Watervliet Arsenal Newsletter: Salvo 31 December 2012

SALVO

Story begins on page 3

Building a stairway to heaven,more revenue?

Vol. 12, No. 12 U.S. Army Watervliet Arsenal, Watervliet, New York Dec. 31, 2012

Also inside:Commander’s Column99-year-old Arsenal RetireeShaker High School VisitAnnual Roll up

Page 2 Salvo Dec. 31, 2012

The Arsenal Salvo is an authorized monthly publication for members of the Department of Defense. Contents of the Salvo are not necessarily the official views of, or an endorse-ment by the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, or the Watervliet Arsenal. News may be submitted for publication by sending articles to Public Affairs Officer, 1 Buffington Street, Bldg. 10, Watervliet, NY 12189, or stop by office #102, Bldg. 10, Watervliet Arsenal. The editor may also be reached at (518) 266-5055 or by e-mail: [email protected]. The editor reserves the right to edit all information submitted for publication.

Commander, Col. Mark F. MigaleddiPublic Affairs Officer, John B. SnyderEditor, John B. SnyderPhotographer: John B. Snyder Arsenal Facebook Page @http://on.fb.me/sq3LEm

Commander’sCorner

Mark F. MigaleddiCommanding

Manufacturer 6

We recently hosted Tom Temin from Federal News Radio. Tom had never been to an Army-owned and –operated manufacturing center and so, we took a significant amount of time to explain such things as the difference between a mortar system and a lightweight howitzer. But more importantly, we talked about the Arsenal’s nearly 200 years of providing the products that have allowed our servicemen and women to come home safely.

Unlike many of the combatants who arm foreign militaries or militant groups, our troops have the utmost confidence in their weapon systems. Although this sense of trust cannot be measured, it nonetheless must be powerful.

Just think for a moment about what happens in the heat of a fire fight. A U.S. artilleryman or mortarman does not think for a second about whether or not his system is reliable or safe. These precious seconds may determine who gets off the first round on target, or who lives or dies. This sense of confidence doesn’t happen overnight, but through years of proven reliability on the battlefields — a reliability that comes from our history of providing the highest quality cannons and mortars in the world.

And so, as you get with family and friends this holiday season, take a moment to think about that young Soldier or Marine who will also be home this holiday season due in some part to what you do at the Watervliet Arsenal. During this season, we are thankful for the privilege to live in such a great nation and have the opportunity to give back to others in need. Please remember those less fortunate and do not lose focus of the season.

Enjoy a peaceful holiday season and get back to us safely. Thank you for everything you do throughout the year in support of our Soldiers, other service personnel who are currently deployed. May God bless you and your loved ones and all those who serve our country around the world.

Happy Holidays


Story continues on page 4, See Welders

The Arsenal’s historic Big Gun Shop has seen a lot of ac-tion since the first brick and mortar were laid nearly 130 years ago. From the 16-inch battleship guns that could fire a 2,200 pound projectile 23 miles to the 155mm can-nons for the U.S. Army Field Artillery’s new M777A2 lightweight howitzers have flowed through the wooden doors of this great factory. So, it should not be a surprise to anyone venturing through this 1,300-foot long facility today to still see some type of manufacturing taking place.

In the bowels of this brick building is one of the Arsenal’s most critical functions — welding. Of all the manufac-turing functions, the welding section seems to be the true growth industry at the Arsenal having increased its work-force from 5 welders just two years ago to the 14 it has today.

These welders have been extremely busy this past year working on such warfighting products as mortar base-plates. In fact, they assembled in 2012 more than 300 baseplates for the 120mm mortar system.

Looking at the finished baseplates may seem to the un-trained eye that this job must have been a simple manu-facturing process. But for the welding team, they had to weld together 57 parts using more than 90-feet of weld to

get the baseplates into their final configuration.

If welding baseplates, muzzle brakes, and barrel clamps weren’t challenging enough this past year, then maybe doing some prototype work for the M1A2 Abrams Tank ought to challenge them.

