US Army Medical Unit Vehicles 1980's

[BenfromBrooklyn]

That much white on a US Army vehicle doesn't sound right.
I'd bet it was loaned or sold or otherwise operated by the UN, an NGO, contractor, etc.
Or was given the white tarp by an aftermarket civilian buyer.

[panzergator]

I never saw medic M113s used for anything other than their intebded purpose. In tank and mech battalions there were three in the H series and 8 in the early J series.

[Brigade Commander]

Checking that I have my research correct. The 3AD would have been supported by the 4th Plt. of the 421st Med Co (Air Amb) out of Griesheim AAF in Darmstadt FRG, correct? As I map the locations of all of the platoons and detachments of the 421st it appears to be the closest. Still working on a full TO&E of the company. One source says twelve helicopters and another fifteen while both say in four platoons. UH-1B's, then UH-1D's and now UH-60's. Nothing about any other equipment yet. Never simple is it?

[panzergator]

No, it is never simple, but it gets more interesting. I left 3AD in the summer of '78. It was still under the H series TOE. In 3rd BDE, theunits were still generally designated by their traditional titles - 32d Armor, 33d Armor, 36th Infantry, 41st Infantry, 48th Infantry.

[whoa Mohamed]

One thing we must all remember that TO&E or MTO&E’s were what you were supposed to have actual equipment could vary from one Bn to another even in the same Brigade.

[Brigade Commander]

One thing we must all remember that TO&E or MTO&E’s were what you were supposed to have actual equipment could vary from one Bn to another even in the same Brigade.

Understood. Appreciate the reminder. Sometimes they just ran out of a vehicle type due to only a low-rate production of production and another unit going in to harm's way being moved up in the schedule or many other reasons I am sure.

I am reminded of the 3rd Brigade of the 8th ID(M). At one point one Armor Bn was M-1A1 and the other was M-60A3. Then, to save expense, they just did away with the division instead of upgrading it all.

Since I do not, except for a few bits and pieces, have the Series-J TO&E in hand I am at an approximation anyway. I have a Series-H and some of a Series-L and make some extrapolations between the two to get a "Series-J". I also do not get too hung-up about it when I find one source saying two of a vehicle and another three of it because one may be working from a base TO&E and the other may be quoting from a MTO&E or both from different MTO&E's. If I can get to within a vehicle or two but have the correct vehicles correctly organized I have learned that at that point it will be time to call it a day. At 1211 base painted (ie. no camo) and another 127 in the works, until the paint I used ceased to exist, and another 321 to be ordered this sale I have enough to drive myself crazy with without buying more reasons!

Still I do try and get it right.

[panzergator]

8th ID - The deactivation of the 8th Division was part of the Great Downsizing Peace Dividend that occurred after the Wall fell and First Gulf. 3AD went away at the same time. It subsequently came to cost 10 times as much to keep a soldier stationed in Germany as it did during the Cold War. Not all inflation... I believe 2-68 Armor of 2d BDE, 8th ID was the last M60A3 unit in USAREUR to be issued M1s.

[Brigade Commander]

8th ID - The deactivation of the 8th Division was part of the Great Downsizing Peace Dividend that occurred after the Wall fell and First Gulf. 3AD went away at the same time. It subsequently came to cost 10 times as much to keep a soldier stationed in Germany as it did during the Cold War. Not all inflation... I believe 2-68 Armor of 2d BDE, 8th ID was the last M60A3 unit in USAREUR to be issued M1s.

And I watched at the time to all of those great units go away and thought to myself we are doing it to ourself again and just like right before WWII and Korea and...

Ad infinitum. Unpreparedness. It always costs us more in the end. A short-sighted government failing to learn, or maybe mis-learning, history doomed to continue the past mistakes.

[panzergator]

I am still working on finding the TOEs, although they likEly will not be MTOE for actual units.

Watching those units and posts go was like watching your home town bulldozed. They had been part of my life for 40 years.

[mike robel]

8th ID - The deactivation of the 8th Division was part of the Great Downsizing Peace Dividend that occurred after the Wall fell and First Gulf. 3AD went away at the same time. It subsequently came to cost 10 times as much to keep a soldier stationed in Germany as it did during the Cold War. Not all inflation... I believe 2-68 Armor of 2d BDE, 8th ID was the last M60A3 unit in USAREUR to be issued M1s.

I am not sure about that. In 2-37AR/1 ID (Forward) in 1985 or so, we got IP M1's. We were supposed to be the first USAREUR battalion to get M1A1, but they weren't quite ready. "They" might have lied to us, and we might have been the last VII corps Battalion with M60A3.

[panzergator]

I have seen a pic from 1989 of 2-68 in M60A3s.