Folks Of Interest O/T, So who here was Army?

1988-1991 Panzerbataillon 14, Gallwitz Kaserne Hildesheim, Germany. Tank Commander on German "Leopard 1A5" 105mm Combat tank. And proud of it, great time with British forces in maneuvers.

 

I LOVE those things, here we are jumping static line from one.

A 'Chook' on the ground.

And finaly a free fall sortie.


Ahhh, yes. They were the days indeed.
Doc.

 

71 thru 87. loved the it. 19 months Nam as door gunner combine services unit Fuller air field Da,Nang. last unit was A company SF, Trn, Bdg. Ft Benning Ga.

 

AIRBORNE!!
1989-1992 327 Sig Bn (Airborne) Ft. Bragg NC, Desert Shield\Storm. Got to meet General Schwartzkopf, spent Christmas in the Desert with 24th Mech, I even had the Chaplain give me a copy of Easy Rider magazine that Christmas. It was in an envelope market "any soldier", He had no idea what was in it. 92-98 I was in a sorry excuse for a National Guard unit.
I'd do Active Duty all over again in a heartbeat. A good friend from when I was a young Paratrooper is now an Acting Sgt Major with the 82nd. I keep planning to go back for a one of the reunion days so I can jump again. If my fat ass will fit into the harness that is!

 

I was Air Force.

Here's my brother, 7th SFG, Jungles of El Salvador. He was a bad mama jama. I miss him terribly. May God rest his soul.

 

16th FA 8th inf div was one 59-61

 

haha, might as well be...

there would be an Air Force thread, but I would be too embarrassed to admit that...hooah

 

I was in from 1970-1971. My MOS was 63B20 (wheel mechanic). Although I spent as much time working on 175mm and 8" guns with tracks as trucks. We were on fire support bases near the DMZ. Here's a picture of me in 1970 in Vietnam wearing a "Big Ed's Speed Shop" t-shirt. I had a whole bunch of them that the guys sent. What you can't see is my navy blue "deck shoes" that everyone wore back then. Strange time but a very important time in my life. Welcome back to all my brothers! Mike

 

Hey man, if you have anything to do with the gunships speak up. My patrol (ie:me!) owe our life to a US gunship one night in the North of Iraq. Never seen anything as impressive as those things in all its fire spitting glory! Somewhere I have a business card they sent us, something about 'Owning the night' NO SHIT!
Doc.

 

Yup. Though it is the reason I only had 11 years in and not 20. Sicily DZ 0130 30kt winds and well lets just say the landing wasn't to pretty. I still miss it. I used to love watching the HALO guys do their thing. Never got the chance to do that in the Army but did make a couple civi jumps, well until my slider got stuck and I had to cut away,it scared the guy with the car, never got to finish my cert :|

 

Dave, my next PCS is the 25thID. Family should enjoy it, but I'm likely going back to the 'box.

 

Mate it is a whole new world up that high. Though HALO is old technology, there is HAHO (High alt, high opening) HAMO (Med opening) or HALO (low opening), they all fall under HAPO, High Altitude Parachuting Operations. OP sec dictates thats all I can say about it, though surprisingly we lead the world in the technology. Never thought we would be ahead of you guys with that!!

My end was summoned by a static line 1000ft decent. Double malfunction on the T-10-D-B and T-10-R, collided with another guy on exit, his combat equipment tore the left capewell off my harness. I hit the reserve but the turd of a thing tangled with what was left of the main canopy. It partially inflated but I still had 65kg (143 Pounds) of combat equipment strapped to me I didn't have time to jettison.
All that equals a long time in hospital and a medical discharge. The guys said it was great to see though, I bounced a good 10ft!
Got 2660 jumps and thinking of going back if my body can handle it. I want that last 6 jumps! Then I can die happily on the 6th......666.
Doc.

 

I understand the different HAPO ops. When you see them strapping on the oxy tanks and masks you know something is up! BTW Its the 2nd bounce that gets you I asked my surgeon if I could jump again here was the quote "Why don't you try it and tell me how it goes" not exactly comforting advice...lol

 

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ft. Sill. I was there in 68. Divided my time between Ft. Sill and downtown Lawton (the impact area). Remeber all those damn bars with all those go go dancers. Went in in 67 got out in 69. I was at Ft. Jackson, Ft. Gordon, Ft. Monmouth, Ft. Sill and came down on levy for Viet Nam in April of 69. Ended up in the 1st Inf. Div. in the middle of the Michlin rubber plantations. Di An, Lai Kai and points in between. Got in country May 12 of 69 and was medivaced out Aug. 12 69. Spent 3 months at Camp Zama hospital in Japan and got a 3 month early out.

