Listen to the voices of experience.

Dear Editor,

Here at this Ft Hood MLRS unit we've come up with a few suggestions that we think will help other MLRS units:

* Two bolts to check before leaving the motor pool are the cab hold-down bolts. Crews remove the bolts to tilt the cab for PMCS. If they forget to reinstall the bolts, the cab can tilt forward when you hit the brakes. That can break the cab hinge bolts, damage the cab lifting mechanism, and even flip the cab. Just make sure you check that the two bolts are installed before you hit the road. There's one bolt on each side of the cab just inside the door.

* If you leave the commo hand mikes lying on the seats, you can count on them tangling each other up and getting snagged on ALICE gear. We untangled that problem by running a coat hanger between the first and third bolts of the track commander's hatch pad. Just loosen those two bolts, wrap the hanger one turn around each bolt, and retighten the bolts. Then hang the mikes from the hanger.

* Keep several tiedown straps in the cab of the MLRS and use them to secure stuff like TMs and water jugs. That prevents them from flying around the cab during travel and breaking things like panel switches. To replace one switch often means replacing the whole panel. We use web straps with quick-release buckles, but something like a bungee cord would work too. Your self-service store on post or local hardware store will have lots of cheap straps. Whatever you use must be strong enough to hold objects in place, but easily unfastened, too. Just make sure loose objects are tied down before you leave the motor pool.

* When you do PMCS and find problems, note the PMCS step in the item number column on your DA 5988E maintenance form. That makes it easy for your repairman to figure out what you're talking about.

SSG Shaun Tobin

SSG Jeremey Larson

1/21st FA

Ft Hood, TX