“In the 10 years that I have been here, we have never had a welding job of this size or challenge,” said Greg Stone, the Arsenal’s welding team chief. “Every welding skill imaginable, from the blowtorching of parts to tig welding, was used to manufacture this plumb and sync ramp for Abrams Tanks.”

But the challenge of manufacturing a non-standard prod-uct for the Soldiers was met with uncanny team work, Stone said.

“The excitement by my team to design the weld plan and then build this Abrams Tank ramp was unbelievable,” Stone said. “Everyone wanted to be a part of this project because they knew the challenge would test every skill that they had.”

“We even had to fabricate the work station because most

Uncanny teamwork inspires prototype development at Watervliet

The Abrams Tank plumb and sync ramp on the left is the current model that was originally designed for M60 tanks. On the right is the proto-type ramp designed by Benét Labs and built by Arsenal manufacturing. Note the striking difference in support legs between the two.

Photos provided by Benét Labs

By John B. Snyder

not being evenly distributed, significant failures have oc-curred on the ramp welds. Thus rendering the ramps use-less, Bascue added.

“This was a great opportunity for us to first analyze the current ramp and then design and build a new product at the Arsenal,” Bascue said. “For nearly 10 months, my team, consisting of Patrick Hickey, Paul Watson, Scott Fadeley, and I leveraged many of our in-house capabili-

ties, including computer modeling and simulation, to design plumb and sync ramps that not only in-creased the ramp’s weight bearing capacity from 60 tons to 80 tons, but also decreased the weight of the individual ramps by nearly 1,000 pounds.”

To move the concept from a computer design to a prototype, Benét Labs turned to the manu-facturing center at the Watervliet Arsenal.

“We can never underestimate the synergy that we have at Watervliet by having those who design within a five-minute walk from those who will turn those designs into a product,” Bascue said. “Having the weld shop fabrica-tion operation collocated with us allowed us to engage the welders during each step of the prototype construction.”

On November 28, Benét sent two sets of the prototype ramp to Aberdeen Proving Ground for testing.

Plumb and sync is a tank crew task that is achieved after bore sighting. The tank crew will back the tank up onto the plumb and sync ramp to align all sights to improve the accuracy of the fire control system.

As this story was being written, the weld team was ob-served repairing a 16-foot gap in the Arsenal’s fence line. A car driver going through the City of Watervliet failed to make a turn and drove into the Arsenal’s fence knocking down two large fence sections. Due to concerns about the Arsenal’s security at the open fence line, the welders were called in to do a quick repair. Again, proving just how good they are. The welders were able to repair the dam-aged fence sections to their pre-accident condition.


Photo by John B. SnyderArsenal welder Richard Goyer is working on a 120mm baseplate. In fiscal year 2012, the weld shop produced approximately 300 of these baseplates.

of our work is no larger than the size of a 120mm base plate,” Stone added.

How the Arsenal was able to become part of this Abrams prototype ramp work speaks volumes about the power of synergy that is unmatched anywhere in the Department of De-fense.

The Watervliet Arsenal manages the production aspect of the tubes and various assembly parts for cannon and mortar systems, but relies on its on-site collaborator, Benét Laboratories, to conduct the research, design, and prototype development for those systems. Located at the Watervliet Arsenal, Benét Labs is a department of the Army research development, and engineering facility. Their research and design capability is often leveraged by the Arsenal to improve production methods and products.

“The program manager for the Abrams tank system came to us about one year ago and asked us to design and build a prototype plumb and sync ramp,” said Clyde H. Bascue Jr, the Benét Lab’s Abrams program leader, and lead for the plumb and sync ramp development.

The problems with the current ramps are two-fold, Bascue said.

“The current plumb and sync ramps that are in use throughout the force were designed for the M60 tank and were not built by a manufacturer, but by logistics centers at each installation,” Bascue said. “Therefore, the quality standards vary from installation to installation.”

