>>2949198
When I was in the military it had a tiered system for repairs. Level 10 was operator level. So, a driver of a vehicle or a radio operator for a radio. Level 20 was unit level. So, a mechanic or me if it was a radio. Basically, help desk. Level 30 was something like a Forward Support Company, which was generally a specialized unit under the brigade or regiment level. 40 was 'general support/depot', which could be anything from an army depot to the original equipment manufacturer.

Even 25 years ago the insides of these radios was not something you wanted an 18 year old with 2 hours of training to take a soldering iron to. This is a single card out of a nearly 30 year old radio (TR-1523E). It is only a couple of inches across and they have a few of these in them. They are little computers and had a unit cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. Even 30 level would only replace cards. Broken PCBs went back to General Dynamics for repair.

So what did I do? Get screamed at by a bunch of sergeants and LTs because their radio wasn't working.

>We can hear other stations but they can't hear us!
Check the radio, power transmission was on low. Set to high.
>Other stations can here us but we can't hear them!
Turn volume up on speaker
>The antenna cable keeps breaking!
Instruct LT to not step on the radio when climbing out the top of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
>The radio works but the display is blank
Turn up brightness on display

Also, lots of installs. They would pull the radios out of vehicles when not in use because they are classified equipment (I needed security clearance just to be a 20 level support tech). Could these motherfuckers be trusted to put them back together properly? Well, it is literally just two cables: antenna and handset. So, that would be a hard no. That said, the radios weren't my biggest headache. They tended to just work when someone wasn't being a moron. Most of my time was spent on the FBCB2. Less said about it the better.