Some people have been asking if the unit is taking our Freightliners overseas with us again. The answer to that question is "no".We will be using vehicles that are already overseas and up-armored (had armor put on them). The vehicles are called HETs (Heavy Equipment Transport) and are designed to transport M1A1 Abrams tanks along with other heavy equipment. As you can see from the photo, HETs are considered over-sized loads here in the US. Part of the reason for this is with the mirrors fully extended the tractor is wider than a single lane of Interstate Highway. The trailer is as wide as the tractor with the mirrors out as well. The tractor alone weighs almost 39,000 pounds. I had some time this past Sunday to shoot some very quick (ie, no tripod) footage from inside the cab (sorry about the thumb, I mis-judged how far back the seat was). The video is nothing fancy, but does give a very basic look at the inside of the HET.
Now on to questions dealing with unit news. The DOD does not consider this blog a media outlet, so I am bound by OPSEC (Operational Security) regulations and unable to post anything unless it has already been released by the Public Affairs Office. At this time there has not been any information released concerning a 1133 send-off. As soon as the information is released I will post it on here for those interested.
As far as where/when the 1133 is deploying overseas, all I can say at this time is later this year and to the Middle East.
I know that isn't much help to most people, but I consider myself fortunate just to have the support of my Chain of Command for having this blog.
Within the next couple days I should be posting the complete interview with CSM Fails that KIMT's Jaime Copley conducted on 14September2008. At this time the complete raw footage is too large for uploading, so I am going through to find suitable length segments to divide it into and then post.
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