Check this out...Ruger in Vietnam?

[arminius]

Amazing stories and pictures gentlemen. I am grateful for your service. God bless you all.

Don

 

[GaryA]

All these stories bring back a number of memories and remind me that long before the invention of the cluster-bomb, came the military invention of the cluster-f---.

 

[M'BOGO]

Thanks for posting those pics edlmann, good stuff. I've seen exterior photos of those, but the inside shots were new to me. Love the reel-to-reel above the sensors.

Viet Nam was a period where we went from WW II tech to laser guided bombs, and the jump was profound.

Gotta love the F-106.

 

[Snake45]

Viet Nam was a period where we went from WW II tech to laser guided bombs, and the jump was profound.

Gotta love the F-106.

There were no 106s in SEA. 100s, 101s, a few 102s and 104s, lots of 105s but no 106s, the only member of the "Century Series" not used in Nam.

 

[M'BOGO]

I know, but still, gotta love the 106. They were strictly ADC, and the -102's could'a handled the peoples IL-28's.. Or at least that was the official line.

 

[Snake45]

I know, but still, gotta love the 106.

Jack Broughton loved them. Well, at least he did AFTER they got the problems with them sorted out and they stopped killing his pilots. :?

 

[FergusonTO35]

Hey guys, does anyone know if the military model Service Six was ever used in Vietnam? Were any of them produced prior to 1975? It wouldn't surprise me if some early Security Sixes made it over there.

 

[Anonymous]

I got to Bien Hoa on or a few days after New Years day in 1968. The first year we had no weapons. Shortly after Tet offensive my outfit were issued M-16s which were kept in a conex box next to our barracks. We did have bunkers between each barracks also plywood walled enclosures around the base of our barracks. I carried an M-16 at night and also took training with the 173rd Airborn. They trained us on M-60 machine gun,hand grenades,grenade lauchers and even how to set up claymore mines. I did 18 month at Bein Hoa we had F-100's powered by Pratt and Whitney J-57 engines I was an engine mech. After the Tet offensive the brass decided there wasn't much between them and the VC so armed us up. The barracks next to mine took 122m/m rocket thru the roof that blew me out of bed killed one guy and wounded 19. We had quite a few rocket attacks and was glad to get out and come home Aug. 1968.


Rich

 

[Anonymous]

Should have said New Years of 67. its a long time ago and I'm an old man now but still have my memories.

Rich

 

[Mike Armstrong]

The F-102 was available in numbers and getting a bit long in the tooth for an interceptor, so the AF tried to see if it could be adapted as a fighter-bomber or air superiority fighter. It couldn't. Sadly, many ended up as radio-controlled target drones.

A beautiful aircraft; I think it even saw combat in one of the scuffles between Turkey and Greece, and maybe in one of the chronic wars between Pakistan and India.

 

[Snake45]

The F-102...A beautiful aircraft; I think it even saw combat in one of the scuffles between Turkey and Greece, and maybe in one of the chronic wars between Pakistan and India.

Wikipedia says:

The F-102 and TF-102 were exported overseas to both Turkey and Greece. The Turkish F-102s saw combat missions during the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus. There have been claims of air combat between Greek F-5s and Turkish F-102s above the Aegean Sea during the Turkish invasion. A Greek internet website editor, Demetrius Stergiou, claims that the Greek F-5s had shot down two Turkish F-102s, while the Turkish side has claimed that their F-102s had shot down two Greek F-5s;[23] however, both Greece and Turkey have officially denied any losses. Three days after the Turkish invasion began, the Greek military junta in Athens collapsed on 23 July 1974. The F-102 was finally retired from both of those air forces in 1979.

I'm sure if I bothered to look it up in one of my books on the subject, I'd find pretty much the same thing. :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

I worked on F-102 at Itazuke AFB 1962-63 we had a small outfit along with a squadron of F-100's and then transitioned to F-105's. its a long time ago I still love all those old aircraft.



