vietnam question - Page 2

salvadore · January 2, 2013, 04:12 AM

Vito, Phu Bai is alright. Cus, do you know when and where that pic was taken? I go kicked off a loach once because between me and my ruck it was too heavy to fly. The fly low and slow to draw fire was what the bird dogs did too.

carguychris · January 2, 2013, 09:24 AM

Quote:

I don't recall Cimmaron offering an M1911A1 replica. They did offer (and maybe still do) an Armscor-made M1911 (WW1 style) replica.

Aquila, I stand corrected, and I found the source of my error.

A LGS has a Cimarron in stock that is prominently labeled "CIMARRON M1911A1" on the tag; however, I went there yesterday, and the pistol has the non-A1 flat mainspring housing and lacks the A1 frame reliefs around the trigger. IOW it's clearly a WWI replica and not an A1, but the shop labeled it incorrectly, and I didn't think to inspect it closely last time.

customaquatics · January 2, 2013, 01:29 PM

ya that pic was takin in either Hamburg or Frankfurt Germany he was part of a very large re-enforment that never got sent to Vietnam. an my gun i bought was!!!!!! Rock Island Armory 1911-A1 Parkerized 5" barrel for the grand total of.......$399 plus tax an that is a NIB at a gun store. he has a Nickel for $444.

hardhat harry · January 2, 2013, 01:34 PM

"FWIW - My dad was an anti-mortar radar operator '68-'69."

FWIW, It would be COUNTER-MORTAR RADAR. (Also refered to as COUNTER-BATTERY RADAR) The radar was capable of "back-tracking" the incoming round and compute the location of the mortar tube that fired it.

lockedcj7 · January 2, 2013, 08:17 PM

Right. Not sure where I got "anti" from. He described how it was done but it usually took 2-3 rounds to "fix" their position. By the time he called the fire base and got a fire mission the mortar crew had usually packed up and moved.

I was a 93B (aeroscout observer) and learned a little about calling for fire so I knew what he was talking about. I'd give anything to be able talk with him about it now.

To the OP: sorry for the hijack. Congrats on your purchase.

lamarw · January 2, 2013, 08:32 PM

You folks are really making me feel old when you say "MY Dad". LOL

We Nam Vets can not compare to the number of tours served by today's Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen. Thanks for your sacrifice to our Nation.

I find it hard to imagine four to five tours.

**Aguila Blanca** · January 2, 2013, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lamarw

We Nam Vets can not compare to the number of tours served by today's Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen. Thanks for your sacrifice to our Nation.

We also didn't have to contend with stop loss. At least in 1968, when I was in Vietnam, when a GI's year in country was up, he went home. PERIOD. If a soldier was in country one day beyond 365, it was A ... BIG ... DEAL.

I was attached to 4th Infantry Division HQ for awhile. Every once in awhile a unit's personnel NCO would show up at base camp with a name of a GI who had gotten lost in the system. Typically, what happened was a guy was wounded and medivacced either to a field hospital or, perhaps, even out of country. If the wound(s) was(were) serious, the unit dropped him from their roles and he was assigned to whatever medical facility he was being treated at. And every once in awhile, one of these guys would recover and get sent back to his unit, arriving just a few weeks (or even a few days) before his DEROS date.

The problem was that DEROS assignments had to be requested well in advance. If these guys were assigned to a medical facility at the time when their personnel NCO would normally have been submitting their name for a stateside assignment, no request was submitted, so no assignment was forthcoming.

For awhile we worked around that by calling a cooperative contact in some office in Saigon, but that was eventually stopped because the telephone lines were only supposed to be used for high priority calls of strategic importance. Sending a GI home so as to avoid a Congressional Inquiry wasn't sufficiently strategic. So we had to resort to Plan B: We'd scan the computer printout of reassignments, and find any assignments that had come through for guys of the same rank and MOS who had been KIA. Usually we'd find at least two or three, so we'd have the personnel NCO ask the soldier which of those locations he'd prefer.

As a product of that system, the very concept of stop loss is anathema to me. As long as stop loss exists, I would never recommend to anyone I cared about that they enlist, and I'm from a family in which almost every adult male has served in some war or another. (Heck, one cousin served in three wars. He was a pilot in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam.) A contract should be a contract.

lamarw · January 2, 2013, 10:46 PM

I had basically never heard of a computer back then.

**Aguila Blanca** · January 3, 2013, 06:31 PM

They weren't what we think of as computers today. They were mainframes. There were offices in various places around Vietnam that punched those cards that represented data. The printouts were those continuous, fan-fold paper, 11x17, with alternating lines colored white and green. We didn't have computers ... the printout materialized in Division HQ once a week. If I ever knew where it came from, I have long since forgotten.

lefteye · January 3, 2013, 07:40 PM

Fall of '69 to fall of '70 I was assigned to MI operations in and around Saigon, the Rung Sat Special Zone and (rarely) Tay Ninh. I generally wore civilian clothes and carried a Colt Detective Special .38, but I would carry a 1911 and an M16 when traveling longer distances or when in uniform with a combat unit in the RSSZ. Driving in or near Saigon I was likely to replace the M16 with a Winchester 97 with a short barrel (I 'd guess 20 to 22 inches). I don't know the manufacturer of my 1911 but I don't believe it was Parkerized. I know my .38 was not Parkerized. I have no idea how 1911 pistols were issued outside my unit, but I believe virtually every MP I saw was carrying one.

ch47gunner · January 3, 2013, 10:37 PM

I served in VietNam - I was a doorgunner with the 213th ASHC (BlackCats) from 12/2/1969 to 12/4/1970.
As helicopter crew we were offered a choice of either the Colt 1911A1 or S&W model 10. The Colts were beat-up pretty bad so most chose the M10, as I did. I never needed the side arm (thank you) but, wore it every day.
Also, as you can see from my RVN service dates, I was held-up between Long Bien, which had an overflow of people going home, and was flown to Cam Ranh Bay where I finally went home two days over my DEROS. Not one person (except me!) showed any concern that I had missed my "official" DEROS date.

