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ANNEX 3-11 - 1967 Oral History

ANNEX 3-11

Note: This ANNEX is presented here, somewhat out of sequence (i.e., action took place in 1967) because the timing of the receipt of the information obviated inclusion in Book One and because its content too important to be lost to the readers of Marine Tanks and Ontos action in the Vietnam War.

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS HISTORY DIVISION

ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WRITTEN TRANSCRIPT

Interviewees’ Names:

Cpl Gary M Tefft #2093019, Tank Commander, 3rd Platoon, C Company, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st MarDiv Cpl Richard W Benzal #2115392, Tank Commander, 3rd Platoon, C Company, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st MarDiv Cpl Chester M Rayne #2130380, Tank Commander, 3rd Platoon, C Company 1st, Tank Battalion, 1st MarDiv Cpl Larry W Massey #2130921, Tank Commander, 3rd Platoon, C Company 1st, Tank Battalion 1st MarDiv

Date of Interview: 2 May 1967

Conflict: Vietnam

Military Unit: 3rd Platoon, Company C, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st MarDiv

Duties: Tank Commanders

Interviewer: MSgt Robert H Oliva #651559, USMC, Team Chief 1st Marine Division Historical Team

Length: 1:00:00

Location of Interview: CP Company C, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division, Quang Nam Province, DaNang TAOR, Republic of Vietnam

Individual Completing Summary: Aryn Willhite

Recording Format and Number of Recording: CD#918

Documents Submitted with Interview: None

Related Material: None

Classification: secret until downgraded by proper authority/Unclas

Transcription Priority: Note: The following is a verbatim transcript

Abstract: The experiences and observations of 4 Tank Commanders since their arrival in Vietnam. They discuss the tank capabilities and importance of utilizing tanks within infantry units on operations; the importance of formal school training prior to assignment in Vietnam along with many challenges tank commanders are confronted when operating tanks in the 1st Marine Division Tactical Area of Responsibility (TAOR).

Key Words: AmTrac, ONTOS, Operations STARLITE & STONE, ammunition, willy peter, terrain, Operation TETON, Operation HUMBOLDT, Mike Boat (LCM)

03:08-05:25 My name is Cpl Gary Tefft #2093019, I was asked to talk about tanks during my tour of duty in Vietnam. I’ll start off around 18 Aug 1965 during Operation STARLITE, my tank was knocked out by 57 recoilless rifle. We came under fire shortly after landing on the beach. It was heavy growth and jungle in the beach area. We pushed inland about 5 miles and the terrain sort of flattened out. A lot of rice paddies, a lot of hedge rows and it was pretty difficult to see. We ran into an ambush as we went through a channelized area, the VC swung around behind us and they opened up with recoilless rifles all in a complete circle. We just had to get a 360 degree perimeter and stay there and fight. The most damage done to the tank from the 57 recoilless rifles was the ones hit from behind. The rounds from the front didn’t penetrate and did not hurt anyone. The ones that did the damage mostly to people and tanks was the suspension in the back of the tank. In this operation we had 10 tanks, when we came back we had two that were absolutely running with a full crew, the one gun tank and one flame tank. The others were towed back manned with other men. One tank was totally destroyed, we had to blow it up in place, and the reason was it was on fire and it had 90 rounds in it and they were afraid if they towed it in, the 90 rounds would go off. It was too hot to get inside, they packed it with C4 and blew it in place so the VC wouldn’t get any documents or valuable knowledge from this vehicle.

05:25-10:20

During my time here in Vietnam, I learned that tanks can operate better in the Da Nang area than they can in the Chu Lai area. The Chu Lai area is limited because of the mountain ranges and close to the ocean, Da Nang has wide areas to operate in, different types of terrain, sandy, rice paddies, swamps, jungle, hills, just about all kinds of terrain you can find in Da Nang.

As far as capability of the tank goes, there’s not much over here that stops it. Mostly there’s water, swamp, jungle, dry rice paddies and hills, the tanks can operate pretty good, not much stops them. Just the wet sand does stop the tank from operating.