Additionally, because the ramp was not redesigned for the M1 Abrams tank, as the tank backs up onto the ramps its tracks are often unevenly distributed over the supporting structure. Analysis has proven that due to the tank tracks

Welders cont.

gate got backed up, hundreds of workers scaled the Arse-nal walls to get to work on time, Ernie said. Security also tightened inside the gate, Ernie added. New security badges were issued that granted limited access to the buildings. The days of being able to freely walk through one building to get to another had ended. “I was lucky because I was on the quality control inspection team,” Ernie said. “What this meant is that

I had access to every building, which made me feel very spe-cial.” Ernie has great praise for the World War II era leadership and workforce. What the attack did to the workforce was that it brought everyone together as a team, Ernie said. Within a few months, the Arsenal workforce went from several hundred to several thousand workers. From the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor until the Normandy Invasion in 1944, the Arsenal manufactured more than 23,000 cannons with an on-time delivery rate of 99.6 percent. Ernie was part of this unprec-edented achievement, an achieve-ment that has yet to be equaled.And so, on this 71st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, there is a sense of reflection by the Arsenal workforce. Arsenal history books speak volumes

about the World War II era, or what former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw called “The Greatest Generation Years.” But the books pale in comparison to the stories told this week by Ernie. Ernie eventually enlisted in 1944 and served on a U.S. Navy Destroyer Escort ship until he was discharged after the war. He came back to the Arsenal after his dis-charge where he worked until he retired in 1971. He is now 99-years-old and he said he plans to help the Arse-nal celebrate its 200th anniversary in July 2013, when he will be 100.


By John B. Snyder

99-year-old Veteran, Arsenal retiree recalls Pearl Harbor, war years

Photo by John B. Snyder

To help put this year’s Pearl Harbor Day remem-brance into perspective, one of the Arsenal’s oldest sur-viving employees recalls life at the Arsenal during the early days of World War II. Ernie Blanchet, from Troy, N.Y., said that his father was once a machinist at the Arsenal during World War I and as a kid, he often walked along the Erie Canal that once flowed through the Arsenal. As one of 12 children, Ernie found that he had to go to work at an early age to help support his family. He worked in local tex-tile mills for $12 a week making underwear. He ventured out of state for awhile, but even that job did not provide him a sense of purpose that he was looking for. Tired of going from job to job, he decided to settle down and to build a career. At age 28, and just months be-fore the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Ernie landed a job at the Watervliet Arsenal. The date was June 16, 1941. “I was at my sister’s house on Dec. 7, 1941, when my nieces brought in the news that Pearl Harbor was attacked,” Ernie said. “I remember thinking that maybe the Arsenal was going to be a tar-get, too, because of the important work we were doing to help prepare our country for war.” “When I reported for work on Monday, the day af-ter Pearl Harbor was attacked, armed security guards had closed all the gates except for one,” Ernie recalled. “Lines of cars, as well as workers, were backed up as se-curity guards checked every vehicle and person coming into work.” Most of the Arsenal workers, which numbered nearly 1,000 at the time, walked in through the gate versus drove in during the early 1940s. When the lines at the

Ernie Blanchet, age 99, taking a moment this month to show his pride for his country by waving the American Flag that adorns his lawn.


It took an Arsenal to build a product By John B. Snyder

Photos by Sgt. Mark Miranda and Staff Sgt. Charles Call

The proverb “It takes a village to raise a child” may be applied to the great work the Watervliet Arse-nal workforce has done this past year supporting our nation’s warfighters and the community. Why? Be-cause, it took the entire Arsenal to manufacture each one of the more than 7,900 items that were shipped from Watervliet last fiscal year. Despite the downsizing of U.S. combat operations Afghanistan this past year, the Arsenal was still able to have pretty respectable revenue to the tune of nearly $89 million, which was down about $10 million from the previous fiscal year. But those numbers don’t tell the true story of the Arsenal’s manufacturing achievements. It took every one of the 600 Arsenal employees, from machinists to con-tract specialists to paint-ers to transport drivers, to ship the more than 7,900 items from the Arsenal last year. This, by the way, was accomplished with an on-time delivery rate exceeding 96 percent. The Arsenal’s manufactur-ing mix also saw a shift from cannon production being the largest percent-age share of direct labor requirement to the produc-tion of mortar tubes and associated equipment now nearing 58 percent of the production flow. Nonetheless, the Arsenal shipped out in fiscal year 2012 approxi-mately: 650 mortar tubes; 30 105mm cannons; 110 155mm cannons; 4 120mm cannons; 500 60mm base

