THANKS!!!  

Mark Brady  CAP Charlie 3

mark_brady_99@yahoo.com 

Reply: 

Mark - So good to hear from you. Your story sounds great! Now, let's expand on it a bit and get it ready to publish in our E-Ltr and our book.

 

First of all - Tankers love to hear stories from the Marines we supported. Can you recall the dates of your CAP tour? Even approx. will help. Also your approx. location(s) - grid coordinates are great but even the name of the village and what other villages were in your area of responsibility. Your daily life and your mission w/CAP is of great interest. Do you recall the names of other CAP members and any of the Tankers? What did you do in working w/the village defense team? Actually, any thing you can recall about you CAP tour and specifically in the context of tanks and/or Ontos connections.

 

I look forward to hearing more from you and we will help you in any way we can to write up your Vietnam War recollections - pictures w/captions are very much valued.

 

Semper Fidelis,

Ray

Sir,

While I enjoy reading the tankers newsletter, and not sure how I got on the list, I thought you should know that all my time in the Corps has been in aviation.

Semper Fi,

Jim Casey

CWO-4, Ret.

James R. Casey

Deputy Executive Director

Marine Corps Aviation Association

jrcasey@flymcaa.org  

Reply:

Semper Fidelis,

Ray

Ray,

 I am just a few miles south (Olympia) of you in Federal Way and would like to bring you a check for the association so I can contribute, meet you if I have not already (and just don't recall) and chat a little.  I don't know your email address but would be happy to have someone send it to me so I can make contact.  I will participate in the oral history program, but frankly remember little about my VN tour except some of the men with whom I served for the 7-8 months I had Charlie Co, 1st Tks.  There are many things about that year in RVN of which I am proud and would not mind relating them to you.  My wife of 52 years reminds me often that I have been retired half again as long as the 20 years I served.

If you contact me, I will call you and make arrangements to drive north a few miles and take you to lunch and give you a donation for the Ass'n. 

DD1300 - Douglas Miller

MCVTHF, 707 S.W. 350th Ct., Ste. #1 

The Steel Wedge: U. S. Marine Corps Armor in Pacific Island Combat; A Pictorial Record by Eric Hammel.

Eric Hammel has given us yet another magnificent book! A "pictorial record" indeed, but so much more. "The Steel Wedge" speaks not just to the legendary bravery of Marines in general and the Marine Tanker in particular in the WWII Pacific War campaign, but develops for the reader the moment-by-moment, face-to-face brutality of an often-fanatical enemy. At one end of the battle environment spectrum there's the Marine and his enemy, at the other end is the larger strategic picture of the development of Marine Tank/Infantry tactics and Navy/Marine Corps Amphibious Doctrine. And, almost as an aside, Hammel helps the reader understand how our Navy/Marine Corps Team developed amphibious capability - equipment, training, tactics, doctrine - required to defeat a fight-to-the-death enemy dug into the rocks strewn across the Pacific. He details not just how Marine "boots" negotiated the beaches and jungle to carry the battle to the entrenched enemy in fortified positions but how tanks were used to facilitate the success of these bloody assaults.

Hammel's liberal use and placement of official photographs (i.e., the title "A Pictorial Record"!) complements his narrative, expanding the story of Marine Tankers' action without a lot of wasted words. In fact, many of the pictures are their own study and tell a significant part of the story of day-to-day living (and dying) of Marine Tankers in their fight against both the enemy and the environment, and with the "system".

With the opening 10 pages of the first chapter - "Marine Corps Tanks: A Beginning" - Eric takes the reader briefly from 1775 to the late 1930s and the preparation for the coming amphibious offensive. Commencing with the chapter on Guadalcanal, one joins the Marine Tankers in their fight through the WWII Pacific Campaign, island after island, from Guadalcanal to Okinawa. The pictures and narratives are enhanced by the 17 detailed maps, a glossary, and some of the abbreviations in common use at the time of the 13 the assaulted enemy bastions.

The introduction of Marine tanks in the WWII Pacific was with M3A1 Gun Tanks and their assault across the beaches of Guadalcanal. There was no written tank/infantry or Navy/Marine coordination doctrine at the time. Only the imagination and resourcefulness carried the fight. Tankers couldn't see where they were going and the Grunts couldn't communicate with the Tank crew to provide direction. "Operator error" and equipment malfunctions accounted for the majority of the tank losses on Guadalcanal. However, by mid-1943, while both doctrine and equipment modifications proved helpful in New Georgia, the deep mud and impassable terrain limited the successful deployment of tanks on Bougainville. Tarawa was a different story. Newly developed tactics, the new M4A2 tank with better communications - but mostly the bravery of Tankers and Grunts - overcame the enemy and terrain with assault after assault of a dug in, fight-to-the-death enemy to a nail-biting - and never assured - victory. And so it went - the new M5A1 tank and supporting equipment and training, with constantly upgraded tank/infantry tactics, battled across New Britain, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and, finally - Okinawa.

