THE HARD CHARGER OCTOBER 2019

Greetings, HARD CHARGERs! I hope this note finds you all well and enjoying the cooler temperatures. Just this week, I finally closed the pool as the temperatures got down in the 30’s here in Oklahoma.

SPORTS: Finally feels as though the baseball season is over and congrats to those whose teams made the playoffs. I was hoping the Indians could return, but too many injuries did them in this season. At least I have football now. No, I’m not talking about the disappointing start to the season for the Cleveland Browns, but my Ohio State Buckeyes. I drove up to Nebraska for the Ohio State game and heard all the Cornhusker trash talk, but someone forgot to tell the players to show up for the game. This could be a good year for the Scarlet and Gray, but there are some tough games ahead.

ACTIVITIES: I’m staying quite busy with all of the organizations and volunteer work. In addition to a great deal of church involvement, I will be heading to D.C. in November for the annual meeting of the Military Officers Association of America, followed by a chapter visit to Santa Fe. Marilyn and I are busy with our Wednesday Worship with the Day Care folk at our Armed Services YMCA. It’s great to get hugs from almost 100 children from one to four years of age!

VETERANS DAY: There are a lot of Veteran’s Day ceremonies in the Lawton-Fort Sill area, six of which I will probably attend. The Comanche County Veterans Council (CVCC) is busy as we get ready for our Legislative Breakfast, Veteran’s Day Observance, and our Wall of Honor Ceremony. I hope that you will attend an observation of the holiday in your area and accept the gratitude extended to you. Thanks for your service in peacetime as well as

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in combat. I saw many changes in my 30-year military career and saw combat twice in Desert Shield/Storm and OlF1, but that doesn’t compare to what a lot of you went through in Vietnam and Volunteer Army days. Thanks again for your service.

REUNION PLANS: The 1/30 Change of Command is scheduled for 12 June 2020, so we are looking at the week of 8 to 12 June for the reunion. Dan Mitchell has signed the contract with the Homewood Suites in Lawton. We will have the 2019 per diem rate of $94, and we just received the website information to make reservations for our block of rooms. Dan, Rob Roshell, and Marilyn and I met with the Coliseum manager to make arrangements for our banquet to be at the Lawton fairgrounds. Dan and Rob continue to do great work!

At the business meeting in Cleveland, we decided on three potential sites for the 2021 reunion - Kansas City, New Orleans or San Antonio. Bill Bilo attended a reunion in San Antonio and has provided a wealth of information about that city already. We are still looking for a lead person for any of the three sites! We hope to have a spirited discussion a the 2020 business meeting as we make plans for the 2021 reunion!

God Bless You!HARD CHARGERS! Ted Janosko

The Distaff side in Cleveland

Maybe Tomorrow…

“Maybe tomorrow” was one of my Vietnamese counterpart’s favorite remarks when I worked with him during my tour as an advisor in 1969 - 70. As I downloaded the website contact which Ted referred to in his comments, the same thought occurred to me. The online booking link is as follows: (one continuous line, no spaces) https://secure3.hilton.com/en_US/hw/reservation/book.htm? inputModule=HOTEL&cityhocn=LAWTNHW&spec_plan= CHW30f&arrival=20200607&departure=20200612&cid= OM.WW.HILTONLINK.EN.DirectLink&fromid=HILTONLINKDIRECT

Maybe you’d prefer to wait until “tomorrow,” that is, the next newsletter, when the familiar two page outline of reunion activities and the sign up sheet with a telephone contact for the Homewood Suites will appear.

😅 The Editor

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Second Call for a Few Good Men (or Women)

The Association is still looking for members to step up and take the lead in championing one of our choices for 2021 - Kansas City, New Orleans, or San Antonio. We need a “point person” who can “talk up” the site to the membership at the meeting next year. It’s actually not that complicated, as the chambers of commerce of most localities are only to happy to deluge the requestor with more information about hotels, restaurants, attractions and so on than would ever be necessary for a 10 minute presentation to the membership at Fort Sill. Information regarding potential places to stay, prices, amenities, etc. is easy to come by and makes an informed selection all the more easy and possible.

If you are willing to undertake this effort (and particularly if you live nearby or grew up in one of these cities) please contact Ted or me and let us know. There are always plenty of experienced members out there who have done this more than once and will be only to glad to assist, and the web site and the newsletter will be there for support as well.

