Military Chevrolets

The CUCV was the Army’s answer to the cost of the M151 jeep and the coming Humvee: commercial Chevrolet K-series trucks and Blazers with the Detroit 6.2 diesel, a 24-volt system for radios, military lighting, a brush guard and CARC paint, bought in 1983–87 for stateside, support and reserve units. The M1009 Blazer was the command and utility vehicle, the M1008 the cargo truck, the M1010 a box-body ambulance and the M1028 carried communications shelters.

The Humvee replaced the CUCVs in front-line units but the Guard and Reserve ran them into the 2000s, and the second-generation CUCV II of 2000–05 used GMT400 and GMT800 Silverados; surplus M1008s and M1009s are common civilian trucks. Suburbans and Tahoes serve the Secret Service, the State Department and foreign governments as armoured vehicles.