Trucks Now and Then

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As we look back over the last sixty-five years, the needfulness for trucks has changed significantly. When we explore the use of trucks in the 1940's, they were considered to have an important value in their demand as well as an indispensable tool. The uses of trucks have changed dramatically in today's society when compared to the 1940's. They are no longer considered a just an essential part of transporting goods, however, we now use them as a necessity for life.

Trucks were very different in the early days compared to the trucks of today. During World War II four companies made most of the 1 ½ ton trucks for military service; International (M-3L-4) made specifically for the Navy and Marines, Ford (GTB), Dodge (WC62) and Chevy (G506 also known as G7100). Of the manufacturers, Chevy by far, supplied the most 1 ½ ton trucks during the war. Chevy labeled the trucks "Vehicles of Victory" during the war in the many ads Chevy ran promoting their war effort. The trucks were used for almost every task at hand. Common uses included towing artillery, firefighting, hauling troops and supplies, and the multitude of tasks associated with engineering battalions. The truck also came with special body configurations, for a variety of specialized tasks such a fire fighting, bob supply, and communications.

If we look at the Persian Gulf War in the early nineties, large flatbed trucks were used to transport heavy armored vehicles to the front. It required a lot of trucks and muscle, and they called this special truck "Camp Big Sky Oasis. It managed the movement of supplies and convoys from what looks like an air traffic control center plucked from a control tower and crammed into an office trailer.

The type of truck that the United States are using is very transient. Back in the early 2003, the United States army only had a hundred or so armored trucks available for operation in Iraq. In the last 20 months, another 16,000 trucks in Iraq and Afghanistan have had armor added (15,000 humvees, 450 medium trucks and 650 heavy trucks). The Humvees are actually light trucks, and are used not just to move people and supplies around, but to carry troops and weapons to escort convoys of unarmored trucks. This is the heart of the current controversy of the shortage of armored trucks.

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