CARNAC
Well-known member
I moved around a lot in the military. Invariably the movers would always break my commercial tool boxes. I decided to get some surplus boxes.
The SHOP EQUIPMENT, AUTOMOTIVE MATENANCE AND REPAIR: ORGANIZATIONAL MAINTENANCE, COMMON NO. 1,*@#$was the standard tool set at the battalion level and within many independent companies from ~1952 (the earliest reference date I found so far) to 2010 when it was declare obsolete. There was also a bigger brother set called the Common No. 2 and each of these sets also had a supplement set that was normally for garrison and rear area use (linear battlefield thinking). During my time in the military I inventoried these sets at least once a year and in some cases multiple sets a year.
The Army began replacing the Common with the Standard Automotive Tool Set. and a large number of units lost their maintenance set authorization due to the asymmetric battlefield and how we current project forces. End result were a lot of Common 1 sets coming up surplus from 2005 to 2013.
I'm no stranger to the surplus sales market and over the years bought numerous vehicles and camping items. I wanted to toolboxes but what I got in my batch of "empty" tool boxes was about 2/3s of a Common 1. There was no intent to collect a Common at the time but that changed when I went to a military vehicle show and saw a kitchen trailer displayed with all components. That launched me into collecting all of my current Common.
Commons were notorious for being short tools. Every two years change documents officially added and deleted items but the units often failed to follow up on them due to several reasons like funding, lack of personnel, lack of knowledge. Another reason for shortages was the Common was rarely, if ever, issued complete. Brand new Commons had a shortage list of items that became the unit's responsibility to buy in order to bring it up to full capability (never happened to my knowledge). Tool loss was another reason for shortages and this could be legit issues of tools breaking or non-legit of someone swiping something. There were also tools that were listed as "not issued" and required approval of the Commander to purchase and retain. These were usually big ticket items like the 1" impact and it's socket set among others.
To be continued.
The SHOP EQUIPMENT, AUTOMOTIVE MATENANCE AND REPAIR: ORGANIZATIONAL MAINTENANCE, COMMON NO. 1,*@#$was the standard tool set at the battalion level and within many independent companies from ~1952 (the earliest reference date I found so far) to 2010 when it was declare obsolete. There was also a bigger brother set called the Common No. 2 and each of these sets also had a supplement set that was normally for garrison and rear area use (linear battlefield thinking). During my time in the military I inventoried these sets at least once a year and in some cases multiple sets a year.
The Army began replacing the Common with the Standard Automotive Tool Set. and a large number of units lost their maintenance set authorization due to the asymmetric battlefield and how we current project forces. End result were a lot of Common 1 sets coming up surplus from 2005 to 2013.
I'm no stranger to the surplus sales market and over the years bought numerous vehicles and camping items. I wanted to toolboxes but what I got in my batch of "empty" tool boxes was about 2/3s of a Common 1. There was no intent to collect a Common at the time but that changed when I went to a military vehicle show and saw a kitchen trailer displayed with all components. That launched me into collecting all of my current Common.
Commons were notorious for being short tools. Every two years change documents officially added and deleted items but the units often failed to follow up on them due to several reasons like funding, lack of personnel, lack of knowledge. Another reason for shortages was the Common was rarely, if ever, issued complete. Brand new Commons had a shortage list of items that became the unit's responsibility to buy in order to bring it up to full capability (never happened to my knowledge). Tool loss was another reason for shortages and this could be legit issues of tools breaking or non-legit of someone swiping something. There were also tools that were listed as "not issued" and required approval of the Commander to purchase and retain. These were usually big ticket items like the 1" impact and it's socket set among others.
To be continued.
