Comments on: Gun Truck Kits

By: Tim Hammac

Tim Hammac — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 05:31:31 +0000

Hi, I was in the 8th Transportation Group in the Phu Tai Valley from Oct 68 till Oct 69. I saw the Big Kahuna everyday and the turrent you see up front is a 50 cal. It also had two 50 cal. (one on each side) plus two m-60 machine guns. I dont know why they are not in the picture, but I have pictures that definatley show the fifties. Maybe that was an earlier picture.The Big Kahuna was not a machine to be messed with. The guys in Nam expiermented with all types of gun trucks. Quad fifties, mini guns, and everything in between. I was a sergeant in the communications for the convoys. After reading some of the feedback, I thought I would e-mail you and tell how it was. Thanks

By: GeekLethal

GeekLethal — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:43:34 +0000

AW1 Tim,
Oh, yeah- Army’s real good at using up old crap. “Use until exhausted” was the directive printed on the bottom of any number of bullsh!t forms, and it extended across the service I daresay. Although I came to learn that it meant “use until it runs out”, not in the sense of “use until you’re tired of dealing with this bs”.

Give it to training units- I wasn’t issued a k-pot until I got to my first duty station in ‘90. And even then there were still a few M16A1s floating around the arms room, the officers still had .45s, and the vehicle crews had M3 grease guns. Hell, 3ID was still flying Cobras for that matter.

And you can also give stuff to friendly armies. No accident that Iraqis and others are wearing 6-color desert BDUs that we fielded for DS. We musta had warehouses full of ‘em.

Of course when stuff’s REALLY old and busted, the Army likes to give it to the Marine Corps.

By: AW1 Tim

AW1 Tim — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:41:39 +0000

GeekLethal,

Interesting. When I went through basic they showed us how to pull our chinstraps up and buckle them behind the helmet. We had full-auto selectors as well. We were wearing the standard Vietnam era uniforms with cammo helmet covers, although our nametapes, etc, were all black on OD then (1974).

FWIW, my son recently graduated from Benning’s School for Boys. They wore the new DCU’s and fritz helmets, BUT they had ALICE gear rather than the newer MOLLE stuff. I find that interesting, inthat the Army is trying to use up the leftover equipment before issuing the new stuff to recruit training commands.

The Army did the same thing in the Mormon war where they issued all the old-pattern uniforms to the troops assigned to Albert Sydney Johnston’s army to “use it up”. Thus you had infantry in dragoon jackets, artillery with wheel caps, etc. A colourful bunch.

After the ACW, they did the same thing. Although Custer’s men had the new 1872 carbines and revolvers, their saddles and tack & most of their accouterments were modified M1855 pattern gear, again, using it up rather than sell it off and buying new stuff.

You can see a pic of me at Fort Knox on the range at myspace.com/gwedd, along with pix of my navy days.

By: GeekLethal

GeekLethal — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:22:09 +0000

AW1 Tim,
You may be interested to know that that bit of wisdom -or lore- about the chinstrap on steel pots was still commonly shared as late as 1989. That’s when I did my basic training, and was issued a steel pot (and an M-16 with full auto, too!).

Cadre was having none of it, of course- go ahead and get caught without your chinstrap buckled. “Who are you, John Wayne?! Go on John Wayne, knock ‘em out!”

Good times.

By: Harley

Harley — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:53:53 +0000

I will have to ask my old man about Gun Trucks in ‘nam.
He drove Deuce /half’s during his tour, and got to see quite a bit.

By: AW1 Tim

AW1 Tim — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:14:39 +0000

Hawk,

Only thing missing is sandbags piled around the top hatch and gunner’s mount.

Drake reinforces a point in one of his Vietnam-set short stories (the one with the troop of 551’s and the flying saucer). Everyone who could rode on top, with all the hatches open whenever possible. That way, if a B-4 came flying in, they wouldn’t be inside if it went off, and the blast would be vented out the top.

Same reason you didn’t fasten your chinstrap on your steel pot under your chin,

Amazing what you remember……. :)

By: Hawk

Hawk — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:41:34 +0000

Two thumbs up for Dave Drake and the 11th ACR (er, Hammer’s Slammers)!

All the troops in the pic above need is either a Duster system, or Vulcan mounted on that M113 chassis …

You know, it’s funny … in 2001, they looked at me strangely when I was searching across the Army for ACAV conversion kits for my unit’s M113s (found a couple, though the M60 gun shields don’t fit M240s without some modification) and actually mounting ring mounts and .50 cals on our cargo trucks. What a difference a war makes …

By: AW1 Tim

AW1 Tim — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:01:31 +0000

Murdoc,

David Drake is one of my all time favorite authors. His “Hammer’s Slammers” books and short stories are outstanding. I also recommend anything by Bill Forstchen, especially his “Lost Regiment” series.

By: John F. MacMichael

John F. MacMichael — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:56:51 +0000

Phelps, I would agree that the gun truck shown above does remind me of one of Drake’s combat cars. However, Drake has written that the panzers and combat cars of Hammer’s Slammers are based on the M48 tanks and ACAVs (modified M113s) that were used by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment when he served with it in Vietnam in 1970. See Drake’s afterword to his Slammers novel “Counting the Cost”.

Murdoc, I would recommend David Drake’s work. Strong, page-turning stuff.

By: Heartless Libertarian

Heartless Libertarian — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:33:10 +0000

Two words: rollover drill.