Warbird Information Exchange

Ffuries..
Many thanks!
As you said, there really wasn't much standardization despite the Tech Order.
Maybe they should be renamed T.S. for Technical Suggestions?

I have seen "U.S.A F. " on the hood.
"U.S. Air Force" on the hood and below the door opening (as the T.O. above shows); the full Army Serial; an abbreviated (Army?) Serial prefixed by "A" (for Air Force?); and the more modern AF serial beginning with the FY of purchase, followed by B or K then four or five digits. So my Jeep would be 55KXXXX.
The "For Official Use Only" title is either on the hood below the serial or sometimes below the door opening by itself when the numbers are on the hood.

It's odd the T.O. above shows "A" after the FY, the std. AF code was B for "off the shelf" vehicles like cars or pickups (see the '64 Ford Galaxies in the '60s link above) and K for "tactical" (designed for the military, like the M38A1 or later M151).
That means a CJ-7 as seen in the bottom link above, would have been designated "B". (Any Jeeps bought since the late-60s would have been CJ-5 or 7s, since production of the military-spec M38A1 ended in the mid-60s. Although they look similar, M38A1s and CJ-5s have many important differences).

The TO as seen above does clarify which side of the bumper to put the Major Command and Base initials (the left, but a photo in the above link of a police truck in the UK in the '60s has it on the right!).

Another issue with the T.O...it shows the code on the other side of the bumper as "A-2" when all the other reference I've seen list the Jeep (of whatever model) as "A-1".

So in short, just like aircraft markings, there are plenty of deviations from what is considered "normal".

And there are huge differences in the Strata Blue paint color despite having a Federal Stock Number.
I am a bit surprised (but not exactly shocked ) by all the discrepancies.
I thought it would be more cut and dry.

Ffuries...
My guess for the A-prefix numbers is an Army vehicle allotted to the Air Force. No proof, just a wild guess.

The Air Force Security police M38A1 in the "USAF Police" link is identified on his page as a recent restoration. He posted the page to the 1958 T.O.
I like the finished product, but, I think he took T.O. too literally. He has the number on it twice, on the hood (Under U.S.A.F.) and below the door opening(under U.S. AIR FORCE").
I think that's one too many.
Either one of th other, not both.
Notice the Hood markings on his copy of the T.O. are pencilled in.

Thanks for posting the vehicle code list.
Recon firms my plan for my vehicle...55K...then military serial (which my vehicle doesn't have...they are not listed on dash dataplate, just the Willys C/n...so I'll do what many Military Vehicle guys do in this situation, use the last four of the manufacturer serial for the military serial.

All USAF M38A1s were covered by Army contracts (which also happens with aircraft, the primary user of a type does all the contracts), so it really does make sense.