8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Nov 1988)
1/3
ershing
ble
First
ls
cut
u
by
Troy Darr
Pmhing Cable Sraff Writer
The firsr nine Pershing
JI
ere.:tor la
un
chers
(Els)
were destroyed at the Equipment Maintenance
Centt·r H•usen in Frankfurt on October 18 and 19.
The s which were moved out of Camp Redleg
on September 1, belonged 10 Bravo Battery,
4th
Bat
talion, 9th Field Anillery, which was inactivated on
September 30.
The
Els were destroyed
in
accorda nce with the
procedures outlin
ed
in the Intermediate-Range Nu -
dear Forces Treacy and procedures were witnessed
by 10 Soviet inspectors.
First,
the erector launcher mechanism, which is the
pan
of
the
EL
that lifts
the
missile, was
sepamed
from the launcher chassis, according to a command
G-4
Pershing Missile Maintenance Staff office (MSO)
repres:entative
The work crew then dismantled and destroyed the
running gear.
Three
cuts were made in the running
gear, one in front and two in the rear. The plates
were
then
removed from the jacks so the jacks cou ld
not be remounted. The jacks are responsible for leve
ling the launching platform, which makes it possible
10 fire a missile.
The t,vo erector booms were then cut in two loca
tions
,hat
were not assembly joints. The booms were
cut in to pieces
of
approximately equal siies.
The erection booms, even
if
repaired, would
never have the strength to lifr rhe weight of a missile
again, said Maj. Gerard Han, 56th Field Artillery
Command public affairs officer.
The right boom actuator was also
cut
into two
pieces.
The boom
actuator contains the hydr:oulic
fluid that provides the pressure to erect the missiles.
Next, the missile launch suppon equipment, in
cluding external instrumentation compartments, were
removed from
th
e chassis.
The last area 10 be worked
on
was the frame. A cut
was made the width of the frame, one-third of the
way back from the front end.
Even if the
frame
was welded back together
it
would never withstand the stress it received while
moving, stated Hart.
After
destruction, the
Els
will be sold for scrap
metal with the guarantee that
th
ey will be further de
stroyed
by
the purchasing company.
• All the steps taken
will
make
th
e launcher im
possible to put back together. The actions 1aken
10
insure the destruction of the ELs were agreed upon
by
both panics
of the
INF treaty,
Hart
said.
The 10 cuts each launcher received were done in
under 15 minutes with a plasma-cutting torch.
Plasma cutting combines the technologies of gas
and arc welding. Electricity is used to concentrate the
plasma flow to a very narrow stream and forces it
thru a small orifice at high speed.
The
nine
erector
launchers destroyed this
month
were only the first of
many
that will be destroyed
during
the next three ye:ars.
L
r-
Polnt
l l l9
to • Penihlng II Erector Launcher SSgt. Ricardo Roop Missile Maintenance NCO Charl
ie
Battery nd
Battalion 9th Field Artillery shows the preH on Media Day where the cuts will be made In accordancewith the
Intermediate Range Nuci . Forcea Tre1ty.
\\)1.27,
No 2
Update
F
Y
I
Promo points
Some
56th
Field Artillery Command soldiers
will soon lose
promotion
paints previously earned
for the Primary Leadership Development
Course
and related leadership courses because of a new
Noncommissioned Officer Education System po -
licy that will require E-4s to be graduates of
PLDC to be eligible for promotion to sergeant.
Although the
new
policy will not take effect un
til Oct. 1, 1989, soldiers will be affected by it in
early 1989, according to officials in the office of
the
Deputy
Chief of Staff
for
Personnel.
Beginnin~ with the February promotion point
recomputauon for E-4s, and the May l 989
pr o
motion
point
rccomputation
for
E-5s,
points
will
no longer be awarded
for
the Primary Leadership
Course,
the Primary Leadership Devel
opment
Course, the Primary Noncommissioned Officer's
Course or other NCO Academy courses except
the
Basic Noncommissioned Officers
Co
urse.
(ARNEWS)
Policy clarlfled
The
Inspector General of
the
56th Field Artil
lery Command writes, There is a perception held
and practiced by a majority of Army
personnel
that needs to
be
corrected.
The next time you are outdoors during the
evening retreat ceremony' observe the rosition
taken
by
individuals during the playing o retreat
which
preceeds
the
playing
of 'To
The Colors
.
The
majority of individuals not in formation are
standing at parade rest - including senior officers
and
NCOs.
If yo u 'll check Appendix A, AR
600-25, you'll find that when not in formation, the
proper position is attention, and of course,
you
re
ma.in at attention
during
the playing of 'To
The
Co l
ors'
and render the salute.
