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$\"Gravatar\"$ Hee. My husband's the first sergeant in charge of maintenance -- head honcho of the mo'pool. I'll have to warn him about the canvas.
Lisa | Homepage | 03.09.06 - 12:46 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ They'll be flying their stuff out, I imagine. Or rail loading to a port of debarkation somewhere. I doubt the canvass thing will come into play for him. But he may appreciate the story.
Cullen | Homepage | 03.09.06 - 1:16 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ Nice story...I truly enjoyed it.

And in case no one has ever told you...thank you for your service to our country. It is because of people like you, that we have the lives we do.
Shannon C. | Homepage | 03.09.06 - 1:21 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ And thanks to Lisa's husband, too!
Shannon C. | Homepage | 03.09.06 - 1:22 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ Seconded, Cullen. Thanks for serving, man. I'll have to ask my bud the Barking Spider for his two cents on this one. He loaded cargo planes for the Air Force for 20 years. I'm curious to hear a few of his stories.
Nightfly | Homepage | 03.09.06 - 9:01 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ Well, thanks guys. I just like sharing stories.
Cullen | Homepage | 03.09.06 - 9:08 pm | #

$\"Gravatar\"$ Heh, field expedient repairs!

We had 5 ton dump trucks as our primary squad vehicles (engineers used to do that, way long ago). These were very similar to the old 5 ton cargo trucks; they just had a dump bed instead of a cargo bed.

Anyhoo, the damned things were older than some of the drivers, unlike the other 5 ton vehicles. Maintenance was a pain on them, at best.

I don't know about similar vehicles, but the rear duals on those beasts were unreliable at best. I suspect that frame was not really made for dumping, and the stress shook out in strange spots. But the seals on the rear duals would blow in a heartbeat. Anywhere.

The solution? If maintenance wasn't around, I mean, and actually had the parts (a whole 'nother story)?

Simple: you made a field expedient seal using a manila folder. I kept a bunch of them in my field desk, on the advise of my platoon sergeant.

100 mile-an-hour tape, now, that was pure gold.......
The_Real_JeffS | 03.10.06 - 1:24 am | #

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