im doing the mission for the BOS where i have to retrieve the holotape from their lost soldiers at 3 different locations. the one at the black mountain in the tar pit does not have a tape on his person and i cant find it anywhere around him. i collected everything else he had tho. the game wont let me complete this mission because i need that tape, but he doesnt have one........anybody had this issue?

I did that one, had no issues, I just looted the bodies, didn't have to look around for anything.

now if I could only find that damn laser pistol.

I was looking for the pistol for quite some time. It's in the scorpion gultch area. You go down the hill but don't go through the little passage way. It's just left of the passage way pressed up against a rock. Almost camaflaouged, In regards to the OP. It is possible but highly unlikely a NPC picked the item off the body. In my game there was some coyboy in the gultch area killing scorpions when I was there. Strange if he took the holotape but with all the bugs in this game who knows.

ya, i have no clue, i cant find it. the marker is still located in the original spot, but no tape