"The pitter patter of little feet,
There goes the Big Red One in full retreat."< It's an inside saying.


I am proud to have served in one of the best, if not the best, infantry division the U.S. Army ever had.

 

I was grunt 69-70 in the 101st.
back home with no permanent damage
Russ

 

1962 - 1965. Basic training at Ft Polk, aviation maintenance training at Ft Rucker, aviation mechanic at Ft Benning & aviation mechanic in Viet Nam.

 

Doc Watson rules!

 

My oldest son, just joined. He ships out jan. 7th. I'm very proud of him.

 

Aww shucks..........

Hey sorry Keep, I get carried away sometimes, didn't mean to treat you like that. Its a cool image but the reality isn't that cool. Pre-breathing.....UGH, 2 hours of breathing pure oxygen before each jump. Boring, you cant sleep, cant cross your legs, cant move..........
No black art really.
Doc.

 

Enlisted Active Army in '86 as a CH-47 Chinook mechanic/flight crew. After 6 years, I decided to try life forward of Sta. 95 and went to Flight School to be a pilot. Flew UH-1 "Hueys" for two years and then got back into Chinooks. And now I work as Maintenance Test Pilot with plans to retire in 2012.

 

64 Belvedere and Dudly, REASPECT guys! You Taxi drivers are great!!
Doc.

 

No worries. I do not get to talk to many paratroopers up here. All I usually get is weird looks... To all the helo pilots, your jumps were always the best!

 

Just an interesting fact. When so many have given thier lives for thier country..

According to the US Census Bureau of the 2.8 million Vietnam veterans who served in country Vietnam, there are 1,027,000 alive as of the 2000 census. It is interesting to note that another 15 million claim to be Vietnam veterans.

I would imagine this trend will continue with the current War.

Sad that so many seem to want to be us.
Jim

 

...loved it keep up the good work...

 

1983 thru 1997 SGT
3 yrs as a 64C (Transportation) 11 yrs as a 95B (Military Police)

spent time in
Ft Jackson S.C (Basic)
Ft Dix N.J (AIT)
Fulda Germany
El Paso Tx
Anniston Al (AIT)
Frankfort Germany
Ft Stewart Ga
Pusan Korea
Ft Stewart Ga

 

56 to 59 Stationed in Rapid city SD. 531st missile blt. NIKE MISSILE. Remember 1st sargent bought a brand new 57 chev with fuel ingection. i can still see him towing that car all over the Base trying to start it. Trouble was they didnt have a mechanic at the dealership that knew any thing about F.I. probley in the whole state. But when he got it started he would smoke the tires. I wonder how many F.I. units got swapped over to carbs back then. 8-Ball

 

The Cool Guy was drafted in Dec. 66 early out in Sep 68 after extending 60 days in Southeast asia,I don't know what I miss the most,women for a quarter or beer for fifteen cents. Made E-5 twice , Yeah it never was my fault though,at least that still is my story.

 

Illinois National Guard 96-02
never got activated, did get Air Assault

 

Got way too much respect for the Viet Nam vet to say I am one. I am a Viet Nam era vet, tho'. When we landed at Pusan Air Base in Korea, and I saw all the camo netting and Anti-aircraft weapons, I thought they had lied to us and sent us to 'Nam! I graduated high school June 11th '72 and belonged to Uncle Sam on 29JUN72. (Spent 5 years, 4 months and 21 days.) Went in as a snot-nosed kid, came out a responsible man. I definitely grew up in the Army. I wouldn't do it again for a million bucks, but I wouldn't take a million bucks for the experience. 63 G (Fuel & Electrical Systems Repair) Mostly worked in 3rd Shops, but actually worked in my MOS for the last 13 months. ETS'd out of Germany.

 

60-63....Sgt E5 Army Air Defense Command...Colo Spgs, Colo.....Weird times, cold war stuff, alerts, blacked out planes and living underground for a couple days not knowing if the deal was real until they called it off.