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.
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.
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Rich McNeice
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