Asshole flipped my goddamn truck today at work

http://www.wbng.com/news/local/53167152.html

8/13/2009 9:33:53 PM

how the hell did a reporter manage to do that

[Edited on August 13, 2009 at 9:35 PM. Reason : guess y'all forgot to put training wheels on it]

8/13/2009 9:35:24 PM

Basically, our VP is very proud of the vehicle, so he lets people drive it who have absolutely no business driving it (no training, no concept of the terrain, no idea of how the vehicle works)



[Edited on August 13, 2009 at 9:38 PM. Reason : video shows it happening]

8/13/2009 9:37:23 PM

HA HA

8/13/2009 9:38:51 PM

Government contract...DENIED!

If a mere reporter can flip it, just think what those crazy soldiers will do! They roll humvees like rolly pollies.

8/13/2009 9:41:06 PM

meh....
I think anyone ignorant of the vehicle's capabilities have equal potential to roll the thing
that combined with the decline/bank the truck was going down....

all lead to "NOT LETTING JIM BOB FROM THE TV STATION DRIVE THE TRUCK BECAUSE YOU WANT TO SHOW IT OFF

8/13/2009 9:44:09 PM

as the white haired dude in the video the dumbass VP?

8/13/2009 9:44:24 PM

PM will be sent shortly

8/13/2009 9:44:49 PM

um......fail?

8/13/2009 9:45:32 PM

um..........fail?

8/13/2009 9:45:54 PM

^ & ^^ irony

8/13/2009 9:46:40 PM

is "cable TV reporter" a code word for an asian woman? If so, you're boss should have known this would end badly.

8/13/2009 10:01:12 PM

on a lighter note, I was on the news today

pre-truck flip

8/13/2009 10:05:19 PM

yay broken threads

8/14/2009 12:38:17 AM

Sounds intentional. Terrain looks like like hard, dry, flat dirt.

8/14/2009 1:38:15 AM

8/14/2009 10:06:32 AM

it's not really your truck

8/14/2009 10:08:25 AM

That is terrible writing. whoever that journalist is should be let go

8/14/2009 10:08:34 AM

today we are all not really your truck

8/14/2009 10:10:35 AM

Quote :

""And I will tell you very hard to tip over...the comfort is unseen by anything," said Louis DeSantis ."

what does that even mean?

8/14/2009 10:10:39 AM

Quote :

""And I will tell you very hard to tip over...the comfort is unseen by anything," said Louis DeSantis ."

hahaha hard to flip eh?

8/14/2009 10:13:32 AM

great. TWC not only decided to fuck up tv and internet, but now they're going after the military. sons a' bitches.

8/14/2009 11:22:35 AM

^

8/14/2009 11:53:38 AM

Quote :

"A Time Warner Cable TV reporter"

LOLS.


Why don't I ever get send on any rad assignments that allow me to drive combat vehicles?

8/14/2009 11:58:52 AM

Quote :

"it's not really your truck "

are you really that desperate to troll TWW that you don't recognize a figure of speech? Funny how EVERYONE else got the meaning of that, except you, huh?

Quote :

" what does that even mean? "

Ever been in, drove, or rode a HMMWV?

8/14/2009 2:16:32 PM

pwnt

8/14/2009 2:21:50 PM

Unseen comfort is unseen... by anything.

Quote :

"He says, unfortunately, the demonstration and test drives did not go as they should have."

Really?

8/14/2009 2:32:42 PM

HMMWV was intentionally uncomfortable from what I hear, so soldiers would stop beating the shit out of them.

8/14/2009 2:39:01 PM

Quote :

"This has never happened before"

...baby, I promise!

8/14/2009 2:39:05 PM

Quote :

""And I will tell you very hard to tip over...the comfort is unseen by anything," "

8/14/2009 2:47:08 PM

Quote :

"are you really that desperate to troll TWW that you don't recognize a figure of speech? Funny how EVERYONE else got the meaning of that, except you, huh?"

are you really so desperate to assign value to your life that you feel the need to attach yourself to something you had almost no hand in developing?*

*i'll admit i'm wrong if you designed or built it

Quote :

"Ever been in, drove, or rode a HMMWV?"

nope...but i took an english class or two, and managed to grasp the fundamentals of passable grammar

8/14/2009 3:00:13 PM

Quote :

"HMMWV was intentionally uncomfortable from what I hear, so soldiers would stop beating the shit out of them."

