The Pershing Cable (Apr 1979)

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, ,

the

Pershing

able

6th Field Artillery Brigade

Vol.

15,

No. 4

April 1979

Sapportl•C Ille

I/fill, 1/llat,I/Nth

Field Artllet'let

IDd the

Z/tlb

lafantry

Shoot

•

VifOrth

all

the VifOrk

• •

5ft.

CllalOII Swrunerford I ear,ud Set. Mtc J1tl 'WUIIIIIUmoaltor tle DIIHIit CGHt IDSlde the battery CHtrol ctllterIea:,.

Pfc.

Joseph

Rendlu 1fr~m lefO, Spee. f Walter Kebl, Pvt. Z William Gu~e . Spee. CBeallie

Klq,

Pvt. I

Hector

i~ bump'

cable-s 111

from Wider

theHeel« l1111d1H I

ELI.

Spee. • ayde

Loac

ud

Slafl Set, Terry B0ldln1

llep

forward le

u111& 1

re1r).

Story

and

photos

by

Spec.

t PATRfCIA ZULLO

. . . I felt like I just had triplets,"

claimed

U .

Col.

Gerald

R . Lauzon. 1st Bat

talion, 41st Field Artillery. Although

he

was l i an excited first-

time

rather. Lau

r;on was actually the proud battalion com

mander

of

Charlie Battery, which

had

just

participated

in

a follow-on Operational

'rest (FOi'] at

Cape

Canaveral, Florida.

The

first

and

second firing platoons

from

Charlie

battery had returned

to

Flori

da in August wliere offi~ials from Pershing

Operational T

est

Unit ( POTU . from

USAREUR HQs in Heidelberg said the)'

considered

that

a/toot the

most

successrul

test

o( the Army's most powerful weapon

since before the Sequential Launch adapt.

er <SLA I was introduced.

The

day

the

POTU went to

the

t-41st FA

Field Alert Site ( FASI the first and second

platoons were on pad once again and were

tapped

for theirsecond FOT in six months.

Bell by Int

Following the recent FOT. C .Ballery

continues to hold lhe

motto

that was given

them from the August shoot, Best by

Test." Charlle

is

also the first Pershing

battery to participate in a

1979

FOT. Once

the Pershing soldiers completed the first

day

of

worl< in Florida,

they

were a lreaa)'

two

days

ahead of the schedule they he

ld

on the last a/toot. Several soldiers. attrib

W d

the

smooth

operat ion to lhe expertise

ol those Pershing crewmen who had at -

tended

the

previous shoot

and the coopera

·

lionof all the soldie

rs

workingtogether.

Most

of the men claimed they were

an ,

.

ious for the day of the firing because they

wanted to remain Best

by Test

.. but

knew they had

a

lot of work

ahead

or

them to prove it.

Several days involved working into the

late evening and

returning

the next morn

Ing as the sun was rising. Even for those

who had returned to Florida on lhe second

C Battery

shoot

some said it was just as

exciting" even though they knew how

much work it Involved.

With all

the

work.

Pfc

.

Tyrone

Hum

phrey said, You

earn

a

lot

. . . "

Pfc

.

Joseph

Rendina of

the

second pla·

toon said,

Alter

all

the

work we put Into

it,

we

were glad to see It go well."

Slloutiac

ud whlstllllg

Once the

tim

e arrived for the missiles to

be fired. the firing

crew

had

to

return to a

closed-in tunnel where they watched the

missile

Lift-off

from television monitors.

Staff Set

,

Pete Coleman, NCOIC of

the

fire

Oghting crew

who

was In the tunnel said

shouting. screaming and whistling echoed

throughout lhe tunnel as

each

missile went

olf.

The

shaking and rumbling caused by the

fU ing missile could be

felt

by lhe soldiers

as they stood inside the tunnel. Some m n

later claimed the noi.se outside was the re

alization

that

each missile

was

going even

though the television monitor

was 11,howing

It.

Pfc

. Michael Mc Jonald who was a mem-

ber of the fire-fighting crew and

was in th

e

tWlllel when the missiles were fired said,

It was well worth all the work

done

in the

last six months.

tSee

photos OD page lltree)



Spec. 4 Timollly Cope'I AN/TRC-8t rl bad bee9 IIP for elpt dayl IUI Ille power amp

- oat, • . d. Here 1 c•ec:ILI oot 1111 It-- «

wlalle

••alliacrepairs.

C<,pe, wh

Is• Truk-80

leam

c•ld

for Bravo, I/MIii

FA, i i rom

HllllliDC'oa Btacla,C.W.

I PbGCoby SlaffSgt. Locas HDtlo•I

Spec.

4 Gregory Davis of

Plloe•lx,

Arb.,

chtclls 11111

llis Azim•t•

RtferHCe

Ullit tARU)

at A S-84111 FA'I

WlNTEX

field location. Be.IndDlvblt 51t. J1mi,s Lewil of OceHClt y,

.Md.,wllo i i an asslllaDt chiefol sec:tlon ID Bravo•, 24 plltooa.

I

PIiato

by Slaff5lt.

LocasHuUOIIf

Spec:. 4 Raller1 W. Strode lits ID a pan ack • lle HHB l-81st FA perimet

HHB IIOldltr

Pfc

. Mollmn M. Telo, bailt Ille 11111:eslllft l l ldtff te iwovkle

pro

Illeelemtllh. 1

Plloco by

Pvt. ZCbrlstop

WINTEX 7

Late winter rains turned Pershing s field

tions into on .ocean ofmud, molcing move

nd living conditions

o

real challenge. P

on these p ges show Pershing soldier

work in the woods.

Sllff Set. Oerlld Divis oper11ts the field pl,ooe swllc.'Mooud d11riag

WJNTEX.

0.v

platoo•

sergeamt.

1

Plaoto

Page 4

Pershing Cable



I

.

Who

say

s

paptr

pushers

caa t

10 tacllcal? TheM I

tlst

S.I admlll type,

doa11ed

their

masks

and web

gear and

gaUantly

marched

down Ille

daqero11s

dirt

u 1ravel

roads

of the battalion WINTEX. field slte. No one complainecl, ucept for

eae spedalbl

5

who

wanted to lie

down and pretend ie

b8dn t

go

tten

his

mask oa la

time.

From

eft to rlg~t

118

I/Shi FA commo

Cbrlstopber D. Eslesl

SCI,

James Lewis

of Ocean City,

Md. p1y1

elo1e altetllloa•• 111

platooa counts a missile. Lewis Is

u

asslstut cbld l leCti.D la

the

2d PlalA c,11, A /114111 FA.

· 1Pboto

by Slaff

SergealllLonaHulloa)

.-e

Spec.

5 Ooaald MlUer, S aff

SCt,

Oaalel

Tomaalo,

ea,..

Zivush Spec. 5

Ronnie

w.

Dlcbnoa ,

Spec. 4

Severiaao

Sola aad

PFC Mark J.

Voss. Behind Voss and

gamig

at

llestars on this

br ipt u d

a1111y day

t

Spec. 5

Cbrles

R. Banoo.

t Pllotoby Pvt. z CluiaopberD.

Estes>

Pvt.

2 Oeu Sbtrmaa

of

CoalesvWe,

Pa., truules

wttll

a camoafla,e spreader Sherman

Is

a Penlwre missile

crewman ta

the 2d platoonolA

3/84111

FA.

tPlultoby

Staff

Sgt.

ucas

Hatton)

•rll 1979

Pershing Cable

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The Pershing Cable (Apr 1979)

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The Pershing Cable (Apr 1979)