Saturday morning our motor sergeant put me in charge of the most incredible toolbox this side of a NASCAR garage. The FRS is a self-contained, 18-foot long repair center moved around the battlefield by a five-axle all-terrain tractor-trailer. Dropped off the trailer and leveled on the ground next to any vehicle including an M-1 tank, the FRS has every conceivable tool necessary to fix anything on tracks or wheels. At one end is a 200-amp diesel generator and a 190 psi compressor system. At the other end is a 10,000-pound capacity crane with a 20-foot reach. In the middle are MIG, Arc and gas welders and cutting systems along with five 7-drawer tool cabinets. Inside are 1/2-inch and 3/4 drive air wrenches and sockets and hundreds of hand tools. It also has a full set of curtains, workbenches on a heating system. It comes with a 40-hour training course!
The irony is, I am the only guy assigned to the Echo company motor pool who is not a mechanic. Almost everyone else would like to have the FRS in their garage (although it is bigger than most garages). But while I wait to go to a chemical weapons course, I will definitely have something useful to do.
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I love reading these things. I worked the requirements development and (the hard part) managed to get the funds into the POM (after 10 years of falling below the cut line)for the FRS-H. I knew it was a winner form the outset. You'd be amazed at the number of senior officers who thought it was a waste of funds - to include the senior ATEC test officer in charge of testing the system. Anyway when I read things like this I feel great.
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