European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse If the strap is already broken. You can re to lubricating your Assembly Send Annua service will help prevent the tank clean your Rifle often when firing 0-rings for. Your soap Vampire a Olaf non 5330-01 -226-8750 non 5330-00-579-8156 non 5330-01-133-5858 non 5330-01-2315216 sgt. Psf a ass /ce/f/7 /. Hickerson of the 203rd support in refers to a Back Issue of is " Magazine. Problem solving with popular Way to preventive maintenance by Ron Jensen staff writer Hen sgt. Michael Stone pokes his head into an ill running m-1 tank to discover Why it clinks instead of clans nearby is a copy of is the preventive maintenance monthly Magazine. Before staff sgt. William Zwissler starts repairs on a misguided Tow missile system he often turns first tops. In fact anybody removing Rotor Blades from a Chinook fixing a door hinge on a 21/2-ton truck or just trying to find proper color filters for a flashlight has probably turned to the colourful hand size publication with the comic Book look. I use that publication on a daily basis As a matter of fact says Stone a technical adviser with cob 203rd support in in Kitzinger West Germany. It includes a lot of off the Wall Little detail information that you can t get the Magazine has pointed out tank dials that never get cleaned because of their out of the Way hidden location and How to grind a Phillips screwdriver into a tool fit for removing retaining rings from helicopters. Zwissler also of the 203rd, says there s a whole Bunch of suggestions they be had that we be spec. Harley suit of the 3rd in 63rd Armor in Kitzinger says they covenia lot about everything. You can get some valuable information out of that was the idea in 1951 when is Magazine was born says Mike Lopez supervising editor and production manager in Lexington by. Folks Don t want to read tech manuals says Lopez but they do read is which provides information in a concise readable manner. Is resembles a comic Book sort of a Disney adventure set in a motor Pool. Tanks smile and Chat batteries jump rope and bolts and screws offer advice on their use. In a recent Issue a colourful six Page tale told the Story of How 300 greeks Defeated 10,000 persians in 480 . Thanks to their secret weapon preventive maintenance. We found that through using the visual medium and a modified comic Book format folks will look at the Page Lopez says. A lot of our target audience is the to generation and they really Don t like to information on everything from aircraft to wire rope along with a heavy dose of safety tips is handed out by the is cast of regulars led by master sgt. Half Mast a Wise avuncular fellow with a jaw that would be a cozy fit in an ammo Box. He is joined by Connie Rodd a blonde Bombshell who has gracefully changed with the times. The old is magazines Back in the 50s and 60s, they sold their message through sex Lopez says Connie was the target of ogling gis when she wore skimpy swimsuits or dresses that accented every curve of her Jane Russell figure. Is. Rodd now is More in line with the liberated army still Lovely and curvy but her delivery of advice on everything from lug nuts to fuel lines is More deductive than seductive. She and half Mast Are joined by two sergeants named Sparks and Windsock and a Black version of Connie named Bonnie. Half Mast and Connie actually debuted in the predecessor to is a world War la Era Magazine called army motors. It got its Start from the mimeographed handouts provided by capt. Bruno Brooks at quartermaster motor transport school before the War. During the War soldiers overseas having trouble with equipment remembered those helpful sheets and wrote to Brooks requesting them. Army motors kind of grew out of what he did Lopez says. Its goal was the same As today s is to supplement the tech manuals which Are altered with the Speed of a Convoy on the autobahn. If a change is made in a mechanical procedure it might take two years to get that alteration into the tech manuals too slow for the people working daily with the equipment. Is can get that information out a lot sooner Lopez says. Someday a tech manual will Amend its information regarding a $2,500 solenoid on a 25mm Cannon. Stone says the tech manual claims that a broken solenoid is beyond repair but is reported in a recent Issue that a Quick soldering could keep the piece in action a discovery made by the gun s users. Without is Stone says we would never have known that we can do Stone and some colleagues review the Magazine the Day it arrives he says and very rarely is there something in there we can t use. We have a shelf of them in there with certain pages the 200,000 copies of the Magazine Are written and published by civilian employees of the department of army in Lexington ky., Lopez explains As part of the Materiel readiness support activity. To find out what is troubling the troops a staff of 12 writers visits military installations to talk to the users of the equipment. Before it goes into print each Story is reviewed by experts on the equipment. Stories Are divided into five categories ground mobility air mobility firepower communications and troop support. The Magazine receives about 5,000 letters annually most of them from people who have been frustrated in their search for solutions to equipment problems. They get bogged Down in the bureaucracy and red tape Lopez says. Is Breaks the red each letter writer receives a personal response outlining the solution often signed by half Mast. If several people Are having the same problem it becomes fodder for a Story in is. We get letters from marines and All the other folks Lopez says. The other services use the publication because of the common equipment used. Despite the drawings of chatty tools and smiling parts is is no laughing matter either for its producers or its users. Is was helpful in countering the problem of counterfeit bolts that was discovered last year. The Magazine published several articles on How to identify Good bolts from the bogus ones of lesser Quality. In True is form the cause was aided by a Short artist named Tooloose Lebolt it s a serious operation and it s meaningful Lopez says. It s a very rewarding the last word on the matter should go to Stone who is typical of the thousands of readers. That Magazine he says can be pvt. 2 Joseph a. Dimauro left and pvt. 2 Willie j. Gray both of the 203rd support in change the Cylinder Heads on a Hummer. Is photos by Lynda w. Sparks pfc. Glenn c. Hamilton cob 203rd support in checks the night sight on the Tow 2 missile ground mount. Page 14 the stars and stripes monday january 23,1989 the stars and stripes Page 15
