To reduce shrinkage, and improve overall readiness, should Army mechanics be issued their own tool kits for the life of their contract?

I think that would be great eliminate all of the equipment changes from unit to unit.

SSG (Join to see) - For sure. A wheeled or tracked vehicle mechanic will need the same gear from unit to unit. Units with specialized missions could provide unique items but there is already a standard so it would be an easy deal. PCSing would be a pain but Pro Gear is shipped at government cost or re-embersable.

Stuff that I was issued for a tour if never used was turned in like new, but if it was used, it was normally worn out. But if it was issued to you for your career, it would last the entire time. I turned in the old OD green winter head gear I got issued way back when. Still could be used.

CW3 Kevin Storm - I think I have 2 or 3 of the green and woodland winter head gear. I still have so much cold weather gear I could open an Army-Navy store. Anything that touches the skin never gets returned. It's not able to be re-issued. Not by AF standards at least. Still have the awesome brown sweaters as well. They shrunk in my mobility bags or something. They don't seem to fit anymore! LOL

Agree to disagree, they major fault with hand receipts, is that the standard tool set ones often do not list the company that made them. Socket, socket head, driver one 3/8" square drive x inches long by x inches wide, does list Made in China (MIC), Snap On Mac, Proto, Craftsman or other company. Snuffy loses a Snap On socket, and it may cost $25-100 depending on what it is for, replace it with a MIC, and if you don't have a razor sharp inventory, Snuffy gets away with it, and the next soldiers get a POS. Not a good system and it could be better, but it requires a lot of extra work to write that out. I used to annotate during the issue who made what, so I didn't get stuck with MIC. Again that takes extra work. The newer General Mechanics Tool Kits list the tools, but they come from a particular Vendor (this may have changed) but the replacement tools had to be bought through them.

There lies one of the core problems, how many times does a civilian change his tool bag, chest? We need to quit trying to build separate tool systems, for each unit, for each piece of equipment. Will there be specialty items? Sure, but they can be part of the unit issue or part of the Actual Unit Maintenance set. I loved the GMTK concept, I didn't like that it was short a lot of items that would make a mechanics life easier. I think the size of the kit could double easily, and should be directed that way. By a permanent issue we reduce a Commander and Supply Sergeants burden, pass the responsibility to the end user, reduce paperwork, and start the troop down a pathway if they chose to having a skill set and the tools to take with them when they transition to civilian life.

CW3 Kevin Storm - I guess that was the gist of my earlier point. The basic tool set will never change. Unit specific items could still be hand receipted to cover the exception to the standard socket and wrench type of tools. Like everything else, once the system was established folks will adapt and it would no longer be an issue.

Permanent issue to the individual forces them to maintain and account for items that they "own" and use on a daily basis. The end result for the most part should be pride of ownership and increased accountability. Knowing that that could buy or outright own the tool kits at ETS should provide incentive to the SM at all levels of their careers.