As far as guns go on the tank, I think the .50 caliber should be mounted co-axle alongside the 90mm instead of the .50 in the cupola. In the cupola the .50 caliber does not function right. It doesn’t feed correctly, it doesn’t have the amount of rounds that needs to be mounted. The .30 caliber should be mounted on top outside for a quick reaction weapon because a lot of time the VC will jump out on the trail right in front of you and by the time you get the turret swung around and the gun ready to go it is too late. He got away. But with the. 30 caliber up top, all you got to do is grab it and start firing.

During my time here in Vietnam, I also saw that the VC did not bother the tanks very much. When the tanks surround the infantry they don’t shoot at the infantry as much. Because of the quick reaction of the tanks when they stop firing, the tank’s swing into action the 90mm is real accurate. When there’s sniper fire you shoot the 90mm you never hear from them again. There’s no more firing from that positions. The tank is fast, the mobility keeps the infantry from getting hit, it helps a great deal. I think without tanks the infantry would have more casualties than they do now.

It also seems to me that the VC is terrified of tanks. Anytime our infantry unit is getting hit and they call tanks the VC can hear the tanks coming and they seem to break contact and leave before we even get there. We can go out there and drive around, two tanks and no infantry and the VC don’t seem to bother us. The only time I’ve seen a VC bother any tanks is when they have anti-tank guns or when a tank hits a mine and that’s the only time we’ve seen them go after a tank.

I find also that a tank is very useful to the infantry. They use it for clearing mine areas and booby trap areas. Booby traps and personnel mines have no effect at all on a tank. The only mines that do bother a tank are heavy anti-tank mines and if it does hit a tank it usually blows off a track and breaks up the suspension a bit. A tank usually doesn’t have casualties when hitting a mine and no tank has been totally destroyed by a mine, an anti-tank mine that was hit.

Infantry also uses tanks for emergency med-evac. If someone is not really seriously wounded and going to die, they’ll call tanks to take them to the hospital. Daily routine here with tanks, we go with an infantry company and sweep or set in a blocking positions and then we’ll come in, resupply and refuel, go back out with another infantry company, sweep with them, possibly set with them all night move out early in the morning. Go with another infantry and start the same thing the following day.

10:24-20:52

My name is Cpl Richard W Benzal #2115392, Tank Commander, 3rd Platoon, C Company, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division. We left the States in Feb 1966, just one platoon leaving. (of C Company) We were the first ones leaving. We were going on a float with 4 tanks for a long period, about 3 months in the well deck of an LSD. We were given 10 minutes a day to let the engines run, like a car if you don’t run it can break down easily. We couldn’t run them much because of the fumes they give off in a confined area, but we did try to run them 10-15 minutes. After we got over here, I believe most of us found out it was not enough. On one tank the (fuel) injectors went out on it and a few others were messed up. It took a little time to get fixed. We did get to Chu Lai and off load off the ships. At Chu Lai we were attached to Alpha Company for little while. We were put on the airstrip, of course we didn’t do much but run out and guard. I can’t say I remember ever having a sniper fire at me or during the month I was in Chu Lai. We finally moved up to Da Nang in the middle of June (1966). We got up here and immediately turned to Operation LIBERTY to work with 2 or 3 different companies of infantry. We went through a lot of pine; something I didn’t think would happen in Vietnam. I’m sure a lot of people wish they had screens to keep the bugs out, they were a big pest. We ran back and forth in this area about 7 miles and didn’t really do much. Found out going through this heavy brush, like this pine, got caught in the tracks, getting on the sides of the hills, loose sand and backing up and slight turn, I know of one tank who came in and saw him backing up off a hill, we started to go down and he couldn’t go down because of the hill. He cut right instead of left and it threw a track. In the sand it’s a real problem with a track like that because the tank tends to throw off, there’s nothing solid for the tank to be on so it sinks up to the hull in the sand.

