Quote:
Originally posted by rob love
Sapper:
My slagging of the Iltis comes after 20 years of maintaining them. Many of the repetitive problems we had to fix on them were unknown to the operators, who didn't seem to show up to work until 10:30, took an hour and a half lunch, and rarely stuck around until 3:30 in the afternoon. When your greatest concern of the day is "what time can we go home?" , I guess mechanical problems come a distant last place in the scheme of things. My apologies if the above doesn't apply to you, or your unit, but it seemed to apply to most of the 1st line combat arms units I worked with, and certainly any militia.
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Rob, don't hold back.
Seriously, as in the preface to my remarks, I had only limited experience with the Iltis and no experience with maintenance of one, which I'm sure was a nightmare. Operationally, in my experience, it was a good vehicle. My experience with the 5/4 ton was owning one privately. Other than it being a tremendous gas hog, it was a functional vehicle. My experiences with the LSVW were all military and I found it to be satisfactory for it's task, if somewhat underpowered.
Unfortunately in Canada, too many of our Defence purchases are based upon political and cost/benefit pressures than actually buying what is best for our troops and our small budget means keeping kit around long after it's expected lifespan, hence driving EME types insane!
CHIMO!
