Military convoy

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Hi everyone.

This is my first post. Since I can't substaniate this, didn't have camera, etc...I'm just hoping others saw it too.

I went to the Prepardness Expo in PA on Sat. I left the expo around 5:15pm. On the way back to NJ, I saw a HUGE military convoy(probably 1-2miles long). The exit ramp put me near the first 1/3 of it. It was all camo painted fuel tankers(not sure if gas, diesel, milk, who knows what)...but right before the very front(it was lead by a hum-vee) was a flatbed military truck carry a VERY large generator(I would assume 50kw from the size of it). It was covered by panels on the side of the truck, but I could see exposed engine parts through the openings in the panels and see different electical connectors/markings. Not sure where they were going or where they were from. Just curious if anyone else noticed it on the way home from the expo. Maybe it's not due to Y2K, but it sure had me thinking....

Take Care, justme

-- justme (eastcoaster@noemail.com), June 16, 1999

Answers

Sounds routine to me...

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@Anonymous99.xxx), June 16, 1999.

Actually, I saw it too. It was an alien space ship.

-- ET (ET@PhoneHome.com), June 16, 1999.

Hello, justme!

Thanks for the post. Funny you should mention this...

Monday morning, on the way to school, I passed by nearly the very same thing. The lead hummer had pulled onto the side of the road (normally to close up gaps in the convoy), as had at least seven of the camo fuel tankers. I noted that the tankers were riding low, as if loaded.

Now it's summer, and our local Army post is always a-buzz with Reserve units and NG units doing their two-week training, so convoys are a daily sighting in these parts all summer long, and not at all unusual during the rest of the year. However, I have NEVER seen more than one tanker on the road at any one time, and I've never seen them moving with or as a convoy. Plus, they were heading AWAY from the installation. I have no doubt at all that they were heading to a Reserve or NG site as a preparation. For what I do not know.

What I do know is that the Reserves and NG centers or sites have their own contracts for their own supply of fuel, and if a unit from the installation was going somewhere off-post for training (unless they were going someplace Really unusual), they would have an Inter- service Support Agreement (ISO) with the host site for fuel as well as ground-line commo support, etc. It is highly irregular.

BTW, as far as the post on the military having ration coupons printed, it is VERY common for them to send such jobs off-site to a commercial printer. Sometimes it has to do with the paper needed, the colors, etc., or with immediacy of the requirement. The government printshops do not normally stock paper or card stock in a wide variety of colors, and even if they did, the paperwork for the request has to pass through many hands. It's very complicated (hey, think of who we're talking about here!).

Sorry to jabber so... just a talkitive mood holding sway.

-- Arewyn (nordic@northnet.net), June 16, 1999.


Picky little item to note: 50kw is not that big. A little 3 or 4 cylinder diesel engine of 2 or 3 liter (124-186 cu.in.) will handle 50 kw just fine, even at 1800 RPM. Now granted the military usually overbuilds, so your mileage will vary, but I'll bet if it was on a flatbed tractor-trailer it was more like 250+kw or higher.

On the subject of generators. The Social Security office in Omaha, NE is on the NE corner of 72nd and W. Center road. Guess what new decoration adorns their parking lot as of a few months ago? A nice new BIG Caterpiller genset. This little item ain't no 50kw. The exhaust pipe is at least 4" in diam. and the unit sits on a structural fuel tank that I estimate at 500 gallons. It wasn't there last summer when I went there to get some forms for my parents.

Anybody else notice new gensets outside federal offices?

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), June 16, 1999.


Yesterday @ 7:30/p while driving near a MAJOR intersection we saw an Army convoy. They pulled into a hotel parking lot just ahead of us, so naturally we stopped to ask questions. We asked about white-on-blue highway signs: they had no idea, hadn't seen them. We asked about Y2K: they haven't heard anything, expect maybe a Midnight curfew imposed if electricity stays off past 5 days.

