The 1/211th Field Artillery Battalion
Events at Ft. Bragg, N.C.
Page 6
As National Guard we thought we were the greatest outfit to come down the pike, but when we got to Bragg, we learned that there was much more to learn, for now we had all of the equipment that was supposed to be issued to us. Namely trucks, commo equipment (especially wire - 52 miles of it where we were lucky to have had five miles as National Guard troops. In fact we had more Commo equipment than what we were supposed to have, for the unit that used the commo building before we moved in was the 3/16 Artillery and they were shipped to Europe leaving behind all kinds of commo equipment. Our first trip into the field as a battalion, took us out a very muddy Chicken and Plank Roads to the area of Ranger 5 Station. By the way, Ft Bragg is so big that they have ranger stations that are responsible for the reservation, for this was not only a military base but also a tree farm for the harvesting of trees, southern pines. These trees grow straight up and reach a height of probably 70 to 80 feet. They are used for not only wood but also telephone poles. A dozen of their pine cones would make a great camp fire to keep warm by. Enough of that,,, we are talking about Ft Bragg events; One event that is brought to mind is the lack of heat in the barracks. Frosty decided that screen door hinges made and excellent heating element and through trial and error, porcelain insulators and a couple of wires connected to the 220 volt line below in the boiler room, he could heat his room. With all the people that came to visit, he probably didn't need the heater after all. Out to the field again and we learned the hard way from the ranger, that a grass field was not for us to drive our trucks on but instead was a planted field of rye grass for the animals for the coming winter. The unit spent 300 days at Ft Bragg and 100 of those days were spent in the field. Army Tactical Testing or ATT's were what we were there for, and although every member of the unit felt that we had passed the test, such was not the case. Of course the comment was that "No National Guard unit passes the test the first time" So back to the field again. One of the most impressive time of the year at Ft Bragg is Armed Forces Days. The Airborne troops do an air drop, the artillery offers a Time on Target or TOT and the missle command showed what a simulated atomic missle can do. There is even something for the children on this special day, when cranes with wire cages become Whirling Dervishes, children can fire machine guns with blank ammo, and the strong at heart can take the try the Airborne jump tower. These are some of the more pleasant things about our stay at Bragg. For guys like us that should be used to the cold weather of Massachusetts, we found that 1961/62 had some cold and snowy nights while we were in the field. Candles were burned in pup tents to take away some of the chill, but when they went out, it was frosted interiors the next morning.
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