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Co E, 1st Battalion 111th Infantry Regiment | 
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Military Specifications
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How Military Specifications live
forever For those of you who have to deal with the military
on a daily basis, this should explain things. For those of you who don't this is what we
live with. The US Standard railroad gauge (distance between
the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge
used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and the US railroads were built
by English expatriates. Why did the English people build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre railroad
tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did "they" use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for
building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel
spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing the wagons would break on some of
the old, long distance roads, because that's the spacing of the old wheel ruts. So who built these old rutted roads? The first
long distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their
legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which
everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman
war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome they were all alike in
the matter of wheel spacing. Thus, we have the answer to the original
questions. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches derives from
the original specification (Military Spec) for an Imperial Roman army war chariot. Mil
Specs and Bureaucracies live forever. So, the next time you are handed a specification and wonder what horse's ass came up with it, you may be exactly right. Because the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the back-ends of two war horses.
Be prepared to conduct training in the Engagement Skill Trainer as a precurser to Individual Weapons Qualification. Emphasis will be on zeroing and engaging targets with the M16A2. Obviously, those personnel deploying to Germany will not be in attendance at this year's Associator Stakes.
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