Hawk Missiles

There seems to be some confusion about the  intro of Hawk missles. 

In April of 1959 my first permanent duty station was 29 Palms and my unit was 1st 75's AA batallion.  This was a radar guided 75mm anti aircraft weapon.  The problem was that in firing at a towed drone the radar would creep up the tow cable and if the operator didn't manually keep it cranked back the weapon would, eventually, fire at the tow plane.  read more

Sea Bee treatment of Marines in Vietnam .

I have to disagree that the Air Force treated Marine bad in the Nam.  Case in point , after 6 weeks in the A Shau Valley , and having no more than a GI Bath for that time , myself and others from ou platoon tried to enter the mess hall at the Sea Bee compund on Monkey Mountain and were told that we were to smelly and dirty to eat there.  We proceeded to travel don the mountain to the Da Nang Air Base , as we were told that they had great food at their mess hall , piped in music and air condtioning.  We walked right in , and were welcomed by the fly boys . However , we did have to sit in an area by ourselves , and none of the Airmen would come near us.    read more

Americans Unite

Sgt. Grit,   Several months before I came home from S. Vietnam, I sat down one day to relax for a while and ended up writing a poem.  It was a short and very insignificant poem to most people, but to my friends and me it meant a lot.  Maybe I wrote it because I believed in America and the good things we stood for in this world.  Maybe I wrote it because we in ‘Nam at the time were sick and tired hearing about the jackasses back home, the Fonda’s, and draft dodgers we were protecting.  It’s amazing we in the service are called on to protect the liberties and rights of even those who don’t particularly care for our nation.   In any case, this is what I wrote:   Americans Unite   The seventeen months I’ve spent in ‘Nam have been slow,  Soon I’ll be going home to a country I don’t know. Everything in it has changed, I’ve read, The day I arrive I soon will dread.   The riots are raging like full-scale war, Something I wish to see or hear no more. If we here are to stand and fight, Then the people at home must unite.   Communists and militants range far and wide, Ripping apart our country’s morale, beauty and pride. They must be stopped and put in full retreat, Both here on the front and our own city streets.   Wake up Americans and take a look around, You’ll see roving bands destroying your ground. Look around and see your nation’s plight, In hope that you too may then see the light.   The militants are no longer a mere pest, They are causing our nation discomfort and unrest. You must unite and form a common goal, And force them from your own front door.   They will then get the idea and stay away, ‘Cause they’ll know you patriots are there to stay. You then can be proud of yourself, ‘Cause your country was saved with your help.   Once again we’ll be strong not weak, Able to work a peaceful five-day week. No longer will our country be torn, And you’ll be proud you’re American born…   After I wrote this several guys in my outfit encouraged me to send it to my local paper as an editorial.  Most of the men in my outfit got sick and tired of hearing about the riots and the utterly worthless college students marching on campuses across the country who wouldn’t serve their country.  Those worthless, useless panty waste traitors need to pack their bags and leave our country for good.  We all felt like we didn’t need people in our nation who didn’t want to help defend it from aggression.  And just as bad were all the reporters, especially Walter Cronkite, who only reported the news in very liberal and left wing very biased reports.  Those reports were full of out and out lies, or at best half-truths, which they fed to the American public every night on the evening news.  Amazingly to this day, many people still think Walter Cronkite was a red-blooded American who really loved this nation.  If they looked back and really examined his newscasts, I think many would realize how far to the left he really was?   Sgt. John Bolton MOS 2533 -Hq 4/11 Headquarters Battery 4th Battalion, 11th Marines Vietnam – Oct 1967 – July 1969