A truly 'purpose-built' Tacoma

[yonah]

3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) released a photo set on Facebook today. The photos are from the unit's previous senior enlisted advisor. In the post, there are a few shots of an Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) posing with their first generation Toyota Tacoma double cab in the mountains of Khost Province, Afghanistan. I guess you could say this rig was modified to tackle 'overland travel' in one of the most austere locations on earth. Among other things, the rig is outfitted with a machine gun pintle and bed-mounted jerry can holders, as well as a bed extender on the tailgate. The truck overall seems to be fairly stock, but I'm sure some long range HF radio equipment and sat comms are inside the cab. Anyway, as a Tacoma owner, I thought this was pretty cool and worth passing on. Cheers,
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www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.716655065105722.1073741836.577995562305007&type=3
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[Martinjmpr]

AFAIK they stopped using Tacos very early in the war. When I was in Afghanistan in 2003 they were still using them but eventually I believe they were all replaced by Hiluxes because the Hilux didn't fall apart on the rough roads and being a world-market vehicle it was easy to find parts for.
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I think I've posted this before but this is a Tacoma that was being used by members of the 20th SFG in early 2003. Photo was taken at Camp Vance which is/was the CJSOTF-A compound adjacent to Bagram (CJSOTF-A: Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force - Afghanistan.) I was assigned to CJSOTF-A from Jan to April of '03.
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Modifications included a pintle hitch to pull a military trailer, a mount for an M249 5.56mm machine gun, IR spotlights, removal of taillights (so braking would not give them away at night...)
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...and a James Brown doll wired to the brush guard. Connected to a wired remote so that when they would roll into a village the driver could push the button and the doll would dance and sing "I FEEL GOOD!"
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Unfortunately about 3 weeks after I took this picture, this truck rolled over a mine near Asadabad (A-Bad) and was destroyed. The SF soldier in the right side passenger seat lost his leg from the knee down but nobody was killed.
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Here's another Tacoma being used by the ODA at Bamian, which is where the giant Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. If you look in the background you can see where the statues once sat as the side of the rock was carved out for them.
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...And since I'm on a roll, one more Taco action shot, this is at a base camp in the Khamard Valley North of Bamian, February of '03.
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[EscapeDivision]

Too cool.

I was only there from '09 to '10. We played QRF and clean-up-bitches for some 20th group dudes for a few weeks in Khost and Paktia. They used a couple Hiluxes (as mentioned) and a couple world market Rangers.. But there was still one first gen double cab Tacoma in red, just like the one posted.

I envied them at first, but after getting blown up a couple times (once in a hmmwv and once in Maxx Pro), I rethought my position. I got my bell rung pretty good in the Maxx Pro, and it was burning and scarily destroyed when I woke up a few seconds later (double stacked AT mine). I don't wanna think about the condition a thin-skinned truck would've been in after that one.

Edit: Cool pictures! Thanks!