Yup to all the above. It's not a matter of not knowing better, its a matter of taking precautions seriously. I had been crawling around on it with 3 of the decks down for about an hour before John arrived. It wasn't until both of us went to the rear (aft for you Navy guys) that trouble happened.
I remember that the burners were always stored separately at my Army unit and they are the only things missing on the trailer. There are sets of plastic flat ware, paper napkins, plastic bowls, knives, a rolling pin, pancake batter dispenser, big bowls, big pots, 8 hot boxes (Merlite?), 4 - 5 gal. drink dispensers and even 2 shovels, 2 rakes, 2 brooms and 2 swing blades in it. There was also a set of 8 steel wire shelves that are not standard issue. Those are going in my basement to organize some of my junk.
The canvas is all there, but it is rotten. I will keep the pieces in case I decide to have a tent maker duplicate them, but if there is any source on them, I would appreciate it if anyone can point me at a new set of canvas. I also need burners. The trailer, fully outfitted takes 6.
Backing the story up a week and a half, a friend from work and I took his Ford F250 over to Hill AFB, Utah and picked the trailer up. I knew that the canvas was bad from the GL pic's so we took tarps and warpped it for the trip in blue. Absolutely uneventful, except for the heart attack at the fuel pumps. We dropped the trailer at his house, 25 mi. from the storage yard so that he could have the evening with his wife. I hooked up to it with the Bronco and MAN! That trailer jerked the Bronco all around. It was 25 MPH all the way.