M35A3 Gun Truck?

[Hoefler]

Have a 96 M35A3 truck with reinforced cab and gun legs with ammo trays. The cab has the two AR gun mounts with sockets on floor. Did find a water bottle with arabic writing on it in the cab, so guessing this truck was overseas for parts of its history. The passenger side window has a rather crude painting on it-looks like it was done from a stencil. Wondering if anybody would recognize this and chime in.

 

[historyfanatics]

Not a gun truck. Just a cargo truck that appears to have had a ring mount installed.

Ring mounts were installed on about 1 in 5 trucks, I think.

Also, the weapons mounts in the cab are for the M16, not AR.. I know, semantics, right?

No ideas as to the stencil. I haven't seen them on the windows. But, then again, I don't mess around with modern stuff, if I can help it.

Perhaps some of the others can shed some more light on this?

 

[SMOKEWAGON66]

I concur with historyfanatics...probably just a cargo with a gunring...not a Guntruck. Most trucks I ever drove that were newer then say '90 had M-16 rifle mounts in them. Usually 3 of them. The M35a3's my unit in Germany all had reinforced cabs but only one had gun ring legs on it. It never saw a gun mounted though. I dont know what that stencil on the window is....never seen that before on a truck window.

 

[johndodd]

Don't reconize it. You can go to http://vietnam-guntrucks.com and ask those guys.

 

[p71]

I have done four convoy tours. The first one was in '04 where our main platform was the 923. We did have one or two deuces. I was part of the (USAF)494 LMTC, 44CSB under the 1st ID, running out of Mosul Iraq. What makes me think that this truck is not a gun truck is that we jerry rigged all our trucks with hill billy armor. There are no signs of this having been done to your truck. Also most of the older trucks (non FMTV) were left over there.

Now if you shoot a picture or two of the water bottle I might be able to tell you if it is Iraq or Kuwait or Afghanistan.

 

[Hoefler]

Here is the water bottle I found in my M36A3.
Pete

 

[p71]

That is Kuwaiti, the obvious giveaway (for me anyway) is the styalised water tower on the label, which is as much a symbol of kuwait as the Arch is to St Louis, or SPQR is to Rome.

 

[Hoefler]

Hey, thanks for posting. Pretty cool. The truck has been great and is slowing being brought back to good as new.
I also have an MK48 that had a considerable amount of sand in the cab.
Pete

 

[p71]

No problem. I have a bit of a soft spot for those older trucks. The first mil truck I trained on when I was an E-2 was a very dodgy M35 who's turbo had failed and simply been pulled. I remember having dificulty with the shift pattern, and lack of power steering.

Those problems were massively exagerated when I moved on to the next peice of training, driving and backing the M35 with a water buffalo attached.

 

[Wildchild467]

When I rebuilt my M35A2, I used a cab from a M35A3. That cab was reinforced and also had the legs of a ring mount on it when I bought the cab. There was a lot of sand throughout the truck, so I am guessing it was also a gun truck at one time.

 

[goodguyzy]

All M35A3 have reinforced cabs. Not all gun trucks have armour.

 

[vtdeucedriver]

What you guys need to remember is that all of these trucks were made to have a turret ring installed. Its main function was for protection from attack. The Definition of Gun Truck is a truck that was dedicated for convoy protection. This would involve not being able to carry cargo. Just because it had a turret ring, did not make it a Gun Truck by definition.

 

[vtdeucedriver]

All M35A3 have reinforced cabs. Not all gun trucks have armour.

This would be considered a Gun Truck.

 

[p71]

You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time.

I do not know how many of you remember that quote... it was in response to a lower ranking enlisted man stationed in Kuwait asking why our vehicles in Iraq had no or poor armor, and another asking why our troops had to scrounge through garbage piles looking for sheetmetal to weld to truck...

What makes me think that this truck is not a gun truck is that we jerry rigged all our trucks with hill billy armor. There are no signs of this having been done to your truck.

... which we called "hill billy" or "redneck" armor. This armor is visible in the first picture from the post quoted below (look at the driver's door).

All M35A3 have reinforced cabs. Not all gun trucks have armour.

I would argue that once issued to the troops all gun trucks end up with armor. It may not be issue frag 5, it may be made from the panels of an air conditioner or washing machine, but the Grunt (or more likely POG) driving the truck is going to upfit it as best as possible. I personally draped a vietnam era flack vest over my door until we could scrounge up some 1/8 inch steel. The I draped it over that. Because this armor was generally done at the platoon or company level, it was non standard, ugly, and left permanent scars on the truck... scars that the OP's truck does not have.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2005-06-27/html/CREC-2005-06-27-pt1-PgH5219-2.htm

This is an interesting read.

 

[p71]

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=69813&d=1193627353
One of the actual USAF 5 tons that the Army let us keep because we managed to break the frame (with some help from an IED). This is the armor that they went to after SSgt Dustin Peters and A1C Carl Anderson Junior were killed in action.

 

[ZZ4x4]

I also have an MK48 that had a considerable amount of sand in the cab.
Pete

Please take a picture of the sand so we can tell whether it is from Afghanistan or Iraq. ( haha) I think the stencil means the truck is bomb proof.