Gun Trucks

[General Pain]

guntrucks

this might help...

http://groups.msn.com/VietNamGuntrucks/guntruckroster.msnw

[Targan]

I agree with Mo. Great story Marc, thanks for sharing it.

[Jason]

I have issue #55 of Challenge magazine, which has an article on guntrucks in T2K. Actually, it is not really an article, but three vehicle plates by Keith Potter

I. M35 2.5 Ton Gun Truck. An armored 2.5 ton truck with a NHT mounted to fire over the cab, and two NMT, one on each side. The cargo-bed must be half empty and gunners are exposed to return fire.

II. M54 5 Ton Gun Truck. In Vietnam it was found that the M113 hull would fit on the bed of an M54 truck. This is a stripped M113 and an ARV (or equivilent) is needed.

III.M54 5 Ton Gun Truck M901 Version. An armored M54 with a M901 in the bed. Used in an anti-tank role with 10 TOW missles. (Good luck with that)

Not much is given to indicate how common these trucks would be, but it is noted that each is usually one-of-a-kind. I see these to be pretty common as long as ammo and fuel stocks hold up.

I also notice that several units in the U.S. lost most or all of thier transport. I imagine these units would modify whatever civilian vehicles they could into 'technicals'. I think these units have at least some MG's, with ammo being the main limitation, but just because these units were forced to fall back and re-group does not mean they never re-supplied ammo. This leaves the GM open to allow whatever fits his campaign.

[Marc]

Bona nit!

Using the subject of this thread, I've introduced a gun truck in my current campaign. Not in the players side this time, but in the hands of the polish militia in the town of Chelmno, that stands in the advancing path of the 5th ID on the spring of 2000. The truck was a modified URAL 375, reinforced with sheet steel for a total armor value of 3. I've considered a basis of AV: 1 plus 16mm of sheet steel (AV:2), accordingly to v2.2 set of rules. The truck was armed with a 14.5mm KPV heavy machine gun. A fast thinking medic, a female major with only the basic training in grenade launcher skill, managed to destroy it with an RPG-16 quickly recovered from the body of a polish militiaman lying amid the rubble. Nice shot.

[Webstral]

I have included fairly sophisticated gun trucks in the OOB of the Granite Brigade, which is the main body of the New Hampshire Military Reserve (NHMR) at the end of 2000. Below is an excerpt from my write-up on the NHMR:

"Fire Support Battery Yankee is in many ways the heart of the brigade. As of January 2001, FSB Yankee disposes eleven gun trucks: eight trucks with direct fire weapons and three using Mk19 grenade launchers. Most gun trucks in post-attack America are unarmored vehicles with a single machine gun on a pintle mount. Not so the gun trucks of FSB Yankee. The Manchester cantonment was extremely fortunate to acquire among its refugees a group of Vietnam veterans who recreated Vietnam-era and WW2 weapon systems for private collectors and museums across the country. The team used local machine shops and auto shops to combine a number of armored cars formerly used for moving cash and other valuables with a small stock of heavy weapons the State Headquarters had amassed by emptying the National Guard armories around the state. Although the combination of trucks and guns is unique for every system, all of them resemble in concept the gun-carrying halftracks of WW2. For each armored car, the roof of the cargo area and the upper half of the sidewalls were removed. The guns were installed in powered mounts designed by the re-creation team and manufactured under their supervision. Each gun truck thus has an armored cab that is proof against small arms fire and a powerful weapon in its cargo bed.

"The most powerful of the gun trucks is called oeCruiser. Cruiser sports a 20mm rotary cannon mounted on a ten-wheeled armored truck. The cannon was salvaged from an inoperable ADA system. The M113 had been stripped for parts to support other vehicles, but for some reason the gun had been left. The NHMR acquired the cannon when Acting Governor Colby ordered the consolidation of all state assets at Manchester. The re-creation team came across it in a NHMR warehouse and couldnt wait to make something of it. The result was Cruiser.

"FSB Yankee has three gun trucks it classifies as oedestroyers. Each destroyer has a quad .50 caliber mounted in its bed. Each destroyer has its own name: oeBull, oeBronco, and oeBear. The destroyers are mounted in six-wheeled armored cars of the sort used so frequently to transport cash and valuables in pre-war times.

"The fire support battery also has three gun trucks it classifies as oefrigates. The frigates each have a quad mount of M60s. The frigates are named oeMoe, oeLarry, and oeCurly. The frigates are mounted in lighter four-wheeled armored vehicles used for courier duty during pre-war times.

"The eighth gun truck mounts a 5.56 minigun in its bed. This last truck is nicknamed oeJunior. Junior is actually an armored van that has had a reinforced suspension and add-on armor plates installed.

"In addition to the direct fire gun trucks, FSB Yankee has three trucks with Mk19 40mm automatic grenade launchers mounted on pintles. The grenade trucks are unarmored. They are held back from the main fighting and used to provide observed indirect fire support.

"FSB Yankee gets involved in almost every fight of the Granite Brigade. The crews are a tight-knit group with considerable lan. Under all conditions, the gun trucks find themselves called out to assist a patrol in contact. When the gun trucks arrive and apply their massive firepower, most marauders still in contact either break contact or quickly surrender. The crews are almost all Veteran NPCs, with about ten percent of their number being Elite NPCs and ten percent being Experienced NPCs."


Webstral

[Raellus]

Gun Truck Renaissance

Just released in the U.S. (9/20). Got my copy in the mail today.

http://www.amazon.com/Vietnam-Gun-Trucks-New-Vanguard/dp/184908355X/ref=sr_1_1ie=UTF8&qid=1316659770&sr=8-1

I've only had a chance to thumb through it and read most of the picture captions. Good stuff, so far.

