Hay Dodger, general discussion about Iraq

[Bob86ZZ4]

Thought this would be a good topic since there isn't tons of activity on here and this is the "General Discussion" area. My son is Army Reserve. He's an 88M, transportation. He did a year (a bit shy of that I guess) over there from roughly July '08- July '09. He drove trucks. He's a HETS driver. If you guys don't know what a HETS is you've got to google them and check them out. Talk about a truck. CGVWR is something like 240k. They weigh about 90k with nothing on them. They are a tractor/flatbed combo. The flatbed trailer is made to haul anything. They have 40 tires mounted in 5 rows of 8 tires. The wheels are mounted on bogies that swivel. They're all hydraulic and computer controlled. The trailer has it's own deisel motor to run the hydraulics. He was stationed at Q West. But they drove lots of missions all over Iraq. We had lots of chat contact with him on Skype but only text mostly since they were on a satelite shared amongst several of them and it wasn't fast enough for video or talk. He said it was a great experience and he's glad he enlisted. But he doesn't really want to go back there, hahahahaahah. He was very bummed that I bought my coach while he was over there so he had to wait awhile before he could drive it. Where are you stationed? What branch? What's your m.o.s? Anything we can do for you here let us know.

[Bob86ZZ4]

His company has a facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/photo....f=ts&gid=25105615442

If that doesn't work search for "353rd Transportation Unit and it's supporters" Lots of great pictures there.

[GENECARP]

Link did not work Bob, those trucks sounds awsome, would love to see some photos, i will google it, see what i could find, G

[Bob86ZZ4]

I don't know, Gene. It works for me. I'm a facebook user tho. Are you? I wonder if it won't work unless you're logged into facebook?

[Dodger]

Bob, thanks for starting this topic! Mostly because this website is great for passing the time over here. I am a UH60 Helicopter Technician stationed at FOB Sykes. I just hit my 14th year mark in the Army, and your support is all I could ever ask for. We have some HETS here as well, they are amazing. I found this site while looking for an accordian seal for my project truck. While not the 40 foot dream truck I would love to have, it is my 24 foot baby. As your Son can tell you the holidays here are less than desireable. While I am glad my wife was able to keep the kids happy, this year was not one of my best years.

Dodger

[Bob86ZZ4]

Cool, helicopters. I got to ride in one once for a couple hours. Very neat. I love the power.

[geofkaye]

....I rode in some that were ready to have serious issues and were still flying or whatever one calls that....fell out of a door near a Bouncing Betty once....hated that moment [which seemed like 154 years of my life whizzing by]....I have flown in a civilian chopper on the way to the hospital as a patient once...hopefully never again....I"ll take ground transport and hope for the best....I know of a lot of Docs that won't fly in one because of the Medi-vac failures and a few flight nurses that are 3 dollar bills....I wouldn't be caught dead near a few of the ugly flight nurses-there don't seem to be any pretty ones here in Cincinshitty Ohio....pilots are usually OK in my book--- they just seem to have a death wish of some kind.....Flying is something I'll pass on as THE DOG & I were in Fla when Value JET went into the swamp.....what a way to go..........geofkaye and the Rivercity Group.......

[Dodger]

Wow, Geofkaye, don't hold back on how you really feel! While not my favorite way to get around, the UH-60 has an amazing safety rating for the last 30+ years. I have over 1200 hours in them as a non-rated crew member. While I don't fly much anymore, I just fix em. Well actually I inspect the repairs of others to make sure they are done correctly. Never the less they are pretty cool aircraft, but not nearly as cool as my truck project waiting for me at home!

Dodger