The Editor

Fort Sill 2020

Featuring

Old Friends and other folks you don’t see everyday

Memories and Memorabilia

Pageantry and the Change of Command

Activities for the Ladies

Live Fire, and other local attractions

A Recollection and a Preview (Perhaps)

This past September, Bill Bilo attended the reunion of the 77th FA Regiment in San Antonio, TX, and sent back a very complimentary report of the event. This report was prepared by John Moran, one of the 77’s members. In addition to the description of the enjoyment of what San Antonio had to offer, (one of the sites under consideration for our 2021 reunion), John also included an account provided by CPT Bill Capshaw of the battles at LZ Grant 50 years ago. Bill wished to commemorate the loss of 10 men, and here is his story as John transcribed it.

In January, 1969, in order to thwart the NVA who were building up their forces around Tay Ninh, the 2/12th CAV was assigned to occupy the location known as LZ Grant. Bill Capshaw recounted Charlie Battery’s role in that mission. Charlie provided direct support of the 2/12 and was with them at Grant. The 2/12 was further supported by Alpha Battery, 1/30 Artillery, the CAV’s 155mm battalion. The 2/12 immediately started patrolling and encountered both VC and NVA troops. It soon became apparent from captured prisoners and documents that the enemy was determined to eliminate the American presence. The first attack came on Feb 22/23 with a heavy mortar and recoilless rifle attack, followed by a ground attack. CPT Capshaw directed that a 105mm howitzer be moved over to front gate where the main attack was occurring. Using beehive ammunition, the attack was broken. The next attack was on March 7/8, starting with another rocket and mortar barrage. A 120mm rocket hit the 2/12 TOC, and LTC Gorvad, the BN CO, was among those killed. Again, the artillery played a key role in repulsing the attack. The next attack was on March 10/11 (when) the NVA was observed massing for (a) huge ground attack. The artillery used a new type of ammunition called COFRAM, which were essentially “bouncing betties,” to break up this attack before it even started. 287 NVA bodies were found the next morning. The final major attack was by a company of sappers who were discovered in the wire and some past the berm.

There were some light moments in all of this. Bill Capshaw recalled that when a couple of Charlie Battery’s mules, (vehicles) used to move ammo, etc., on a fire base, (were destroyed) in one of the attacks, he asked some of his troops to get replacements. They came back with one painted a very pretty sky-blue, with loads of commo equipment: by morning it was the traditional OD. Gotta love GI resourcefulness! For their actions during this time, Charlie 1/77 was awarded the 2nd Valorous Unit Citation and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry w/Palm. The unit suffered 10 killed and approximately 55 wounded…

COMMA’S COMMENTS

The Pins: The last newsletter had a few lines about who is used to produce our reunion pins, and why we use them. To finish out that story:

This is what was sent to Luke:

This is what I received back:

Not only does Luke’s company manufacture our reunion pins - they also make our lanyards for our name tags and produced our current association coin.

Fall: I am starting to write this on 7 October. This morning it finally feels like Fall is upon us. We have had temperatures in the nineties for most of the last two months. The trees here in Tennessee started to drop their leaves about a month ago. I am fully convinced that due to the hot weather we’ve been having that the leaves were falling because the trees had suffered heat stroke! The date when the Fall season starts has nothing to do with it!

Funny, when I look back at my journal for this date in 1990, I also found a strange weather change. I had been in Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Shield since 16 September. The mercury had soared above 120 every day. With the winds blowing off the sea thirty miles away at night, the temps dropped into the high eighties. The sudden drop of over 30 degrees, happening in less than an hour after the sun went down, caused us to have to use a blanket at night. But this day was different.

One of my jobs with the 801st Maintenance Battalion, DISCOM, 101st Airborne (Air Assault) was as a member of one of the purchasing teams. Each battalion and larger had their own team. The teams consisted of a captain, normally the S-4 OIC, an E-8 or E-9, and a person in charge of security. Because of my size, I was the security guy. Our job was to buy supplies on the local

economy to support military operations. The officer signed for the money, the E-8 spent the money, and I guarded the money, the supplies, the officer and the NCO.

On that Monday, as we did five days a week, the funds were signed for early that morning and we headed downtown for a day of shopping. As we were headed back to our battalion HQ, it started to rain. It rained, off and on, all afternoon. By dark that day, the temperatures were in the 60’s. The sleeping bags, normally just something to lie on, were used as intended. The Fall season in Saudi was around six weeks long. That meant high seventies during the day and fifties at night. By December we were getting down to freezing at night. In January after Desert Storm had started, it rained one night and the water in the foxholes was frozen the next morning. It had just started to warm back up when I returned home in March.

That’s your Quartermaster’s two cents and as always, worth every cent you paid for it!

CHARLES ‘COMMA’ CAUSEY, OUT!

2848 Crooked Wash Drive

Loveland, CO 80538

NEXT ISSUE DEC 2019/JAN 2020

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