When I say a convoy, I mean 3 full size semis and one humvee.
One of the semis actually had cargo in the covered back. But the other two had flatbeds with only one cooler on the back. One looked like a 50 quart cooler, the other looked like a 30 quart. These looked like the coolers you’d take camping.
Seeing as how those are small enough to keep in a vehicle, why would they be strapped down on the flatbed of a semi? What could possibly be in them that warranted a military convoy, and required them to be the only items on a flatbed of a semi?
Biological or chemical weapons? If so, you’d assume they wouldn’t be a in a cooler sitting out in the open.
Why would you need a flatbed semi to transport a 50 quart cooler? You can just put that in the humvee or in the cab of a semi. A subcompact car has ample room to carry a 50 quart cooler.
Like Voltaire said, maybe they were on their way to, or coming back from, transporting something. The cooler may be just the easiest way to store straps or other gear. If it’s their lunch, why would they want someone else to carry it?
Along with potentially being on the way to or coming back from carrying something, they might simply have been training without a load. They could have also been to or be on the way to a training site. Maybe they are simply moving equipment around. They are convoying because it’s the Army and whatever the reason it can be training to practice as realistically as possible.
You’re overthinking it to assume that the coolers are anything other than coolers for the vehicle crew.
They’re carrying something stored in dry ice. Dry ice produces carbon dioxide so it shouldn’t be carried in an enclosed cab. A big flatbed is what they had.
The other option is the coolers carried the beer and their commander made cinching them down properly a training exercise because they were being sloppy with other loads. And kept the beer out of the cabs. Smart moves if that was the plan.
Could be kidneys. Could be aliens. Most likely it was lunch.
Both in the national guard and on active duty when we went to the field we tried to bring some comfort items if possible. Quite a few coolers would go out and the cooks could usually get us ice. There might have been a grill in one of those trucks too. If I was in that unit there would be.
A few weeks ago I went to see Aluminum Overcast in northern NJ. Less than 30’ from the wingtip were two HMMWV’s with towed portable radars*. According to some friends from the local/host EAA chapter, they were there for opening week of the UN, where Obama was going to speak. Equipment was flatbeded up from SC by civilian truckers, who also brought some type of camper to stay in while they were there. Stuck on site for a few days with nowhere to go & nothing to do, I could see wanting a large cooler whether it held food or beer. After they returned the equipment, those trucks gotta go somewhere. If that was the only thing they had to take home why not strap it down in the back?
They had a portable fence around them with a sign taped to it, “No photography” Yup, it’s always good to put your top secret equipment in proximity to & in the camera view of tourist attractions. :smack:
I once used a large flatbed dolly to deliver a bunch of heavy boxes. On my return with the empty dolly, someone handed me an official letter to drop off at the mailroom.
If I’d put the letter in my pocket, it would have gotten creased. If I’d held it in my hands, it would have gotten bent or smudged while I manhandled the cart around corners. So I placed the lone envelope in the middle of the large weight-bearing bed of the dolly and went on my way.
In the elevator, people silently glanced at this setup.
“VERY important letter,” I confided.
So I agree the trucks might have been on the non-load-bearing leg of their trip.
My nephew drives trucks when he goes to do his National Guard duty. He says it is an attempt at humor. If they deliver sone big piece of equipment, they don’t always have a cargo returning the other way. So they strap something small and ridiculous on the trailer or truck, just for grins. A cooler is a popular choice, since it stands out, and can prompt humorous questions.
He said he has also made a return trip with a single bag of dog food strapped down on a trailer that had just offloaded a pair of HUNVEEs.
I sort of wondered if it was some sort of regulation kind of thing. Like maybe if something’s on the flatbed, it has to be strapped down according to some kind of specific regulations, and there wasn’t any room in the cab for the cooler, so they had to put it on the flatbed and strapped it down according to regulations, which are absurd overkill for something that’s cooler-sized.
I’m betting this is the answer. But I’ll also add that in some states, having alcohol in the cab with them could be illegal. In VA you can’t have an open container of alcohol, but a closed one looks pretty bad and will get you a lot of unpleasant questioning. Best to have it in the back where there is no appearance of impropriety.
