the pershing cable (apr 1979)
TRANSCRIPT
8/17/2019 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)
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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
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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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