Vehicular Mishaps & Other Funny Stories

[kato13]

Ed the Coastie 05-08-2004, 11:39 PM My brother in Iraq related an amusing story to me the other day. Apparently, some Air Force guy managed to accomplish the nearly impossible stunt of rolling a HMMWV on a level surface. Of course, the Airedale was in the process of executing a sharp turn at a high rate of speed at the time...but I was still surprised that the thing actually rolled over.


That brought to mind some over vehicular-related mishaps that I have heard over the years, such as my buddy Chuck once backing an M113 over a cow, or Arnold Shwartzenneger (in his Austrian Army days) allegedly backing a tank into a garage.


Another, game-related, story came from my Twilight Y2K game. Some pirates were attempting to make off with an old British Navy corvette and my wife's character was trying to discourage them by bombarding them with a mortar. After several combat rounds, Julie looked at me and innocently asked why the pirates were so insistant on making off with a sports car. It was only then that I realized that the only "Corvette" of which she was aware WASN'T a small warship...


In "Badlands Showdown", the PCs had managed to salvage an armed hovercraft in Dickinson (I don't recall my justification for placing it there, but it made sense at the time) and were using it to make a high-speed run along old I-94 to the ruins of Bismarck in hopes of finding some much-needed medical equipment. As they approached the Missouri River, they discovered that the three bridges between Mandan and Bismarck had all collapsed. Too late, the rest of the PCs discovered that the PC driving the hovercraft didn't realise that Ground-Effect flight will not allow you to jump over a missing bridge...


Does anyone else have an amusing, vehicle-related anecdote?

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pmulcahy 05-09-2004, 12:14 AM Real Life: When I was in the National Guard, we were doing some maneuvers at Camp Bullis. The government frequently allows farmers to to let their animals graze on military installations and...well, 1st Platoon burst out of the treeline at full speed, and 3rd Squad's M-113 ran smack into a cow. There was a nice blood splat on the front, and the cow ended up getting run over. It was horrible, and yet we couldn't stop laughing...


I was driving an M-577 once in Korea. We came down a hill through a town, and I had just enough time to make a choice: hit a kid, his dog, hit a car, hit a rice rocket, or drive into a building. I chose the rice rocket, plowing into into junk.


T2K: The thing that comes to mind was the close-range tank duel (gamed out using miniatures). It's not really a vehicle accident, but two tanks gunning it out and eventually destroying each other while their cannons were overlapping is a bit weird...

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Matt Wiser 05-10-2004, 01:51 AM The one that strikes me isn't really a mishap: back in '95 some ex-ARNG fella broke into an armory in San Diego and stole an M-60A3 and took it for a spin on city streets and the 163 freeway. He got stopped when he was hung up on a K-Rail and the CHP managed to pry open the driver's hatch and give him some 9mm... IIRC the CHP and SDPD was asking the Marine Corps Recruit Depot if they had any anti-tank weapons to shoot the treads and stop the tank. I had a friend from high school going to UCSD at the time and he said it was really hairy for a couple of hours.

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evilmike 05-11-2004, 02:26 AM Well, Once Upon A Time In San Diego, I may...MAY have.....been partially somewhat sorta responsible for sinking a Commando V-150 during a simulated beach assault...........


Luckily, no-one was hurt, and it didn't negatively impact my paycheck, altho at the time it looked as if I was going to stay a lance corporal for the next 20 years.......


I think what saved me was that the CO was laughing so hard, he couldn't chew me out with a straight face.....


XO managed it just fine, tho......

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Ed the Coastie 05-12-2004, 12:41 AM *chuckling* Actually, I think I heard about that one through the grapevine. Glad to know that there is a celebrity in our midst...



My own personal experience wasn't anywhere near as dramatic, but was kind of funny in it's own way. Close to 20 years ago now, my ship was making port in Gitmo and my buddy and I were the heaving-line backups for the line-throwing gun. Neither of us had done anything like this since Boot Camp (a couple of months previous), and so the leading seaman told us to "just aim for that white car on the pier..."


Well, the line-throwing gun misfired and so my buddy and I both shouted "Heads Up!" and heaved our monkey fists at the white car. Much to the horror of the leading seaman, as well as the rest of the deck crew, my buddy's Fist struck the hood of the car, leaving a nice dent. Mine, on the other hand, sailed through and broke the rear window on the driver's side, squashing the hat of the Coast Guard admiral seated inside and showering him in broken glass.


Fortunately, the admiral was more amused than angry, especially when he heard that we had been told to aim for his car. Still, my buddy and I got below decks FAST and stayed out of sight for the remainder of the day, just in case.


Incidentally, the admiral went on a couple of years later to become Commandant of the Coast Guard.

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evilmike 05-13-2004, 05:42 AM ROFLMAO.


It's not every day you get to shoot at admirals..

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