Signature Eric Hammel brings these "dots in the Pacific", where thousands of brave Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines fought - to this day and to most, still not much more than dots - to life and death as no other author and scholar could.

From the day-to-day grit and blood of amphibious assaults across the Pacific Island beaches from the sea to final victory - with all the pieces between - Eric Hammel holds his readers. While doing so he focuses on the fledgling Marine Corps Tanker Community for special recognition. 

Comment on the growing use - and acceptance of e-books

For me, there are few joys in life greater than picking up (and curling up with) a good book. It's one of life's few luxuries which seems more and more challenged with the advent of "the electronic form" of books. In fact, increasingly, new "books" are hitting the shelves that are not in a page-turning format at all but, rather, offered only (or at least. primarily) in electronic form. And such is the case with Eric Hammel's newest "The Steel Wedge: U.S. Marine Corps Armor in Pacific Island Combat; A Pictorial Record" with an emphasis on "pictorial". So here's a brief run at the rationale for Hammel - and an increasing number of authors - choosing the electronic format to present their work.

Books are much less expensive in an "E" format. In the case of Hammel's "The Steel Wedge" - physical book form $50, electronic less than $10. Though he could add as many photos as he would have wanted at no additional cost, Eric's book has 246 mostly full-page photos that have the clarity and vividness making them really pop off the electronic page. Many of the photos tell their own story. The ability to enlarge the pictures and view even the smallest details is an invaluable feature. And, of course, there's the convenience of having your book literally at your finger-tips to be read at a time and place of your convenience and choosing.

I've read "The Steel Wedge" from e -cover to e-cover. It is, with little discussion, Eric Hammel's best yet!

The House of Representatives passed the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2012 (H.R. 4114). Although this is seen by many as a formality, passing the COLA is often pushed to the end of the year. According to House Committee on Veterans' Affairs press release, taking care of this now ensures that Vets will be given the benefits they were promised without any last minute "political tug-of-war." If signed into law, H.R. 4114 would increase the annual cost-of-living rate for veterans, which goes into effect on December 1, 2012. It is estimated that this year's COLA will be approximately 1.9 percent. The legislation now heads to the Senate for consideration.

PTSD is Treatable

PTSD Programs Need Improvement

Within five to seven years, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that more than one million new veterans will enter their system in need of disability claims processing, health care, and more.

The influx is both enormous (the VA reports it served 1.3 million veterans in total during 2011) and inevitable: with combat ending and the ranks narrowing after a decade and a half of war, many troops will begin the natural process of transitioning out of the military and returning to civilian life.

The VA that will receive them is already overburdened, battling a veterans' claims backlog of over a decade that swept past 600,000 overdue claims just last week and shows no clear signs of improvement.

Read more

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is warning veterans about a scheme targeting veterans. The VA says the scam artists call veterans and say the process of dispensing their prescription medicines have changed. The scam artists then ask for credit card information. Never give out financial information over the phone to someone who calls you unexpectedly. 

USMC Vietnam Tankers Association ~ Biennial 2013 Reunion, San Antonio, TX. Dates to be announced.

______________________________________________________ 

USMC ONTOS Reunion ~ May 8 - 11, 2013, Quantico

Details:

It is time for another Ontos reunion. Anyone, in any way, affiliated with the Ontos is invited. It will take place again at Quantico. I'm contemplating the following agenda (at this time nothing has been confirmed):

______________________________________________________ 

 2012 Mustang Reunion ~  September 13 - 16, 2012  Fossil Creek, Fort Worth, Texas 

Contact: Phil Ray or Jimmy Perry, 5953 Feather Wind Way, Fort Worth, TX 76135    

Sleger, Jr, Joseph, Col USMC Retired ~  Covington, LA

Survived by:   His wife Bette Klein; sons Michael Sleger and his wife Yvonne and William R. Sleger and his wife Nancy, daughters Constance Zachary and her husband LeRoy, Patrice Rohr and her husband Dave, Rachelle Christenson and her husband Jeff, Renee Baumy and her husband David; 22, Grandchildren and 28 Great-grandchildren; brother Paul Sleger and his wife Doris.

Preceded in death by: Joseph Sleger, Sr, Father; Rose Herrick Sleger, Mother and Earl F. Sleger, Brother

Col Sleger was the Commanding Officer of the 3rd Tank Battalion in South Vietnam from February to July 1969.

Esslinger, Dean, Col USMC Retired ~ Chesterfield, VA

One of the toughest job in any organization is keeping membership information up-to-date.  

You might believe we have all your information since you are already receiving the Breech Block newsletter but, the simple facts are we do not. Even though your membership in the Historical Foundation is free when you join the USMC Vietnam Tankers Association that information is not automatically shared with the Foundation.

From time to time we send out pertinent information to those that served in the various Tank Battalions, i.e. 1st Tanks, 3rd Anti-Tanks, etc. 

You guys are great; we appreciate your support.

Semper Fidelis,

Dick Carey,

Vice President

Director Public Relations