1st How 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment

I arrived in Vietnam in April of 1967, after Armor School at Fort Knox, where I learned almost everything there was to know about M60 Tank Maintenance. Ri-i-i-ght.

I entered the Army as a vehicle mechanic, and  to this point I got what I had bargained for. Basic at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, (Although they tried to divert me by offering me OCS), AIT Wheel School at Ft Huachuca, Arizona, (They promised the top 10% would go to Track School, we did), Track School at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, (They promised the top 10% would go to Germany, OOPS. The top 10 went to Vietnam and the rest went to Germany and around the country.

I had every expectation of being assigned to a Tank Unit. A schoolmate from High School that just happened to go into the Army at the exact time and the same place, Boulder, Colorado, and was with me all the way through and even into country, also had the same expectation. He was assigned to 1st Squadron, but to Headquarters Troop and I went to 1HOW. Our paths might have crossed, I often wondered about that, but I never saw or heard from him again, he made it. I know that, because I talked to some of his close friends back home, but I was never able to make contact.

Anyhow, I began to learn the differences between a Tank and a Howitzer. One day a civilian came to the unit and wanted a volunteer to learn Turret Mechanics. John Lee and Myself were "selected"  for OJT on the Gun. This is how it began for me. John eventually returned to the vehicle maintenance group, although I never really left the group either. The C.O. wanted me to group with the battery, my duty station was to be with him at the X.O. post where all fire direction was conducted, This was for emergency response reasons, in case of a problem with a gun during a mission , But I made my rounds and performed preventive maintenance every day and after every fire mission, so he was ok with that. I can say that I can not remember a gun falling out of a fire mission, for any reason, (Except for the fire) but there were times when I was present and inside the turret, making adjustments, during a mission.

The guys that we replaced were the original bunch that came over from the States. They had been in Operation Cedar Falls in the Iron Triangle and in Operation Junction City 1 around Tay Ninh in war Zone "C", and were Veterans. Those guys set a standard that was, at times, hard to maintain. I got there in time to enjoy Operation Junction City 2.

The job of the Battery was not that of direct contact, but of support --- clear an area, or harassment to keep the opposing forces off balance. But many times we were called upon for direct close support for troops that needed assistance in the field, And of course, ourselves.

In the instances of close support, no one was idle, everyone participated, myself and others very often would fuse rounds or stack rounds for the crews.

The process for loading a gun would be to lower the tube to a level, horizontal position, place the projectile on a tray that folded down from the back  and seat the round into the breech chamber with a hydraulic ram attached to the tray, (The tube had rifling just like any normal gun),  then insert the powder, close the breach, insert the detonator, (which looked like a shotgun shell), raise the tube to elevation, attach the firing mechanism, which was attached to the lanyard, and pull the lanyard ( the powder was packed in a cloth bag that consisted of 6 to 7 smaller bags, inside each smaller bag was the powder, which looked like Rabbit Pellets.

There were two general types of  powder bags --- White Bag, that was more powerful, for longer ranges ( a number 6 White Bag would shoot a projectile up 10 miles, a number 3 green -- the lowest --- was for direct fire missions (Charlie was outside the perimeter. The fuse was then set for the proper explosion, i.e., an air burst or ground contact)).  The manufacture of the powder was scientifically controlled to get an exact explosive force, The X.O. would use geometry then, to determine the amount of powder and the elevation that would place the projectile on target. The placement was calculated and was different for each gun depending on its' position in the fire base, ( If you watch my video, you will notice survey stakes). The number of smaller bags and the elevation of the tube determined the range of the projectile.

This is the normal procedure for firing the projectile, and the rated firing rate was 4 to 5 rounds per minute. However, if you were to look at a loaders hand, you would find calluses on his knuckles. During a heavy fire mission, the loader could use a rod with a padded end, to seat the projectile into the seating ring of the breech, this was used when time did not allow for lowering the tube, and during a critical mission, you guessed it, the loader clinched his fist and seated the round by hand, because he did not want to take the time to pick up the ram rod, they could almost double the output and they had contests between the guns for the most rounds, and best accuracy, during the mission.

Most Harassment and Clearing Missions were shot by the numbers, on commands from  the X.O., however in a critical support mission the instructions were "Fire-At-Will".

1How was part of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, and no one could be more proud of the fact that I was part of the regiment.

We were there to support the Troops and Companies, in, and attached to, the 11th, and the units that the 11th was attached to. I have to say that it was no simple task. The Troops were always on the go, and as they moved --- we moved. Think of it like playing the game of leap frog.

I think that, after the first week or two in country, the Battery spent no more than a total of one month in our base camp, and then only for re-fit and re-supply. I can't remember ever staying any one place more than 10 days, generally we stayed for only 2 to 3, maybe 4 days in any one spot. Toward the end of my tour we probably only setup overnight.

We got mortared regularly, but never had a large force attack us. I attribute this to the fact that by the time a force of any significance could be formed against us --- we were gone. This is not to say that we didn't get attacked on convoy.

There is a well known football team that takes credit for the Run-And-Shoot Offence, I believe that it was invented by us in Vietnam.