We were on Operation TETON in October or November. We had a 360 degree perimeter around the VC trapped in a village that they were trying to get out of, in that circumstance, two tanks were on the far side of the perimeter from myself. Many of the infantry walked up to the tanks and told the tank commander that if they didn’t have tanks the VC would have gotten through them. That night one tank fired 70% of their load. On our side we were getting sniper rounds, we were doing a little fire but not much. The infantry was find (?) but not much there either, then one night they told us to run up and down a road to see if we could draw fire and we drew a little bit. So there was one use of tanks being sent out to draw fire. Where it would be dangerous for infantry to intentionally draw fire where they could see where the enemy was firing from and we are safe inside the tank. This way we went out drew fire and they saw where they were firing from.

That is one good thing about how a tank can be used here, I’m not saying it’s the only thing but like med-evac. We do a lot of that, say someone is just shot in the leg then we’ll go out pick them up and bring them back to the area. Maybe a squad or platoon is pinned down; we’d go out to supply fire if needed or just supply fire. Let the infantry sweep, mount up, and take them back.

One night we were operating with one company and it was night, just before dusk, you could still see and usually you can pretty well figure that the VC are watching what you are doing. So the infantry Capt. decided we’d try to throw them off using the tanks so he put a platoon around the two tanks and we left with the idea we would go to the north about 3 to 5 miles then swing back around, it would be night so they couldn’t see the tanks. We would stop where they thought the infantry had gotten off the tanks. The idea was to go back to the Company and let the infantry off about 1000 meters outside the gates. We would have done it but we heard that another tank had hit a mind and, like I said, it was dusk and we went to the area we call the “Horseshoe” by 1/1 Battalion and we went over there and it was one of our tanks that hit the mine. They had one more tank with it and we had 2 tanks and we camped and set a perimeter around it. They had 4 people injured pretty badly and they were bringing in helicopters. Like I said, it was minor injuries that a tank would med-evac, it’s a pretty good ride but not like a helicopter would be. We had 4 tanks there maybe 5 when the helicopters did come, we did receive heavy fire from the VC. Usually anytime there’s a perimeter for the helicopter you can pretty much count on getting hit and be on your toes.

As I said earlier, I came over as a gunner, and we usually took a book in the turret compartment where we could say we fired 700 meters with HE, different HE like HE M71 or T91 something like that, what the range was, the amount of elevation, and deflection we had on the M31 periscope or telescope or whichever one we were using. We had a pretty good record going. A record of hits, firing on bunkers, across the river, on what the infantry wanted us to fire. We had this record and you could see what you did.

20:52-31:30

The infantry using the tanks, I’ve already said 2 or 3 things like helicopters setting up a perimeter for that, med-evac or trying to draw fire or fake ambush with dropping off troops in one area but not letting them off. Some more uses we used were on some sweeps, the VC planted a lot of punji stakes over a dyke and rather the infantry trying to get them, in case there maybe mines and other things, we just took the tanks, I think we had 3 tanks. We just ran down the punji stakes up and down the dyke and made it safe for the infantry to go through. A lot of times on a sweep we’d get hit, we could get over it fast or use the tank’s mobility. Really a much better weapon than an AmTrac or ONTOS because we can withstand the mines better. We’re always towing AmTrac or ONTOS back in from the field that have hit mines or get demolished. I’ve yet to see a tank over here hit a mine and get demolished. Separate a turret from the hull or something like that, we usually hit a mine and lose maybe 8 or 9 track blocks, 2 or 3 road wheel sections, arm support rollers and maybe bend a fender up if it isn’t too bad. We usually carry a spare track hooked up on the hand rail on the side of the tank and it comes in pretty handily. There was this one tank in the company carrying a spare road wheel on it which I thought was a pretty good idea. I think if one tank in each platoon carried a road wheel it would help a great deal where hitting mines is concerned.