This may seem minor, but it actually reflects a
lack of knowledge and education. Surely as a pro-
fessional you want to do things the right way.·
ank changes
The
Department
of D efense and its community
banks
arc putting
an end to free delivery of can
celed checks, st.aning early next year.
February
bank
s
ta t
ements will be the last to in
clude cancelled checks, and staning in March,
a
1
fee will be assessed for each
old
clicck a customer
asks the bank to photocopy.
A
new DOD program
called check safekeep
ing will be implemen ted
first
in
Germany
and
later will go to other parts of the globe where US
military personnel serve.
To make check safekeeping work, customer
checks will be microfilmed n du plicate and stored
in locations in
Frankfun
and
the
United States.
Originals will be kept
for 90
days and
all
micro
filmed copies will be kept a minimum of seven
years.
8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Nov 1988)
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Per hing Cabla
November 19
ershing celebrates
25
ye
I .
to
th
e field army. Because of the in
creased requirements of this mission
the Army beg.tn an upgrade of Pershin
1. At the same time, the Army autho
rized an increase in the number o
launchers
in
each battalion from four
to
36.
In
order
10 in
crease the system's abi
ity to move, shoot, and communicate o
pan of the QRA mission, the Arm
awarded
a
contract in Ja nua ry, 1966, t
Martin Marietta Aerospace to explor
development of new
gro
und suppo
equipment system for
Per
shin
g.
Th
new ground support equipment becam
the upgrade from
Persh,ng I
10 Pe
shing 1-A with the produc tion contra
being awarded
to Manin
Marietta
No vember, 1967.
U.1. -
e-placlng the old reliable Redstone System, the Per hlng I, Introduced to Europe In 1964, Increased ran
ge
and rellabltlty.
The most noticeable change
wa
s th
introdu
ctio
n of wheeled vehicles
t o
r
place
th
e M-474 tracked vehicle fami l
The wheeled erector launcher w
faster in the missile erection procedu
and more reliable than its tracked pr
decessor.
y
Gerard
J.
Hart
Public Affairs
Off
icer
Pershing has been
pan
of the Army
in,·entory for
over
25 years and in
Europe in one of its models since 1964.
The evo lution of the Pershing missile
system and the 56th Field Artillery
Co mmand arc so significantly inter·
t,vined that discussion of one without
the other is llmost impossible.
The original Pershing missile was
concci,·cd in 1957 by the Advanced Bal
listic Missile Agency.
That
agency's in
tent was
to
replace the aging Old Re
liabl
e
Redstone missile. The ABMA
wanted a design which was
sma
ller than
the Redstone but with a greater r.tnge
and increased reliability.
1958: In the Beginn
in
g
In March 1958, the Arm y Missile
Command awarded the Orlando Divi
sion
of
Martin Marietta a contract for
the development of a mobile missile
system.
The
specifications for the new
Pershing system called for a 400 mile
range, twice that of the Redstone, but
also required the system 10 be one-sixth
the weight and one-half the heigh .
The Pershing
des
ign moved quickly
from the drawing board
to
the test
range. The first launch of a Pershing
missile occurred at C ape Canaveral,
Flo rida on February 25, 1960 - 22
months
after the award of the Marrin
Marietta contract.
The firs, tactical equipment was de
livered to the Army in October, 1962.
A, this time the Pershing missile sys
tem's mobility was dependent upon the
M-474 tracked vehicle, built upon the
chassis of an M-113 armored personnel
carrier.
The
first Pershing battalion wa~ the
2nd Battalion, 44th Field Artillerv,
commanded by Lt. Co l. Patrick W. .
wen. Their training in the system had
started nine months earlier, but the ac
tual battali
on acti
vation
took
place in
March, 1963.
After off-post training, the
2-H
FA
became the 1st Battalion, 41st Field Ar
tillery, trained and equ ipped at Fort Sill.
1963: Arrival In Germany
By Oct ober, 1963, the 1-41 FA
moved to Wingate N . M. for its first ac
tual
Pe
r
shing
firing. On its return 10 Ft.
Sill, the battalion was redesignated 4th
Battalion, 41st Field Artillery and as
signed to
7th
Army in Germany. Its ad
vance parry left for
Germany
on March
11 , 1964, from CharleSton
Air
Force
Base, SC,
wh
ile the main pany left New
York harbor aboard the USS Buckn
er
,
arriving at Bremerhaven on April
11
,
1964.
The
main body
soon
linked up
Lee Barracks in Mainz.
In
1968, the
l-81 FA moved 10 Neu-Ulm, still home
today, to the Ist Battalion 9th Field
Ar
tillery.
The third battalion 10 deploy to
E
urop
e with the Pershing system was
the 3rd Battalion, 84th Field Artillery.
