[Leon]

You ALWAYS turned any tire with a ring , ring down when inflating. Once one sees what a flying ring can/ will do is all it takes. Safer to work on tracks, lol.

You know that; I know that. But GI's, especially pre 1973 were always looking for the easy way out. After wrestling a new tire on and pounding on the safety ring, you were supposed to flip that heavy wheel over to inflate it. Or maybe there was a tire inflation cage in the motor pool, but that still required work and effort to roll it there.

 

[63H20]

During the summer in the early 60s my Dad ( timber manager)would take me with him to check logging operations. One time he showed me a 6”-8” tree that had been cut off Clean at the stump by ring on early rubber tired “ skidder” tire loosing a ring. Another time learned that a logger had been killed by a ring. Knew before went in the Army.

 

[curly1]

 

[Sapper740]

Army mess hall "Swiss steak" obviously was not soylent green. Only a few experienced army cooks could beat this beef(?) into sumission where it was something edible. Well, it might have been edible, but it was not chewable. We used to joke that the army would have saved a fortune by using "Swiss steak" to make truck tires* because they would never wear out.

*Nostalgia: pounding on a deuce & a half wheel with sledge hammers to break the bead of a tire that needed to be replaced. And of course, the ironically named safety ring that could kill a mechanic.

Ever replace the track pads on an M113?

 

[Pathfinder '65]

Never replaced a pad, but I was a TC on one that carried six nukes near the Fulda gap just after Kennedy was shot! We were ready to heat it up if the Russians moved.

 

[63H20]

IIRC the early issue MREs steak was called “ Track Pads” by guy I knew in the Army back then.

 

[Leon]

Never replaced a pad, but I was a TC on one that carried six nukes near the Fulda gap just after Kennedy was shot! We were ready to heat it up if the Russians moved.

October 1973: Egypt attacked across the Suez Canal; Israel counterattacks and crosses the canal into Egypt. Soviet Union announces intent to send paratroops to help Egypt. Tricky Dick Nixon raises DEFCON status.
At this time I was no longer the mess officer in a Pershing 1A missile battery but had moved to battalion HQ - Asst S3 training officer. I was also an EAO - emergency action officer - and when the duty NCO in the operations center got an alert standby, he rang a buzzer to get an "A" team member in to decode the message. I hot footed over to the ops center and got there first. The alert message for once was real, and not an exercise message. With the message decoded and authenticated, I hot footed it this time over to the battalion conference room where a commanders' meeting was going on. I burst into the room without knocking and announced that we were at a certain readiness state that, among other things, authorized load out and dispersal of our missiles WITH warheads.

The alert message part that authorized us to deploy was rescinded some hours later, but one of our sister battalions that had its storage sites closer to its barracks was already rolling. At the time of the alert we were way too busy to consider the implications of what we were doing. We had so many practice alerts that everything went like clock work. In fact, it was really impressive to see how fast and efficiently everybody worked when they knew this was for REAL and not another drill.

 

[Pathfinder '65]

Yep, I think of all the times that there was a chance of a Tac nuke "OOPISIE"! Supposedly they are all gone now since the '72 SALT .

 

[Leon]

Yep, I think of all the times that there was a chance of a Tac nuke "OOPISIE"! Supposedly they are all gone now since the '72 SALT .

Nuke capable units like the Pershing 1A battalions were inspected and tested to extremes. I mentioned I was the S3 training officer. It was nigh impossible for me to plan and schedule routine things like rifle range firing and other activities that required coordination because we were constantly interrupted by alerts and unannounced evaluations.
All assigned personnel were under the Nuclear Surety program, which also made it easier to get rid of the problem children. All warhead operations were under "2-man control" at all times, and everything was done by the book. For example, during war heading operations - attaching or removing a warhead from the missile - there was always a "cantor" reading from the tech manual. He would call out a procedure, the crew would repeat the call, carry it out, and confirm its completion.

 

[milprileb]

Leon and Pathfinder...you got no "I was there" bragging rights on nukes or tracks. When you strap on a SADM nuke and free fall with oxygen at night out of the ass end of a C130 at 18,500 AGL,, you all can lay big woof at me. Until then AMF, and by the way this crap was no fun at all to do and it was not voluntary duty either.

 

[Pathfinder '65]

OK Milprileb, not that, but I have made night jumps out of C-130's but will admit that the only thing that I had between my legs (besides Airborne balls) at the time was parts of a Davy Crockett, including a training warhead. in the 82nd Abn. The round in its lightweight backpack hooked onto the same 'D' rings for the reserve chute. You dropped it on a 15' line before landing.

 

[John A. Larsen]

Spent 5 years on a SADM Team, only Static Line Jumps, but we were also a Scuba Team (before named Combat Divers) so swam the SADM, as well as Winter Warfare at -40 C/F and jumping into German with a Training Device on Flintlocks. None of those NSI's or checks by the DNA were fun. John

 

[Leon]

...None of those NSI's or checks by the DNA were fun. John

AMEN! The nuke business in the army was a hemorrhoid for sure. While I commiserate with "Milprileb" all of us in this business had to put up, on a day by day basis, with what is indescribable for anyone not "blessed" with the same experience.

To all of you old nuke guys: my salute!

 

[Adler1944]

Yeah, the ham and green things -- not so good. But, choke it down and forget about. The pound cake was definitely filling, it just sat there in the gut like a boat anchor and dissolved in about two days. Yeesh. The best was the turkey loaf IMHO. The tiny pack of cigarettes was a bummer, they never put a pack of pipe tobacco in the rats. The most seen cigarette I found in C rats was Lucky Strike but a Chesterfield was found once.

 

[Leon]

...The tiny pack of cigarettes was a bummer, they never put a pack of pipe tobacco in the rats. The most seen cigarette I found in C rats was Lucky Strike but a Chesterfield was found once.

There was supposed to be some pipe tobacco in the sundries pack, which was a unit, i.e. company issue item every 30 days or so. It was mentioned in the mess officer school i was sent to in 1971, but I never saw one.