11Bravo

So M35 that M2 is set up to protect your Harley? I still have my Army drivers license that lists an M35A2. One last funny memory, being Mechanized Infantry the TA&E ( I think that was the term) allowed us one M2 per APC. We also had tripods in case we went for a ground mount. So what we did was after each firefight where we lost a track we claimed a combat loss for a 50. In this way as time went on each squad had a pair of them for night time positions. One on the track and one in the bunker we built each night. Things worked great til a BN. strip team came and took the extra M2s that we should not have. Crazy rules for sure!

My best go to was the M2. The second photo was what the taller guy was carrying. http://crayonmedia.com/wayne/Vietnam/army18.jpghttp://crayonmedia.com/wayne/Vietnam/army9.jpg

No thanks needed, but I appreciate it. After I got used to the M60 platform, I could have passed it on after only a month or so. Losing many men replacements were a constant, yet I liked the fire power. I was forced to give it up when I got my stripes and led the squad. In all honesty, upon reflection, that gun belonged in aircraft (Hueys) where it got good cooling and dust and mud weren't part of the equation. What I do remember is the following, walking though the bush I had a C-ration can clipped onto the left side with only around 30 belted rounds hanging down. Also the Huey guy's told me about putting a nickle behind the buffer to increase the rate of fire. I asked for a cleaning kit at one time as I wanted to clean the barrel and was told throw the barrel down a well and we will get you a new one! Later I found out the Govt. paid $600 for extra barrels. Somebody was getting rich, and at $84 a month it sure wasn't me We used small fruit juice cans in El Salvador on our M60Ds in a similar fashion in 1989. The flexible fed chutes caused constant stoppages just as they did in VN. We were chastised for it by the MILGP commander with him telling us to use the issued equipment. I arranged a test for him to show the differences in the two methods needless to say after constant failures with the fed chutes and none with the apple juice cans he left us alone after that. It's a funny thing when something in the field is made to work, then the "Brass" complains? A bit off topic, but I remember a few things we developed for survival. We were a Mech unit with our M113s and took to carrying PSP plates on the tracks side (shown in first picture). Helped as reactive armor to maybe help with the RPGs. At night positions we put up a cyclone fence in front of the track, same reason. Then the motor pool made up extended laterals for the track driver. In this way he drove from on top of the track, in this way a mine wouldn't screw him up as the rest of us were always on top. Prior to that the driver sand bagged the floor under his seat, and he sat on his flak jacket to protect his family jewels.

Found another picture, Sent home as a Rambo type for my Dad. I always hold him he didn't have the balls to be Infantry when he served in the Navy WWII. That was a funny jab I threw at him as he spent 13 days in a lift boat and was wounded in the invasion of Italy. http://crayonmedia.com/wayne/Vietnam/army14.jpg

I sent nothing home in the hold baggage box, other than issued clothes etc. My box wasn't opened. But strange as it seems they opened and searched the Chaplin's box ??? Yet I couldn't be sure otherwise a folding stock East German AK (the only one we saw) would have made the trip back to the world.

No thanks needed, but I appreciate it. After I got used to the M60 platform, I could have passed it on after only a month or so. Losing many men replacements were a constant, yet I liked the fire power. I was forced to give it up when I got my stripes and led the squad. In all honesty, upon reflection, that gun belonged in aircraft (Hueys) where it got good cooling and dust and mud weren't part of the equation. What I do remember is the following, walking though the bush I had a C-ration can clipped onto the left side with only around 30 belted rounds hanging down. Also the Huey guy's told me about putting a nickle behind the buffer to increase the rate of fire. I asked for a cleaning kit at one time as I wanted to clean the barrel and was told throw the barrel down a well and we will get you a new one! Later I found out the Govt. paid $600 for extra barrels. Somebody was getting rich, and at $84 a month it sure wasn't me

I carried and used an M60 for the first 5 months of my tour in RVN. I was handed it the first day in my unit as that was how a gunner got rid of carrying that 26 pound thing in the heat. That same day I was sent up with a Sgt. to knock out a sniper in Cho Lon which was the Chinese section of Saigon. We had to crawl in a drainage ditch filled with sewage (human type). We got up in position and the M60 would only fire once, then jam. Lift the cover, clear, load the belt and fire one round. Start all over for your single shot machine gun. After a good cleaning, the first it may have seen for a while, it worked when called upon on in the following months. I never trusted it though and always glad I had a 1911 as a back up. The photo is sometime between March 68 and July 68. http://crayonmedia.com/wayne/Vietnam/ARMY4.jpg

As a very active Infantry unit we ended up with lots of AKs. What we did was when a few short timers held their party at Cu Chi the company clerk drove to Ton Son Nut airfield and sold AKs to the USAF for $175 each and that became party funds. 26 of us were replacements in March 68, only 4 of us finished the full tour. The story was they went back to the states on the (I think C141s) behind the cargo blankets on the sides. It was a lot harder for us though, both my bring backs have paper work from the Division. But, wait for this, there was another way. A package was sent from the US with the same weight and size as what you wanted. Usually canned food as we got that as care packages very often. So you arrange the box to arrive a few weeks before you leave. Then you need the connection, a Battalion mail clerk, he holds the incoming box under his bed. The package is opened when the soldier gets back to base camp. Canned food is removed and an item replaced. A few days after the individual has left VN the mail clerk brings the package back to Division and the the package gets marked RETURN TO SENDER as the person has already left RVN. From what I heard all made it back without a look. Who said Grunts were dopey!

Yes Jim, I've heard of a few waiting for the next Amnesty. Also not living in America (New York) the locals have a buy back for firearms. I have a source that told me the last one an old lady turned in a WWII PPSH-41 for $150. Also stories of contractors finding stuff in attics.

My first post Gents and I have a short story to tell. In August 1968 I found myself in and around Dau Tieng Vietnam. We were mech. Infantry operating out of that 25th ID base camp. When not out on a night ambush we got to sleep (between mortar attacks) in a tent with a wood floor. Next to my cot was a loose floor board, lifted it up and found a stripped down Thompson. Just the receiver and the barrel, as I guess the previous owner had sent all the small bits home. I was only half way through my tour and young and stupid. I could have went to the motor pool and sawed the barrel off. I then could have sent the receiver back home as I did send other unnamed things. The base camp was used by the 1ST ID before the 25th and that's when it was no doubt placed under that floor. I joined here to basically read and post about the M60 in combat, but thought some here might like the read?