What I saw driving on the way to classes

First off, I'm a college student who attends Stony Brook university and a commuter for now. I usually drive in the HOV lane to avoid traffic in my Prius, and every drive is the usually 30-35 min to campus. Today was quite different...

Anyways, within five minutes of driving on the L.I.E, I spotted three U.S. army AM General M1113 HMMWV Humvees driving opposite of me going west on I-495. There were approximately 3-4 soldiers in each of them; one on each gun turret, two visibly in the front, and could barely see the back windows to interpret any other occupants.

I immediately got a bad feeling in my stomach, as if something ominous is brewing on the horizon. A few minutes later, I got off at a nearby exit and made my way back home to calm down and get a grip. I've been a resident of Long Island for 20 years and never seen any military activity on land to this extent, excluding the occasional unarmed soldiers or fighter jets in the distance. This happened around 2:30 pm EST and really caught me by surprise.

perhaps a military prisoner transfer from one prison to another but generally i wouldnt worry about 3 vehicles as if it was important they'd be flown around by helicopter/jet

I know on the way to Pennsylvania, I passed, some type of radioactive material, let's just say it looked like a huge missile on the truck. Should of taken of picture of it. Probably just normal. Ssh, their supposedly doing drills. Uh-huh, sure.

reply to post by Maxatoria


Yeah the only military base I can think of going west is Mitchel Air Force Base, so I'm not exactly sure where the army humvees were heading lol..

reply to post by Manhater


I was contemplating using my iPod touch camera application, but decided to pause the music I was listening to and stare at the small convoy in awe

Yeah, I did that too when the weather got really horrible and I thought a tornado was forming above me, I was driving and looking up in awe and forgot I had my camera. Dang it. Kept telling my sister "check to see if that tornado is about to suck us up". OMG, I was totally freaking out. Things were flying at my window, thought I was like totally in the middle of the thing. I tell you that is a scary feeling. Especially if you never seen one or been through one. But feels like one. That was also on the way to Pennsylvania. Worst trip of my life. For some reason, every time I take a trip it always freaking rains. Never fails.

reply to post by Manhater


Funny you mentioned rain, because it started drizzling when I go onto the expressway lol. Can't imagine driving when there's a tornado in plain sight glad you made it out alright.

Yesterday in the morning more than a half dozen helicopters flew over my office. I too, wondered the same thing. I live near two airforce bases, but it is rare to see a helicopter parade. My take on it is that something was up, it was top secret and they were able to contain whatever it was that happened. Probably, we would be fearful if we knew all of the threats that go on everyday.

reply to post by sgspecial19


So your using this as a excuse to get out of class? Seeing 3 military vehicles scared you this much? Where they national guard? I guess a sobriety checkpoint would send you into cardiac arrest???

reply to post by LDragonFire


Yeah I didn't feel right so I skipped out on Geology and Italian civ lol, the classes are quite easy regardless of being present in class or not. I know my constitutional rights very well, but never defended myself with them from an army soldier (yet).

Are there any bases or military installations around? When we lived in NM there was an unmarked military base on 550 outside of Albuquerque, and we saw a constant stream of military vehicles in & out and on the highways. Many of them were very creepy - vans with no windows and satellite dishes, etc.

If I hadn't been travelling that road often enough to notice where they were all turning on & off the highway (it was an unmarked dirt road) I would have been freaked out, too.

These days we live in the middle east and it isn't unusual at all to see a jeep rolling down the highway with a huge machine gun on top, or tanks or armored personnel carriers, etc. Just driving through town...

*I think I've become desensitized*...

Are there any bases or military installations around? When we lived in NM there was an unmarked military base on 550 outside of Albuquerque, and we saw a constant stream of military vehicles in & out and on the highways. Many of them were very creepy - vans with no windows and satellite dishes, etc.

If I hadn't been travelling that road often enough to notice where they were all turning on & off the highway (it was an unmarked dirt road) I would have been freaked out, too.

These days we live in the middle east and it isn't unusual at all to see a jeep rolling down the highway with a huge machine gun on top, or tanks or armored personnel carriers, etc. Just driving through town...

*I think I've become desensitized*...