The hole on top of the poles was normally for a washer and a cotter pin. The soldiers were forever coming to me for the pins, as they would bend it over each time and wreck them. The reason for the pin you ask? Because the guy who would crawl into the tent to place the pole into the hole (he was called the pole man) would have to stand there until the rest of the guys got tension onto the guy ropes.
At one point I actually made up washers with a little chain and the pin, hoping they would quit losing them. It didn't take long before I quit making those up. Perhaps if I painted them orange.
There were also those little plastic orange tent pegs...useless in the arctic temps with frozen ground. They would be replaced by 10 or 12" steel spikes. Of course, when you went to move the troops would merely toss the guy ropes with nails still attached and fold up the tent. That way, when they set it up again, they could have that planetarium effect of seeing daylight thorough the dozens of holes that were now in the canvas. The mat techs would then scrap the tent, depending on how many holes there were. Remember they got a fresh set of dozens of holes for each teardown and movement.
Re the toboggans, those 100 pound ones could be found in aluminum or fiberglass. There is also a white canvas cover for them, similar to that used on the 200 pound toboggan. Some of the toboggans can be found with the C/l\ on them along with the other nomenclature, although I have only seen post war versions of these toboggans. I used to keep one in my MRT as it was perfect for moving vehicle battery's along the gun line when you had to do repairs on the M109s. .
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08-11-19, 17:13
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