All images via VAFIRENEWS.com
.jpg)
What was that talk about the MTVR not being able to meet requirements for a firefighting vehicle????
The real issue is this.
Civilians have an obscene desire to have military equipment and the military has a desire to operate civilian gear. Plain and simple.
Let me be even more clear. The MTVR is simply a platform. Any equipment necessary to meet USMC fire fighting needs could be met by simply putting the correct equipment on the MTVR platform...even if the standard truck is unfit then the extended version used by the SEABEES could have been acquired.
The Marine Corps has an opportunity that it might not have for another generation to neck down the number of vehicles that it has in inventory. The benefits would be many, the risks few. All we need is vision and leadership to make it happen.
.jpg)
What was that talk about the MTVR not being able to meet requirements for a firefighting vehicle????
The real issue is this.
Civilians have an obscene desire to have military equipment and the military has a desire to operate civilian gear. Plain and simple.
Let me be even more clear. The MTVR is simply a platform. Any equipment necessary to meet USMC fire fighting needs could be met by simply putting the correct equipment on the MTVR platform...even if the standard truck is unfit then the extended version used by the SEABEES could have been acquired.
The Marine Corps has an opportunity that it might not have for another generation to neck down the number of vehicles that it has in inventory. The benefits would be many, the risks few. All we need is vision and leadership to make it happen.
Sol,
ReplyDeleteThe MTVR is a great truck. The prime mover is excellent, and the firefighting version of it is awesome for wildland fires. I would have loved to have had one for water supply while deployed. I even attempted to propose the USMC purchase them at an ARFF conference in 2006. However, there are several factors that make it spectacularly unsuited for ARFF operations.
The truck you have pictured is an OshKosh/Pierce Hawk Extreme water tender, or tanker, not an ARFF vehicle. It has a very small pump and carries almost no equipment. The cab cannot provide space for the 4 man ARFF crew and their equipment, which includes breathing apparatus that fit into the seat backs-note the depth of the cab. The cab of the MTVR is so high off the ground that climbing out in fire gear with breathing apparatus would be dicey at best. The body is too high to store extrication equipment and tools within reach-note the compartment heights on the P-19R. The truck is not fast enough to meet the airfield response requirements detailed in NAVAIR 80R-14, and it is way too top heavy when fitted with a water tank as seen here. There is a reason water tankers and the Army's fire trucks are HEMMT or LVSR based-water is heavy.
The USMC needed an ARFF vehicle. Design needs to be driven first by the mission, and if you can shoehorn it into an existing vehicle without reducing mission effectiveness, then go for it. But just as an AAV isn't an LAV and an LAV isn't a tank, unique missions sometimes require a unique vehicle. I don't agree with the route they took, but the MTVR would have been worse.