She Wanted a HMMWV

After I pushed the final button, I wasn’t completely sure what I had done. Maybe I could blame it on “chemobrain” from my health-related treatments. Regardless, I had just placed an online bid on surplus military vehicle. Though it took just a moment to hit “enter,” it was the beginning of a long journey.

EARLY URGES

In the fall of 1995, I realized my 1973 Ford pickup was on its last legs. We needed a different truck. About that time, my wife, Sundi, had become enamored of the newly-available-to-the-public civilian model of the military HMMWV, the Hummer. While on a quest for a new vehicle, she demanded we look at the “local” Hummer dealer — a mere 225 miles off. So being relatively newly wed, down the road we went to look and test drive. She loved it even more, but the window sticker was more than a little shock. We ended up with a new Ford F250.

Regardless, Sundi never wavered from longing for an AM General Hummer.

Fast forward to 2015. Our son, Gunnar, was home on USMC liberty from his stint as a wheeled vehicle mechanic with Combat Logistic Battalion 7 at 29 Palms in California. We took him down to the temporary GovPlanet storage yard near Portland, Ore., to view the 25 or so Army National Guard HMMWV’s coming up for auction. Gunnar crawled around on a dozen of the best-looking vehicles. After an hour, he said that we certainly wanted none of these.

Over the next want a HMMWV!”