Rich McNeice - 246th Field Artillery Detachment.

I was assigned to the 246th Field Artillery Detachment. These Q4 detachments did not exist in early 1967.  The army started them up, got "volunteers" and deployed them around major installations. 

After the bunker was built the Engineers left us with a wood structure and no sandbagging resource. We were on the Bien Hoa air base scrounging and I noticed these stored canisters that were used for shipping missiles for our aircraft.  They were empty except for the styrofoam used for safeguarding the missiles.  Air Force let us take them.  We loaded four of five at a time on a deuce and half and moved them to the Q4 bunker.  Seemed like a good idea at the time.

During the first few months after the unit was activated we moved around a bit. Then they put us inside the perimeter of the HHB 6/56th.  

Our primary mission was to detect the source of incoming mortars and rockets and call in that location to our control.  They, in turn, would identify the appropriate resource (Spooky - C47, Artillery or Helicopter gun ships) to address the "problem".

Our secondary mission was to register artillery.  We'd get a call from a unit that recently moved.  They'd set up a fire mission and we would validate that they were hitting where they thought.

Hope that helps.

-- 

Rich McNeice

617 633 2267

Paul Kopsick, National Dusters, Quads, and Searchlights Association

National Dusters, Quads, and Searchlights Association

Hello Brothers (and family),

We hope you had a great Veteran's Day. The new newsletter has a number of stories about service, sacrifice and honoring our fallen.

November newsletter

We are also announcing the dates for the 2017 Reunion. May 30th thru June 4th. This will be our 35th Annual Reunion! Think about that, your association has been serving our community for over 35 years. Very few Vietnam organizations have been around that long. Be proud.

Reunion Flyer

The Reunion Committee of Bruce Geiger and Bob Lauver have found that Albuquerque is a very Veteran friendly location and the hotels have been the most accommodating we have seen in a long time. This means that this year’s reunion will be the most cost effective reunion in a long time. The hotel is the Crown Plaza and the room rate is $84 + tax which will put it at just under $100 a day. NOTE: we have not set up the online registration link and you should also wait until December 1st before you call to make your reservations.

Included in that rate is free parking, free in-room Wi-Fi, and a breakfast buffet is include!  There are other perks that will help NDQSA keep our overall costs to a minimum.  AND...there is a negotiated rate of $69 + tax per night for the period of three days before and after the reunion. So this would be the perfect year to make the reunion a family vacation destination. You will not find a better rate for such a great hotel anywhere.  

We have not set up a schedule of events for field trips just yet so the January 2017 newsletter will have the registration form with the schedules. There is so much to see and do, there will be plenty of activities to do if you make it an extended vacation.  Santa Fe is just a commuter train ride away so there are two cities to explore this year. 

We have a great local for our Memorial Ceremony and the committee plans to make it a more special event.

For those that get their newsletter only via email, check the subject line to see which year you are paid up thur. If there is 2016 or less, this would be a good time to send in your 2017 dues payment. 

Remember I am always looking for photos and paperwork to archive. When I talk to guys over the phone I often hear that they have 'hundreds' of photos from Nam. Again I ask you to contact me so I can work on electronically archiving what you have. I will return all originals. I will also help you to locate buddies. Time is flying by, do not let you history of service disappear with you. Gain immortality by sharing and saving your story.

I will be on travel for the rest of the month, so do not call me. Send me an email instead or wait until December if you need to contact me directly.

If you have any interest in becoming more involved with the management of NDQSA, the nominations are open for the seven Director positions. Contact any of the officers to place your name into consideration.

If anyone has skills in website development I would love to talk with you. I just have not been able to find a block of time to revise our 'antique' website.

So in closing, have a great Thanksgiving...we each have much to be thankful for. 

Wish you all the best.

Paul Kopsick

NDQSA Historian et al

Bruce Hamilton, HHB/6/71st... R and R regrets...

R and R regrets...

While posting Patrick Scheetz’s (D/6/71st) photos of his R and R trips I remembered that I never had a chance to use the R and R perk while stationed in Vietnam. I was so busy with my HHB job and there wasn’t anyone I could easily hand-off my duties to. I really didn’t have much opportunity to regret.

You will remember how important the “in country countdown” was. You could walk up to anyone, any time and say,”How many?” You would get an instant and emphatic answer. Everyone knew how many days they had until they boarded a plane back to their home. I had gotten to 75 days left and savored the fact that I was well below the magic 100 days mark. After all, starting with 364 days left, it was almost impossible to get your head around 100.

One day Bob Carpenter (Ohio), one of our section guys dropped by and asked, “How many?” I replied confidently,”75!” He answered with, “Nope!” Man, that was almost fighting words. He continued, “You have 15, I have your orders!” Stunning. That was huge! They were sending me home 60 days early, unheard of.

After going home to Palm Springs, California, orders stated I was being sent to Hawaii for my next assignment to what I thought was a Nike base or something air defense related. Orders listed an artillery unit. Ha, Army misdirection. Found out it was preliminarily a 155 field artillery unit of the 11th Light Infantry stationed at Schofield Barracks, yikes! Upon arriving I was actually assigned to the headquarters company of the 11th Light Infantry as a staff driver for the brigade deputy commander and the sergeant major. The 11th had replaced the 25th Division (Tropic Lightening) at Schofield and was training and gearing up for eventual RVN deployment with the Americal Division.

I missed using the R and R, would have loved to had visited Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok or some other interesting place but felt that fate had eventually delivered in kind … Army stories, heh?

Bruce Hamilton - HHB - 65-66

Ed McGill, A Btry, 6th-71st

Hello Patrick,

I was at the south end of Cam Ranh Bay and our worry was not NVAs. It was the possibility that the Chinese Air Force would attack Cam Ranh Bay.  We were told that the Chinese policy was to dump massive amounts of napalm on the ADA batteries.  So I always thought that any attack would submit me and my launching sections to a terrible fate.  In the end, however, the only time my battery was attacked was after I was back home, when the VC sent mortar shells into our battery during the Tet Offensive.  

Ed McGill,  A Btry, 6th-71st. 

Army HAWK

US Army Introduces the HAWK missile system.