Favorite Light Utility Vehicle

[pmulcahy11b]

M561, 6--6 tactical 1-ton truck AKA the Gamma Goat

We had some of those in the National Guard in the early 1980s. They are excellent rough-terrain vehicles -- when they work. They are notorious for their unreliability.

[Ckosacranoid]

How about the VW bug, the most common car in the world and super easy to fix and get parts for everywhere at the time. It can carry some people and gear and get decent mileage. add a small trailer to haul the still and some extra stuff and easy to lift with a couple of people and pull out of the mud and it is air-cooled so good to drive anywhere.

[Homer]

1988 series Toyota Hi-Lux crew cab 4x4 diesel with fording kit. Complemented with a pre-1995 4Runner (same automotives, different body). Good enough for illiterate tribesmen in a wasteland to run for 20+ years with minimal maintenance. Dimensionally smaller than a HMMWV for tight spaces. Plus a little lower signature than a military utility vehicle. You can fit a pintle, wing mount, and outward facing troop seats if needed. Parts are widely available.

[Raellus]

Stranger Things

Two Cold War-era vans with civilian and military variants appear in Stranger Things, Season 4, one from either side of the Iron Curtain.

Representing NATO, we have the venerable Volkswagen Type 3 Transporter.

For the Warsaw Pact, we have the UAZ-452 'Bread Box'.

https://www.drive.com.au/caradvice/stranger-things-4-meet-the-van-that-saved-the-day-in-kamchatka-the-uaz-452-bread-loaf/

If you had to pick one of these two military vans, which one would you take and why

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[Raellus]

Mystery Machine

The Russians are making great (and by great, I mean widespread) use of the UAZ-452 in Ukraine- they've been employed as ambulances, resupply vehicles, drone team transports, EW platforms, and even improvised APCs*. The UAF derisively calls them "Mystery Machines" (a Scooby-Doo reference) which I can totally see US troops** coming up with in the T2kU.

*For pics of a battlefield expedient up-armored version, see,

https://forum.juhlin.com/showthread.phpt=6530&page=2&highlight=improvised

**I don't know how well-known Scooby-Doo is in other NATO countries, although if Ukrainians are familiar enough...

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[ToughOmbres]

We had some of those in the National Guard in the early 1980s. They are excellent rough-terrain vehicles -- when they work. They are notorious for their unreliability.

The Gamma Goat was an odd duck. "Semi-amphibious". Air Defense had them in the motor pool and achieving 80% operational was a miracle.

[Homer]

The Gamma Goat was an odd duck. "Semi-amphibious". Air Defense had them in the motor pool and achieving 80% operational was a miracle.

Didnt the gamma goat produce dangerous levels of noise

[ToughOmbres]

Gamma Goat

Thankfully I was never that close to large numbers of them. But to answer the question, yes. The two seat driver compartment was directly in front of a 3 cylinder(!) diesel engine. Hearing protection/headphone type was mandatory. 3 cylinder. Diesel.

[ChalkLine]

I'm on record for hating Land Rovers. It is true they can scramble over anything, especially the Defenders. But they're tiny inside, they have an aluminium body you can't weld unless you have a TIG. They have crappy gearboxes that you have to order from Britain and when it get s to where you are it's for the Discovery model and not the Defender. If you put stuff on the roof they tip over but that's not why I hate them.

I hate them because they are weird in that they are good enough in mud that they bog *really deep* in the mud where it's a bitch to get them out. They skate over the mud for about ten metres and then plunge in. I dug that bastard we had out of the mud so many times it's not funny. None of the other 4x4s we had on the job did that.

Good on paper but not in real life.