a short, an Army training film on the M-151A2 ‘Jeep’. The Jeep was just transitioning out of service as I entered the Army. It was a capable beast and great on narrow roads and trails, but it was prone to rollovers and not very safe. Please enjoy the Army classic.
The M151A2 was great!! We just overloaded the hell out of it with things like a TOW, camouflage net & support system, and a crew’s gear. It didn’t offer much in the way of ballistic protection, or much protection from the elements but, they were dependable. Besides generations did their best to emulate that old tv show, The Rat Patrol.
USMC used them well through the 90’s, in 97 we saw them in KBay and they could still be found in Army motor pools, Schofield had at least on around the same time. I’m referring to Ford Mutts, M151A2 I think.
M151A2… As opposed to Willy’s
Ford did the primary engineering but the government owned the TDP and the vehicle was manufactured by Ford, Kaiser, and AM General.
UPS trucks, until recently, were similar in that the customer owned the design and had them built by various manufacturers on a bid package. UPS trucks have been built by AM General, Grumman, and Volkswagen.
The WIllys MB and the Ford GPW were identical WWII Jeeps but every single GPW part down to the bolts and nuts had a Ford “F” script on it. Purists freak out about this and pay top dollar for F marked parts. Joe and the services didn’t care for the 20 odd years that both identical vehicles were in service so a mix of Willys and Ford marked parts is legit.
Thanks, I always called the new ones Ford Mutts, and the old version Willy’s. Most notable, identifable difference being the hood and front wheel wells.
M-151’s weree great for what they were originally designed for, when overloaded or incorrectly handled problems resulted. In thick forests it really shined, but I will say the HMMWV brought powe, performance and speed to the field. My only complaint was as initially fielded the seats sucked.
Loved the jeep. Drive a commercial one now.
Don’t believe the jeep is any more prown to rollovers than quads or MRZR’s, both being presently fielded. They were tremendously overloaded though and experienced the same problems we have with HMMWV’s today.
I remember losing quite a bit of capability as a young lieutenant in the 101st. At first Blackhawks couldn’t lift the HMMWV and when they could they lost a huge amount of range. Chinooks had to sling vehicles and less of them again with a loss of range as well as speed. At the unit level HMMWVs couldn’t go where jeeps did. When they are employed as logistics vehicles for small units and to provide mobility to recon elements capability definitely changed. Foot recons and moving to places HMMWVs could get to meant slower everything. We made it work or we did without. When I later went to a mech unit the issue was no where near as painful. The HMMWV is definitely much more comfortable. Roofs, doors, heaters that work much more often definitely increased the creature comforts of riding a HMMWV vs. a jeep without a top in the rain in the winter.
Fast forward 30 years and we’re starting to issue Polaris DAGOR and MRZR’s to light Infantry. The DAGOR is a jeep on steroids providing the whole squad transport but the MRZR is definitely being used like the jeep was. What was old is now new.
Fu
“Fu” is a typo.
Sorry Folks!
This was my first Army vehicle. We had gun jeeps in the scout platoon till around 1987. Of course ours were usually missing the tops and doors and almost always the heaters. Towards the end we had the rollover kits installed along with the safety nets. They were a real pain getting in and out with those on. The HMMWVs were a real upgrade but I’m glad I got time behind a 60 while bouncing over the trails in a jeep.
“Specially mounted test rods.” Joe is slapping them on with 100mph tape….LOL. some things stay the same…
Loved the jeep! First vehicle I got licensed on in the Army. To pass the driving test I had to parallel park it with the trailer! I think it was it ’89 the third shop installed the full roll cages with the four-point safety harnesses and the webbing safety nets. Then in true Army fashion we got our HMMWV’s about two months later.
I actually CASEVAC’d a few patients with the stretcher across the back and my Lt. driving. What fun.