I chose Armor branch in the main because of the large number of positive Armor role models on the Academy faculty. As I was also volunteering for a Vietnam assignment – 3-4 Cav, 25th Inf Division – I also chose the required six to eight-month detail in a like unit to get some experience before being thrown into combat. So, I wound up first in the 3-1 Cav, 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood, TX.
Looking back choosing the hot, dry Texas desert full of rattlesnakes to train for combat in a triple canopy tropical jungle full of cobras should not have earned me a passing grade on any rational geography quiz.
My Fort Hood assignment situation may help to understand some of the context we faced at that time. With respect to my armored Cav platoon, I was extremely fortunate. It was pretty much at full strength and most of the vehicles could move, shoot, and communicate. One downside was that four of those vehicles were M114’s – probably the most worthless piece of crap I ever had to try to work with.
Those so-called scout vehicles had problems moving in mud, had runaway electrical turrets that cost literally days of training time due to constantly needing repairs and to causing rib injuries to the crew.
Fortunately, I had great soldiers – literally, the best in the Division. For those not knowing about armored cavalry platoons, we were arguably the smallest combined arms team in the Army. At the Division level, my Sheridan section (3 vehicles) won the Sheridan tank gunnery qualification competition, my scout squad won that competition by a wide margin, my infantry squad got the only perfect score in the infantry squad attack course, and my mortar track tied for high score in the mortar crew annual qualification firing exercise. Those results were all due to having an experienced NCO leadership team that included a fiery old corps E-7 Irish platoon sergeant with more than 15 years’ service. I literally got a master’s degree in small unit military leadership working with him. To distinguish this situation from what was to come later – my equally excellent platoon sergeant in Vietnam was one year younger than me (having spent some time at both Lehigh University and Penn State before getting my USMA appointment my high school graduation year was two years ahead of many of my classmates); was on his third tour there; and got his 7th, 8th, and 9th Purple Hearts while we served together (you can decide if you think that made me a good or bad platoon leader).
One more story will also reinforce my satisfaction at being in the Cav. At the end of one training exercise, our Squadron Commander had just left the tank gunnery range we had been on for three days of firing when we got an idea. At a range of slightly more than 2 miles (3340 meters on the range finder) were a few Armored Personnel Carrier hulls that were used primarily for tank Sabot gunnery. Since we had already notified Range Control we would be closing down shortly, I got on the radio to ask the Squadron Commander for permission to try hitting one of the far targets with one of our missiles (costing $3000 each). His reply as I remember it was that we had already notified Range Control we were leaving, it was getting dusk, visibility was not the best…and that he bet us a case of beer we could not hit one. The crew and I sprinted to the firing line, raced through the firing checks, carefully laid the gun tube from low to target, and fired. After tracking the missile to the selected target, we jumped in two jeeps and raced down range to check the result. When too many holes would not let us visually identify our point impact, I waved my hand several inches over each hole in the target until I found the one that was still hot – and it was only 18 inches from dead center of mass. I relayed the results to the Squadron Commander immediately. To his credit, his driver dropped off a case of Michelob at our orderly room at noon the following day. The entire Sheridan section shared in the spoils. It was a good day to be in the Cav.
One more story is required to set the stage for my tour in Vietnam. For those of my classmates wondering why they could not get a date with Jane Fonda on that Memorial Day in 1970 when we were still 2nd Lieutenants, it was because she was with me at Fort Hood…eat your hearts out. My platoon was on riot control duty that weekend having been through training that included bayonet drills and weapons qualifications. We were all lounging in the day room when the call came in to report to the Killeen Gate at Fort Hood to repel protestors. When we got there, we jumped off our trucks to form up behind a single thin line of some two dozen MPs who were blocking the gate from Ms. Fonda and a couple hundred of her closest friends along with their usual TV camera crews. The MPs in the back line saw us forming up and seemed a bit relieved that reinforcements had arrived.
