MY FRIEND, AFTER A FEW BEERS, TELLS ABOUT BEINGS A GRUNT IN NAM. HE WAS 4thID IN HIGHLANDS ON PATROL WHEN THEY MET A MARINE PATROL. THE MARINES HAD THEM SURROUNDED BEFORE THEY WERE THERE. THE MARINES HAD OLD WWII WEB GEAR AND THE ARMY NEW LIGHTWEIGHT NYLON. THEY SPENT THE NIGHT TOGETHER. MARINES NO ALLOWED TO HAVE GRENADES SO ARMY TRADED GRENADES FOR THE GOOD C-RATIONS. MARINES PUT OUT LISTENING POSTS 500 METERS FROM BASE WHILE ARMY NORMALLY 100 METERS. MARINES DUG IN BEFORE DARK AND THEN MOVED ABOUT 50 METERS AFTER DARK. THEY HAD TWICE AS MANY M60s AS AN ARMY PATROL. OVERALL HE WAS IMPRESSED WITH THE MARINES.
Army meets marine patrol
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
Joined
·
2,051 Posts
IIRC in 1942? some Marine raiders equipped with both Johnsons met some 1st SSF on a train on the east coast? 1st SSF had RDX, Marines had Johnson LMG's....trade was made....... the 1st SSF got their Johnson LMG's and the Raiders got RDX....
Marines we met in RVN had older equipment and vehicles....believe they completely "use up" everything..not a bad thing.
Marines we met in RVN had older equipment and vehicles....believe they completely "use up" everything..not a bad thing.
My assignment to the Marine Corps began in a similar manner. After the Army finished testing and purchased the Bradley, I was an Armor Company Commander (A grunt in a tank???) and the Marine Corps had all these LAV Pirhanas. I don't know the details of how this came about, but it did. The USMC decided that the 2nd Bn, 3rd MAB, FMF (Raider) would become the 2nd LAV Bn, 3rd MAB, FMF (Raider).
They took these wheeled 25-tonners with 2 large propellers on their butts and turned the Batt into a quick-reaction/raiding battalion. I saw the USMC in it's finest form, when on about the 4th or 5th day of the final FTX for evaluation, I started reading hits on my tank's MILES computer that finally registered as a kill. Knowing there was nothing the Corps had in those LAV's that would knock-out an M60a2 w/RISE pack in a hard kill, I started looking around with my rangefinder. Approximately 3500m away, I spotted an LAV with a Marine standing on the roof, waving at me like he was trying to get me to "land" near him. Later, I found out that they had rigged a 20 or 30mm Gattling Gun (Vulcan?) onto the turret and were firing it like a Swedish S-Tank. (By turning the entire vehicle for windage adjustment.) That was why it had taken so long to register a kill. They had a trailer behind the LAV to haul ammo and the extra batteries required to fire that monster of a gun and were just tickled to tears that they had finally gotten a kill on Col Mikhail Anatolyovic Ivanyakinov (me). It was a wonderful adaptation and earned a place of significant memory with me.
The Batt told me that their motto was "Adapt and overcome!" NO S**T!
So, Here's to the Corps! May they ALWAYS be Faithful! I believe that they always will be! No matter what hand-me-downs are given!
They took these wheeled 25-tonners with 2 large propellers on their butts and turned the Batt into a quick-reaction/raiding battalion. I saw the USMC in it's finest form, when on about the 4th or 5th day of the final FTX for evaluation, I started reading hits on my tank's MILES computer that finally registered as a kill. Knowing there was nothing the Corps had in those LAV's that would knock-out an M60a2 w/RISE pack in a hard kill, I started looking around with my rangefinder. Approximately 3500m away, I spotted an LAV with a Marine standing on the roof, waving at me like he was trying to get me to "land" near him. Later, I found out that they had rigged a 20 or 30mm Gattling Gun (Vulcan?) onto the turret and were firing it like a Swedish S-Tank. (By turning the entire vehicle for windage adjustment.) That was why it had taken so long to register a kill. They had a trailer behind the LAV to haul ammo and the extra batteries required to fire that monster of a gun and were just tickled to tears that they had finally gotten a kill on Col Mikhail Anatolyovic Ivanyakinov (me). It was a wonderful adaptation and earned a place of significant memory with me.
The Batt told me that their motto was "Adapt and overcome!" NO S**T!
So, Here's to the Corps! May they ALWAYS be Faithful! I believe that they always will be! No matter what hand-me-downs are given!
1 - 3 of 3 Posts