Like many other
units,
the 84th FA had
a long hi
story
of activations and inacti
vations, but iu most recent incarnation
as a Pershing
batta
li
on
occurred
on
Jul y
4, 1964. 3-84 FA personnel went
through several
months
of equipping
.tnd training at Ft. Sill in preparation for
its deployment to Europe. The unit's
advance elements depa ned
for
Europe
in April, 1965. The main body followed
and arrived
in May.
The 3-84 FA was
..
/
.
1969: First Pl-As
The
first
shipment of Pershing I
-
equipment arrived in Bremerhaven o
Augu
st 13, 1969. In ceremonies co
ducted on Spetember
2&, the
1-41
F
commander, Lt.
Co
l. Thomas E.
Shazo, and the 56th F ield Artille
Group
commander, Col. James E. Co
way, received the keys for the ne
equipment. Pershing I-
A.
had arrived
Schwabi
~,·
h Gmiin, .
October I 1969, mark ed the effecti
imp lementat
ion da
te of Pershing I-
capability
for
3-84 FA in Neckarsulm
u.a.,-.,"'°
TIie
mo
at notlclable change to t
he
Pershing sy1tem wu the replacement of tracked la
uncher
•
with IH t
e
r,
more reliab
wheeled erector launchers. The Pershing IA, however, still required the 1upport of a large land
train .
with its advance pany at Hardt Kaseme assigned 10 the 56th Field Artillery The unit began the neccessary upgra
in Schwiibisch Gmiind, where the l-
41 Group
a
nd
took
up
its quaners at
Ar
· in personnel and equipment to incre
FA (the final unit designat
ion af
ter sev- tillery Kaseme in Neckarsulm. the battalion's combat capability.
eral cha
nge
s)
shared
Hardt
Kasernc
On
September \ 8, [ 970, the 5o
with the 56th Field Anillery Group.
1965: Quick Reaction Alert
Field Artillery Group, which did n
The next Pershing battalion to arrive have a historical relationship with
in
Germany
was the
\st
Battalion, 81st In 1965 Pershing units assumed an
new
brigade, became the 56th Field
A
Field Artillery. The 1-81 FA
had
a long additional role in support of the nuclear tillery Brigade. The new
56th
FA
B
history, wh ich included assignments deterrence missfon of NATO. The gade demonstrated the importance
with the old Honest John and Corporal three units were given the mission of the Pershing
sys
tem and gave it a co
missile systems. On April
15,
1963, Quick Reaction Alert which required a mand and control capability with
1-81 FA was reactivated at Ft . Sill and portion
of
each unit to maintain the creation of the Headquarters and
Hea
became
part
of the Pershing missile highest level of
combat
readiness and be quaners Battery.
team. The 1-81
FA
deployed to Europe prepared to fulfill its wartime mission in
in October, 1963 and was first garri- the minimum amount of time. This
soncd at M cCu lly Barracks in Wackern- QRA mission was in add i
tion
to its ba-
heim, while its Service Battery went to sic mission of providing nuclear support
The new brigade commanded t
1-41 FA, 1-81 FA. and 3-84 FA Pe
shing firing battalions. The 2nd Batt
8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Nov 1988)
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Pef /ling Cable 5
November 988
rs
of peace presence
lion, 4th lnfantr)' which h
2d
been re•c·
tivated on Julr 21, 1969, and had a unit
lineage dating back to the War of 1812,
'as part of ,he S6th FA Brigade and
pro,·
odcd
the infantry dcfcnsi c support
the unils required. A Headquarters
and
Headquarters Battery pro ided a com
mand and control umbrella s 'ell
as
additional communication and logistic
support.
1978: Twin Track Agreement
In 1978, the North Atlantic Truty
Organi, at ion .ukcd the United Sme• to
deploy intermediate range missiles in
Europe 10 counter the deplorment
of
intermediate ungc. mobile SS-20 nu•
clear missiles bv the So iet Union.
Once again, the Pershing system ,vould
be
upgr~dcd wi th • long term effect on
the S6th field Artillery Brig•dc.
The Pershing II
missiles
arri,•ed in the
Brigade
uca
eu
l
v
in
the morning
of
No\'cmber
27
1
983.
A ground con\ O)
had mowd the missiles from Ramstein
AFB to ~lutlangen Missile Storage
Area. Then Lt. Col. Douglas J. Mid
dleton initiated the training and readi
ness
program that would successfully
iransition the 1-~I FA battalion into the
first operational Pershing
II
battalion.
The training was intense.
By
December 15, the first opemion•l
Pershing II firing bmcry A Bmery,
1-41 FA, commanded by M•j. Nolan
Warson. 'a