I found my milspec map protractor while digging though some old stuff. Thinking back I'm amazed at the things that were difficult to get back in the 80's Army. These things were like gold.
Anyone that was in the service will recognize the puke green binder. There were 2 books that were mandatory that you keep. The first was you "I love me" book. It had all of your course completion certificates, letters of recommendation/recognition, awards, promotion paperwork, and orders. The second was this book: your bible. They were all personally individual but basically they had notes on how to do your stay alive in the big green machine. Mine had hand drawn notes on layouts for inspections, stowage instructions for packing my shop van for deployment, equipment inventory, directions for ordering parts, an inventory of consumables for each radio type that I repaired, promotion board study guide, and notes and drawings for every "block of instruction" I had to give. This covered call for fire, map reading, fields of fire, and NBC decon. Basically any one of us could be called on to lead a class on anything that you would find in the FM21-100 or the FM 7-11B. I learned to keep notes on the classes I gave and steel notes from any classes my supervisors gave.
You learn early on that you need to have friends in certain places. It's helpful to be friends with the armorer. You do not want to piss off anyone in the motor pool. And it is very, very helpful to have a friend in supply. My advantage was an unlimited supply of batteries. They were on our TO&E and so we'd stock up anytime we were heading to the field. Interestingly enough they were not something that the platoon supply room could order. So when I had to give a map reading class I was able to secure enough of these to supply my entire platoon. To Bad, So Sad - there were not enough for the other platoons when we cycled around.
My buddy Jim and I both scored one of these. We were an aviation platoon so they had pilot survival knives.
No trade involved. We had an IG inspection coming up and they were
overstocked. Just a case of being in the right place at the right time
and having a fiend. First thing I did was use boot dye to blacken it.
It was part of my EDC when in the field. My EDC care for daily
operations was a 1981 stainless "demo" knife that I bought from the PX
at Ft Gordon. It's the military equivalent to the Boy Scout Knife.
One of the reasons it was so important to keep a friend in supply was because my Platoon Sargent, Sargent A, was at war with the supply Sargent. He had served in Vietnam and was determined that we were going to be technically and militarily proficient. The entire platoons training records were up to date: NBC, Weapons, First Aid. Everything. Supply Sargent was also the training Sargent and informed everyone in the NCO staff meeting that he needed people to fill his training quota and that Sargent A "HAD" to supply some bodies even though we were all up to date. Sargent A filed a movement order with the CO and mobilized the platoon and we deployed to the field. The best part was the CO agreed that it was petty BS and allowed him to "classify" the entire mission. So Monday morning when the supply Sargent showed up the yell about none one from our platoon showing up at o'dark-30 we were gone. We weren't just camping. We needed to remain mission capable and still needed to collect broken electronics and pickup parts etc. Our primary mission was repair depot and had to continue Since it was a clandestine operation we had to practice evasion and escape. We completed the entire year's training roster while in the field including weapons and NBC qualification. The fact that we kidnapped the supply platoon leader and had him sign off on our training docs really pissed off the supply Sargent.
Most military posts have a place called "no questions asked turn in." Basically the idea is that if you misordered something or have too many of something or you managed to get something that was not on your TO&E you can take it here so someone else can use it rather than junking it. Sargent A managed to pick up an office trailer from there. When we returned from the field and finished the maintenance on our gear he tasked my buddy Jim and I with going to supply and getting him a clock for his new office. Of course the supply Sargent turned us down. When I told Sargent A that his response was, "I told you to get me a damn clock." Now the supply room was in the back of the company office. The actual supply inventory was locked up behind a floor to ceiling chain link wall. However, the supply room offices were simply 8 foot tall walls made of 2X4's and plywood. Using Jim as a ladder I climbed into the supply Sargent's office making sure to leave size 12 boot prints on his desk while I stole the clock off his wall. Mission success and I was back in time for afternoon volley ball and a cold beer.
