Hi.

I'm in the final stages of my build of an Aussie cent in Vietnam. I have a quick question about the on vehicle tools. Were they generally mounted in place or loose on the deck or combination or hidden so the grunts didn't pinch (steal) them or what? I'm not accurately building any particular vehicle so a general idea is fine.

Thanks in advance
Shane

I think they woud have been locked down in place with a mounted tool box as well. Anything loose would have been promptly stolen by the locals
gary

Thanks for the input Gary. I've found some photos to try and get an idea about on vehicle tools. As always, there doesn't seem to be any standard to this. As you suggested, I'll be modelling without the tools. I know we never left items like this unsecured.

Cheers
shane

I had read the tools weren't mounted on the tanks....as they were stolen...not by locals in Vietnam...but by the loading dock workers before they were shipped from Australia.

If you parked a vehicle along the side of the road you were swamped by locals trying sell you everything from a one dollar can of pop to their sister. While this banter was going on the otherside was wide open for removing anything that was secured. The samething often happened if you left the thing unattended at the PX, but this time it was usually lifted by other guys that needed something. They also were rather good at just stealing the whole truck or Jeep (never heard of anybody lifting a tank). We never got much new stuff except for a couple new five tons, and a new Jeep. We did get a new howitzer once (actually two in about four days). The trucks were complete, and really can't remember what the new Jeep looked like when we got it. The first howitzer was a well used one that was pretty much stripped of anything usable. The second one looked like it just rolled off the assembly line. We never kept spare tires on our trucks because they would have been stolen the first time we parked it!

On a tank, I'd be sure to have at least one pinch bar, and two would be best. The rest of the tools would be secured in a locked tool box. Some units even went so far as to weld an eyebolt to the pry bars so they could be locked up. It might have been OK to rip off something from a truck, but is was seriously frowned upon to steal anything off a track in the rear (as I said many times over I had no use for the rear and even less for the antics that often took place back there) As for dockworkers stealing tools off a combat item, pray he never got caught! Jail would have been a better place when one's life often depended on the status of the equipment. We did run into problems with ordanence repair depots when it came to major repairs to machine guns and other stratigic items. After awhile you figured out that the so called rebuilt M60 wasn't even the one you sent back there! We came into a fix for that situation, and quit sending them back to them. Marines had the best repair depots in country by a wide margin
gary

Jasons correct in that the waterside workers removed the tools off the Centurion tanks before they went to Vietnam .
( Vietnam Tracks by Simmon Dunstan refers to this ) It was part of a campaign by the trade unions of Australia against the Vietnam war . Postal workers wouldnt sort and ship mail to Vietnam among other measures .
50 years later my dads still grumpy about it .

welcome to my own little world! We found several caches of food and medicine donated by United Auto Workers Union out of Michigan. And of course there was the usual college stuff from various universities (usually from the Big Ten and PAC 10). There were many photographs taken of these caches, and the boxes and bags were so brazen as to have lables printed on them say they from from your friends at so and so with a location. So what you are saying rings true, but still cannot fathom somebody already dependent on the government for a job refusing to do his job(sort mail). I'd have to put that person right under the Nazis
gary

Yeah ( edited )