Forklift Assessment: Fill & Download for Free

As someone who has assessed males and female soldiers, sailors, and airmen by placing them under considerable levels of physical, mental, emotional, and social stressors for extended periods of time I am impressed with the performance I have seen by a number of females volunteer candidates.I was particularly impressed with the proportional weight they carried(compared to body weight). But like a forklift working to or beyond maximum sustained load, long term durability is at heightened risk.The only problem I see is the clear physiological difference that exists between genders from below average up thru high end outliers.If the mission is humping heavy support weapons up a steep feature in the oxygen deprived Hindu Kush, I think females would be poorly suited to the mission.If the mission is conducting grey role operations in a current or near future urban environment, I believe the utility of selected females exists(and has quietly for decades) for unconventional/esoteric mission sets.I don't question female mental, emotional or social ability, but I do have legitimate and research based concerns about female physical/physiological durability on conventional light infantry type roles.Sadly, efforts to reduce weight of soldier carried items always results in weight reductions being replaced with additional items in the force ranked list of needs/wants by sub unit commanders.Light infantry and SOF mission set training is a meatgrinder that cuts thru the durability of even the most resilient of soldiers.Just my 0.02c

Yes.I was hauling skidded steel coils in a dry van. Because of the weight concentration, they couldn’t be loaded in one chunk in the middle, it would have collapsed the trailer, so they were loaded in two chunks with a space in the middle. Four coils down the center at the front, a space, then five centered at the back over the axles. Dunnage was used to brace the rear coils from forward motion, nailed to the floor. For extra measure, I had two load locks against the front coil of that chunk, although load locks are about as useful as tissue paper in that application. The load was as secure as it could be made.Chugging along with my 43,000 pound load, late at night, I had the misfortune of having a couple of morons road-raging with each other catch up to me. They got in front of me, then the front one brake-checked the other to get me into his trunk. Checked my brakes instead. Instantly I felt a hit from behind like a truck had hit me, but I knew no one was behind me. A glance at the suspension gauge that normally sits at 60 loaded, now at 100, told me what happened. The back of the load joined the front.I eased off the road, went back and opened the trailer to assess the damage. It was fortunately just a slide forward, none tipped over or rolled around as I was expecting. None unsprung, which was my greatest worry, unsprung coils are the worst mess and a nightmare to deal with. Didn’t even dent any, it just smashed the pallets together.A call to the company with a summary of what happened resulted in being sent to the closest place they could find with a forklift and a dock to unload and reload those five coils. It was a glorified fruit stand, but it worked. Driving to it wasn’t much of an adventure, the truck handled poorly for turning but took it well enough. They pulled the five off, I reset and renailed the brace, then they put them back on as they had been. Trip continued.

No, they are the symbol of bondage.It works like this.One day you get an interview for your first adult job so you go to your father or mentor and beg him to show you how to tie a perfect Windsor knot in the necktie you purchased from the sale bin at Macy’s. Nothing seems more unnatural after high school and college sweatshirts and polos than a starched collar and a necktie pulled tightly around your neck, but it is part of the required costume. At least for people like you.The guys driving the forklifts and the artists creating the advertisements wear what they wish, but you are working your way up the corporate pyramid where the rule is generally this: up or out. Eventually, that cheap sale tie gives way to the power tie as the pressure to keep moving up means that you are being assessed on everything, including how well you will look in the board room or meeting with clients. Bad tie = bad performance review.Then you announce your plans to retire and your entire collection of power ties is the first thing you throw into the bag heading for Goodwill Industries. You keep two for an eventual funeral or wedding, but you are now back to those beloved sweatshirts and polos.For this retiree, there are two things I really don’t miss at all: those neckties and the daily commute.