Rich

 

[Fairshake]

Should have said New Years of 67. its a long time ago and I'm an old man now but still have my memories.

Rich

Actually it was '68. Happened into Bien Hoa a few hrs ahead of all the excitement myself. Just got settle into the transit qtrs, ripped a few zzzzz's then awaken by rockets screaming in.

 

[Anonymous]

I was referring to my arrival on New Years 67. I extended my 12 month tour and left in Aug 68. The first big attack we had in 67 was in May. Then some small harrasment attacks until the Tet attacks in 68 I had just returned from a 30 day leave in Taiwan. I started regretting my 6 month extention right away. Oddest weapon I saw was a chrome plated grease gun 45 cal. laying on the seat of an army jeep that gave me a ride back up to the base.


Rich

 

[Fairshake]

Arrived 19th TASS Christmas eve '67 in error. Was enroute to my correct assignment @ 20th TASS DaNang when offensive began. That evening was the final episode of David Jansens 'The Fugitive'. Lots of money placed on the outcome of who-do-it but what w/all the excitement and passing of time forget if it was the one-armed guy or the pursuing detective.

Chrome was indicative of Garrison/Micky Mouse mentality. There was a song of the time 'Garrison Trooper' w/chrome plated 45 and patent leather boots :mrgreen:

 

[Snake45]

There was a song of the time 'Garrison Trooper' w/chrome plated 45 and patent leather boots :mrgreen:

I think that might have been on the flip side of the single of Barry Sadler's "Ballad of the Green Berets." If it wasn't on the single, it was on the album.

 

[M'BOGO]

Oddest weapon I saw was a chrome plated grease gun 45 cal. laying on the seat of an army jeep that gave me a ride back up to the base.
Rich

That's just funny. I remember when I first started getting into pistols, a neibhorhood kid where I worked was going on about a FULL NICKEL PLATED GLOCK! DUDE! IT'S BADA**! I kept from rolling my eyes.

This has been a great thread guys, love it.

 

[Dobetown]

Actually it was "Garret trooper" Its on the Green Beret cd.

 

[Fairshake]

Actually it was "Garret trooper" Its on the Green Beret cd.

Thats what >40yrs can do to recollections

 

[Snake45]

Actually it was "Garret trooper" Its on the Green Beret cd.

By golly, you seem to be right!

Garet Trooper
by SSgt. Barry Sadler

This is dedicated to the parade field trooper
Who never leaves that nice soft garrison
And always looks real pretty

Now in the war torn jungles of Vietnam
You'll find a certain kind of man
You'll see him everywhere
He's a trooper, a garet trooper

Yeah, he's five foot four, 228 pounds of blubber
Got him a nickel plated 45 tied down low, quick draw holster
Two bandoliers of brasso-ed ammo
Yeah he's a trooper, a garet trooper

He's fought from Saigon to Ninh Thuan
In every bar that is, and then only with the girls
And he ain't won one yet
But he's a trooper, a garet trooper (garet trooper)

He's got a hip knife, a side knife, a boot knife, a shoulder knife
And a little bitty one that's a combination flare gun, dinner set,
and genuine police whistle
But he's a trooper, a garet trooper

Now I run into one the other day, He told me a story,
He said he'd just this minute come back from
a fifteen day runnin' fight with the Cong
Said he captured a lot of loot
You know what I saw when I looked down? A spit shined boot
Yeah, he's a trooper, a garet trooper (garet trooper)

Now poor ole pilot come back today
Half his crew was killed, aircraft shot to hell
But he don't say much
He's not a trooper, a garet trooper

And out in the hills and the jungles and the swamps
Living like a bunch of dogs
Are some men wearing funny little green hats
They stay out there and fight for months on end
They don't say much 'cause they're not troopers,
garet troopers (garet troopers)

And I bet finally, when I leave this war torn land
The last thing I'll see will be,
though I may be in a drunken stupor
I bet it'll be a garet trooper (garet trooper)

Yeah, they're all over the place
Ain't hardly worth going to war no more