M88 recovery vehicle the hook


Any old Army guys drive one of these things.It weighed 60 tons and pulled dead tanks around.I did have a radio in it!
kgveteran
A few years ago I was a Battalion Motor officer at Fort Hood. One summer we had a small tornado go through the field motor park. Wrapped my brand new Maintenance tent around the boom hoist. Looked like the artist "Christo" had wrapped my 88 in olive drab fabric.
At that time I discovered jazz.Larry Carlton,David Benoit,Earl Klugh,Bob James.I was stationed at Ft.Benning on "Kelly HIll".The 2nd and 69th Armored Div.I met this cool guy who worked at a record store and I needed demo music for building speakers.Ft. Benning had a wood shop that cost a dollar a day to work in.I built a few for guys in the barracks.Ah, the good ol' days.
They did have V-12's and back then the damn things ran on mo-gas.What a friggin sight that must have been.1970....the tail end of vietnam? My tour was well after that..84-87.Good talkin to ya.
I did not drive one, but I saw one burn after it got hit with a recoilless rifle while refueling itself (had a 500 gal. bladder of gas hoisted from the "A" frame, with a hose going to the fuel tank). Quite a site. When done, the aluminum V-12 (maybe a V-10, it's been a while, 1000 hp anyway) was in a puddle. Dec., 1970, Fire Base Bandit, 10th Cav.

Dave