The most recent operations I participated in was Operation STONE, we were working with, I think 2/4 and 2/1 it was crossing a river just south of 3/1 about 12 or 15 miles across a river south of Hoi An. We crossed the river here at Da Nang in a Mike boat, made a run down to 2/4 and where we spent the night got up at day break the next morning and went to do recon where we were going to cross the river. 2 tanks made it across the river then the Mike boat stopped short in a slightly different area than it had before, the Mike boat Commander said this was fine here and go ahead and get off. The tank went off and sunk, so that was a loss of a tank in the operation. We learned that someone should walk forward and make sure the ground will hold the tank. It took the rest of the day to get the Mike boat out from underneath the tank and the tank hauled up on the beach where they could get it back across the river. By that time the other two tanks had gone and put up a blocking position. By evening 2 more tanks got across the river, the next day the rest of the company got across and we started in on the operation.

That operation was a lot different terrain than what we were used to. Even though it was 15 miles, here we have mostly sand that soaks up the water well, it tends to be firmer. There is hard mud, jungle, vegetation, very thick, a lot of times you’d be running through it and come across holes that you couldn’t see, even 5 feet away from the tank. It was hard operating and good to a degree meaning the ground in most places you could run, get good speed. When you were going through the jungle, it was really thick, we were lucky we weren’t ambushed, which I thought they could place ambushes in the vegetation in the jungle and they could have done damage to us. As far as operating in this area, it couldn’t stop the tanks, we had some rough going but we can go over the trees, or through and push our way right on through the jungle vegetation which I wouldn’t expect an ONTOS to do, AmTrac, I don’t know it probably go through it but not much else.

The type of rounds we usually fire and use over here, the main ones would be HE round with a tracer, T91 is what we’re getting now. It’s a slow round but pretty effective. We’ve got good range on it when we’re firing across a rice paddy it could be 1500 meters to 4000 meters. The longest I’ve fired it over here was 2200 meters I believe. We carry HE rounds mostly, usually 20-25 round canisters, canister type round that separates as soon as it leave the gun turret. I believe it’s got about 1500 pellets in it, it is a very effect round over here in close firing. After about 200-250 meters it usually isn’t effective but like at night when you can’t really see anything you’ve got the sniper fire in front of you and undergrowth. You can get rid of some canister and it really quiets things down. I don’t know if it kills them, I’d imagine. We’d get kills here that we don’t know or think about and then we have 8 rounds of willy peter one in each tank, which we don’t use very much but when we do have the occasion to use it , it’s a pretty good round and I believe most everyone enjoys firing it. At night, say when you need to mark a target and daytime anytime with the jets coming for a drop, we can mark it with a willy peter round which gives off all the white smoke and then they have a mark for their target. That’s one good thing about the willy peter; marks real well. It’s very effective when you can’t bring a flame in or maybe it’s too much trouble to bring in a flame tank or maybe they want it done too fast, you fire a willy peter into the area and get a pretty good effect on these straw houses they have. They’ve got sniper fire we can fire the willy peter usually we don’t, usually we use canister, but the willy peter, I feel is very good for that. We have used it for that.

HE, HT or APT we don’t use at all, we have no occasion to use it and we don’t even carry it on the tank.

31:35-34:30

We had tried an experiment with the .30 mounted on top of the tank. He’d requested to get the whole company done like that but the request was denied so we can’t do that but we tried it out 4 months ago with the .30 top-mounted, sky mounted and the .50 co-axle (with the main gun) and found that it worked very good due to the fact that the .30 was extremely easy to get to. Usually you have a target that is within 200 yards from the tank, like you are carrying supplies for infantry when you come across a VC in a paddy and they start running, the easiest thing to reach right in front of you and point your gun and fire it rather than jump inside the tank. Firing a .30 would be a lot easier than telling the gunner whichever way you want, go unlock the cupola, you can’t keep the cupola unlocked. So you’ve got to reach down, unlock it, flip on the 2 switches, get the fire, come back up top side, swing the cupola around and fire. So the .30 makes it a lot easier even the .30 inside mounted co-axle would be easier than the copula. It gives you the advantage of more rounds that you can keep inside the tank than just the .50 rounds. .50 on the side is hard to reach and load. If you have a jam and get to it, links jam very easily. I admit you could carry a lot more .30 inside.

