"These guys are soldiers first. Driving is just part of what they do." That's how a staff officer sums up the jobs of drivers assigned to U.S. Army transportation units at Fort Campbell, Ky. Soldiers sometimes spend two or three hours of every work day in physical fitness exercises, training in basic infantry skills, and coping with various nuclear/chemical/biological threats.
Then they can get on with military driving. What do you do if your convoy is attacked from the air, or ambushed on the ground, or starts taking rounds from a sniper? These troops are trained to react to such nastiness.
Campbell is home to the 101st Airborne Division, famous since the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, and the 5th Special Forces Group, which first saw battle in the early stages of the Vietnam War. Since Sept. 11, both have sent hundreds of troops to Afghanistan. The 101st is now an Air Assault outfit, and whether you jump out of an airplane or rappel out of a helicopter, you gotta be gung-ho.
This is true, too, for support troops, like drivers, mechanics, cooks, clerks and a vast assembly of other young men and women who back up combat types. At Campbell, most support troops are Air Assault qualified; many have been to Airborne or Ranger school. Graduates wear identifying badges on their camouflage-pattern battle-dress uniforms (they're not "fatigues" now) with pride.
Women also wear those badges and can go about as far as their abilities, ambition and attitude will take them. In most non-combat jobs there are a lot of women; 20% of the 111 qualified drivers in the 594th TC are female, according to the unit's commander, Capt. Christine Pacheco, 32, from Puerto Rico. (In civilian trucking, the last figure I recall seeing for female drivers was 11%, and many of those are CDL-holding wives of truckers.)
Most GI drivers seem to like truckin' in camouflage, at least judging by the smiles I saw at the 594th Transportation Co., one of the units that supports the 101st and 5th SF. Anyway, the draft is long gone and these guys and gals are all volunteers, so good or bad, they asked for it.
Most join the Army to learn how to drive a semi, and age 18 is typical for troops newly assigned to the 594th, said Pacheco. It operates 62 Freightliner linehaul tractors, which usually pull 40-foot flatbed trailers.
Some might think an 18-year-old is too young to drive an 18-wheeler (make that 22-wheeler, as the flats are on three axles). But they've come from basic combat training, which is a somewhat maturing experience, and advanced training, where they learn the basics of driving and caring for equipment.
At the 594th, Sgt. 1st Class Timothy Krider, 35, of Tyrone, Pa., the training supervisor, puts them through an additional week of instruction on accident avoidance, driving skills and hazardous materials handling. Then they spend a minimum of 500 miles with a driver-instructor. Daily operating mileage is low, so this can mean a month or more of close monitoring by an experienced driver.
There's also considerable care exercised at places where annoying and expensive fender-benders can occur – right in the company area. As I left for a ride with one of the senior drivers, another unit member walked him through the lot and out to the gate, constantly checking clearances. The Army calls it a "medium truck," by the way.
The driver was Sgt. Rodrick Schmidt, 27, from Halstead, Minn., who has driven stateside and overseas during his eight years in the Army. He's assigned to an M914A4, one of the unit's 62 Freightliners. From talking to civilian truckers, including his father-in-law, a retired Marine, Schmidt has decided he has a pretty good deal and intends to stay Army for life, or "as long as they'll have me."
"This is about as easy a job as you could find," he explained. "All you have to do is show up on time and be where they want you to be." Average annual mileage for a driver is only about 10,000, he said. He's been a squad leader in other outfits, in charge of several other drivers, and anticipates getting that responsibility again when a slot opens here.
What he'd most want to do is work at Campbell's Air Assault School. Students learn how to deal with aircraft – get in and out fast, rappel down ropes and climb back up, and load and unload gear, among other things. To do this they must be in top physical condition. He wears the Air Assault and Airborne badges like many troops here and is qualified as an instructor, so he has hopes it'll happen.
Meanwhile, he likes wheeling his Freightliner around the post and across the country. The 594th moves supplies and equipment to Campbell's airfield, where Air Force transports load up for flights to Asia and elsewhere, and does other local hauling missions. It has sent convoys as far as the East Coast and the southern Plains, carrying supplies for overseas deployments and massive training exercises.
On the open road, convoys move at up to 62 mph – as fast as the A4s can go – which grates on Schmidt and his comrades.
"We understand that you might have to do that for young drivers," said Specialist 4 Anthony Ross, 30, from Beckly, W. Va. "But we really hear about it from the truckers," who are sometimes angered by the slow-moving military rigs.
He, Schmidt and Spec. 4 Darren Estes, 28, of Limington, Maine, agree the Allisons should be reprogrammed to operate in 5th and 6th gears, which are now locked out.
Top Army brass want to limit road speed, but can't do it with the old mechanically controlled Cummins engines installed in the glider-kitted A4 tractors. Limiting geared road speed is the only effective way, at least in the minds of the brass.
