Boxer in the snow...a warning for future ACV operations?

Check out the above video.

You did?  Then consider this.  No slam on the Marine Corps upgrade/modernization plans.  I like the decisions made.  Moving on with the ACV instead of spending money on the AAV-SU makes NOTHING BUT SENSE!

I get it.

I dig it.

But most importantly I understand it!

Having said that we can't fool ourselves either.  Moving from tracked to wheeled vehicles in our amphibious assault/troop transport role will be a change.  Seemingly small stuff will matter.

Which brings me back to the above vid.

When I first saw the Boxer in stuck in the snow, my first reaction was damn.  Then it was, someone didn't receive proper training in how to maneuver his vehicle.  Then it dawned on me that we've seen tracks stuck in exactly the same way.

We've been told that the ACV has equal mobility to the AAV.  I didn't get invited to the testing in Mississippi so I can't confirm that.  What I can say is even if that's the case we need to plan on recovering them in some pretty bad spots and probably need to plan on doing battle drills to do the same while being under fire...even worse under an artillery barrage.

That Boxer vid is instructive.  We operate in all climates and so do our vehicles. We need them in the fleet as soon as possible to develop real world "lessons learned", and that needs to be passed to the Fleet and the School House ricky tick quick.

We can do it, but let's make sure we do it right.