[Leica] Re: Questions abour recent M3 repair

[montoid at earthlink.net (Montie)]

Charlie Meyer wrote:
>Back then, I once envied the  Photographer's Mate rating, 
>but the community was so small, that one probably had to kill 
>someone to get a promotion. 
------------------------------

Well Charlie, as a retired Navy Photo Officer myself, I can tell
you that moving up the ladder (both enlisted and officer) was
extremely competitive, however, I don't think I'm on any wanted
posters!  ;-))  Welcome aboard!!

Your post brought back some memories.  I wonder how many 
people on this list could survive the shock of watching 25/30
complete M4 kits (each consisting of one body, 90 and 35
elmarit, and 50 DR cron w/eyes) stacked in a truck and headed
for Defense Property Disposal simply because they were over
5 years old??  Auctioned off in lots of 5 or 10 kits each.  :-(

BTW, you a "Mustang" also??

Montie
--------

>I'm new here, but in my research to soak up as much as I can about  
>the DS M3 I won the lottery on, I seem to recall reading somewhere  
>that DAG had bought up the US Navy M4 parts, for example.  I'm a  
>retired Navy Supply Corps officer and submariner, and we had a  
>provisioning process for equipment that tried to stock replacement  
>parts based upon life cycle repair/overhaul needs.  There was also a  
>disposal process where DRMO would auction off spares for systems no  
>longer in service in the fleet. One could imagine that indies like  
>Don and Sherry, et al, were able to stash away parts from many  
>sources that the beancounters at Leica could not justify maintaining  
>in stock as a manufacturer. Inventory costs money....and Leica is no  
>stranger to money problems.

>There were also lots of Leica M pix in old training manuals such as  
'>Photographer's Mate 3 & 2' (c. 1970s).  Back then, I once envied the  
>Photographer's Mate rating, but the community was so small, that one  
>probably had to kill someone to get a promotion.  That kind of career  
>practice was frowned upon. The boats I was a mechanic aboard then had  
>no Leicas, but there were Nikon Fs with periscope eyepiece mounts,  
>250 exposure backs, and motor drives. I wondered in those days what  
>would happen to the Nikon SLRs that rolling seas would send on a 5ft  
>freefall to steel decks at periscope depth.

>When I was younger, there was an allure to the whirr and buzz of  
>equipment and technology, when the objective should have been in the  
>art of photography.  As I have seen from the handful of PAWs in the  
>ast day or so, there is some great work being done out there with  
>these cameras.  Old dogs can learn new tricks.

>Charlie