In the all-new A3s, the electronically controlled Detroits are set to cut back to 1,900 rpm in 5th and 6th gears. This allows cruising at 65 mph or better at relatively low revs, which saves fuel. The 594th TC at Campbell has three of the A3s, but the other 59 are the slower A4s.
Schmidt, Ross and Estes prefer the old "slap-shift" Caterpillar semi-automatic transmissions in their old M915s. With 16 gears, drivers could get more performance from the engines. They said the Allisons, with only four gears and a power-absorbing torque converter, cause the rigs to bog down on upgrades.
They generally like the Eaton Vorad collision avoidance radar because it helps them "see" better in fog and such. But the beeping warnings from already observed cars, guardrails and whatever else comes alongside gets annoying, they said.
Otherwise, the troops praised their tractors' quietness and comfort. And "this is the first Army truck I've ever driven that's air conditioned," said Schmidt of his A4. Its engine is gutsy and runs well, is leak-free and sports a shiny coat of regulation Cummins black paint. "I thought it was a brand-new truck," he said when told that the A4 is a glider kit with a recycled engine and bogie.
Some of the A4s came to Campbell with as-is Cummins engines. These dyno'd out as healthy, but their old gaskets failed regularly, so oil and antifreeze leaked freely from the engines of trucks which otherwise looked new. Maintenance people had to deadline many of the tractors to replace the seals. Army brass anticipated this, but felt the tradeoff was worth it because the glider kit program saved considerable money and got modern equipment to the troops quickly.
A4 axle hubs are upgraded with up-to-date grease seals and now run on 22.5-inch wheels and radial tires, instead of the old 20-inch split-rim wheels and bias-ply rubber.
The Hendrickson HN suspensions were refurbished where needed, and ride a lot smoother than I expected. There was little bounce as we tooled around post streets, pulling an empty steel platform trailer. "It rides pretty much the same when it's loaded," Schmidt said.
Civilian truckers GIs chat with over the CB and meet at truck stops and rest areas are curious about the camouflage-painted Freightliners, Schmidt said. "They'll come over and ask if they can look inside, and they're surprised that they're so much like the trucks they drive."
Why the Army Buys Road Tractors
Fighting troops win battles, but any general will tell you that efficient logistics--getting supplies to the troops over long distances--is what wins wars. Food, fuel, ammunition, clothing --anything the combat troops eat, drink, wear and shoot --has to be at hand when they need them. Motor transport is a big part of how that happens.
Many military trucks are "tactical" in design, meaning they must be capable of traveling close to the fighting, over long stretches of rough terrain. Examples are the big Oshkosh 8x8s now found throughout the active Army and reserve units, and Stewart & Stevenson 2.5-ton 4x4 and 5-ton 6x6 trucks, all of a Euro-looking cabover design. These operate OK on highway pavement at moderate speeds, but are not at home there.
Thus the existence of vehicles like the Freightliner M915A3 "linehaul" tractors featured in "Rig Review." These, and an A4 glider kit version, are replacing some of the original M915 tractors acquired 20 to 25 years ago. The builder, AM General, used commercial-style powertrains in an odd conventional-cab chassis designed by Crane Carrier Corp. Some of the original 3,500 units are still at work, primarily in Reserve and National Guard units, although they are getting new trucks, too.
Powertrains from those being retired are installed in the Freightliner A4 glider kits. These include Cummins NTC-400 diesels, either the old Big Cam I or some rebuilt to Big Cam III specs. Also reused are the original bogies, consisting of Rockwell axles and Hendrickson walking beam suspensions.
Not reused are the M915's Caterpillar semiautomatic transmissions (few of which ever went into commercial trucks). Instead, the kits get new Allison HD-series automatics, programmed to use only the first four gears so the trucks are mechanically governed at about 62 mph. Policy makers feel this is safer then letting the transmissions go into 5th and 6th gears, making the trucks theoretically capable of 70 mph or more.
In the all-new A3s, the HDs' electronic controls can work with those on the modern Detroit Diesels. So the engines are governed at 1,900 rpm in higher gears. This allows a 65-mph or better cruising speed at lower fuel-saving rpms – a gear-fast, run-slow strategy not possible with the old mechanical Cummins engines.
Freightliner won its first Army contract in 1989, when it built 890 M915A2 tractors. These are also FLD120s, except that the Allison automatics are old-series HTs and the Detroit Series 60s are rated at 400 hp, 30 fewer than now.
The current contract, worth $400 million, is for 2,400 of all types of the latter-day M915 "family," which consists of the various truck and tractor configurations, and one or two other variants. Included in the contract are manuals, training and other support activities.
All the latest Freightliners have Meritor Wabco anti-lock braking systems. The road tractors also have Eaton Vorad collision avoidance systems. None of the Detroits will get exhaust gas recirculation equipment that'll go on commercial engines starting in October, because the Army will be exempt from the stiffer emissions regulations. More on that in our article "What the New Diesels Will Bring."
