FormerGrunt, I was a member of the Ranger Department out at Harmony Church from November '67 until I went to Nam in October of '68. But I actually attended Ranger School in Ranger Class 2 in the summer of '68.

We trucked up to Dahlonega, but we flew down to Eglin - actually to Ft. Walton and then trucked to Eglin from there.

Ranger School was physically the most difficult thing that I have ever done, including two combat tours in Viet Nam. But the Ranger Department was just about the best duty I ever had in the Army.

Former Grunt Sorry you did not get the meaning of the old cavalry saying o if you aint cavalry you aint ****. it has the same meaning of Queen of battle, King of battle, combat arm of decision , follow me, Rangers lead the way. Semper fi. Or any thing that gives spirit to a branch.. I am at a very large Navy base where all branch's are represented. and I am constantly reminded that we are all family. My salutation was to and for Gen Shinseki who is a Armor/ Cavalry officer.A cavalry scout will serve in any branch

Grant
Not a problem. I guess I did look at it the wrong way.
No matter what, still "a band of Brothers"
Roger that?

Former Grunt, I too am a former grunt. Iwas trained as a 60mm mortar gunner and a 57 mm RR gunner with the IL national guard 1952- 56. and as a 111.10 with the 512th Armored inf regt. CCA 4th armd Div Ft hood Tx. 1956 I was assigned to the rifle squad of B troop 3rd ACR in 1959 The rifle squad would lead the tanks through the woods and run behind when we came to a clearing. I got tired of running behind the M 41 tanks with a BAR and asked to drive a M59 APC and then became a scout. As a scout I have served in the recon platoon of tank and Infantry Batallions to includ 3/6 Inf 4/18 Inf 1/38 inf The entire time that I served in the army I carried a secondary MOS of 11 B and 11 E and earned pro pay in one or the other So I hope that you understand that I am also a proud grunt and the salutation refers to the consept of cavalry which is Mobility, firepower and schok action which you must admit is awesome in a cavalry unit A rifle platoon in Viet nam had not a fraction of the firepower or ammo of a cavalry platoon or the beer and soda So in the perspective of caryingrations,sundries clothing,fuel and other supplies and performing the mission of Recon, Survielance, economy of force. If you aint cavalry, you aint, ****. This is not an insult to the other combat arms, It is a fact.

Dang, Grant, I knew that you were a retired old soldier, but I didn't realize that you were a genuine brown-shoe Army man.

I hope that you recognized my remarks for the same old nose-pulling stuff the various outfits have always done with one another. Its kind of like a Ranger going over to an SF table in the I-bar at Benning, pouring himself a beer out of their pitcher and dropping a buck on the table - a sort of semi-friendly one-upsmanship.

As luck would have it, I was first a heavy weapons man, myself - but by 1966 we were using 81mm mortars (still learned the 60, though)and the 90mm and 106mm RRs.

I also spent the last half of my first tour in Nam in a Mech Infantry outfit - after spending the first half in a leg rifle platoon. So I understand the relative joy of being able to carry ****ed near anything that you could get your hands on.

And there was nothing quite like having 12 or more machine guns for my platoon - it made for a serious base of fire. I even ran the 2/8th's Scout platoon for my last couple of months in country. 'Course I also remember that APCs were RPG magnets, so there was some off-setting cost involved. But, still, life with armor was unquestionably better.

I was drafted, kicking and screaming. Does that make me an original "Brown Pants" army man?

Ask Custer.but he ain't around.

Tanks are cool but One bad thing about being a Tanker is, "If you Break it you Fix it"!

This one was my fault because, I didn't listen to my Driver when he tried to tell me that there might just be a Mine hidden in those bushes. It took the three of us about 6 hours to replace the damaged Track three road wheels and other things that the mine destroyed.

and another 2 days to get over our Bloody Noses from the Concussion!

I sat up all night dyeing my shoes from brown to black for my graduation from Basic training on 1 Sept 1956 Our boots change from brown to black on 5 May 1958 Yes I am a brown boot herring bone twill,
Ike jacket Soldier. The good ole days of potatoe salad and cold cuts on saturday and milk from a stainless steel pitcher.

Hey Jinxs, I did'nt know that you sang that song , boom boom bang bang , clank clank I'm a tank.