plates; 500 81mm base plates, and 260 120mm base plates. Additionally, the Arsenal had more than $67 mil-lion in contracts and nearly $19 million of that total went to New York state companies. Contracts ranged from the purchase of raw stock for cannon manufac-turing to the installation of a new power substation. Also in the $89 million of revenue is the fact that the Arsenal did all this safely. In fiscal year 2012, the Arsenal experienced a 73 percent reduction in lost days and it currently exceeds OSHA industry safety standards for private sector manufacturers. Some of this good news may be directly tied to new safety ini-

tiatives that rewarded the workforce more than 50 times in 2012 for identify-ing and mitigating safety hazards. In regards to the Arse-nal’s effect on the commu-nity, the Arsenal employee pay and benefits package for the last fiscal year was nearly $50 million, which paid for such things as gro-ceries at local supermar-kets, home purchases, car and home insurance poli-cies, and coffee at the local Dunkin Donuts shops. In addition to the mon-etary effects on the com-munity, the Arsenal also participated in nearly 60 community events that honored Veterans, fallen heroes, and our servicemen and women. By any standards, fis-cal year 2012 was a pretty good year for the Arsenal, just one more in the nearly 200 years of continuous service to the nation’s warfighters. In July 2013, the Arsenal will celebrate its 200th anniversary.

Top: Cannon crew members with Battery A, 1st Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment fire a high-explosive round from an M777A2 howit-zer during a live-fire demonstration at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wa.Bottom: Spc. Donald Myers and Pfc. Samuel Schultz, infantrymen from Company B, 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, bring their 120mm Mortar to bear against an insurgent rocket team at Forward Operating Base Kushamond, Afghanistan.

biomedical modeling using stereolithography; Emer-son Childs demonstrating tensile testing of howitzer tubes; Stan Rysio cutting steel for research to within

three thousandth of an inch; and Tom Oathout showing how composite wrapping has the ability to signifi-cantly reduce weight of weapon sys-tems. So, how well did Benét Labs do considering that some of the students

may have been experiencing some sort of withdrawal from not having touched their cell phones in nearly four hours? “This was pretty cool,” said Evan Bowman, a 12th grade student who is the president of the Shaker High Robotics Club. “I was impressed by the wide variety of scientific systems used by Benét Labs to not only develop weapon systems, but also to determine why weapon systems fail.” Bowman has applied to a few New York state engi-neering schools in hopes of starting college next fall. And now that he has worked with Benét Lab engineers for his high school project and has visited the Army re-search and design center, he said that he may consider employment someday at Watervliet.


Nothing elementary about this science

By John B. Snyder

Benét Lab’s Mechanical Engineer Emerson Childs is showing the stu-dents the results of a tensile test that he just conducted.

An inspection team toured the Army’s Benét Labo-ratories last Friday and this visit tested the ability of this premier weapons research and design center to reduce their scientific jargon to an elementary level of understanding. Maybe, elementary is the wrong use of verbiage because, after all, these were high school students. Thirty 9-12th grade students from the local Shaker High School Robotics Club visited Benét Labs to learn how the U.S. Army leverages science for the develop-ment and improvement of products to support our na-tion’s warfighters. Fortunately for Benét Labs, they had some history with many of these students and therefore, some of the scientific activities, such as measuring tensile strength and fatiguing material, were not new to them. “Our Robotics Club had great support this past year from Benét Labs as they helped us in our nationwide competition to build a robotic bas-ketball shooter,” said Brian Ashline, a 9-12th grade technology teacher at Shaker High School who was escort-ing the students. “We participated in two competitions with our robot and we did fantastic having placed 2nd and 3rd.” Eric Gillette, a Benét Labs materials engineer who coordinated the visit, said that Benét got involved with Shaker High School earlier this year as a way for Benét to share its vast scientific and engineering capa-bility with the community. “The community has always supported the Watervliet Arsenal and we simply wanted to pay back the community by helping to educate its youth,” Gil-lette said. “So, a few of us volunteered this year to help design and provide materials testing expertise to the Shaker High team in their effort to compete nation-ally.” During this four-hour visit, the students witnessed such activities as Benét Lab’s Tyler Caron explaining

