the

Pershing Cable
56th Field Artillery Brigade
Vol. 15, No. 10
October 1979

Sappertlq &lie l/411t, I/Ital, S/IMtlt FleW Artllerles uol tile !/flh lnf1111try

Military patrol. covers 15km.

SCHWABISCH GMOND - "It was a eel into four-man teams : six American
good chance to practice land navigation, to teams, 10 German teams, and one team
use a compass and map. That was Spec. f composed m three Germans and one
James Tup,pers assessment ol the intema- American. Tupper was the American soltional milit.ary patrol held hereSept. 15 as dieronthemixedteam.
Each team negotiated a cross-country
part of German-American Friendship
Week.
course of more than 15 km. and consisting
Tupper. of Battery B. 1st Battalion, 41st o1 seven tes1 stations. At each station, the
Field Artillery, was one of 24 American teams were tested llft their knowledge of
if 43 German soldiers who participated military skills.
'
.e patr<>I. The partlcipants were divid
The first through slxth place finishers

Al the starting point near flea!Nlch least el Sdlwlllll1Ch Gmlladl,

the team from Battery A, lit Battalioa, '1st Field Artillery llad
les their map on the bood of a jeep. From left t rlgllt are Spec. 4

'Veteran' means
Veterans Day on Nov. II is a speciallydesignated time of national tribu~ to those
\Oho have 5erved In Americas Anned Forces
since the ReV<Olutionary War. But dictionary
definitioo aside, the word "Veteran" means
many things to just as many~Some see the quiet courage of the doughOO)'S and Gls ol two world wars, mudcaked and battle-wracked, slogging
through yet another village toward yet another lront line.
Some see the bravery displayed at the
lwo Jimas, the Pork Cbop Hills, the Kbe
Sanhs, and those heroes and heroines ot
other wars who ealned their nalion's homage when they stood whel'I' they could have
fallen at Wlknown places with strangesounding names.
And others see a less-than-welcoming
nation when Johnny came marching.
mg and sailing home lrorp Southeast Asia
during a time rile with anti-military, antiwar sentiment and tinged 1th resentment
at the "pull-oot" or the Uruted States ever
becoming involved in the coaflict.

nr-

were all Gennan teams. The top U.S. team

was from Headquarters Battery. 56th Brigade. Members of that team were 5%1.
Ted Endicott, Sgt. David Jones and Spec. 4
Oscar Montalvo. <Endicott is assigned to
the 266th Chemical Detachment, but parUcipated as a member of the Headquarters
Battery team.I The team outperformed
the othl!I' U.S. teams despite the fact that
theirfourthmemberfailedtoshow.
At the starting point, each team was

.utl

IAon and PFC

Danny Bus, sst. Samel Stoagh, Spec. 4
Dillard AAllrn. 'ad1 partlclput wore a Germ. mlllta,y back
pack filled with IG p09l1111 of IUIII. IPlaeto by sst, 1-u flu1to10

given a map and the grid coordinates of the

second checkpoint. Once the team reached

point two, the soldiers were tested on their

ability to identify armored fighting vehicles of the NATO and Warsaw Pact countries. They were given the azimuth , direclion in degreesl and distance to point
three.
The teams that found point three rone
team dldn'tl were asked 10 identify military symbols and were then given another
azimuth and distance. But this time. they
were allowed to use only a compass their maps were sealed in envelopes.
Checkpoint four was the first aid test.
Each team had to apply first aid to a soldier who bad been "shot" and had broken a
leg when he fell out of a tree. The " victim"
1PFC Tony Grijalva ol Headquarters Battery, 56th Brigade) was lylng next lo a
small stream at the bottom of a steep embankment. The really toogh part was putUng the 190-pound "victim onto a stretch,
er and carrying him uptothehighwa}'.
"I wanted to make one of the stations
hard!" said Sgt. Denzil Space of Puya Uup.
Wash. 'This one is!" Space. who is as
signed to Headquarters Battery, 56th Bri
gade. planned the course for the patrol . He
spent many hours with a map and then
"about 10 hours on foot" laylng out the
route.
Dlun111y s,eaade9
At station five, each team member had
to throw dummy grenades at a target. At
station sill, the teams were judged on their
ability to estimate distances.
Upon arrival at station seven 1\.he Hardt
athletic fleldl, a member of each team had
lo properly disassemble and assemble lhe
M60 machine gun in a race against the
clock. 1The Germans were tested on an
equivalent German weaponl. Meanwhile.
two other members of the team wer,e re,
quired to roll a military truck tire around
the 400-meter track.

many things to people

But why, as a nation, do we designa~ a

day each year to honor these "veterans"?
Certainly it's not to hear another lon&winded speech or to see another parade ot
drums and bugles.
Maybe it's because down deep, under
the crum of cynicism and skepticism that
we as a country in recent years have
raised against our institutions, the military holds a special place.
Maybe the uniform - and those who
have wom and still wear it - is the cord
that binds us as nation, first tying the
country together and, today, weaving its
fabric of security.
Perhaps we celebrate Veterans Day because "veteran" is a forging of deeply significant images which tell us what we have
been. where we are and how we will deal
with the future.
-Armed Fan:e Press Sentce
EditOl''s Dote: Vel.erau Day wu fall ea
SUDday &his year. Tberefore, Moeday,
Nov. 1% will ~ observed u a ~oliday
Army-wide.

