[Milsurplus] TBX in KW

[Thomas Adams]

At 09:42 14-01-12, Ray Fantini wrote:
>That picture presents several problems, not the least being that I 
>thought the TBX was only used early to mid war in the pacific and 
>later versions like the TBX-8 were never fielded in combat.  I have 
>owned and operated a couple TBX sets, think a 4 and 6 and know from 
>first hand use and from reading about there use at Tarawa that they 
>are underpowered, require a crew to operate and were way outdated by 
>42/43 so have to wonder why the Marines would use one in Korea? Then 
>again we are talking about the Marines and they have never been 
>known for technology.
>RF

During Korea, we're still in the era where the USMC's mindset was to 
exist on leftovers from Navy appropriations. Because of the
leftovers from WW2, I note that they've at least dropped the M1903A3 
rifles (the operator has an M1 carbine), and the generator
guy's pistol holster is no longer the old brown prewar version. I've 
no doubts that the rest of their unit is carrying leftover Army
Garand rifles from WW2.

The Jarhead thing has always been making do with whatever gear they 
could get their hands on, and it's a sort of tradition to
make even NEW equipment, bought for them, at least LOOK like it's 
used hand me downs...  from first hand experience I can
tell ya that their aircraft often have dents, dings, and minor oil 
leaks. I was told that they tolerate it (and maybe even ADD a bit
of it) to make their stuff look MEAN!  <<GRIN>>

It's all a matter of Macho and philosophy.