• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

USMC Blount Island Command

fpchief

fpchief

Well-known member
1,041
220
63
Location
South Alabama
Mattmo714 said:
That's great fpchief. That's where my truck is from. You were probably stationed there when it was delivered new.
Click to expand...
How do you know it is from BIC? If it started its life there, then it has not been used much. It was part of the propositioning force either on ships or some other places. Pulled out to be used for training or certain contingencies. Just depends on when it was there. I remember seeing acres and acres of brand new vehicles. I inspected ordnance while there. AAV, M1A2, M198, etc etc.
 
Mattmo714

Mattmo714

New member
10
11
3
Location
Lumberton, Texas
Well fpchief, this is kind of a long story. I had the million dollar find after my truck was delivered. One thing I love about the Marine Corps de-mil process is, as they are removing the equipment, they just let all the nuts, bolts, washers, etc hit the floor of the truck, where they stay until the new owner decides to pick them up. So, the night the truck arrived at my house, I started the process of cleaning up the inside of the truck. There were a few folded up stickers on the floorboard, which I carefully unfolded, one of which was white and had printed on it NORWAY and another white sticker that had printed on it KOC, which I later found out was SS KOCAK. I guess the AK part of the sticker was ripped off when they removed it.

Well, I'm in the truck, with my LED lights picking up the various fasteners, when I see a white envelope, full of dust and looking like it's been there for a very long time, between the driver seat and the trans tunnel. I carefully retrieve it and it appeared to be the original delivery envelope. The front of the envelope is titled "Motor Vehicle and Engineer Record Folder (11245) and has the MC registration number, chassis serial number, the vehicle description, the TAM number, the NSN number and the ID number. Then below that is a section called "Transfer, Modification and Major Unit Assembly Replacement Record". At the bottom of the front envelope, in the remarks section, there are handwritten entries "09006 CARC Paint Verified" and "09005 Glycol Adjusted -50".

On the back of the envelope are six green bar code stickers for equipment that was in the truck, such as the gasoline can, water container, flexible spout, etc.. When I looked inside the envelope there were all the service records, which obviously included where the vehicle was stationed. All of the records indicate that the truck was assigned there it's entire career. Hell, even the numerous oil analysis requests and findings are in this envelope. You probably even know some of the mechanics that worked on this truck.

It still has all the OMNI-ID sensors on it and a sensor that was zipped tied to the front grill, which I have not seen before. It was painted over a number of times, so I can't see a manufacturer or id#, but it has a cell phone type charging/data port on the side of it.

You're right, it does have low mileage. It was 3880 when delivered, and based on all the service records, this mileage is accurate. I wanted the most complete slant back I could find, and after about two years of watching the auction, I think this is it. With the exception of the wiper arms and doors, the vehicle was totally complete, with no leaks from anywhere, brand new tires and all of the fluids I drained looked like this truck was well maintained.

I would enjoy hearing about more of what that command did and what my truck may have been used for. There was a blank military vehicle accident report in the envelope as well.

Matt
 
fpchief

fpchief

Well-known member
1,041
220
63
Location
South Alabama
Read about Matej Kocek....he is a hero killed in France. USNS Matej Kocek is the ship. All of the MPF ships are named after heroes....and not these "heroes that play sports".... Also, read about USMC caves Norway. Your vehicle had the Norwegian contractor take care of it while in the caves and when shipboard it was taken care of by a Gov contractor like Honeywell or whomever had the contract. You got a good one.
 
Mullaney

Mullaney

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
Supporting Vendor
7,716
19,766
113
Location
Charlotte NC
fpchief said:
Read about Matej Kocek....he is a hero killed in France. USNS Matej Kocek is the ship. All of the MPF ships are named after heroes....and not these "heroes that play sports".... Also, read about USMC caves Norway. Your vehicle had the Norwegian contractor take care of it while in the caves and when shipboard it was taken care of by a Gov contractor like Honeywell or whomever had the contract. You got a good one.
Click to expand...
I couldn't resist. There is a nice article on Wiki that had pictures. Looks like a mini version of Cheyenne Mountain.

1920px-USMC_trucks_stored_inside_a_cave_in_Norway.jpg Bjugn_Cave_Facility_in_Norway.jpg MCPP-N_Modernization_in_Norway_140813-M-PK171-390.jpg Vehicles_in_a_Marine_Corps_Prepositioning_Program-Norway_cave_facility_near_Trondheim,_Norway.jpg

And it makes you wonder what the Evil Empire knew about what we had stored there in the 80's... I love our country!

According to the article that I read, there are at least 5 caves and enough storage of vehicles, munitions, and other supplies (ice chains, snowshoes, and other specialty tools) including food to keep a Marine Expeditionary Brigade in combat supplied for 30 days.

fpchief mentions Matej Kocak. Another really good read. This guy went places, did things and in short - he came, he saw, he kicked aspirin. A double Medal of Honor (awarded posthumously) recipient. One from the Army and one from the Navy...


.
 
Last edited:
fpchief

fpchief

Well-known member
1,041
220
63
Location
South Alabama
Mattmo, to answer your question about what the command did with these vehicles...the answer is simply maintain. Before the Shitshow started in the middleeast, the assets in the caves and on all the ships stationed all over the globe was to be a ready force of beans, bullets, and band aids ready to put assets near a contingency and the troops would fall in where the gear was or it would meet the troops to supplement. Each ship would come to BIC I think once every three years and all assets taken off, go though updates etc....would rail head some assets to Albany. A great example of how it was used is Operation Bright Star (held in Egypt) would have a couple of MPF ships offload and the gear would be used by whatever MEU or SPMAGTF, etc etc...once operations were over the gear would be returned to the ship and it would be sent back to standby mode. Of course much much more to all of this but you get the idea.

Caveat, all of the information pertained herein is publicly available using the correct searches.
 
Mullaney

Mullaney

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
Supporting Vendor
7,716
19,766
113
Location
Charlotte NC
Monkeyboyarmy said:
Wow. Wish my garage looked like that.

So would these be the same caves they stored WW2 vehicles in?
Click to expand...
Dang right!! Something like that to work in would be so neat! Natural heating and cooling. Constant temperature and the story I read says they are temperature and humidity controlled environments. Guess if you want the ammo to work and the equipment "rust free" that would be pretty important.

Didn't see anything in several articles about WWII vehicle storage. I think I remember reading elsewhere that we left a lot of equipment over there when we packed our bags and headed home.

A garage. What's that!? I can only wish for one of those at the moment... :-(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
110,897members
165,315threads
2,326,244posts
1,466online users
Top