I finally used my entrenching tool

[Eclipse]

I've had the thing hanging on my 72-hour gear for about 8 years.  Other than demoing it for
gear sign-offs I don't think it has ever seen dirt.



I was burying some drain pipes this afternoon and needed a small shovel and thought "Hey!"

I have to say, it was just about perfect, which, OK, "duh", but still...
From a kneeling position it had just the right heft and leverage for digging and scooping a whole bladeful, and made quick work of finishing up the trench I had started with a standard garden shovel.

And despite it being a folder, it felt very sturdy and secure even under full force.

I can't personally imagine digging a standing-height foxhole, the 8-foot by 12-inch (ish) trench kicked my butt enough in the 90+ degree heat today, but I could see how it is possible.

Not the most earth-shattering news, but kinda cool to find gear that actually works as intended. 

[coudano]

oh man,
GREAT fire pokers...


also not half bad as a cricket bat

[Майор Хаткевич]

Did you get a chance to try cutting a pipe with it sir?

[PWK-GT]

Did you get a change to try cutting a pipe with it sir?

He means on purpose, I presume 

[Майор Хаткевич]

Did you get a change to try cutting a pipe with it sir?

He means on purpose, I presume 

Either works.

[Eclipse]

Heh, no but I kept looking at the blade edge and the neighbor's tree...

[ol'fido]

Normally, wherever terrain allows, they use a CEE(Combat Engineer Excavator, that's Army talk for a Backhoe) to dig out the fighting position. They also usually manage to supply regular shovels when the CEE isn't available. The E Tool is usually used for finish work, filling sandbags, and digging hasty fighting positions. It's more normal uses are digging cat holes, opening ammo crates, and adding weight to your basic load.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Normally, wherever terrain allows, they use a CEE(Combat Engineer Excavator, that's Army talk for a Backhoe) to dig out the fighting position. They also usually manage to supply regular shovels when the CEE isn't available. The E Tool is usually used for finish work, filling sandbags, and digging hasty fighting positions. It's more normal uses are digging cat holes, opening ammo crates, and adding weight to your basic load.

Main CAP uses right there!

[jks19714]

Heh, no but I kept looking at the blade edge and the neighbor's tree...

I can't tell a lie Pa...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington#Cherry_tree

[NM SAR]

I gave up carrying one a LONG time ago in favor of a little folding spade from wal-mart that's a fraction of the weight and is good enough for a cathole.

[Al Sayre]

I keep one in my truck, ít's come in handy a few times - mostly for digging out (other people's) stuck vehicles...

[Major Lord]

I participated in a training a number of years (okay decades, happy now?) ago where a Cat earth mover shoved a hill of dirt over a dummy. The object of the training was to see how fast you could coordinate a group of people in a "Team Dig" ( only three people could fit side by side ) and "rescue" the collapsed dummy by digging in relays using only hands and entrenching tools. Cutting off any part of the dummy with your ET was considered poor form. This exercise also gave a me a new appreciation of terms like "Tired" "Dirty" and "Pain" . I think of the ET like flint and steel; not the best tool for the job, but it will do if the other options include certain death! FYI, the right  ET tool can also be useful for "self arrest" when you use it as a makeshift ice axe.



Major Lord

[jks19714]

Used an e-tool, a coffee can and my hands to dig out a construction worker trapped under a collapsed building one night (my first night as an officer in a volunteer fire company as it turns out).

E-tools are your friend except when digging in frozen ground.   

[NIN]

Normally, wherever terrain allows, they use a CEE(Combat Engineer Excavator, that's Army talk for a Backhoe) to dig out the fighting position. They also usually manage to supply regular shovels when the CEE isn't available. The E Tool is usually used for finish work, filling sandbags, and digging hasty fighting positions. It's more normal uses are digging cat holes, opening ammo crates, and adding weight to your basic load.

I carried one of those tri-fold e-tools on my gear for years, and *never* used the darn thing (correction: I used one of the wooden-handled ones once WIWAC to dig some tent trenches, but that was it), so finally I gave up on hauling it around.

BITD, WIWAD, while in the field near Yeoju, Korea, a couple of us from the maintenance platoon were tasked with building an M-60 position down near the road leading into our camp area. One of our maintainers, a huge corn-fed former ARNG infantryman from Illinois, says "I know how to build a -60 position right!" and jumps right at it with his e-tool. The rest of us, being the refined aviation types through-and-through, stood back and said "OK, dude, show us how its done!" (Hey, I didn't want to roughen up my soft hands..<GRIN>)

After watching him huff and puff for about 25 minutes and barely having a "get me lower than the log in front of me" sized hole, I spotted a ROKA soldier a couple hundred yards away running a front end loader.  I bummed a pack of American smokes from a buddy and ran over to talk to the guy (mind you: I'd been in Korea less than 90 days, and my pidgin Korean was, uh, "less than rudimentary."  I could get a beer, some food, etc, but communicating "Hey, can you bring your big honking piece of construction equipment over here and dig a hole for us?" was outside of my ability).

After about 10 minutes of handwaving and pantomiming a scooping movement, and the offer of some premium American smokey treats,  he finally figured out what this stupid American wanted, drove his loader over and in about 90 seconds scooped us out the biggest fighting position you'd ever seen.  3-4 fallen timbers, some discarded plywood, a few dozen sandbags and a piece of camouflage netting later, we had the Taj Mahal of fighting positions. Of course, the former infantryman had to take credit for it with our PSG.

Two weeks later on the real ARTEP at the same field site, we dragged the timbers and plywood back to our huge hole, resandbagged and camouflaged, and had our primo spot without a lick of work, hardly.  One of the evaluators came bumbling up the trail one afternoon and we challenged him and he stood in the middle of the road like "Wait, where did that voice come from?"  We got serious kudos in the AAR for our well constructed and well camo'd fighting position.

And the only guy who used his e-tool was the infantryman.

[GroundHawg]

Ive never used one for its intended purpose. A hammer and a crappy axe mainly, but never as a shovel.

[PHall]

The one I keep in my Jeep has only been used to dig out other idiots.