I'm certain gun trucks would become a feature of the Twilight War, especially after the advent of the cantonment system. Cantonments, although in many ways self sufficient, would still need periodic replenishment of things like large caliber ammo and other valuable items that could not be manufactured locally. A cantonment's far-flung outposts (patrol bases, forward operating bases, fire bases, etc.) would also need resupply from the parent units main hub. Areas between cantonments and outposts would likely see predation by deserters, marauders, opportunistic civies, enemy raiders, etc. High-value convoys would need to be guarded against such threats and their simply wouldn't be the line or MP units to do the job. Motor transport units would have to guard themselves, and the venerable gun truck would see a renaissance.

Do any of you know much about motor transport units Motor vehicles are at a premium late in the Twilight War. Would individual divisions have their own organic long-range transport units or would such line haul convoys be the specialty of Corps HQs I'm trying to think of how gun truck units would be organized for a little project that I'm working on for the forum.

Also, what trucks was the U.S. military using up until 1997 or so


P.S. If you like guns and trucks and special forces, I also recommend this Osprey title:

http://www.amazon.com/Special-Operations-Patrol-Vehicles-Afghanistan/dp/1849081875/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

[Webstral]

Rae,

Thanks for reviving this one. Ironically, I was thinking yesterday and today that I really need to pare down the equipment of FSB Yankee (see above) and throw a couple of gun trucks into the lineup of the Green Jackets. Of course, I could minimize the effects of all of the gear owned by FSB Yankee by having half of them down for maintenance at any time and the rest forced to live off starvation fuel rations.

[Sanjuro]

Would individual divisions have their own organic long-range transport units or would such line haul convoys be the specialty of Corps HQs

It would depend on how scarce the vehicles were; if suitable trucks are plentiful, individual divisions could have their own (although Corps HQ might allocate the fuel). The scarcer the vehicles, the more likely Corps is to maintain control, to make sure each division gets its fair share.

[ArmySGT.]

http://news.webshots.com/album/124599660fVnKRb

http://spruebender.net/forum2/index.phptopic=585.0

http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.htmlb=1&f=5&t=869048

http://www.stenvalls.com/shop/cat_id=203

http://www.armorama.com/modules.phpop=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=54640&page=1

[Top-Break]

The origin of "Technicals"

The term "Technical" actually has nothing to do with armor, or the lack thereof.

During the Somali famine, but before US intervention, relief groups and news crews were extorted/persuaded to hire local toughs for protection. Back in the 1990s it was not a good idea to have mercenaries and protection payments on ones balance sheet, so the mercs/militiamen were dubbed "technical staff". The name stuck.

[Raellus]

The term "Technical" actually has nothing to do with armor, or the lack thereof.

During the Somali famine, but before US intervention, relief groups and news crews were extorted/persuaded to hire local toughs for protection. Back in the 1990s it was not a good idea to have mercenaries and protection payments on ones balance sheet, so the mercs/militiamen were dubbed "technical staff". The name stuck.

Interesting tidbit. Thanks, Top.

[Webstral]

Top, thanks for posting that piece. I had no idea. It's interesting where names come from.

Army SGT, thanks for all those great images. Sigh. This is another one of those forehead slapping moments for me. Why haven't I given more thought to gun trucks in CONUS (everywhere, really) in 2000 They ought to be darned well ubiquitous. All one needs is a truck, some steel plating for armor, a means to attach the plating, and some weapons to mount on the truck. Duh. Even the light divisions ought to have a number of these, so long as fuel exists and the truck can be kept in repair.

I'm seriously thinking that I need to revisit all of my TO&E to account for gun trucks. The matter of gun trucks begs the question of priorities. If one has an M60, does it belong on a gun truck or with a platoon of dismounts Heavier weapons, like the M2HB, almost certainly have to be mounted on a vehicle. Of course, machine guns aren't exactly as common as hunting rifles. Only so many are going to be confronted with this choice. Still, when I think about the Vermont State Guard and the Granite Brigade (NH), these are organizations with access to cargo trucks, homemade armor, and machine guns. Do the M60s and 60mm mortars go on trucks or with the dismounts

[ArmySGT.]

Army SGT, thanks for all those great images.


I'm seriously thinking that I need to revisit all of my TO&E to account for gun trucks. The matter of gun trucks begs the question of priorities. If one has an M60, does it belong on a gun truck or with a platoon of dismounts Heavier weapons, like the M2HB, almost certainly have to be mounted on a vehicle. Of course, machine guns aren't exactly as common as hunting rifles. Only so many are going to be confronted with this choice. Still, when I think about the Vermont State Guard and the Granite Brigade (NH), these are organizations with access to cargo trucks, homemade armor, and machine guns. Do the M60s and 60mm mortars go on trucks or with the dismounts

Your welcome,

Gun trucks serve two purposes.

For Convoys they bring often overwhelming fire power to a convoy. Making a convoy to dangerous to attack. This fire power can travel with and at the same speed as the convoy.

Heavy Weapons platform. The accompany dismounts or support base defense. They use the longer range of the heavy weapons to keep away from enemy dismounts while bring direct fire and indirect fire in support of their own.

[ArmySGT.]

In Tw2k your likely to use captured enemy wagons for gun trucks. If you lose one......... meh. While desperately using your own that you do have parts for as haulers.

[Webstral]

It would be hard to overstate the value of armored fire support vehicles in CONUS in 2000/2001. Really, in any location in the world in which the local bandits and warlords don't have access to heavy weapons, a gun truck would play a key role in enabling government troops to assault marauder and warlord strongholds. By the same token, functional gun trucks would enable those who would be law unto themselves to overcome the defenses of lightly armed militias.