Cordesman so right, yet so wrong

[Charlie11]

As we used to say in the old 9th Infantry Division (Motorized), Rat Patrol was a neat TV show but a terrible idea for an MTOE. When you plan mobility by lift aircraft requirements rather than mission requirements you wind up with silly things that don't have doors - or survivability. I can only assume that Singapore has no potential threats that possess indirect fire... or pointy sticks for that matter.

I did not review the mobile commando platoon doc, but I do remember that certain units were really good at rolling their little Ranger/SF jeep things at Yakima. Of course we were leaving dune buggies strewn about the landscape ourselves (hence the locally-fabricated break-away M2/MK19 mount!).

Little things like this are relatively useless, except in extreme environments where light forces need small vehicles to carry supporting equipment in places a full size vehicle cannot fit. Even then they are dangerous. The HUMMV works as a mobility platform because it has enough lateral stability to go around a corner without tipping over and can traverse relatively difficult terrain. Of course this does not make it a good weapons platform or survivable... just better than a M151 for running errands.