Armoured truckers: Taking care of business

Video description

Task Force Afghanistan
Operation ATHENA Rotation 6
Armoured Heavy Support Vehicle System (AHSVS)
Kandahar Airfield

Master Corporal Mike McCullough, AHSVS Fleet Supervisor, Kandahar Airfield: The Armoured Heavy Support Vehicle System came into theatre approximately a year ago and it helps us conduct our replenishment of the troops out in the field. Some of the key features to the AHSVS are its armoured cab that affords protection to the crew; also, it has a driver visual aid for seeing at night, basically night vision; it handles very well, it reacts well. It can be operated in either automatic mode or manual mode, depending on the type of terrain you are on, so off-road or cross-country. With the eight-wheel drive it handles really well.

The different types of variants of AHSVS are palletized loading system or flat-rack system. It has a container-handling unit behind the cab which enables it to pick up a sea can. It’s more efficient than the older system in terms of time and manpower; it can be done by a single — just the driver can do it on his own, it can be done in about 14 minutes, opposed to about 30 with the old system. Also there’s a tractor-trailer variant, or the “Doll” as we call it, the Doll trailer; it has 28 road wheels. This trailer’s unique in that the trailer axles turn as the driver turns the steering wheel so, basically, the rear axle of the trailer turns. This enhances the driver’s capability to operate in close quarters or in tight turning radiuses. It hauls heavy call-signs such as tanks and light armoured vehicles, Bisons and things of that nature.

The training of personnel on the AHSVS, as with any military course, it was pretty much a five-day crash course. “Here’s your vehicle, know it, learn it.” But putting it into use in theatre was the true test; the guys just got to know the vehicle as they operated it. The more they used it and talked amongst themselves and their peers is basically how they came to know the vehicle and its capabilities.

Well, believe it or not, you would think that the guys would enjoy the relative safety of being in Kandahar Airfield, but our guys actually like going out on the road, into Kandahar City proper, going out to the forward operating bases, in these vehicles because of the safety that it affords them, and they’ve got no problem volunteering to go outside the wire in these trucks.

Public Affairs Officer:

Captain Adam Thomson

Camera:

Sergeant Kevin MacAulay

Editor:

Sergeant Kevin MacAulay