“This was pretty cool. I was impressed by the wide vari-ety of scientific systems...”

Evan Bowman 12th Grade

Photo by John B. Snyder


CPAC Corner: TSP and the Roth OptionDid you know that the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) now offers a Roth Option?

TSP now offers a Roth option for all Federal Employees. This new feature will allow you to distribute some or all of your contributions to the Roth TSP. With Roth contributions, you pay taxes now. However, when you withdraw these contributions and their earnings, you will not have to pay taxes on them as long as you are 59½ years or older and you have had Roth contributions for five years or more when you receive your distribution. TSP contributions/options can be changed or elected at any time through the Army Benefits Center via the EBIS system (https://www.abc.army.mil) or telephone 1-877-276-9287.

The table below compares the treatment of the two different types of contributions.

Roth vs. Traditional Contributions

The Treatment of… Traditional TSP Roth TSP Contributions Pre-tax After-tax

Your Paycheck Taxes are deferred, so less money is taken out of your paycheck.

Taxes are paid up front, so more money comes out of your paycheck.

Transfers In Transfers allowed from eligible employer plans and traditional IRAs

Transfers allowed from Roth 401(k)s, Roth 403(b)s, and Roth 457(b)s

Transfers Out Transfers allowed to eligible employer plans, traditional IRAs, and Roth IRAs

Transfers allowed to Roth 401(k)s, Roth 403(b)s, Roth 457(b)s, and Roth IRAs

Withdrawals Taxable when withdrawn Tax-free earnings if five years have passed since January 1 of the year you made your first Roth contribution, AND you are age 59½ or older, permanently disabled, or deceased

For more information on Roth TSP, including a Contribution Calculator, please visit: https://www.tsp.gov/whatsnew/roth/compareRoth.shtml.

Did you know that the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) now offers a Roth Option?

TSP now offers a Roth option for all Federal Employees. This new feature will allow you to dis-tribute some or all of your contributions to the Roth TSP. With Roth contributions, you pay taxes now. However, when you withdraw these contributions and their earnings, you will not have to pay taxes on them as long as you are 59½ years or older and you have had Roth contributions for five years or more when you receive your distribution. TSP contributions/options can be changed or elected at any time through the Army Benefits Center via the EBIS system @ https://www.abc.army.mil or telephone 1-877-276-9287.

The table below compares the treatment of the two different types of contributions.

https://www.tsp.gov/whatsnew/roth/compareRoth.shtml

For more information on Roth TSP, including a Contribution Calculator, please visit:

Benét Laboratories' Mechanical Engineer, Greg Vigilante, recently competed in a powerlifting event sanctioned by the Revolution Powerlifting Syndicate(RPS) where he set state records. The event was con-ducted on Saturday, November 17 at Fairhaven Fitness in Fairhaven, Vt. Greg competed as an amateur in the Bench Press, Raw-Classic, 165-lbs. weight class in the 40-44 age bracket. On his first of three lifts, Greg bench pressed 300 lbs. He missed 315 lbs. on his second lift but suc-cessfully bench pressed 315 lbs. on his third lift. He is now the RPS record holder in Vermont and New Hampshire in his weight and age class. He has his sights on the New York State record of 309 lbs. and plans to compete sometime again in 2013.

From Benét Labs, another uplifting story

Greg Vigilante breaking the record at Fairhaven Fitness in Vermont. Greg said that he has been lifting weights since high school, but had a bad back injury that lasted a year and needed a physical goal to get back in shape This was his first competi-tion.

