DAILY DELIBERATIONS 11 AUGUST 2022 Leave a Comment / Uncategorized / By admin Not a day goes by without giving my Transition Centers free advertising. Have you heard about the bum in Florida who stole a JLG rough-terrain extended-reach forklift and went for a joyride, tearing up stuff as he went? Heavy equipment isn’t secured like your car or truck. All equipment has a key, but it’s like a master key – one size fits all. If you get your hands on a John Deere key for example, you can start and operate ANY piece of John Deere equipment. Cat, Komatsu, Link Belt – it doesn’t matter. All of them use the same system (at least that’s the way it was a few years ago when I retired the second time). Unless equipment owners add their own supplemental security measures, like adding a padlock to lock out the travel or ground engaging levers, there’s nothing to stop a bum or a thief with an OEM master key from firing it up and taking off. That’s exactly why, during the 22 years I wore a uniform, all Army equipment had the additional security of a padlock. 4