That’s when the fun started. We were in roughly four columns of ten with NCO’s at the rear, me at the front. We had our M14 rifles, gas masks, and bayonets. Live ammo was only issued to NCO’s, the designated sniper, and me. As the visiting group engaged in anti-Vietnam and anti-military rhetoric my platoon got swept up in the joy of the holiday. I started hearing urgent requests coming from behind me in the ranks: “Hey sir – can you move to the left? I can’t see her tits!” followed by “Hey, sir – when you’re done with her could you pass her back?” I turned around, called them all from at ease to attention, and then pointed out to them that the TV cameras accompanying the protestors also had microphones, so we would all wind up being in trouble depending on who heard what. That just brought out a round of giggles from most of them, including some of the NCOs. Never have had a problem telling friends and family this story when asked if our soldiers have great senses of humor. But they did quiet down. Then one of the protestors using a bullhorn shouted: “We demand the right to lower that flag (the large holiday flag on the post flagpole just inside the gate and to our immediate right) and burn it in protest!” Don’t honestly remember what I thought, then, but believe the current vernacular for my reaction would be “WTF?”. I spun quickly to face my platoon, called them to attention, then followed with the commands: “Fix…bayonets! Sniper, one magazine lock and load!” I looked over my shoulder and saw most of that back line of MPs had clearly heard my commands and were now looking over their shoulders at me with eyes opening ever wider. I then instructed in a very loud voice: “Make all bayonet thrusts below the waist! Above the waist use the vertical butt stroke series. Sniper – aim below the waist. But nobody – and I mean nobody – reaches that flagpole. Is that clear?” The aggressiveness of the replied chorus “Yes, Sir!” let me know comfortably that giggle time was over and executing our mission was not in doubt. The Sheriff showed up just then, telling their crowd to clear his street since they did not have a parade permit. They disbanded and we returned to our barracks day room assembly location.
Later that afternoon, we watched the protesters on TV burn one of their own American flags in the high school football stadium. Our dayroom discussion then moved on to how we each felt about their right to burn their flag and how it felt to get ready to use bayonets and bullets against the citizens of the very country whose constitution we had sworn to uphold and defend. It was something of an existential experience. When asked by my sniper if I would have given him the order to shoot one of them, I told him only after I had shot the first one in the ass, leading by example. Here the mission was to protect the flag not to kill the “enemy”. Ms. Fonda’s protests would later inflict themselves again on my world in Vietnam when it was broadcast that she encouraged our soldiers to mutiny.
Thanks for sharing! But the M114 did look cool in the Motor Pool!
Sounds like personnel situation at Ft Hood was a heck of a lot better than what we found in Germany back then.
Pete
Found the staffing situation in Germany after Vietnam just as you describe – hollowed out and lacking discipline. Tank battalions in the 8th ID were lucky to get half their tracks to move out on alerts.
Bill
Bill, thanks for this tribute to Memorial Day 1970. I had an uneventful day flying two 105 mm howitzers by chinook from Ft Sill to Ft Chaffee AR where most of our battalion, the 4/28 FA was located for the summer for the post Memorial Day observance.
Well done, Bill. I’m surprised we hadn’t heard that story before after only 51 years.
Probably a good thing shots were not fired for “both sides”. Here in Akron, Ohio (by Kent State University where 4 students killed in May 1970 Nam protests), this past 50th Anniversary, just a few weeks ago, of student deaths was a big thing in the Akron Beacon Journal. The Ohio National Guard was vilified and I wrote a letter to the editor saying they should have had at least one page in honor of Ohio boys/men (and KSU grads) killed in Vietnam, since the 4 pages of coverage for the 4 students was their only focus. They did not print it or answer me. Anyways, pop it up Bill, nice story. Gary Eiber 1969 USMA E4 like Bill
Gary
Thanks for the comments. Agree with your letter to the editor even if it was ignored!
Bill
Great story Bill! My wife & I especially liked your description of the soldiers’ comments regarding the value of Jane Fonda.
My most memorable Memorial Day was when I was IN Vietnam during the Easter Offensive of 72 (known to the Vietnamese as the Nguyen Hue Campaign). I and my advisory team were entertaining several hundred of our closest acquaintances from the 33rd NVA Regiment, the 274th Main Force VC Regiment & D445 Local Force VC Battalion, who were moving through our wire to give us a barbecue. But that’s a story for another day.