The HMMWV was designed to be functional, not ergonomic (or by converse, deliberately non-ergonomic). Besides, if you think moderate discomfort will prevent Soldiers from destroying something, you really don't know much about Soldiers.

8/14/2009 3:29:19 PM

Quote :

"are you really so desperate to assign value to your life that you feel the need to attach yourself to something you had almost no hand in developing?* *i'll admit i'm wrong if you designed or built it"

Yes, please, be quiet. I know talking about things that you have very little knowledge of, as if you are some sort of subject matter expert, is a hobby of yours.....but, it's incredibly annoying. Seriously...eat a dick. That actually IS the main project that I support. I actually HAVE put in many many many man hours, sweat, and tears (basically since this project began) into the design, development, and (hopeful) production of this family of vehicles. I've worked just as hard as anyone else on that project to get things right, in dealing with our customer, and my customer counterparts specifically. Everything from sitting up late at night with the software guys working on usability, to working on weekends to mitigate safety concerns, to flying out of town on a red eye flight because my customer called an emergency meeting, to getting down and dirty organizing shows and prepping vehicles, to "fighting the good fight" by selecting hardware and layouts that make things that much easier for the user JUST so our troops have one less thing to worry about when they're getting shot at. I feel a great deal of ownership of that project, and the vehicles, etc...

Quote :

"nope...but i took an english class or two, and managed to grasp the fundamentals of passable grammar"

Yeah yeah yeah, again with the whole "I know everything about everything...even the shit I have no clue about"..... It's really getting in the way of your reasoning. I was asking a direct and honest question in response to you. The quote of our VP that you quoted up there basically had been chopped and screwed by the journalists present. Basically, this is the result of recording a speech onto paper....you lose A LOT of the meaning and the context of conversation. That quote "And I will tell you very hard to tip over...the comfort is unseen by anything," was a response to a conversation that happened earlier, and a comment on the accident that happen that day.

Obviously, the comment about tipping the truck over was directed towards the accident. The comment about comfort is related to the HMMWV. If you have ever been in one, you would know that it's not a very pleasurable experience. Very uncomfortable seats, almost no room to accommodate the crew's space claim, incredibly loud (noise is actually a safety hazard. you will go deaf eventually if you don't wear your ear plugs), the ride quality suffers dramatically due to the simplicity of the suspension and the chassis, trip hazards everywhere effecting ingress/egress, horrible rollover rate, the list goes on.
The need expressed for the JLTV comes from this mainly. The "comfort" is much better compared to the HMMWV, while the survivability and force protection is much higher (a lot of people want to see MRAP levels).

(MRAP)

8/14/2009 4:15:03 PM

I want to see how the Blackwater armored troop transport stacks up to this...the one developed for urban environment. Kinda want to see why it didn't get picked up by the government

8/14/2009 4:20:49 PM

JCASHFAN, in response to your video:

Man, you would not imagine how much damage the transparent armor takes from riding in sand and sandstorms. The armor gets so scratched that it's unusable for any functional purpose. I've seen so much glass come back (for replacement) scratched to hell, and spider cracked from ballistic impacts. One of the most heart warming things was reading a thank you note from troops saying how much they appreciated the thought put into their protection.

8/14/2009 4:49:49 PM

How vulnerable is that radiator?

8/14/2009 5:07:54 PM

to what, small to medium arms fire?
Anyone with a gun planning on shooting the radiator with any degree of accuracy would need to be in front(ish) of the vehicle. That's not a very good place to be, because there is usually a very big gun mounted on the turret (manned by a fully armored gunner) aimed directly at you. Not to mention, these vehicles rarely travel by themselves.
I wouldn't say it's that vulnerable. I would say that it's not particularly mission critical.

8/14/2009 5:44:33 PM

Was referring to running the vehicle and being ambushed, as seems to be pretty common now, where frontal assault with small arms would be expected. Then again, I'm not in the Army, so I have no clue how often they're in guerrilla ambushes.

Quote :

"I would say that it's not particularly mission critical."

Wow. Now there have to be some classified secrets in that vehicle.

