Olive-Drab.com Blog

Video is coming on strong as the success of YouTube.com and others have shown.  The low cost and ease of use of digital video cameras, plus the YouTube, Google Images and other websites that make it very easy to post your short video have combined into an explosion of video. 

A new page has been added to Olive-Drab.com with some ideas about where to find video about military vehicles:

Military Vehicle Online Videos

Several sections of Olive-Drab.com that have to do with military trucks are in the process of being upgraded to increase the number of photos of specific trucks and to add more information about the history and specifications.

The main page for this section is:

U.S. Military 2 1/2 Ton & 5 Ton Trucks

The main page has a table of the families of trucks.  Each family has a number of individual trucks (cargo, dump, tanker etc.) that are listed and described on their own pages with photos.  Its all linked from the main page — the links will be filled in as the pages are completed.

The Military Vehicle Information section regarding Military Jeeps has been refreshed. More content has been added relating the story of the origin of the jeep in 1940 and 1941, with details on the contributions of American Bantam, Willys-Overland, and Ford Motor Co.

Additional photos have been added to these pages and to the Military Jeeps section of the MV Charts.

Stewart & Stevenson Tactical Vehicle Systems L.P., Sealy, TX, (division of Armor Holdings Inc.) was awarded two contracts worth $649 million on 30 November 2006, for the delivery of additional FMTV (Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles) trucks and trailers. These contracts are extensions of existing multi-year FMTV production contract with the U.S. Army.

Received by email attributed to:

LCDR Jeff  Giles, SC, USN
30th  Naval Construction Regiment OIC,
Logistics  Cell One
Al  Taqqadum, Iraq

Christmas Poem

The  embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed  round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife  was asleep, her head on my chest,
My  daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside  the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter  delight.
The  sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed  the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My  eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would  sleep.
In  perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I  slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound  wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I  opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps  just a cough, I didn’t quite know,
Then the  sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul  gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I  crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing  out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone  figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A  soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a  Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and  smiled,
Standing  watch over me, and my wife and my child.

“What are  you doing?” I asked without fear,
“Come in  this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down  your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You  should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”

For  barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from  the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the  window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he  sighed and he said “Its really all right,
I’m out  here by choice. I’m here every night.”

“It’s my  duty to stand at the front of the line,
That  separates you from the darkest of times.
No one  had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud  to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps  died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he  sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad  stood his watch in the jungles of ‘ Nam ‘,
And now  it is my turn and so, here I am.

I’ve not seen my own son in more than a  while,
But my  wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he  bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red,  white, and blue… an American flag.

I can  live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from  my family, my house and my home.
I can  stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can  sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can  carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay  down my life with my sister and brother,
Who stand  at the front against any and all,
To ensure  for all time that this flag will not fall.”

“So go  back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your  family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
“But  isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
“Give you  money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?

It seems  all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being  away from your wife and your son.”
Then his  eye welled a tear that held no regret,
“Just  tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight  for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand  your own watch, no matter how long.
For when  we come home, either standing or dead,
To know  you remember we fought and we bled.

Is  payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we  mattered to you as you mattered to us.”