Bruce

S&W Model 10-5 4"

January 2, 2013, 01:29 PM	#28
customaquatics Senior Member Join Date: March 13, 2011 Location: illinois Posts: 678	ya that pic was takin in either Hamburg or Frankfurt Germany he was part of a very large re-enforment that never got sent to Vietnam. an my gun i bought was!!!!!! Rock Island Armory 1911-A1 Parkerized 5" barrel for the grand total of.......$399 plus tax an that is a NIB at a gun store. he has a Nickel for $444. __________________ 23 year old NRA member AKaholic #158907 , 1942 Ex-Sniper Izzy Mosin Nagant, 1970's Marlin 30-30, Remington 870 tatical, Charter Arms The Pink Lady 38 Special.

January 2, 2013, 01:34 PM	#29
hardhat harry Senior Member Join Date: August 27, 2010 Location: I've moved... Posts: 233	"FWIW - My dad was an anti-mortar radar operator '68-'69." FWIW, It would be COUNTER-MORTAR RADAR. (Also refered to as COUNTER-BATTERY RADAR) The radar was capable of "back-tracking" the incoming round and compute the location of the mortar tube that fired it. __________________ "Let me live in my house by the side of the road and be a friend to man."

January 2, 2013, 08:17 PM	#30
lockedcj7 Senior Member Join Date: February 15, 2007 Posts: 1,215	Right. Not sure where I got "anti" from. He described how it was done but it usually took 2-3 rounds to "fix" their position. By the time he called the fire base and got a fire mission the mortar crew had usually packed up and moved. I was a 93B (aeroscout observer) and learned a little about calling for fire so I knew what he was talking about. I'd give anything to be able talk with him about it now. To the OP: sorry for the hijack. Congrats on your purchase. __________________ To a much greater extent than most mechanical devices, firearms are terribly unforgiving of any overconfidence, complacency or negligence.

January 3, 2013, 07:40 PM	#35
lefteye Senior Member Join Date: January 30, 2006 Posts: 1,433	Fall of '69 to fall of '70 I was assigned to MI operations in and around Saigon, the Rung Sat Special Zone and (rarely) Tay Ninh. I generally wore civilian clothes and carried a Colt Detective Special .38, but I would carry a 1911 and an M16 when traveling longer distances or when in uniform with a combat unit in the RSSZ. Driving in or near Saigon I was likely to replace the M16 with a Winchester 97 with a short barrel (I 'd guess 20 to 22 inches). I don't know the manufacturer of my 1911 but I don't believe it was Parkerized. I know my .38 was not Parkerized. I have no idea how 1911 pistols were issued outside my unit, but I believe virtually every MP I saw was carrying one. __________________ Vietnam Veteran ('69-'70) NRA Life Member RMEF Life Member

January 3, 2013, 10:37 PM	#36
ch47gunner Senior Member Join Date: May 28, 2007 Location: Santa Cruz, Ca. Posts: 204	I served in VietNam - I was a doorgunner with the 213th ASHC (BlackCats) from 12/2/1969 to 12/4/1970. As helicopter crew we were offered a choice of either the Colt 1911A1 or S&W model 10. The Colts were beat-up pretty bad so most chose the M10, as I did. I never needed the side arm (thank you) but, wore it every day. Also, as you can see from my RVN service dates, I was held-up between Long Bien, which had an overflow of people going home, and was flown to Cam Ranh Bay where I finally went home two days over my DEROS. Not one person (except me!) showed any concern that I had missed my "official" DEROS date. Bruce S&W Model 10-5 4" __________________ http://militarysignatures.com/signatures/member1197.png

January 2, 2013, 04:12 AM	#26
salvadore Junior member Join Date: January 1, 2007 Location: Idaho Posts: 2,282	Vito, Phu Bai is alright. Cus, do you know when and where that pic was taken? I go kicked off a loach once because between me and my ruck it was too heavy to fly. The fly low and slow to draw fire was what the bird dogs did too.

January 2, 2013, 08:32 PM	#31
lamarw Senior Member Join Date: April 12, 2010 Location: Lake Martin, AL Posts: 3,311	You folks are really making me feel old when you say "MY Dad". LOL We Nam Vets can not compare to the number of tours served by today's Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen. Thanks for your sacrifice to our Nation. I find it hard to imagine four to five tours.

January 2, 2013, 10:46 PM	#33
lamarw Senior Member Join Date: April 12, 2010 Location: Lake Martin, AL Posts: 3,311	I had basically never heard of a computer back then.

January 3, 2013, 06:31 PM	#34
Aguila Blanca Staff Join Date: September 25, 2008 Location: CONUS Posts: 18,468	They weren't what we think of as computers today. They were mainframes. There were offices in various places around Vietnam that punched those cards that represented data. The printouts were those continuous, fan-fold paper, 11x17, with alternating lines colored white and green. We didn't have computers ... the printout materialized in Division HQ once a week. If I ever knew where it came from, I have long since forgotten.