Knowing what an M-1008 or 9 is

[jj]

Recently i've had some encounters with former servicemen and women that have left me somewhat confused. Well, even more so than usual. Specifically, they did not seem to know what i was refering to when i mentioned, or they saw, my 1009. Most of these people were Army, and i do not have any idea of their service dates, except in general terms. But is it possible that there are people serving their entire hitches without ever encountering a 1008 or 1009? Most of them would have served late 1990's early 2000's, but one fellow's time in uniform would almost certainly be ALL prior to 1992. That is his seniority date at his current job. Could he really have never seen a CUCV?

 

[Westech]

maybe if they are in a office all day.. but there all over post for support trucks.. Im guessing just not a auto savvy person

 

[jj]

Those are very good points. It is sometimes too easy to forget that to some people a car is just a car is just another car. Crazy, i know, but there are a LOT of people like that it seems. My wife says there are hundreds of different kinds of roses. THEY all smell the same to me.

 

[50shooter]

Maybe if they heard them called CUT-V they would know. We still had them all over in the 90's. I really think that unless a person is into it, they don't even pay attention.

 

[Jersey 93 Ty]

I normally keep both of my M1009's in driveways that belong to family members. For the last week though, my '85 has been parked in between 2 service vans in my apartment complex lot. As I was finishing installing the driver's side window (only about an hour before snow started falling), one of the service vans returns to the lot. The driver, who obviously lives in the complex and has been parked next to my M1009 every day for the last week, got out of his van and asked me "Is that a Jeep? It looks a lot bigger and sturdier than the trucks we used when I was in the National Guard a billion years ago."

I can understand a certain level of vehicle ignorance, but I can't comprehend what about a full-sized Blazer would make someone think it was a Jeep.

 

[Josh]

I can understand a certain level of vehicle ignorance, but I can't comprehend what about a full-sized Blazer would make someone think it was a Jeep.

He musta been drunk. Or on LSD.

 

[CARNAC]

If they went straight to a combat arms unit when they signed up in the mid-80's and never left until the mid-90's....maybe they would not know. CUCV's were in the Forward Support Battalions back then but were quickly replaced during Desert Storm. We deployed with them and they didn't come back. We got HMMWV at port within a week or two of the vehicles arriving.

 

[panama]

I was stationed in Panama from 1987 to 1990, when I got out of the Army. Since I was in a signal battalion we had a strange mix of old Jeeps, Dodge & Chevy CUCV's and different cars. The predominant truck parked outside the barracks and/or place of duty was the CUCV pickup. I never even saw a HMMWV until the infantrymen came to Panama for Operation Just Cause. I also find it hard to believe that anybody having served during the same time period was not exposed to a Chevy CUCV

 

[Lifer]

.....one fellow's time in uniform would almost certainly be ALL prior to 1992. That is his seniority date at his current job. Could he really have never seen a CUCV?

Quite possibly. I retired from the Air Force in late 1989, and had never seen a CUCV at that time. We had M880 Dodges, which we called "peesas" (as in "peesa sh!t") and CJ7 Jeeps (being studied as replacements for our M151 Mutts), which for some strange reason we called "Jeeps."

I still have no use for an M880 "Peesa." I could accept a CJ7 Jeep in my driveway, but I'd much prefer an M151.

 

[AceHigh]

I went in for a 2 yr stint in 1969, hauled to the range in cattle cars, then overseas. There we were hauled in busses some but mostly Caribous and slicks. Our company had a mutt I never rode in and a mule I did drive.

Back in CONUS I was assigned to a MP company and we drove American Ambassadors.

Point is, 2 years and almost no contact with traditional MVs as we know them.

 

[southdave]

Our TOA for pickups pior to M998 where F-250 & F350 Gaser with 351 and 460s six packs most duty station and delployments in the seabee we advioded cucv's we get them every once in while as loaner from the base command.

 

[mkcoen]

I was in from '82-'92 (active and Guard) and never saw a CUCV. I heard someone mention one once or twice but really didn't have much interest in what it was. We had Mutts when I was at Ft Polk and HMMWVs when I was at Ft Lewis and the WA Guard. If there was a 1008 or 1009 in the motorpool I never even looked twice at it. But as was mentioned earlier, I was in Combat Arms my entire time (Inf and then Armor) so doubtful we had any assigned to us.

As far as nomenclature goes, we rarely called anything M-whatever. We called Mutts jeeps, HMMWV humvees, M113s tracks, and M60s (A2 and A3) tanks. Finally when we got our M1s we started calling them that or the Abrahms.

 

[LanceRobson]

Active duty Combat and Combat Support units such as infantry, armor and artillery were never fielded CUCVs. The went straight from the M151 series to the M998 series trucks. As CARNAC wrote, Service Support units like maintenance , medical and laundry-bath units were feilded CUCVs.

The first paragraph of the operator's manual sums it up. It states that the CUCVs were intended for units that needed on-road vehicles with extremely limited off-road capabilities.

Guard and Reserve units were feilded the CUCVs in lieu of hummers until production (or funding) was available. The CUCVs currently being sold off are coming from them. Even after the M998 family stuff arrived units kept some CUCVs for administrative uses where they could take some of the wear and tear off of the hum-dingers.

Lance