Abstract
Staff Sgt. David Wolfe reflects on his experiences with the HUMVEE during his military service, from first encountering the vehicle in Okinawa to using it in Operations Desert Shielf and Desert Storm. As a Combat Engineer, he describes the vehicle’s ability to handle tough terrain, including a memorable minefield crossing during the assault into Iraq.
My HUMVEE Story | by Staff Sgt. David Wolfe
My first experience with a HMMWV was when they arrived while I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan in 1987-88. They were definitely an odd-looking vehicle and didn’t fit on the small roads there. After Okinawa I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA for the second time and we had HMMWVs in our motor pool.
Being in a Combat Engineer unit, one of our duties was to cut fire breaks in the mountain ridges. This usually involved using D7G dozers dragging ship anchor chain between them. As a heavy equipment mechanic, we would go up the “hills” to service the equipment, the HMMWV would climb anything. The highlight from a hill trip while in a HMMWV was to put it in 4-low while traversing down the side of the mountain. While in 4-low you were able to keep you foot off the brake, hands off the steering wheel, and just roll down the hill so you could enjoy a wonderful MRE on your way down! Good times!
For Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, a handful of unit vehicles were actually flown from the states into Saudi Arabia. It was one of these M998s I would drive for the next 8 months and 20,000+ miles. We staged at port and unloaded Maritime Prepositioned Ships (MPS) then eventually moved out to the desert. After months of Desert preparations it all came down the the assault across the boarder, Desert Storm.
Our recon units “surveyed” the minefields a couple days prior, and we were able to judge the equipment used to lay the mines and the patterns. After major planning to cross the minefields for the assault it was my lucky job to go into the minefield to direct the breeching units where to blow/clear the paths. The only way to get to the second minefield was to drive thru the first one while breeching operations we being conducted there. This was where I really appreciated the width of the HMMWV! While actually navigating thru the minefield I was able to straddle visible mines, which my passenger lieutenant was not in the mood for!
I enjoyed my time in the HMMWV over the years and then being hired by the company that built them was a bonus for sure. After starting my job at AM General and seeing the changes on the HUMVEEs compared to the last time I saw one while in uniform was something. The parking gear blew my mind!
David Wolfe is an Integrated Logisitics Support Manager at AM General, and faithfully served 16 years in the United States Marine Corps.
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E-mail: deborah.reyes@amgeneral.com