'Pershing's
Mod Shop'
91-,,A ......

by SSll- LUCAS HU1TON

Speedy repair and modification of Per!lhing equipment ii the mission of the Pershing Modification and Repair Activity In
Frankfurt, West Gemany.

Fred Baker, who t two yean u Pet"

shln11 mlnile cnwman, 10w worb for Ille
Martin Marietta Compa1y al the Modlflc
tioa Sbop. Here Baker carries Ml medlficatlon to the bruet oa 1111
I ELI. The modUicaUOI calls for Ille re-

placement of mOlt wake eompoeeats to redltee Ille clqace of brake lock..p ud

SSct, J-pb Jojola points ont a modlfk

elgbt kit tbat bold Ute pi 11 place. Re

placlnc: kin plm ued to be a te-1Y and
expeeslve operation.

en,et...__,

lion to the kla, pin oa I I ertdor-l11acher.

On modified Eu, lbe kill! pl Cal be rePIOVed aad replaced by imply removiq

Page 4

ble Ille.

ne -

,..,i.

lnke IIDlq are de

slped to clue lade before reachlna a

temperatare Mp -&11 to inanlte 1M EL
tires.

Commonly known as the "Mod Shop,"

the facility carries out depot-level repairs
and modifies Pershing equipment as required. The more than SO civilians working
at the Mod Shop are employed by Martin
Marietta Aerospace, the prime contractor
for the Pershing missile system. The man
in charge of the shop is CWO 4 Don R. Merrick, who is assigned to the Pershing Project Manager's Office I PPMOI at fled.
stone Arsenal, Ala., wlltl duty in
Frankfurt.
Merrick is quite familiar with the Per!lhing system, having been Ulllgned to all
three missile battalions ol the 56th Field
Artillery Brigade. Merrick's staff consists
cl three noocommissioned olfiCet"S. who
are also ass;lgned to PPMO: SFC Bob Lucas. the NCO in charge; SFC Dave Gibat:
and SSgt. Joe Jojola, the production/quality control NCO.
Four ellsted personnel from the 579th
Ordnance Company in Neu Ulm assist In
receiving and shipping equipment and
parts.

Pershlnc ,equipment needing repair fint

goes to the 519th Ordnance Company. "If
they cant fi:x it." says Jojola, "it comes to
lheModSh ."
The stwpt.s the equipment and trained
people to repair or modify virtuaUy any
item of Perslling equipment, from tile

Another modlAcatloll ID Pf'Ollret Is tbe replacemelll of tbe service aid emer11eacy

lirake air coaplings, eommollly bow as
tbe "glad balllis." Here Jojola points lo tbe

Pershing Cable

brakes on the erector-laWICher , ELt to the

sophisticated electronics found in !tie programmer-test station.
Mod shop mechanics. welders and technicians are currently carrying out a variety of modifications. several of which are ti
lustrated in tlle paotoaraphs on these
pages.
If the Mod Shop cannot repair an ilem.
says Jojola. a message is sent to either the
PPMO or Martin Marietta in Orlando, Fla.
The message describes the problem. and a
reply tells the shop either to send the item
to the U.S. for repair or what to do to re
pair it in the shop.
Both Merrick and Jojola t pronnounced
Ho-HO.la, stress lhe importance of Equip,
men Improvement Reports 1E1r "" The
EIR gives the individual the oppor._,4!y to
report on problems concerning any item of
mflitary hardware. Tb EIR is a major
soorce of information for the Mod Shop.
"If a person at a unit doesnt submit an
EIR and Just slts on the problem, .. say Jo,
Iola, "lhe engineers at PPMO an Martm
Marietta will never know about it:
The Mod shop is activel)' involved in the
Penhlng lJle Extension Assessment ProlP'Bffl I LEAP! and the Life Extension Program tLEPJ. Penh.ing equlpment now in
use is nearing lhe end of its designed serv
ice life. and LEAP will determine what
needs to be done to refurbish the present
system. The second phase. I.EP. will carry
out lhe refurbishment to enable Pershing
I equipment to continue "into the foreseeable future, at least willJ the late 1980s"
Jojola said.

'#lllc are designed to

mue II lmpoulble lo reverse tbe servlct

1ew "&lad bllld1,"

IIMI emertDeY c.uectloaa betwttD the

~7 tract and tlit erector-Jauachet".

Octob