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Coke Can Tag and Spotlight Polo at Savanna Army Depot
Savanna Army Depot in Savanna, Illinois. Military Police controlled access to what was called the J-Area. The J-Area was a section of earth-covered bunkers that housed - let's just say - various stuff. In addition to controlling access, the Military Police also patrolled the area, 24/7/365, in pickup trucks.
At some point, the patrolling troops devised several "games" to relieve the boredom of circling the bunkers mile after mile. One game was Spotlight Polo, and the other was Coke Can Tag. Spotlight Polo was tame compared to the wild and crazy Coke Can Tag.
In Spotlight Polo, the object was to "shoot out" the photocell-controlled security lights on area buildings using the roof-mounted spotlight on the pickup truck. The rule was that you had to shoot out the light while in motion, using the inside handle to aim the light. Getting enough of the spotlight beam on the photocell would turn off the security light., which came back on in a minute or so. This was not a competition, just an activity to pass the time.
Coke Can Tag was nowhere near as docile. The object here was to catch up to one of the other patrolling pickup trucks and, while in motion, throw a gravel-filled soft drink can into the bed of that truck. The target truck would try to evade such a delivery. The delivery, by the way, was made by the passenger and not the driver. Once the can was delivered, the delivering truck would speed away while the passenger of the target truck would get out, retrieve the can, and attempt to get it into the bed of another patrolling pickup. It was all fun until it was not.
It was not fun when, at "Guard Mount" for the 3-11 PM shift, the Commanding Officer informed us that we would be walking our posts that evening. The C.O. said he had received too many reports from the vehicle maintenance people about truck damage that could not occur during regular operation. The even worse news for us was that this was one of the coldest days of the year in northwest Illinois! We walked in 2-hour shifts. Even with long undies and parkas, the walks were brutal. Coke Can Tag came to an abrupt halt! On the bright side, we had more time for Spotlight Polo!