These types of vehicles are now widely referred to as "technicals": > Africa, says [David] Kilcullen, is where the truck got its > nickname as a fighting v

These types of vehicles are now widely referred to as "technicals": > Africa, says [David] Kilcullen, is where the truck got its > nickname as a fighting vehicle, “the technical.” “When > [nongovernmental organizations] and the U.N. first went into > Somalia,” he says, referring to a period in the 1990s, “they > were not able to bring their own guards. So they got so-called > ‘technical assistance grants’ to hire guards and drivers on > the ground. Over time, a ‘technical’ came to mean a vehicle > owned by a guard company, and then eventually to mean a Hilux > with a heavy weapon mounted on the back.” [1] [1] http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/10/14/why-rebel-groups-love-the-toyota-hilux.html http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/10/14/why-rebel-g...