So there i was, sitting in the office with my buddy, Kevin. We’re humble wheeled mechanic, and its just after lunch so we havent gotten to work yet. Our gen mechanic comes in and asks us “hey can you guys grab a truck and tow in this generator?” Me and Kevin are like sure!

So we grab a humvee from in the bay. It was done with services and ready go back out on line. I drive the truck out to the gen and back it up, only to realize the gen is sitting on an lmtv trailer. We try to make it fit but the hitch is just too low for the trailer. We’re like ok fine, we park the humvee and find an lmtv that works, hook up the trailer, and start rolling.

Gen comes out yelling at us saying its the wrong one and both me and Kev are like “wtf it says (number) right here” Gen’s like, “no, the numbers on the front are messed up. You gotta look at the numbers on the BACK of the trailer.”

Me and Kev roll our eyes and i put the lmtv in reverse, but Kev has a great idea. Gen walked back inside.

“What if we just push the trailer back into place?”

This sounds like a great idea as im not the most confident at backing up trailers. However, it all goes down hill.

Now, Kev is a pretty big dude. Like, human gorilla type of big dude. He decides to muscle the trailer 180 degrees around for some reason and pull it by the hitch back to its spot, and then whip it around 180 degrees again when its placed, all while im watching. Im pretty skinny so i wouldnt have been doing much anyways.

Anyways, half of the way back to its parking spot; the locking pin for the trailer leg pops out of place and the entire front end of the trailer drops down, knocking over Kevin and sending me running over. Its a miracle his feet or legs didnt get caught under it; cuz they wouldve been BROKE.

Kev and I laugh about it for a second before we’re like “ok for real tho what are we going to do?”

I look down the line and spot our wrecker, and explain my idea to him. So we go grab the wrecker, back it up to the trailer, and start operating the winch.

Im not qualified on the wrecker, tho ive had plenty of training on it; i was just never given a license. We get the winch about halfway down to the ground before our team leader (a specialist, same as me and Kev) comes running outside yelling at us.

My TL is not a very likeable person, and so i start yelling right back, while kev is just kinda sitting back. I explained that this was my fault, and that i was going to fix it, and that TL could fuck right off for 5 more minutes and thered be no more problem. No dice. We were called inside by our squad leader, the guy whos actually licensed on the wrecker.

We get into the office and SL walks in yelling “KEV. OP. SMOKEPIT. NOW.”

SL goes off on us about liability and responsibility and how the army doesnt treat those responsible for problems as responsible; its their leader’s fault. I explain my side of the story and hes starting to kinda laugh about the whole thing and how it was so ridiculous. He then goes on to say “honestly… im not mad you used the wrecker. What pissed me off is which one of you told TL i said it was ok to use it?”

Kev and i looked at each other; “what? Neither of us said that. TL 100% made that up.” Which was true. And SL already doesnt like TL so it was easier for him to believe.

“Cmon.” He says “lets go fix your mess”

We get back out to the wrecker, with its winch still in the hinch of the trailer. Our SSG is standing out there as well, kinda smiling at it. Him and Kev muscle the trailer in the air, find the locking pin, and drag it back into place.

Moral of the story; if you break something just leave it where it is and hope noone saying anything.