PS Magazine, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly
In 1951, the U.S. Army started a comic book on the subject of equipment maintenance, called 'PS' because it was a postscript to the standard technical manuals. They hired successful commercial artists, starting with comic book master Will Eisner, to illustrate the monthly. The results were outstanding and they have become collector's items, frequently sold on eBay. Check the eBay auctions top, left for PS Magazines available on eBay right now.
At the left is the cover of PS Magazine, Issue 274, September 1975. In the early years, Connie Rodd and the other women were portrayed as sexy pinups to hold the attention of the entirely male audience. As times changed, Army women became maintenance officers and non-coms, and the images in PS became more professional. In recent years, PS Magazine characters include the full diversity of the Army.
Click the link to download a special edition called PS Magazine, 50 Years of PM (1.3MB PDF) published in 2001.
As the Army's preventive maintenance monthly, PS Magazine is distributed to all organizations within the military which are registered as maintenance shops for vehicles, aircraft, firepower, electronics, or other weapons systems. Using a comic book format, PS provides a very valuable supplement to the official maintenance documentation found in the TMs, TBs etc. Even if you are not active military, you can get it online or subscribe to PS through either the PS Home Page or at Claitor's which handles the orders for the Government.
Two 5-ton cargo trucks undergoing preventive maintenance, Fort Drum, NY, 15 December 1993.
