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I was wondering if any fellow reserve Marines have done the HMMWV Drivers Course. I found out the other day that I'll be doing it this weekend. To my understanding, I'm getting a condensed version of the course packed into 4 days. If any Marines out there that have done it could tell me what it was like, were any parts of the course tough, was it fun, etc. I'd greatly appreciate it...Semper Fi
I learned how to drive in the Marine Corps. I had no prior experience except just moving the car up or down the road for the parents.The course is pretty easy. You wont be allowed to stick your head out the window when driving forward and backward on a line with your tire on it the whole time.There is also a backing into a dock where you have to go through a course in reverse than back into the dock using only your mirrors. Everything else is pretty easy. The best is the 0-40mph then you almost lock the brakes back down to 0.
I guess I've been out to long. What does HMMWV stand for? I assume it's a military drivers course. I did my driving course at Lejeune in 77. We got to driive the tank trails to get used to driving off road. Funny story: We were following the instructor, I had prior trucking experience as a civilian, and I was a Cpl, so I was put in charge of teaching some privates driving a deuce and a half. We came up on a huge water hole in the middle of the trail. The instructor, in his jeep, lead the other trucks around the edge. I told the guy driving to disconnect the radiater fan and go straight through the middle. I told him to keep his speed so as not to get stuck. We hit the water hole at about 20 mph. It was about 5 feet deep in the middle. Water was coming through every hole in the floor, and a big wave splashed up onto the wind shield and over the cab. Lucky for the guys in the back, the truck was covered. Not lucky for the instructor who was driving in water almost to the top of the kick panels of the jeep.The truck set off a huge wave about 3 feet high that washed right through his jeep. Everyone in his jeep were soaked. He was not a happy camper. LOL The rest of us laughed our azzes off. True story.
High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee)Quote:
Originally Posted by mcvet57103
Here is a cool link to learn more about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMMWV
Know what a Humvee is, but never saw it like that before. Like I said I've been out to loooong.Quote:
Originally Posted by SgtArty
I acted as a "drivers ed" teacher for some reservists when I got out. Simply put, the course is somewhat of a joke if you know how to drive. You'll drive the thing around town for a while, take a test, and get the little piece of paper. If you are close to a training area you may take it off road some. We were in a city nowhere close to a field training area, so we skipped that part.
In all honesty, it is more of a check the box type of activity if you have any clue how to drive. That said, I remember getting my license in 29 Palms, and just the thought of driving one was cool. If that is your attitude you'll have a good time.
If you are used to driving around in an economy car it will be like going from driving a Geo metro to driving a charter bus. It is more of a familiarization course.
I drove my first humvee in Iraq on a patrol. Hows that for OJT?
Well gents, I just got back from the course. Ended up being some really good stuff. If any of you are familiar with Michigan, we convoyed from Selfridge Air National Guard base near Detroit up to Camp Grayling. We hit some good trails on Saturday. My vehicle ended up in the lead taking on trails with snow waist deep. Some pretty good training and it was a blast
Quote:
Originally Posted by hawks
Hell yeah I rocked the wheels off those things two tours and never got anywhere near a license... License? We don't need no stinkin' license. A lot of times we kicked all the boots off the wheel just to break up the monotony. E4B hit it on the head... check in the box.
I used to be and instructor for the course when I was in....like the others said, if you already know how to drive anything you are good. Just pre-op checks, then you will probably drive in circles until the required number of miles for a license is achieved. No big deal :)
I did a two week course inthe fleet. The first week was classroom information and the second week was the driving portion. The driving test is very similar to the civilian drivers test, its pretty easy. Just drive like a nerd and you will be fine.
I was the licensed driver for the HMMWV course in Iraq, that course was pretty compact, but they had an off-roading portion that was new to me. The off-roading was fun, although we got ourselves in some trouble.... good times.
Well, good luck.
im active duty and did the course its differnt now this post is pretty old its a long long llllloooooooonnngggg bunch of online classes u do 250 slides per class complete death by powerpoint followed by online tests then after that the driving potrion. the only hard part was the night drive cuz we hit some crazy hills tht had some spooky curves. next is the 7 ton course