34:33-42:10

My name is Cpl Chester M Rayne #2130380, Tank Commander, 3rd Platoon, C Company, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division. My experience in Vietnam covered many different opportunities. As a tank commander, I experienced quite a bit, quite a bit with the Viet Cong. They are very good fighters, very deceptive. As in tanks, we don’t worry about them too much. The only thing we worry about is mines that they do plant. I’ve been fortunate enough in Vietnam, I’ve been here 15 months and I have not hit a mine and I have not been on a tank that has been mined. I’ve seen many tanks mined and I’ve seen what they can do.

The territory around Da Nang is especially suitable for mines. Viet Cong knows this and takes advantage of this. It’s soft sand and can camouflage a mine very easily. It’s hard to see, it’s almost impossible to see, you don’t notice it until the tank hits a mine. I’ve operated in areas different from Da Nang, Chu Lai the terrain is rather high. It’s easier to pick out a mine on a high road than it is in soft sand. Around the Da Nang area we’ve hit most mines but in Chu Lai, we haven’t hit anything. Of course we were on the airstrip there but we have Bravo Company and Charlie Company here also Alpha Company from Chu Lai. Charlie Company has the most mines hit. Bravo is next because they are here in the Da Nang area. I feel that the tank can operate and do well in Da Nang because of the terrain, sand, rice paddies that aren’t real soft. In the summer months we operate quite a bit, the monsoon season slows us down because of the rain, the rice paddies, mud, sand soaks in quite a bit during the monsoon season.

As far as infantry goes, tanks and infantry are almost one word around here. We operate together all the time, maybe a few times a tank will take out a patrol without infantry. The tanks are in direct support of the infantry here. We give them more support I think than any other outfit over here. The infantry mainly bases their maneuvers, operation and tactics with tanks because the tanks are versatile enough and mobile enough to go wherever the infantry goes. Tanks are a direct support weapon and are used heavily with infantry in Da Nang and Chu Lai and throughout Vietnam. We have no occasion to be held in or confined around this area except a few rivers crossing and lakes. We have the range with our 90mm to support the infantry if they do need. The range is more than enough to cover these areas.

Throughout my experience I have not received too much sniper fire. There have been occasions where a tank has hit a mine and sniper fire has been fired at the tank. We have returned fire and the Viet Cong seemed to retreat. We have never had a tank completely knocked out. I think this is the reason why the Viet Cong did not venture to come closer with sniper fire. We usually travel in groups with tanks. There are 5 tanks to a platoon, the heavy section consists of 3 and the light section has 2. The tanks operate in at least pairs, 3 or 2 no more than that. If one hits a mine the other is right there for direct support. We have occasions where the infantry has been pinned down and we have not been with them because of the mobility of the tank we can be out there, we have speed enough to get into direct contact with the Viet Cong within contact of the infantry. The infantry knows that we are versatile and can operate even if we are not in direct support of them. There have been many occasions I can remember for one instance, a mine sweep had left the CP and was ambushed on the road. We were in the CP at the time, we took two tanks and when we got out there, the mine sweep was almost annihilated, they had 17 casualties and when tanks arrived we had 2 kills that day and the VC fled. The section leader received a Bronze Star for his actions that day.

As for weapons, besides the 90mm gun on the tank we have a .30 and a .50. I believe the 50 caliber is a very good weapon; however it has to be mounted correctly as mentioned before. Had occasion to shoot the 90mm gun as far as 3100 meters and it is very effective. The .30 caliber stateside would be a short range weapon maybe 90 meters effective range whereas over here, sky mounted, I’ve shot 1600 meters although not with complete accuracy. I believe the .30 is a fine weapon and has the capability of mounted either co-axle or sky mounted. I have mine, one .30 co-axle and one .30 sky mounted. I don’t have a .50 at this time but I plan to get one in the near future because it has a more effective range.