Photo provided by Dan Crayon


Lean Corner: Being scared into Lean By Karen Heiser

Real Life Lean; a Scary Hospital Story

A few months ago a group of Arsenal facilitators attended Lean training presented by Purdue University. We made up about 40 percent of the class. Since it was hosted by the Veterans Affairs Hospital, the rest of the group worked in various health care fields. Both groups were pleasantly surprised by the similarity in challenges we face while doing our work. We learned that whether the customer is a patient or a Soldier; whether the process is manufacturing or surgery; the Lean tools are the same. 6S of a machine tool cell or an office area or a hospital supply storeroom is the same. So is standard work.

Here’s a scary thing we learned. The instructor, an engineer and pharmacist, used to work in a hospital where the pharmacy shipped meds to the floors at 9:00 in the evening and 9:00 in the morning. Why? Because it worked for them. However, they did this in spite of the fact that doctors’ rounds took place before 9:00 a.m. and doctors often change meds during their morning rounds.

The impact to the patient – the CUSTOMER – was that meds from existing orders were shipped to the floors before the pharmacy received information telling them doctors had changed those orders that morning! So it was incumbent on nurses, nurses’ aides, and even patients and their families to be alert to the fact that meds were crossing in the mail.

On a personal note, a loved one of mine recently spent a week in the hospital while a new medication with dangerous side effects was being calibrated for proper dosage. FDA protocol is strict – meds have to be taken at specific times followed by EKG and blood tests at strict intervals.

FDA protocol should have led to strict standard work with no variation, but it wasn’t evident here. We’re talking about somebody’s life!

As I watched the employees scurrying about, chasing people down myself for prompt tests, and watching nurses leave the floor to get meds in time because the pharmacy wasn’t being responsive, Lean principles were popping into my head.

Where’s the visual management? Where’s the Managing for Daily Improvement board? Why is there so much scurrying? There should be a set of add-on lights outside every patient’s room. Not just for emergencies, but a color for the time to give meds, time for a test, and the time to check on somebody who hasn’t been heard from in a while.

I was describing this scenario to the head of the Lean Six Sigma office at Letterkenny - me standing in the door of the hospital room watching the chaos and thinking about add-on lights. He laughed and said “See? Once you really get it you can’t stop seeing it!” He’s right!

“Service to the Line, On the Line, On Time”


The “Thing” with six guns By Mark Koziol

Photo provided by the Arsenal Museum

The “Ontos” vehicle with armed with six 106mm recoilless guns. This system was used primarily by the U.S. Marine Corp.

The Watervliet Arsenal was very busy during the Cold War manufacturing a variety of weapons, but one weapon system the Arsenal provided manu-facturing support to, the M40 106mm recoilless rifle, became one of the most effective anti-tank guns used by the U.S. military. A recoilless rifle is breech-loaded, hollow tube firing a cartridge with a projectile. When the projectile is fired, the rear end of the perforated cartridge case allows the propellant gas to escape thorough the vented breech, thus reduc-ing recoil. The M40 106mm recoilless effective range was 3007 yards (1.1 mile) and maximum range was 8420 yards (4.1 miles). In the early 1950s, the rifle’s effectiveness in combat led engineers to design a fast moving anti-tank vehicle with six 106mm recoilless rifles mounted atop of it. The weapon system became known as the “Ontos,” a Greek word for “thing.” It was officially named: “the Rifle, Multiple 106mm, self-propelled M50.” The vehicle began its life as ei-ther T55 or T56 track armored personal carriers, originally designed for the U.S. Army in the early 1950s as a scout ve-hicle. The lightweight, fast attacking anti-tank vehicle Ontos was created by attaching six M40, 106mm recoilless rifles on top of the carrier. While the vehicle had outstanding cross-country mobility and armor pro-tection, it had deficiencies such as lim-ited storage space for ammo, lack of ve-hicle speed and range, excessive weight and cramped quarters for the three-man crew. Despite the praise Ontos received from President Truman’s Secretary of Army Frank Pace Jr., the Army leader-ship still decided to reject the Ontos. Interestingly, the U.S. Marine Corps took an interest in the project. They envisioned it as a lightweight, first line of attack vehicle to be used during a first Marine wave invasion into hot spots.

