NOT ALL MILITARY VEHICLES ARE OLIVE DRAB

We all love the Jeeps, M37s, deuce-and-a-half’s, and tanks — all of which are universally painted some shade of olive drab (OD). What a person might not realize is that all of these OD trucks and tracks are considered to be “tactical vehicles.” That means these vehicles were designed for rugged use on- and off-road in combat or tactical use. That is why they were painted in the drab green colors.

However, there was a whole other class of vehicles used to support the military in their day-to-day operations at installations and depots during the post-WWII Cold War era. These were referred to as “administrative vehicles.” Whereas tactical vehicles underwent long periods of development and testing before reaching production, administrative vehicles were commercial and “off-the-self.” They were usually very basic with no frills. The most commonly encountered were sedans, pick-up trucks, vans, stake- bed trucks, dump trucks, tractors, and even construction vehicles.

Usually, the only obvious indication of military use of one of these administrative vehicles was its paint job: Usually gray for Navy, blue for Air Force, forest green for Marines, or olive drab (usually glossy) for Army. And, even though it would have made sense to standardize the fleet with one particular make or model, Congress (under pressure from the automotive industry) required that the services purchase from all of the major suppliers in the interest of “fairness.”

So, on any given military installation, there would be large numbers of vehicles ranging from Chrysler, General Motors, Ford, American Motors, or International, as well as the large trucks from Mack, FWD, etc. Most were basic commercial vehicles. On some, there were some simple factory modifications or additions to better meet the mission requirements of the services. Some