# The "Big Hammer" of Leaf Blowers



## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

I do some landscape and lawn work and currently use a Stihl STR-400 & BG85 for leaf blowing and grass clipping clean up, but these blower sure would look good on the back of my 4410! :thumbsup: 

click here


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## Argee (Sep 17, 2003)

WOW:wow: those are some big vacs. High dollar I would imagine. You indicate that you do some landscape maintenance, so I guess that might be the machine for you.


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## memmurphy (Sep 18, 2003)

Our city parks dept uses a blower similar to that for the leaves in the fall. It blows them a good 30 foot. Then they use a Deere square baler to clean up the piles. I'm not sure what they use the leaf bales for.

Mark


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## Stewart (Sep 17, 2003)

All right, I just have to ask what it is that Chief used to do in the Military. Must have been something with a high re-enlistment bonus!!!:friends: Just kidding I was just wondering what you do or did in the military. It looks like you have some real nice toys....sorry I mean working equipment to get the many tasks around the house done quickly and efficiently. (That was just in case any of the wives might be around):night:


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

I retired not long ago. I was an Avaition Maintenance Officer/Maintenance Test Pilot of the Warrant Officer variety. I flew UH-60 A &L model Blackhawks. My last bit of time while in the military I worked in procurement and logistics mainly for flight line support equipment & strategic deployment equipment. One of my projects was the procurement of flight line aircraft tow tractors which after much research, typing, and politicing led to the purchase of 15 John Deere 4710 tractors which we modified for towing helicopters on the flight line for the 101st Airborne Division. The procurement & logistics job was the one I had fun and enjoyed the most. :zoomin:


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## Stewart (Sep 17, 2003)

My hat is off to you, finishing a career in Army aviation is no small task! That comes from just over 20 years in the Chair Force and still going. 

The hardest part about the military supply and logistics system is getting something into the system that works like it is needed. We get so much crap from the lowest bidder and have to buy more to replace it!!!!:argh: :argh: 

Tools have been one of my biggest gripes. We just started getting Snap-On stuff over the last few years. It lasts much better than the old junk. You just have to worry about the integrity of the troop using them. They think the tools look real good in their home tool kit! 

Did you have to Camo up the tractors or get to leave them JD green? If you painted them I would have loved to have seen the look on the JD folks faces!!:usa:


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## Michael (Sep 16, 2003)

I spent 22 years in the "Chair Force" 11 active and 11 Weekend Warrior Reserve. When ever we got a new tractor no matter what the brand it got the full Camo treatment. I started as a vehicle mechanic and then as as a aircraft maintenance NCO and latter as a 1st Sgt. I also spent time when I was active as a Training Instructor (or for anybody as Drill Instructor) for basic training. That was a requirement for the tractor as "spec" for the military. I saw a lot of tractors and they were always camo for the reason that you did not want something that bright as a JD on the flightline. 
During the first Desert War I was active and in Saudia Arabia at a air base and I notice the headlight ring one day on a tractor reflecting in the sun. It had no paint and it was chome. I had guys out on the line chasing down the tractors and appling paint on them.


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## Stewart (Sep 17, 2003)

I was going to say the paint would be a given, but thought they might leave it green for some reason. The Air Force's idea of camo is kind of stupid. You have a large vehicle on a ramp by a huge plane, not too much hiding there! I guess it just avoids reflections.
edro:


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

Stewart, you mean cammo like this? :clown: Actually the tractors that I procurred through contracting went to Iraq in OEM colors. The soldiers loved those tractors and they are still going strong over there now with the 101st. I was constantly bargaining for tools and I got to purchase some really nice hydraulic test modules for testing stability augmentation system (SAS) actuators, pitch trim assembies, and other hydraulic flight controls. The soldier loved those too. I think the best part of my job was to see the difference good equipment and tools could make for the soldiers and the happy expressions on their faces when the truck showed up with the goodies. 

Michael, I was in and around Saudi, Kuwait, Iraq, and Bahrain for about a year during Desert Storm. I flew MEDEVAC back then and our home base was in Dahran Airbase. We were over in the British AeroSpace Hangar with what was left of the Kuwaiti Airforce. I did some time up at KKMC as well with the 3/160th. I was never so happy to see green vegetation after that deployment. I still have pieces of SCUD missle and other memorobealia. We has what was left of a SCUD missle that had been shot down in our hangar and were cutting it up and selling the pieces to the GI's and trading with it. :smiles: The commander lost it when one of the crews came back with bunch of RPG's, RPKS's, AK-47's, and hand grenades.  

I am glad to have it all behind me. I am still making the adjustment to being a civilian again. :crazy:


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