My son Jacari scanned one of the albums today. Here are some of the photos from my Dad's scrapbook:
Veteran of four wars, four enlistments, four branches: Air Force, Army, Army Reserve, Army National Guard. I am both an AF (Air Force) veteran and as Veteran AF (As Fuck)
Friday, February 5, 2016
Photos from My Father's 1st Command, Black Company World War 2
During the early months of World War 2, my father went to Officer Candidate School. Since he was very old in Army year, 36, his first command was in Pennsylvania, a Black Company at Camp Shenango near Erie, Pa.
My son Jacari scanned one of the albums today. Here are some of the photos from my Dad's scrapbook:
My son Jacari scanned one of the albums today. Here are some of the photos from my Dad's scrapbook:
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Tanker's Final Exam, Part 4, Moving Tank
We are now at Part 4 of Table VIII of 1976 tank gunnery at Fort Carson, Colorado.
The previous post described Engagements 3, 4 and 5 which occur at the same firing point. Now I will describe Engagement 6, the moving tank.
We practiced for this shot more than any other. In fact, I am sure we practiced more than any
crew in the battalion. Several times in
the weeks leading up to gunnery, I took my crew out in early evening after
everyone else left the motorpool and practiced sighting on moving targets.
Today, I am sure I would be busted to Private for the way we
practiced. We rolled out of the
motorpool up on a ridge that looked down on Interstate 25—the North-South
highway that passes the east side of Fort Carson.
From that ridge, the highway was about two miles away, much
farther that the distance to the range target.
But since the cars were going 60-70 mph, their speed relative to us was
good for practice tracking a moving target.
To get a good shot at a moving target, my gunner, Merc
Morris, had to practice steadily tracking the target. This took real skill and control. While my gunner tracked the target, I would
look through the range finder. After a
while he could keep the crosshair perfectly steady center of mass on a Chevy
Impala or a Ford Pinto.
Back to Table VIII.
As we moved along the trail on the tank gunnery range, I saw plywood
panel target moving right to left. I
called, “Driver Stop!” Then “Gunner,
SABOT, Moving Tank.” Pierce (Eugene
Pierce, my Loader) yelled “Up!” confirming the gun was loaded. He was so fast,
I barely finished the Fire Command before he had loaded the main gun. The range was about 1000 meters so it was
point and shoot with the solid-shot SABOT round. I handed the binoculars to Pierce so he could
track the shot from the top of the turret while I watched the round go down
range through the range finder. I was
looking for the flash of the tracer disappearing through a hole in the
target.
If I had any doubt Merc would get a first-round hit, I would
have been watching through the binoculars from the commander’s hatch, but I
knew Merc would get a first-round hit.
When Merc yelled “On the Way” I pushed my helmet against the range
finder and opened my eyes as wide as I could.
I didn’t see anything. Too much
dust. Pierce yelled “Hit!” dropped into
the turret, slammed another SABOT round into the breach of the main gun and
yelled “Up!” Merc fired again. I said, “Driver Move Out” quite sure there
were two new holes in the moving-tank target.
Next engagement was the M85 .50 cal. machine gun at 1200
meters.
This series started with seeing the movie "Fury" and wanting to be back in a tank turret. Then the first main-gun shot of Table VIII.
Monday, February 1, 2016
The Cold War Versus the Iraq War: The Mission Shapes Reality
From 1972 to 1984 on active duty and in the Army Reserve, I was
a Cold War soldier. My Mission, with a capital M, was to “Defend America
against the Soviet Union and her Warsaw Pact allies.”
In the military and in every organization, there is a “Big
M” Mission that the whole organization works toward and a “small m” mission for
individuals and units. During the Cold
War my Big M mission was clear. It began
with a verb: Defend. The enemy was
defined: Soviet forces and their allies.
Because the Big M was so well defined, the “Small m” mission
was equally clear: I trained my tank
crew to fight the invading forces of the Soviet Union. When I was stationed in Germany, we trained
to fight at Fulda, our alert area. When
I was in a reserve unit in the U.S., we had pre-positioned tanks in Baumholder,
Germany.
During all the time I served in the Cold War, I knew the
mission of the entire U.S. military and the mission of my tank. While on active duty, that tank was Bravo 13,
Company B, 1st Battalion, 70th Armor. Also, the rules of engagement were clear if
and when the war started—Kill Soviets until we win.
In 1984, I left the clearly defined world of the Cold War
Army and became a civilian. Twenty-three
years later, in 2007, I re-enlisted. I jumped into the murky water of our wars in the Middle East. I could not tell you now, nor could I tell
you in 2009 when I deployed to Iraq what the Big M mission of the U.S. Army was in that ill-fated war,
or it is now in the War in Afghanistan.
We defeated Saddam Hussein’s Army three weeks after the war
started in 2003. What were we doing
after that? “Winning hearts and minds”
is the phrase I remember most clearly.
Judging by the looks I got from the Iraqis I met in the local market or
working on our base, we did not win a lot of hearts and minds.
Even when the Big M mission is murky, the Small m mission
can be clear. I worked hard every day I
was in Iraq, whether it was in the motor pool or on the flight line or in an
office or flying across southern Iraq in a Blackhawk helicopter. But I never had the clarity of purpose that I
had as a Cold War tank commander.
And in retrospect, I see my Cold War
service as being more clear, more real than my service during the IraqWar.
When I finally leave the Army either in May of this year or
next year, I will look back on my service in the Cold War as having an edge of
reality that my service in Iraq never will.
It is also easy to make the case that we won the Cold War. By making the Soviets spend hard currency on
huge military, the regime went bankrupt.
We won the Cold War without actually firing a shot.
In Iraq, we fired a lot of shots, and a lot of people died, and
everybody lost.
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