First upload of 2026; before I dig into vehicle history, I'm just going to put this out here right now: I'm just going to upload whenever I feel like it. If I'm not feeling like uploading anything, I'll probably be looking back into my gallery to see if I can do any cleaning up (some of my older stuff is probably going to get deleted, not sure which ones though).

Okay, time to talk about the box on tracks. Anyone who's been in the military (Marines or Army, doesn't matter), or anyone who's into armored vehicle lore, is probably familiar with the M113. Developed at the start of the 1960s to replace the M59, the M113 has seen a lot of combat since it's baptism by fire in Vietnam. It's seen action in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Balkans, and most recently in Ukraine, and has a service record almost as lengthy and impressive as the Sherman. It's been adapted into a broad range of other special-purpose vehicles, from AA Defense platforms to Logistical support vehicles (my catch-all way of saying "anything that isn't combat-oriented but is still needed by the military"), and everything in between. Half of the world, allies and enemies alike, have probably used this thing at some point between the late half of the 20th century and the current quarter of the 21st. It is, for all intents and purposes, ubiquitous.

But at the start of its service, the M113 was just a humble battle-taxi; prior to the introduction of the BMP and BMD infantry fighting vehicles, APCs had largely been used for getting troops into battle more quickly, and nope the hell out of dodge. Thing is though, I don't know if this doctrine ever really existed in the first place, as even as far back as WWII, a lot of APCs were used as direct fire support. It's possible the battle taxi doctrine may have been specifically something that was briefly practiced between the end of WWII and the development of IFVs, but in practice (i.e. on the battlefield) the M113 was oftentimes still used in direct support of the troops it carried. Furthermore, with the M114 being taken out of service after a VERY brief period of use and abysmal performance, the M113 (and the Sheridan) would take up the role of reconnaissance. Various weapons ranging from machine guns to recoilless rifles/guns would be mounted to these things, all aiming to augment the combat capability of the vehicle and to give American/South Vietnamese/Australian troops a massive firepower advantage over their VC/NVA opposition.

In the modern day, the M113 still sees service, and still sees combat, but it has undoubtedly began showing its age; as far as I know, most if not all M113s still in service have had to be upgraded extensively to remain relevant in the modern day. These upgrades and retrofits are not exactly cheap, and while spares and replacement parts are still in production despite the vehicle itself no longer being in production, most countries have begun replacing these retrofitted APCs with more modern options (at least in the way of combat vehicles). Even in the United States, the M113 is currently being replaced by the newer AMPV (Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle), which is itself derived from the more heavily-armored M2 Bradley IFV.

...And for those wondering...no, the M113 is not officially recognized as the "Gavin". Only Mike Sparks and his ilk call it that. If you know, you know.