Tom Berg, Senior Editor of Heavy Duty Trucking, features GovPlanet customer Bob Eggar in his recent article "Ex-Military Trucks Find Duties with Civilian Operators". Eggar describes how his M923 five-ton truck is essential for handling the muddy fields of The Pumpkin Patch, his 55 acre property in Oregon.
Need a stout go-anywhere truck for off-road work, and for not a lot of money? An ex-military 6x6 might be just the ticket. It is for Bob Eggar, who runs The Pumpkin Patch, a produce farm on an island in the Columbia River, near Portland, Oregon. Here, mud is an enemy.
That complicates the task of getting crops out of the fields, but a team of former U.S. Army vehicles can handle it. Two were purchased through the GovPlanet arm of IronPlanet, the worldwide auction service, for under $5,000 apiece. An older a 2-1/2-ton cargo truck – a Vietnam-era “deuce and a half” -- cost Eggar only $2,500.
