A lot of Army trucks are equipped with a Tach-O-Graph, a recording device that keeps a seven day record of just about everything the truck does ...when the engines starts, how many rpms it turns, truck speed, when it is moving and when it is sitting still, how many times the gears are shifted, how far it goes, etc. Everything is recorded on a wax-like disc. Expert disc readers can pretty much trace a truck's travels by matching data from the disc to known routes the truck is on and maps of the routes. Naturally, the GI drivers are always trying to find ways to disable the Tach-O-Graph, or Tattletale as it is called by many, there are a lot of things you can do to mess with the readings but leaders who are familiar with the graphs can usually spot a jimmied reading. I know one driver who never will mess with the graph readings, is EXTREMELY grateful that on a certain day in 1986 his graph was working to a tee. Here's why:

We were involved in a huge exercise covering almost all of Southern California...we were set up at the end of the runway at March AFB in Riverside, CA. Our missions included port clearance; moving seabourne freight away from Port Hueneme to the Mojave Desert Marine base at Yermo; ration runs from March AFB to Ft Irwin; and general support missions all over the place. Just east of Riverside is Cajon Pass, not sure how high it is but it is a pretty respectable grade that separates the LA basin from the Mojave. Cajon Pass was the common denominator in all our missions, a pinch point that almost all the trucks had to go over coming and going. With my trucks spread out all over the place, I spent a lot of time chasing around trying to solve little problems before they got bigger. I was spending 12-14 hours a day in my Army Blazer.

I stopped off at the bivouac site to drop off some truck parts I had gone into Rialto to pick up when one of my drivers stopped me and told me I was needed in Operations. He had taken a load of dehydrated rations over the pass to the airfield at Barstow-Daggett. He said there had been a problem with his TC, one of the sergeants from the supply unit who went along to distribute the rations once they got to the Airfield. I asked what kind of problem. Seems that that a POV (privately owned vehicle) that kept getting in front of him and trying to slow him down. They would pass the car and it would pass them and slow down again. The class one (that's what the Army calls rations) sergeant got pissed and flipped the old guy driving the car the bird. Now there were a bunch of people over at the Operations tent, civilians and some brass, too.

When I walked into Ops, it was dead quiet. Everyone was standing around the field desk while a civilian with a magnifying glass, notebook, and map studied a Tach-O-graph on the desk in front of him. After a few minutes, he started a running commentary on what he had determined. He identified the point at which the truck started up the grade, westbound. He could point out each time the driver shifted down, how fast the truck was going, how many rpms and all that. He had a nifty CHP map that had all the speed limits noted...and a bunch of other neat stuff we don't have on our maps. He finally gave his expert opinion. The driver was indeed going the legal speed limit...the pass had a 55 mph limit until a certain point when all trucks had to drop to 30mph. The driver had maintained and not exceeded 55 throughout the period of the incident...until he came to the 30 mph zone when he slowed down to the correct limit. The driver of the POV had been mistaken about the speed limit. All of our NCOs and officers that were in the tent gave a huge sigh of relief. The Colonel who was accompanying the civilians congradulated us on a good operation and seemed genuinely glad we hadn't done anything wrong. He was all smiles as he stepped out of the tent and told our commander that the Supply company would be their next destination...our part of the incident was cleared up, we weren't speeding, but there was no "Free-Finger-Zone" on the pass.

After they all piled into their vehicles and headed across the tent city to find the Supply guys, I commented that that was a lot of firepower to aim a little finger incident. The Truckmaster laughed and informed me that the old guy driving the POV was an Army officer in civies who came out to the AO (Area of Operations) to see how things were going. His name was Wickham, John Wickham...Four Star General...Chief of Staff of the Army...Wickham. And we agreed that being in the 301st Truck was a better deal today than being in A Company, Supply and Transport Battalion...especially in the Class one section.

And as for my driver...he never again uttered a complaint about having a "Tattletale" on his dash...in fact, HE referred to it as his "Life Preserver."