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We can back with less than half a tank, which I reported when I turned in the keys. I am a fueler and yesterday we filled up all of the functioning vehicles in anticipation of today's convoy to Flagstaff, three hours by car from Phoenix, four hours in or behind a tactical vehicle.
I mentioned needing to fuel the bus yesterday to my Sergeant and he said it needed actual diesel, not jet fuel. I woke up early today to take care of everything, I was just delayed obtaining the keys.
The battery was dead.
Military vehicles have a great system called the NATO slave. You have a giant plug, you run a giant cable between two trucks, and you never need to touch the batteries. However, you mention jumper cables to weekend warriors and they keep thinking of slave cables.
Finally, my Platoon Sergeant secured jumper cables and was coming up with his car, when he was told to stand down, he could damage his vehicle, and maintenance was on their way. Maintenance connected jumper cables and then realized their truck was 24v, while the bus was twelve, so the Maintenance Sergeant went to get his F350, but used a tiny battery pack to jump the bus, which I kept running until it died on its own.
It started back up. My Sergeant had just told me to stop for fuel when we left and then catch up, but the senior staff was furious when they found out that I had not taken care of this, so they sent me to sqauare it away immediately.
It only put 23 gallons into a 65-gallon tank, but now it will not start--our mechanics think the starter went out, but I have at least half an hour until the civilian mechanics are supposed to arrive.
This completely interferes with our training!
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