The lack of a heavy turret, using a common truck engine and having few parts to break down appealed to the Ma-rine Corps leadership. They ordered 297 Ontos vehicles; each equipped with six M40 106mm recoilless guns. The Ontos was manufactured from 1955 to 1957. During the mid-1950s, the Watervliet Arsenal manufactured hundreds of M40 recoilless rifle tubes, some of them used on the Ontos System. The Ontos weap-ons were used by the Marines from 1956 to 1969. The 106mm gun was used by the U.S. military from 1955 until 1970. The Ontos system was first used in combat in 1958 during the Crisis in Lebanon when President Eisenhower sent U.S. troops in to help defend Leba-non’s government in their fight against rebel insurgents. In 1965, a rebellion in the Dominican Republic led President Johnson to send in the Marines to sup-port the government and military against their fight with rebels. The Ontos ve-hicles successfully used to score hits upon older Swiss and French tanks used by the rebels. The Ontos system was deployed in Vietnam in 1965. Unlike World War II where there were many direct

tank fights, the Vietnam War was a different war where direct tank battles were almost nonexistent. So, the Ontos was used in its secondary role of providing direct fire support for the infantry. During the Battle of Hue, part of the 1968 Tet Offensive when the Vietcong invaded South Vietnam, the Ontos provided effective and much needed direct fire to suppress the enemy positions and knock holes into buildings. Unfortunately, the biggest drawback to the Ontos system, potentially lethal, was the need for the crew members to exit the vehicle to reload the six recoilless rifles, exposing themselves to enemy attack. In 1969, the Ontos was retired from active Marine duty because of a shortage of spare parts. Despite the good work by mechanics to cannibalize older vehicles for parts, the system had become outdated. The remaining Ontos fleet was given to the U.S. Army and used in Airborne Brigades. They became fixed bunker weapons after the vehicles’ spare parts were exhausted. The last Ontos garrison was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It continued to operate with one vehicle until 1980.


NFFE Local #2109 Toys for Tots

Arsenal helped the community to over-come a shortage of toys this year by collecting more than 700 toys and $400 for the Troy Salvation Army. Arsenal’s union, NFFE Local #2109, spearheaded this event. From left, Charlie Hannan, Maj. Steven Loveless, Maj. Paula Love-less, Col. Mark Migaleddi, Jim Grenier, Beth Myers, Laurie Vroman, and union president, Tim Ostrowski.

Making a difference

Combined Federal Campaign

Arsenal CFC Coordinator Shannon Lischak announced to the workforce during the December Town Hall that through their efforts the Arsenal was able to raise nearly $46,000 for the 2012 campaign.

City of WatervlietHead Start Program

The Arsenal Historical Society and the Federal Managers Associationsponsored the City of Watervliet Head Start Christmas Program. This year, the Arsenal supported 18 fami-lies, which included 46 kids and 5 parents.

Photos by Billy Martin and John B. Snyder


W A T E R V L I E T A

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A PROUD TRADITION SINCE 1813WATERVLIET ARSENALFOR

YEARS

Watervliet Arsenal200th Anniversary Cookbook

Have a great family recipe?Share it with your Arsenal Family!

We need your help – We are seeking entries for the fi rst ever Arsenal cookbook

to commemorate our 200th anniversary featuring recipes from our workforce.

Whether it is an appetizer, dessert or main course, we want to hear from you!

Cookbooks will be available for pre-order on the 200th Anniversary Memorabilia

order form.

Fill out and submit your recipes online at: www.wva.army.mil/recipe

Entries will be accepted from November 1, through December 31, 2012

Documents

Watervliet Arsenal Newsletter: Salvo 31 December 2012