Maritime Support Vessel???

Major Hat Tip to Leesea.

Via fbo.gov

Added: Nov 16, 2012 8:28 amMilitary Sealift Command (MSC) requests a US flagged vessel which shall function as a Maritime Support Vessel (MSV). The vessel shall serve host to fifty (50) sponsor personnel with the ability to surge an additional one hundred fifty-nine (159) personnel, for a total of two hundred nine (209) sponsor personnel, within twenty-four (24) hours notice. Please see attached for more information. NOTE: This requirement was synopsized, and a draft solicitation was posted, under Solicitation Number N00033-12-R-2015.

Military Sealift Command is looking for a MSV?  First I heard of this.  The surge number of personnel is curious too.  Specifically one hundred fifty-nine?

Interesting.  I assumed that the USS Ponce experiment was a failure, now that is all but confirmed.  But why it failed is beyond me.  If I were to guess I would think it had to do with accommodations for the Special Ops Personnel.  Either way this bears watching.  Are we being setup for a modded JHSV?  I just don't know.

Armor and Marine Corps Historians step up...I need your help.

Photo caption: "Iwo Jima, February 21, 1945. Burrowed in the Sand: A Marine medium tank that couldn't navigate the soft volcanic sand on Iwo, is track deep in a pit off the beach. This loose sand of the island proved an asset to the Japanese defenders."
From the Photograph Collection at the Marine Corps Archives and Special Collections
OFFICIAL USMC PHOTOGRAPH

Notice the barbs around the crew hatches?  I haven't seen it on another vehicle and there is no indication of why (I assume they're anti-personnel in nature) this particular crew applied them.  Also missing is whether or not this was a platoon level modification or higher.  Any info would be appreciated.