Heard a rumor the other day that the gov. has adopted a new "jeep" thus are getting rid of the existing hummers in inventory to the tune of $7500.00 each. Anyone know anything about this + if true where do we buy? I know it sounds too good to be true but knowing our government's distain of monetary values,it just might be true.

The days of a "jeep" are over. Every military vehicle is up-armored to the teeth. MRAPs and that sort of thing. They also use a lot of upgraded Polaris UTVs.

Each MRAP is about a million bucks a copy, plus or minus $400,000 depending on how upgraded it is.

The SEALS, Navy EOD and Seabees here on this base use regular Chev, Ford, Dodge crew cab four wheel drives for anything non-tactical and something in the MRAP genre for anything tactical.

The military ones on the street today are the result of a early 2000's -mid 1990's Marine Corps financial shortage, where the USMC sold off 10,000 of them.

Military spending works like this:

1. Sgt to Supply officer, "we really need a fast attack off roader, that will carry 6 people".

2. Supply officer to supply commanders "we really need a fast attack vehicle, that is uparmored and has a coffee maker".

3. Supply commanders to whoever negotiates the contracts at the Pentagon or MacDill; "Sir, can you get us a fast attack troop carrier, that will carry 30 people, a coffee maker and a has a massage chair?".

4. Contracting officers to; Boeing, AM General and whoever else: "Can you come up with a retirement job for me, and we need a new vehicle, something about a coffee maker".

5. Senate to Boeing: "can you make this new vehicles coffee maker, that will brew 10 cups?, and cost less than $10,000,000 per vehicle, and I noticed that I only had $20,000,000 in my retirement fund)".

Back to the troops: Commander to Sgt "since we need a fast off-roady, let's take 20 of those little toyota trucks, and put weld some steel on the outside. So that is what we had in Afghanistan.

Because the MRAP and striker are meant for someplace else.

Norman - You can buy them from anywhere from $9K to $25 K today through online auctions.

But remember you are purchasing sight unseen and they are ragged to the extreme. They will need full engine, trany and suspension overhaul. So add another $6K to $8K to the purchase price. Or you could put another $12K in and really upgrade them to most any spec.

The M998's are pretty bullet proof and parts are still and will be readily available.