War Winners

      Now, I have already talked about the jeep and the impact that it had in the world.  However, there are some other vehicles out there that had just as large of an impact on the world as the jeep.

      The Hummer is one of the most easily recognized fighting vehicles in the world.  It's versatility allows for many different applications to the same platform.  There have been many different civilian variants produced as well, thus increasing the product's mane even more.  The Hummer has seen many active duty deployments around the world with the most recognized being the Middle Eastern operations and impact it had.  It's speed gave it the capability to move swiftly over constantly changing terrain like the desert.  The hummer was a key reason as to why operation desert storm's ground assault only lasted 100 hours.  The hummer had some drawbacks at first however.  The first was it's horrible fuel economy.  Depending on the conditions you could expect to get 4 mpg in city conditions and up to 12 on the highway.  This inefficiency is part of the reason why the U.S. Military is the largest buyer and consumer of oil in the world.  Another major weakness that has since been addressed is the vulnerability of these cars to IED's or improvised explosive devices, and RPG or rocket propelled grenade.  It's inability to shed off enemy blasts is part of the reason that early casualty counts in the War on Terror were so high.  There has since been armor plating added to nearly every external surface of the vehicle.

      The next war winning vehicle is a little more unorthodox to the focus of this blog, but still important.  The M1 Sherman tank was the tank of choice to spearhead the attacks into Normandy Beach on D-Day.  The combination of a medium sized tank paired with speed and enough armament to hold it's own allowed for the U.S. to combat the Germany Blitzkrieg tactics.  The Sherman was used in many theaters both in World War II and after as well.  Ranging from North Africa and Europe, to Korea and Vietnam, the Sherman was a constant sign of American strength and versatility.

      These two other war winners may not clinch the top spot that the Jeep currently holds, but they definitely contend for the title and provide a good show as to why these wars were won.