Bill – I’m surprised your personnel and equipment situations at Fort Hood were so much better than what I found then with the 3/7 Cav (Gary Owen), the 3rd Infantry Division’s cav squadron, in Schweinfurt. We were at about 50% strength, with E-7 1Sgts, 1LT troop commanders, and very many short-timer draftees who had served in Vietnam, hated Germany and the Army, and were impatiently awaiting their ETS. Article 15s and Chapter 13 discharges took up much of our bandwidth. Our unit deadline report ran to two pages; most of our vehicles could not have functioned in combat. We were told we enjoyed the Army’s #2 priority, right behind Vietnam, because we were manning the Frontier of Freedom which could become its own war any moment. That seemed logical, and we believed it. Evidently it was not true. Those were hard times in USAREUR. Thanks for an excellent story, well written.
Thanks, Bill, great story!
Years ago I received a car bumper sticker from classmate John Lucas; I still have it. It says, “I will forgive Jane Fonda when the Jews forgive Hitler.”
Once, when I was in Germany in 1973, the infantry battalion had an alert called, to evaluate our ability to get the vehicles and personnel to the local train station (Goeppingen) in a timely manner. Afterward, the battalion CO had a meeting with all the officers, to review performances.
When he got to the Combat Support Company Commander, the CO really lit in to him. Only a fraction of his vehicles even left the motor pool. That obviously reflected poor maintenance procedures, and ineffective supervision by the officers. They should be ashamed of themselves. The CSC CO raised his hand a few times to interject, but the Bn CO, wagged his finger, implying, “I’m not through with you, yet”!
Finally, after venting all his rage, the Bn CO calmed down, and asked the CSC CO what he could possibly say in his defense. He calmly informed the Bn CO that, in fact, all of his vehicles were combat ready. But, reflecting the quality of people entering the Army at that point, there were only a fraction of the soldiers in his outfit whose intelligence scores were high enough to even qualify to be issued a driver’s license.
The Bn CO dropped his jaw, and profusely apologized to the CSC CO. We all left that meeting with an appreciation of our challenges ahead, with that quality of people entering the Army.
John
Can identify with what your experienced. Had some tank crew members who we had to drill over and over just to get fire commands down – not only low performers on the intelligence tests but also for whom English was not their first language…but fortunately for the most part they were good soldiers and hard workers. Some of our loaders we trained using flash cards the way my mother used to teach me multiplication tables in kindergarten, decks of which they then kept in their pockets until needed (including during gunnery qualification runs).
Regareds,
Bill
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your entire, well-written story illustrating your effective and superb leadership. I, for one, having had both outstanding and terrible platoon sergeants, know that you were blessed with a great platoon sergeant, who undoubtedly contributed to forging you into an excellent leader of men.
While you were protecting our flag on Memorial Day 1970, I was getting married at the USMA Catholic Chapel. I then departed for Vietnam the day after returning from my Honeymoon!
The Sheridan was a disappointment. I was in the 14th ACR in Fulda when the cav troops replaced their M60’s with Sheridan’s. The tank company kept the M60’s. Since we were on the border we were at 100% strength and had a daily helicopter parts run from Kaiserslatern, so our maintenance was also top priority. On our first trip to Graf for gunnery, we used only conventional rounds until table 8. The Sheridan was thrown back about 16” when it fired a conventional round. Consequently, when we went to table 8, each Sheridan went to a semi-trailer van where a group of techs in white smocks realigned the guidance system before firing the one live missile permitted each year. I do not know the actual cost of a missile, but the figure we used was $180,000. It took a three star to authorize a second missile for a crew under special circumstances.
Bill–
When I was in AOT with the 4-20th Mech Inf, out in the field [jungle] our CO’s M-114 kept getting hung up and stuck. We used one of the 106 RR jeeps from my weapons platoon to pull him out every time. An M-151 to pull out a track!
During my twelve months in 1-17th Cav / 82nd Abn Div, before I could enter flight school, Jane Fonda came to Fayetteville four times. She always stayed downtown, leading protests in the park off Rowan Street.
— guy
Great story, Bill….that was an uneventful Memorial Day for me as I was with the folks down Maine before heading for the 173d Airborne 5 June 1970….1 year to the day after graduation…stay safe and healthy out there…Rick