Give dirty floor the slip.

It doesn't take a banana peel to make you slip inside the turret of your MI-series tank, crewmen. When water, mud, oil, and hydraulic fluid collect on the turret floor plates, it's easy to take a dive when you least expect it.

And it's dangerous! One soldier recently had two fingers partially amputated and broke a third when he slipped on dirty floor plates.

Avoid slipups by cleaning dirty floor plates with a bucket of soapy water and a nylon brush. Make sure you open the hull drain plugs so water has a way out.

Once you're finished, take a close look at the non-skid paint on the turret floor plates. If the paint has worn down to bare metal, you can slip even if the plates are clean.

Apply a new coat of white non-skid paint, NSN 8010-01-499-0443, if needed. Order the paint on a DD Form 1348-6 and put "NSN not on AMDF" in the REMARKS block.

The -10-1 TMs currently require non skid paint only on exterior surfaces and the back of the loader's seat, but a change is in the works to correct that.

Check out TM 43-0139, Painting Instructions for Army Materiel, for help on preparing the floor plates for painting.