My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov. '76

[steelandcanvas]

Looking through a photo album today and saw these. I thought I would share them with the S/S Guys.

 

[CARNAC]

RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

Where was that??

Looks like 8th Infantry Division, 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery, Services Battery. Is that correct?

What town were they located in?

I was 8th ID, 5/68 Armor but many years after when you were there--88-90. Then went 3rd AD with 54 FSB.

 

[steelandcanvas]

RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

That was in Baumholder, West Germany. I was there from Dec. '75 to Mar. '77. I think the 3/16 FA is in Ft Hood now. It was an 8" Howitzer Battalion. This picture was taken down at the railhead, I was picking up "groceries" for the mess hall. You are truly amazing!

 

[CARNAC]

RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

Naw not me. Amazing was the fact I was in Germany during the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification.

Elliott Gould said it best in the movie 'A Bridge Too Far', "You ever been liberated?" American GI with plenty of dough, a shiny car, and got some time off to go play.

For the military side, I even have some nice pictures somewhere of BMP's and Hinds and Hips. Yep, I've had some exciting times. Gotta say I've been Livin' Large. 25th year high school reunion was this past year and I looked around the table at about 6 guys that served. Most of the rest hadn't even hardly been out of the town.

You, me, and all the others that served held the line. Germany was great back then.

Ramble, ramble, ramble.

 

[bulldog_mack13]

RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

The 3/16 is at Carson , i was in the same unit

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

Funny thing about high school reunions I was at my 30th back in 2002 and most of the guys I played football with were fat or burned out. I had to thank God I stayed Army. Running with the Soldiers has kept me in the fight.

Thanks for posting the shots I did time in Hiedelberg, Pirmisens, Manhiem, and Bremerhaven

 

[clinto]

Re: RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

Elliott Gould said it best in the movie 'A Bridge Too Far', "You ever been liberated?" American GI with plenty of dough, a shiny car, and got some time off to go play.

"I've been divorced twice, does that count?"

"Yes, i think it does."

 

[steelandcanvas]

Re: RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

The 3/16 is at Carson , i was in the same unit

Jay: The "Convincers" are at Carson? What type of Arty are they now? I think 8" SP Howitzer was retired.

 

[maddawg308]

RE: Re: RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

Yup. All 8" M110 howitzers have been retired, replaced with MLRS and the M109A6 Paladin. However, some M110s had their barrels removed and the barrels became the outer casing of the GBU-28 bunker buster bomb. So they soldiered on in some form.

That's a couple nice pics of a vintage deuce. I like the yellow bridge plate, too bad you don't see those often anymore....

 

[steelandcanvas]

Re: RE: Re: RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

Yup. All 8" M110 howitzers have been retired, replaced with MLRS and the M109A6 Paladin. However, some M110s had their barrels removed and the barrels became the outer casing of the GBU-28 bunker buster bomb. So they soldiered on in some form.

That's a couple nice pics of a vintage deuce. I like the yellow bridge plate, too bad you don't see those often anymore....

Thanks Mike for the compliment. My "Roomie" and I worked hard on our vehicles to keep them up. I believe him and I were the only two "School Trained Truck Drivers" in the Battalion. The 1SG used to call us down at the motorpool and tell us where Division had set up their vehicle spot checks. Mike Felt and I would grab a dispatch and jump in the trucks, and go get inspected. We always came out with 92% or better, the more we got inspected, the better our scores were. Of course this reflected kindly on the 'Ol Man, so he would send us to Garmisch for R&R about once a month, to thank us for a job well done. The competition was fun and gave us something to strive for. Those days bring back alot of fond memories, I wouldn't trade them for anything, and I wouldn't do it again if you put a gun to my head.

 

[bulldog_mack13]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

I was in Alpha Battery 3/16 FA , I also was in the 2nd Batt. 8th Infantry Div. , they all are under 4ID now. 3/16 and 2/8 and 1/8 are in 4 ID.

 

[bulldog_mack13]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

P.S. M109 Paladins - there motor pool is near gate 20 on the banana belt

 

[CARNAC]

One of mine from the 1st Gulf War with the MedChanics changing the pack. Got a several photos of this vehicle in about this state.

Kept having transmission problems and the vehicle wouldn't go over about 10mph. After going through about 6 transmissions and several engines, some old crusty Warrant Officer finally told us what the problem was. I recall there was some part that still wouldn't come with the transmission in a can. Problem was the part was non-stocked.

In the end, we found an Iraqi M113 blown over on it's side and we got the part (along with a bunch of other spares) off of it. About a month later, we got all new vehicles.

 

[Lifer]

Re: RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

Funny thing about high school reunions I was at my 30th back in 2002 and most of the guys I played football with were fat or burned out.

I attended my 45-year HS reunion a couple of years ago. My wife observed that "It's funny that all the guys in your class have gray hair but none of the women do. I wonder why that is? "

 

[steelandcanvas]

Re: RE: My assigned vehicle, Germany, Nov.

Funny thing about high school reunions I was at my 30th back in 2002 and most of the guys I played football with were fat or burned out.

I attended my 45-year HS reunion a couple of years ago. My wife observed that "It's funny that all the guys in your class have gray hair but none of the women do. I wonder why that is? "

Answer: That proves women give men gray hair!

 

[steelandcanvas]

In the end, we found an Iraqi M113 blown over on it's side and we got the part (along with a bunch of other spares) off of it. About a month later, we got all new vehicles.

Isn't that just typical? You should put on your other photos.

 

[bulldog_mack13]

The girl with the glasses looks like a real sweetheart

 

[steelandcanvas]

I'd like to keep this thread going for awhile if possible. Anybody else have pictures of their assigned vehicles, aircraft, equipment while they were in the Military? I'd like to see them!

 

[CARNAC]

I have over a 1000 photos from ODS. Most of it is blown up equipment. This was the only one I had scanned in of one of our command/operating room vehicles.

Bulldog, ref the girl with glasses. She was very nice but also very quiet. As you can tell, she wasn't scared of hard work. She was married to another guy in the unit but they were in the process of getting a divorce when the war broke out. Everything was fine (and she was quiet) unless you got them together without a referee.

The unit was about 60% female. Needless to say, we were quite popular with the line battalions. Overall they were a great unit.

Will try to find and scan some other photos of FRG, Bosnia, and Romania and elsewhere when I get a chance.

 

[jasonjc]

Here's one of me in Iraq with my helicopter and 2 from NTC