Dear BattleTechnology: I am a MechTech serving with the 3rd Lyran Guard stationed on Baxter as part of the Commonwealth's Thor maneuvers. Baxter, you understand, is right on the Kurita frontier, well within spitting range of the Draco strongholds of New Wessex and Vega. While our maneuvers can't possibly be considered a threat to the snakes, it was inevitable, I suppose, that they'd send a sneak force in to scope out what were up to on Baxter. The Dracs set down a heavy Recon Force a day's march from our Primary Deployment Area under a storm of chaff and electronic jamming. Our CO threw out scouts towards the enemy with a QRT [Ed.-Quick Response Team] of heavies to back them up. We stopped them, though it was a near thing for a while. My own number one 'Mech is a Commando, piloted by MechWarrior Ronnie Frank, and he found out the hard way that it's not wise for a 25-ton COMMANDO to tangle with a Dragon. He made it back to base, all right, but his left leg prime actuators were shot to hell, and his hydraulic suspension had been pounded' into scrap by a near-miss from an Imperator-A. Those could be replaced from stores fast enough, of course. The real problem was the floating V3-D gasket support in the primary knee support rod interface. An AC shell had pulverized Ronnie's V3-D, and our supply sergeant told me there wasn't a V3-D to be had within 10 light years. The Dracs were closing and there was no time for finesse. My last issue of BattleTechnology was close at hand. Folding it in quarters, I found it exactly fit between the main actuator assembly housing and the support rod interface, acting as a gasket support and taking up the tension from the Number 2 support rod. Inside of 20 minutes, Ronnie's Commando was back in action -- limping a bit, but combat ready. He scored 2 kills and an assist that afternoon, and his charge against a Kurita Javelin scattered an enemy recon lance and forced the Dracs to hesitate at a critical moment. "For want of a nail, the battle was lost" runs the old saying. Well, it's entirely possible that the Battle of Tyson's Ridge was won because of your magazine. Many thanks, Vernon C. Spanger, MechTech Sgt./1st PS-Could you please send me another copy of BattleTechnology Issue 0202? My original copy is now somewhat the worse for wear. Back to BattleTechnology 5 Table of Contents Back to BattleTechnology List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1988 by Pacific Rim Publishing. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com