Originally Posted by joegreen
That sucks looks like they require some tracked vehicle.
When I was in an EOD squadron clearing the Maplin Sands for London's Third, never completed Airport, we got a 4 tonner stuck in "quicksand"
(I doubt now it was true quicksand, probably just a dug-over area, but true quicksand was said to exist in the area.)
Anyway, we got a JCB (like a tractor with a bucket and back-hoe on it, British thing) to get it out and the JCB got stuck.
OK, we need a tracked vehicle. There were some old Centurion-based ARV's on site so we got one of them, and it...got stuck.
(HINT:MBT armour plate has its uses, but this maybe wasn't one of them.)
There were some newer Challenger-based ARV's nearby, and we were going to try one of them, but, perhaps fortunately from a loss-cutting POV, the tide came in.
Poor old taxpayer.
There were some track-laying trucks (big bobbin of metallic flexible trackway, like a metal corduroy roadway that the truck lays in front of it) but I can't remember if they were considered. I'd think something like that would maybe work in the lake situation, but with that many vehicles it'd take an impractical length of time.
Sequel was civilian contractors, who had huge balloon-tyred tractors, hover-platform mounted drill/crane rigs, and marine salvage gear, got the bogged vehicles out, though I dunno if they were worth anything afterwards.
Army wasn't very happy.