They were a very nice, disciplined bunch of hard-working sorta-grimy guys, stopping for the night on the way to Seattle from California. They build stuff underwater and really like their jobs. We didn't feel we'd have to fear them going beserk in any kind of disaster situation. That was encouraging! But they were clueless about Y2K ...

xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx x

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), June 16, 1999.



A & L, It may also have been that they were instructed not to speak about y2k. Just a thought...

As to gensets at other sites... My friend, who works where I used to work, says that there is a big new genset being installed at the back of the office building. This building already has a generator built into the building. They run it for about thirty minutes every Thursday, and it kicks in on power-outages as regular as clockwork, 3 minutes after power is lost. The new one is in the parking lot. There are gas tanks in the ground already for one of the companies located in the building, and the building also houses DOT offices.

There are also two computer oriented companies in the building. A software manufacturer and a computer retailer and manufacturer.

There is also a bank branch there. The bank has the screens up separating the customers from the tellers, and these were not there last year when I worked in the building.

-- J (jart5@bellsouth.net), June 16, 1999.


Justme:

Several quick points: - I live in central Mississippi. During this time of the year, you will see throughout the southeast USA large National Guard convoys going to and from Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Nothing unusual. They will have their generators, fuel trucks, etc. - I'm a fifteen year member of a reserve unit(E-7). Nothing much has been said about Y2K except we're making sure that our PCs are ready. Most of the members know about Y2K with probably 25-30% getting prepared. - The members who work for AT&T and NCR have been told not to take any vacation during the Christmas/New Year holidays. - If Y2K is bad, the National Guard/Reserve units will be a blessing to our country and not someone to fear. Hope this helps.

The Chief.

-- (randy-the chief@aol.com), June 16, 1999.


The chief...I agree completely. We're talking about our friends, neighbors and relatives in the Guard AND active military! I personally have NO fear about them. I ONLY fear what the big boys are going to ask them to do! In any extreme cases....what will these peoples reaction be? What might this scenerio lead us into next? You can answer those questions for yourselves folks. I'm not very tickled with MY answers!

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), June 16, 1999.

"...I personally have NO fear about them. I ONLY fear what the big boys are going to ask them to do! In any extreme cases...."

Let's see... How about confiscating the food, fuel & supplies that those y2k doomers have been hoarding all this time?

How very UNFAIR it was for someone to prepare for disaster while his neighbor was busy installing a sunroom or buying a new motorcycle. We must even things out. Don't you think?

-- who's (afraid@of.what), June 16, 1999.


Who's, sorry, not sure what your point is. Do you think orders of confiscation *would* be followed? Elaborate please.

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), June 16, 1999.


Yes it's "traveling time" for the various Guard units. Pennsylvania units are about halfway through their first batch of summer camp trips.

About the "large number" of fuel tankers seen in one convoy. This is probably an "advance team" convoy. They're a local summer staple, coming in a day or two before the main convoy to set up a refueling point for the following vehicles.

Usually they set-up on a state-owned piece of property situated between two closely located Interstate exits. The main convoys (usually southern-based units) stop through on their way north to Ft Drum, NY. Two weeks later the process repeats as these units are re- deploying home.

ww

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), June 16, 1999.


The only convoy I've ever seen that I was pretty sure signified something big going down was while Congress was 'debating' whether we ought to do something about Iraq. We were driving down I-75 out of Atlanta. Near Macon we caught up to four semis from the Bates Casket Co. in Aurora, Indiana. From the way they handled it was clear they were fully loaded. Traffic was such that we couldn't get by them. They all turned east on I-16, which leads to Savannah. Savannah's a port city.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), June 17, 1999.

Wildweasel,

Thanks for the point about the fuel trucks in summer training convoys. I'm embarrassed to admit that I never wondered about how the units drove so far without tons of jerry cans full of fuel. It's funny that I never saw the tanker convoys before; guess it's just a matter of right time, right place. ;p

-- Arewyn (nordic@northnet.not), June 17, 1999.


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