Military Vehicles, April 1997,: [MV] DRMS Web site info

[MV] DRMS Web site info

Edward Greeley (etgreeley@worldnet.att.net)
Wed, 16 Apr 1997 00:17:56 -0700

To all MV list members. Following is the text of my response to a
fellow member who inquired how to find specific info on the DRMS Web
site:

You asked how to find specific stuff on the DRMS Web site. Let me give
it a shot.

To see a catalog for a specific sale (they are not usually AUCTIONS,
they are mostly sealed bid sales)

Pull up the DRMS home page ( http://www.drms.dla.mil )

Click on "Public Sales Information"

Click on "International Catalogs"

Scroll down the list of catalogs to the sale number
you want to look at, e.g., 31-7357 for the one
I posted. Click on the number and the catalog
will come up on-screen. VERY small print for the
item descriptions!

The alternative to trying to read the micro-print is to click on
"Download..." on the "International Catalogs" page. Then a page listing
the catalogs in "ZIPPED" (compressed) format comes up, and you can
select the catalog you want and download it to whatever directory on
your hard disk you download files to. If you don't already have
PKUNZIP.EXE, you will need to download that so you can "UNZIP"
(decompress) the catalog files. The file PK204g.EXE (a self-extracting
file) contains PKUNZIP.EXE, and is the very first file listed on the
Download page. BTW, the catalog numbers look like 317357CA.ZIP, for
example, for the one I posted. Note that the first six digits are the
sale number. After you download and UNZIP a catalog, you should be able
to read it more easily on screen, or print yourself a hard copy.
BEWARE! Some of the catalogs are quite large. The one I posted is
about 155 pages. That would give your printer a workout!

The other half of your question is a little furrier. You want to see
what's at Ft. Hood. Hmmm...

Pull up the DRMS home page

Click on "Searchable Data Base"

Click on "Product Categories, Sites Listed Alpha..."

(following assumes you are looking for a truck of
some sort)

Click the button in front of "Ground Transportation..."

Scroll down and type "truck" in the "Product Name" box

Scroll down to "Texas Area Zone" and click on the
down arrow

Click on "Hood TX"

Scroll down and click the "Submit" button

Bingo! Up will pop all the junk trucks at Ft. Hood, with turn-in dates,
sale dates (bid opening dates, as a rule), condition code, de-mil code,
and a whole bunch of other stuff that won't mean much to you unless
you're a military supply type.

As you've probably figured out by this time, it REALLY helps if you have
the NSN (National Stock Number) for the item you are looking for. That
drastically shortens your search time and produces more usable results.

Hope this helps, and that I haven't overlooked any of the obscure twists
and turns in the DRMS Web site.

I'm posting this to the MV list as well, in hopes of aiding any others
who are bumfuzzled by the DRMS site!

Regards to all,

Ed Greeley
Mobile, AL

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