Ambulance

Need some medical attention?

49 (Elite)

70 (Heroic)

30 (Heroic)

Can run over enemy infantry as last resort

## Introduction

The **Ambulance** is an American bio-response and infantry-healing vehicle. It is mainly used to clean up contamination and restore foot soldiers' health. This unit can be found in General Townes' arsenal.

## Overview

The Ambulance is a mobile emergency medical and decontamination vehicle that, unlike typical ambulances, consists of a modified Humvee chassis, but with the insignia of the Red Cross Society on its roof and rear ends. The vehicle moves with four wheels and is quite fast like typical Humvees. As a non-combatant unit, it does not have any weapons. However, the vehicle has a small storage tank storing a classified liquid that has the ability to clean up any type of contamination either by speeding up the decomposition of harmful chemicals, "insta-kill" microorganisms or accelerate the decay of radioactive material spewing radiation. It also has on-board medical-kits to heal infantrymen that got injured in the heat of a battle. Like most USA vehicles, the Ambulance can equip itself with a drone of five variants to increase its survivability.

The Ambulance is one of the most important vehicles to be found among General Townes' arsenal. However, it is used to clean up radiatioactive, toxic and acidic contamination but does not remove mines or demo traps and repair vehicles, that task is left to the ARV. Being a Tier 1 unit, the Ambulance proves useful in terms of early-game infantry rush by accompanying soldiers for harassment missions, making them seemingly unkillable. Despite its usefulness, it is completely defenseless against any type of opposing units, so make sure to never send an ambulance alone in the open.

## Assessment

Pros:

* Can heal infantry on the run.
* Can clean up any type of contamination.
* Cheap to produce (600$).
* Quite fast to produce and available in Tier 1 when a War Factory is built.
* Immune to toxins, acids and radiation.

Cons:

* Unarmed.
* Poorly armored.
* Cannot clear mines and death traps nor repair vehicles.

## Quotes

The Ambulance reuses its *Zero Hour* voice lines.

### When Selected

* Medic here.
* Who needs help?
* Someone injured?
* We can take care of you.
* The battlefield is a messy place.
* Medical supplies on hand.

### When Ordered to Move

* Out of the way!
* Move!
* Let's get there, quick!
* Lives are at stake!
* Right on.

### When Ordered to Clean Toxins

* Detox underway.
* Suited up for biohazard.
* Let's clean it up.
* What a mess...

## Trivia

* In the ZH Vanilla version, the Ambulance can also perform repairs on damaged vehicles on the run. But in *Contra,* the Ambulance heals infantry and cleans contamination, while the ARV clears hidden explosives and repairs vehicles.
	+ General Alexander was supposed to have her own version of the Ambulance called the "Mechanic", which would repair vehicles instead of healing infantry. The Mechanic could hold up to six infantry and was armed with a small machine gun. The unit was cut, but its model and voice files still exist. The ability to repair vehicles was given to the existing Ambulance unit in the released version of *Zero Hour*.
* An unused model exists for a "medical drone", which would likely serve the same function as the Ambulance, but it was scrapped in favour of the Ambulance during development.
* Interestingly, military ambulances would be legally non-combat and thus it would be illegal to attack one, attacking a military ambulance is considered a war crime under Geneva Laws. The GLA most likely wouldn't have an issue with that since their goal is to instil terror in nature, however it also means that the USA allowing a combat drone as escort for an ambulance would be also a war crime in itself since non-combatants are not allowed to arm themselves except for self defense. However, it should be noted that the Geneva Laws are a Quid-Pro-Quo treaty so if the GLA doesn't sign the treaty (which non-state factions are not allowed to do) thus they are not protected under any clause of the code, which would leave it up to whatever the US rules of engagement allows.
	+ Oddly enough, using a Humvee chassis as a basis for a mobile medical center is actually unsuitable. This is because the Humvee is essentially a typical car and thus has very limited sitplaces. In other words, the medical staff using this vehicle can only perform treatment outside the vehicle as the space is too small for a person to lie down with other staff doing their operation, exposing the staff and casualties to the dangers outside. The most viable vehicle type is an armored van or a small-to-mid sized APC.