8/14/2009 5:48:10 PM

I....don't build MRAPS

8/14/2009 5:50:33 PM

that dude was trying to drift your truck

also your vp looks like mccain and cheney mated

8/14/2009 5:53:29 PM

Quote :

"I....don't build MRAPS"

I know, but you seem to have a lot of knowledge about them, since you are building what seems to be a HMMWV replacement for hot engagements and you're wanting to build something that's more maneuverable and as strong as the MRAP. Just seems odd to have a vehicle that can lose the radiator through small arms fire and still keep trucking. If the JLTV is going to be ambush resistant, it would seem that nothing can be damaged by small arms fire that would cause a movement casualty. While the MRAP is a support vehicle, the JLTV project will be the spearhead of infantry assaults, and I can see it getting all kinds of shot up.

8/14/2009 6:02:18 PM

Haha, what a damn dumbass.

Yeah, probably wasn't the best idea to let untrained fools drive the thing. Still, that thing held up pretty well to that rollover accident. It's especially good if the people inside didn't get injured badly in the accident.

I hope that didn't cost you guys but so much, or that you have other prototypes ready to roll out and show off!

Also, since I have my clearance now, can you tell me all kinds of cool secret things about the vehicle via PM?

Yeah yeah, need to know. Still, a google image search tells me that the next wave of suburbanite super trucks is coming soon. Those trucks actually look fairly cool (lockheed's version). It looks sensible. Hope you guys win at least a partial contract.

8/14/2009 6:33:57 PM

^ Yeah, no one was hurt badly. I've put a lot of time and effort into the blast restraint system (IED's ain't no joke, haha). No pussy ass rollover is going to hurt anyone too badly, ahah.

As for $$....I'm happy to say that that isn't much of a concern to the company. I still think some heads are going to roll over this though. We also have other vehicles. This was one... Our maintenance team is amazing as well, so any damage will be fixed in a matter of days.

8/14/2009 7:25:28 PM

I've driven a bunch of different vehicles in military development. In short, they all ride like shit. You can make them handle surprisingly well for their size, but the setups costs $Asia

8/14/2009 9:20:53 PM

^ have you been in the MPC, or LAV C2 yet? Those are some sweet ass rides....
I've seen the MPC tackle some pretty impressive waves when it's gone amphibious too. Funniest thing EVER is when it gets out of the water, then just dumps water out of it's hull like it's shitting itself

8/14/2009 9:27:25 PM

your like the executive secretary correct?

8/14/2009 9:27:38 PM

^^No, I've been out of that industry for about a year now. I'd like to get back into it at some point. What do the funding budgets look like these days? Are there any suspension development SBIR's coming out soon?

I don't think I'm at liberty to say what I've worked on or seen in development at the test sites (at least not on a public message board).

8/14/2009 9:38:12 PM

man, all of the SBIR's that I know of are prospective acquisitions, and as you might imagine, I'm not at liberty to discuss.

As for the defense budgets, we all took a hit this year (2009), and I have seen a big clamp come down on independent research and development. Sucks....one of my personal projects had it's funding cut. The budget restrictions were a BIG BIG BIG part of defense secretary Gate's recommendation to cancel the presidential helo. program, as well as CSAR-X. It's rumored that they've learned from their mistakes, and 2010 will be a big year.

8/14/2009 9:44:52 PM

hmm...interesting. The next round of solicitations should be coming out soon. It seems like I know enough people in the right places that I should be able to make something happen. I suck at the whole networking/schmoozing thing though. Not that I advocate that sort of thing, but I know for a fact that some of the solicitations are mere formalities and are basically awarded before they are even written. I don't have that kind of pull, and wouldn't feel right about it if i did.

8/14/2009 9:53:57 PM

Usually come out around october I think...or around then when rumblings start about the upcoming year's budget.

But yeah, you're right. The heavy favorite for the awards is the incumbent, and then next is the next biggest schmoozer. Honestly, that kind of thing makes me sick to my stomach, and luckily I can avoid most of it being on the engineering side of things as opposed to the program management side.

but whatever....I suppose there's an evil side to everything.

[Edited on August 14, 2009 at 9:58 PM. Reason : we should talk some time. I might have some connex. if you're trying to get back in...]

8/14/2009 9:57:36 PM