I rolled around for about a week in a Hilux with 10th special forces group while I was deployed to Iraq (2003-2004).
They had a number of Hilux, Tacoma, and Frontier pickups they had acquired and lightly modified to keep a lower profile than zipping around in HMMWV’s.
They were fun, but suck if you have to get in and out in full battle rattle (armor, ammo, helmet, weapons, etc...).
Toyota’s have been the workhorse vehicles for both the “good” and “bad” guys for decades.
What branch/unit were you in?
Good ****, I was 11C.
Mortar guys saved our bacon more than once. Thanks for your service.
Same to you.
Honestly, we only ran indirect fire for the first two months of the war, spent the rest of the time either kicking in doors or running recon missions with our Cav scouts. There was “concern” that our 120mm mortars could cause too much collateral, so it took a 2 Star to authorize our fire missions later on. At that point, we just parked our gear and kept doing normal grunt stuff.
Lol...yup....damn Hajis..remember the damn ****en taxis...white car with the rear and front fenders painted red they told us it was a vehicle born IED when we saw one we let the **** up...oh well...
Hahaha. They told us the same thing pre-invasion. They also told us that the Iraqi Army was wearing civilian clothes (which was true) but that the enemy was dressed in: blue, white, or black man dresses. That’s pretty well everyone.
Again... oh well. Lol.
Military Intelligence is an oxymoron.
I thought the stuff I saw over there was insane, but after 11 years with the DoD as a civilian I’ve seen and heard **** that would blow your mind