42:11-47:42

I’d like to cover the experience of tanks coming over to Vietnam. I myself and a group of others were sent to tank school and they don’t cover completely what we have to do over here. We learned about a tank in a short amount of time and you forget. When you come over here, I learned more things than ever before about a tank; the water, the sand causes the tank to change tracks, reverse sprockets, change sprockets, change hubs, change road wheels, change track more frequently than you’d ever think of. There’s a lot of wear on these tanks while operating quite heavily over here. If we have time we do preventative maintenance on them. When tanks hit a mine and tanks are down there isn’t always that much time, if tanks do have time we get what we can do on them. I think back in the States they should train for men coming on tanks preventative maintenance and care of tanks and how to change tracks, change sprockets, reverse sprockets, how to change hubs and so forth on tanks because they will be doing it over here and it has to be done it’s the one thing the tanks will need.

As far as being a tank commander in Vietnam, we have many challenges and many decisions to make. As far as I’ve been here I’ve learned many different things, map reading, coordinates, radio procedures, and firing measures, when to fire and when not to fire, you have a lot of decisions to make. I feel that in Vietnam we have a great number of young men here that know what they are doing as far as finding the enemy, searching them out and destroying them. We have many men 19, 20 and as low as 18 all doing the job of men much older. When you get over here you move fast because you have to. I feel that I myself have learned a great deal. We have good leadership in our Platoon and in our Company, we have a fine maintenance crew and have a good section head. Of course, when you have mine damage and problems with the tank there’s always a need to perform higher echelon maintenance. I feel we could use high echelon maintenance men because of the work that has to be done on the tank if it hits a mine. It may go deeper than just the suspension, a lot of times the engine is messed up and other things inside the tank including the electrical system.

As far as operations in Vietnam, I participated in quite a few the most recent HUMBOLT. The Operation took place in terrain that is different than soft sand. We did a lot of operations in soft sand; this was in rice paddies, different kinds of operating than we were used to. We went over a lot of dykes, trees, jungle, vegetation and tanks had no trouble what so ever. We took through some AmTrac and we ended up towing them out in the operation. In this operation we had the okay to fire H&I and this was different than we had done before because we were shooting at targets we did not see. We shot all night and part of the next day, just harassment fire to coordinates where the enemy was. Tanks, as you can see, have been used here in many different things. We can take the place of artillery, short range mortars, and long range mortars and in some occasions the range of the 90mm gun will exceed that of artillery. It is a mobile weapon and versatile especially in regions around Vietnam where both of these factors come into effect. You need a weapon that can go and have the range to shoot where it can’t go and that’s what tanks do here in Vietnam.

47:42-49:00

Jump back to mine casualties and mines that tanks hit, anti-tank mines, the only injuries we have had have been small cuts either from the driver, gunner or loader from bouncing his head off the side of the turret or receiving small shrapnel. We’ve had a concussion and broken ear drum in this company due to the fact that the loader at the time was not wearing a helmet when the mine when off, he lost his ear drum in his left ear. The chest concussion was from the tank Commander received from a mine blast, the mine did not hit the track, the tank belied up to the mine and the mine exploded underneath. The driver at the time was saved even though he suffered no injuries he was completely blown clear of the tank. We had one man killed in this company since I’ve been here in Vietnam. This is not due to a mine or any sort of enemy fire. The man died as a result of pulling out another tank. One tank was struck and another tank was backing up to hook onto it and pull it out. The man was killed on the armor plate next to the gypsy rack of the tank that was stuck. The other tank backed down and the brakes failed, the tank rolled right on top of him and crushed this man. We had another man injured in this incident. It just goes back to everything that has been said, back in the States before they came over, ever since they came into tanks, that’s beware they can kill you even if you’re not in combat. Tanks are 52 tons of steel and it can be dangerous.

