Experiences
1980. 579th Ordnance Company, Neu-Ulm, Germany
Technical Supply went to ship Combat Alert Status (CAS) power distribution boxes from stock and found three of them that were damaged. They sent them over to 2nd Platoon for repair and since I ran the Electrical Repair Shop they dumped them on me. None of us had ever seen one so we consulted our WO (whose name escapes me now). The filters tested good but all the lightning arrestors were fried and I replaced those. They were supposed to be tested with a very high voltage power supply we did not have so the WO waived the test.
Pershing II Physical Teardown and Logistics Demonstration, 1982
CW2 Gerald H. Tripp, SFC John Lafferty, SFC Warren Williams, SSG Charles B. Cravens, SP5 Dorsey Agard, SP5 Lee E. Palmer, SP5 Samuel Hudson, SP5 Douglas K. Kim, SP5 Brian Galloway
Pershing II Development and Operational Testing, OT III, June 1982 – November 1983
Pershing II Systems Components Test Station Maintainability Demonstration, Fall 1982
Pershing II Systems Components Test Station Fault Isolation Capability Exercise, Winter 1983
Pershing II Systems Components Test Station Check Test, August 15, 1983 – September 9, 1983, October 4, 1983 – October 21, 1983
Operational Test III, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 1983
I was on a team of data collectors under CW2 Gerald H. Tripp. We did not have a military vehicle so a vehicle was rented. The only vehicle available in forest green was an old International Harvester Scout. The Scout was not in good shape— we had a lot of down time, so we made a number of repairs and that vehicle was returned in better shape than when we got it.
One of the targets was the benchmark at the railroad station in Huntsville, Alabama.
During one night countdown, the OIC kept getting errors when entering the coordinates. When I recorded those coordinates they appeared to be trying to fire into South America and it was well out of range.
One of the platoons had three missiles set for simultaneous launch. All three missiles erected perfectly and the platoon was in the woodline cheering. As a data collector I was right at my launcher and could see that there was an error. As the missile went erect, one of the tail plug cables had fallen out, as it had not been fully inserted and latched. I could see that one of the other data collectors was giving a thumbs down— his missile had settled a bit as the missile went erect, the landing jacks were down to low and one hit the ground causing a tilt malfunction. Those cheers went away quickly as the firing platoon realized what had happened.
About two weeks before the end of the test, CW2 Gerald H. Tripp told me I would be returning to Redstone Arsenal for the E-6 promotion board. My Army Green Service Uniform was in storage so I went to the Fort Sill PX and bought everything new. I was back three days at RSA before going to the board on July 21, 1983. The sergeant major ask me who my commander was and I drew a blank; after having been gone for almost two years we had gone through several commanders.
I soon returned to Orlando to continue the Pershing II Engineering Development Project. I knew my score was good enough to be on the next promotion list, so I took some pin-on rank with me. We would meet in a local Dunkin' Donuts before heading in to Martin Marietta. I had a copy of my promotion orders mailed to me, so I handed them to CW2 Tripp and he read the orders and pinned me.
After returning to RSA I was a technical writer for a few months. I helped write the Skills Qualification Test and reviewed technical manuals. About two years later I took the SQT test I helped write. I then returned to school maintenance and took over the Pershing shop. I started getting letters and certificates of appreciation for my work on the Pershing II engineering development and for OT III. Captain John N. Turner joked that he was getting tired of putting his dress greens on and coming to the auditorium.
Spring 1988. B Company, 55th Maintenance Battalion, Neu-Ulm, Germany
A test launch failure was attributed to a circuit board in the G&C/A IEU coming loose during flight. I was tasked to verify torque on all G&C/A in 1/9FA: 36 tactical systems plus spares. I torqued all the spares and all the assembled missiles in the MSA, then spent a day at Fort von Steuben, as they had to demate the warhead/radar on the alert missiles, then assemble and perform a diagnostic before I could proceed to the next missile.
2 July 1987. B Company, 55th Maintenance Battalion, Neu-Ulm, Germany
Wiley Barracks We had just assembled in formation for physical training (PT) when the warrant officers told all the missile technicians to get to the shop. I was a quality control inspector and our team went with them. We were all still in PT uniform and unshaven. When we got to the shop we found three erector launchers (EL) with missiles assembled on the hardstand along with a Platoon Control Central (PCC). I performed an abbreviated incoming inspection on the BCC while the crew told me the story. 2nd Platoon, D Battery, 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery was in the field preparing for a tactical evaluation (TACEVEL) in 1 July 1987. They had field phones running to the PCC via communications wire. The wire should have been connected to filters on the power entry panel that ran inside to the switchboard. The binding posts were broken so they had run the wire through the door directly to the switchboard. Around 1800 (6:00 PM) a phone was hit by lightning, it passed to the switchboard, then to each launcher, taking all three down. We replaced a filter on each launcher (around $5000 each) and tested each multiple times with no issues. The field phone filters were on back order— we could never keep them in stock. The worktop in the PCC was well burnt up— we told the crew to figure out a way to resurface it. I discussed the incident with my boss, CW3 John O. Meadows. I noted that when I was participating in operational test at Martin Marietta I had told the engineers the communications filters were going to be a problem. The power entry panel was located to the left of the door. The left corner of the shelter had fold down steps so the crew could climb when putting up camouflage. I noted that it was very likely that crew would inadvertently use the entry panel as a step and damage the binding posts on the filters. I had recommended that a bracket be added for protection but the MMA engineers were not convinced it was an issue.
Winter 1987, B Company, 55th Maintenance Battalion, Neu-Ulm, Germany
Wiley Barracks I pulled SOG at the Wiley MSA. Each guard had two ammo pouches with 3 magazines per pouch, 30 rounds per magazine. The pouches were wire sealed. Doing my checks, one of the wire seals was partially broken with only one strand intact. I swapped it with one of my ammo pouches, grabbed my seals from the QC shop and took it to 1/9 Bn- my intent was to inventory and reseal. Checked it with the SDO and came up one round short. Had to shut down that side of the kaserne, which pissed off a bunch of guys on a Friday night. Never did find the missing round. They did away with the seals and inventoried going on and off shift.