early-80's armor field ops

[msgjd]

M48A5! Thought most of those went to National Guard units….

At this time it has been confirmed that two active-duty armor battalions in Korea with the 2nd ID received M48A5's. They were the 1st and 2nd Bn's of the 72nd Armor.. Likely there were others sent to active duty units in europe and the middle-east as well.. I have made acquaintance with Andy O. who did 5 tours and 6 years in Korea and elsewhere, 1978-1995 ... He stated the Army sent more than a hundred M48A5's to the two well-worn M60A1 tank battalions in Korea in the fall of 1979... This allowed TACOM to receive more than 100 additional M60A1 hulls for rebuild/conversion to M60A3... As a crew member, Andy stated the M48A5's were every bit as good as the M60A1's they previously had... He indicated 72nd Armor was Active Duty at Camp Casey, Korea.. He claimed the M48A5's served in Korea under the 2d Infantry Division banner from the Fall of 1979 thru the Summer of 1984... They were slowly replaced as "new" M60A3's arrived.. I found this info interesting. If you visit the M48 group on FB, you will see many interesting shots of the A5's in all kinds of weather and field conditions, in Korea, middle-east, and elsewhere, doing what they were built to do

 

[Guyfang]

We had M48's here in Germany, and the last one were bridge layers. The last two, left country, (I think they left, or that is what I was told) from Schweinfurt, 9th Engineer Battalion, about 2009 or 2010. I was working there as a contractor, when they moved the two M48's in maintenance bays. The DS2 contractors did enough to them to get the hulls to drive out, and onto the transporters.

 

[Guyfang]

We had M48's here in Germany, and the last one were bridge layers. The last two, left country, (I think they left, or that is what I was told) from Schweinfurt, 9th Engineer Battalion, about 2009 or 2010. I was working there as a contractor, when they moved the two M48's in maintenance bays. The DS2 contractors did enough to them to get the hulls to drive out, and onto the transporters.

 

[msgjd]

We had M48's here in Germany, and the last one were bridge layers.

Is that to say there definitely were M48A5's (not the AVLB's you mentioned) being fielded by active-duty armor units in Europe? Aside of active units, I recall several discussions in the early 1980s about what our state was going to do with the dozens of M48A5's our two Bn's allegedly kept serviceable/ready in W.Germany, in relation to the cost of keeping them "turn key," vs mothballing them, vs drawing from another unit whenever our crews went to train or participate in the Reforgers

 

[Guyfang]

They were M48 hulls, modified to AVLB's. I talked to the 9th Eng Bn maint. CWO and he said they were the last M48 AVLB's in Germany, and that they were being sent back to the states for disposal. The unit had just came back from a deployment, and was getting ready to move to Graf. The Germans used M48's much longer then The US. I know several people here who were in Panzer units.

 

[Guyfang]

Read this morning that we are giving M48 AVLB's to the Ukraine.

 

[silverstate55]

Read this morning that we are giving M48 AVLB's to the Ukraine.

GOOD!