50:01-1:00:00

My name is Cpl Larry W Massey #2130921 Tank Commander, 3rd Platoon, C Company, 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Marine Division. I’d like to tell of one incident that happened this morning to me. First of all, I’ve been in Vietnam approx. 15 months I extended over here. I’ve never hit a mine until this morning. I was coming across a crossing everyone had gone across it one time or another. I’ve seen a tank hit a mine or had hit a mine. I was leading the way, I got all the way across the crossing coming up the last bank and if I hadn’t been going the speed I was going it would have caused damage to the tank but I lucked out and it went up behind the tank and it curled up the back fender. As far as casualties my loader was sitting up on the tank at the time of the concussions, I had the cupola in the upright position so I didn’t get much of the blast just the concussion scared me. I didn’t know what it was. I looked around and found out what it was and proceeded on the way.

All the time I’ve been in the Marine Corps, I’ve been a driver for almost 2 years. Recently I was put up to Tank Commander. One thing I could say for people in the States who are learning to drive is there’s a lot of difference from Vietnam and the States. In the States you’d be driving on hard ground, paved roads and maybe if you were at Pendleton, some rough terrain. Over here you have a lot of sand, wind in your face, rain and a lot of dust. You’ve always got to keep your eye on the road, look for things that might be a mine. Don’t go over the tracks twice, try always to make new trails, learn how to go over rice paddies, if it’s the monsoon season there’s a lot of rain, remember when you start into a rice paddy, don’t stop until you go through it, if you stop the tank will sink. The dykes give a lot of people trouble going up them. Take your time and you’ll be alright.

When you are in Vietnam during the monsoon season a person has to adapt a lot to it. You’ll be out in the field a lot operating in tanks, you have to bring enough gear to change clothes when you get wet, get used to sleeping in the rain, working in the rain and you have to be especially careful of the weapons on the tank. Keep all the weapons clean constantly. As far as the rest of my buddies in the 3rd Platoon who talked about the .30 and .50. I too feel that the .30 should be on top of the TC cupola outside the tank for a quick reaction. It’s a fast weapon and in many circumstances because of the simple fact that it does take time to swing the turret around, of course your telling the gunner this and his looking around for VC. You just can’t do this quick. When if you have the .30 right in front of you. You can do this without saying anything, just a reflex. As far as the .50 co-axle I believe that the .50 is made to fire not on the side but upright like it is. When it’s on a cupola it doesn’t work properly. You don’t’ have enough ammunition for it in the TC cupola and if you did get in a fire fight you’d have to manipulate it plus you’d be sticking your head out of the TC cupola to see what direction to fire. You can carry more ammo in the turret for the .30 by the main gun also if you have trouble firing the .30 in the TC cupola you could fix that easy enough. But if the .50 jammed it’s a lot of trouble to take it off and find the trouble especially in a fire fight with a loader it would be his job with the gun. He’s got the light, he doesn’t have to worry about being sniped at, the TC would be inside the tank.

For infantry, the tanks support the infantry. We have on occasions out by ourselves and as mentioned before with 2 or 3 tanks at a time. The infantry would be useless without us. That’s speaking pretty boldly but we’ve saved them a couple of time in tough spots. We are their only support unit. There are times when they need instant fire power which we have done and can use that they need and appreciate. Thanks put on many miles during resupply of infantry also we carry 10-20 gallons of water on each vehicle. A man in the field can’t survive on 2 canteens of water. So we run back and forth to the CP for resupply. We can go just about anywhere except in the monsoon season. As far as terrain, there’s good terrain for tanks to operate in. Our weapons, I found the average range for the 90 mm is point blank to 1000 meters and in that range the effective range is supposed to be 30-900 meters. That’s one more reason I feel that it’s good on top of the TC cupola because the fire fights we are in are under that distance.

END OF INTERVIEW