It's great to see my service vehicle finally get release.

[abe0087]

It seems like GHQ plan to release K-9 SPG. It is welcoming news for foreign wargamer who got chance collect his service vehicle. I was serve as FDC operator in k-9 battery in ROK army for 21 months.(Don't call me a vet i was never get in any trouble like many others and i was drafted) I mostly work at K77 (kind of commanding vehicle) still i always got a chance to work with battery itself. K-9 was great vehicle. Even our battery was placed in non paved road which turn into kind of small swamp of dirt after rain it never get stuck or had any trouble on mobile. It has really good acceleration. In the field we mostly call them as 'Kilo Nine'. Well anyway it's good to see new website with upcoming plan.

[redleg]

I'm glad there is anther artilleryman on here! Do you have any pics of your battery, Abe? I'd love to see your FDC vehicle! I was a Fire Direction Officer in Korea in 1998-1999. I was in B Battery / 2-17 Field Artillery at Camp Hovey near Donducheon. We were direct support to the wierd light/heavy bybrid brigade. I spent most of the year in the Chorwon Valley - and it was always either raining or snowing! This is me and my FDC crew with our M577:

[panzergator]

Now THERE is a disreputable-looking bunch if ever It seen one...

[redleg]

LOL I'm sure your tank crew was very clean and respectable looking! You got any pics of the boys, PG?

I miss soldiers so much. What a great bunch of people!

[BenfromBrooklyn]

Camp Hovey!! Redleg, you were ten years after me, except that I was up the hill in 2nd Bde HQ.

[BenfromBrooklyn]

2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Div TOC, deployed somewhere in Korea, 1987

[redleg]

Hey Ben! Small world!! Was 2nd Brigade the mixed light/heavy brigade in 1987? There were a lot of good times to be had at Hovey and Casey and Dongducheon! I tried to stay away from Toko-Ri though!

[BenfromBrooklyn]

I think we were all "leg" then, but its been a while. We generally had one bn forward deployed at the dmz, the other two plus 102 MI and attached ADA and eng units were at Hovey. But the Army has never been happy with a to&e and all the time I was there it was being juggled, especially between the 2nd and 9th ID in Fort Lewis.

I had the distinction of accidentally ending the US Army Fast Attack Vehicle program due to my absurd and outrageous impact on Team Spirit 86.

(Note for the Army Top Brass: If you insist on transferring someone just before a major exercise, do not transfer soldiers from the HQ of one brigade, to the HQ of another, if those two brigades are scheduled to directly oppose each other during the exercise. And ESPECIALLY not between the Intel sections.
Shenanigans will result. )

[panzergator]

We were every bit as disreputable looking, and my In Maintenance team was worse. Tanking is not a clean sport. Nobody wears a tie, no matter WHAT George Patton said. It gets caught in inconvenient places under unfortunate circumstances. I never went to Korea. My two brothers went, which were just desserts for selecting Infantry branch. They were eating rotten fermented cabbage while I, an Armor officer, dined on schnitzel und bier. They walked, I rode.

[abe0087]

I'm glad there is anther artilleryman on here! Do you have any pics of your battery, Abe? I'd love to see your FDC vehicle! I was a Fire Direction Officer in Korea in 1998-1999. I was in B Battery / 2-17 Field Artillery at Camp Hovey near Donducheon. We were direct support to the wierd light/heavy bybrid brigade. I spent most of the year in the Chorwon Valley - and it was always either raining or snowing! This is me and my FDC crew with our M577:

At first, thanks for your service.
Unfortunately our OPSEC standard was stupid enough to never allow me to take any picture. And my base was adjunct with Civilian control zone so i don't have any picture to share. I was in 8th corps's 12th Artillery Group near Goseong. Most of my battery mission was assign for counter-battery. Your picture remind my service time.

[abe0087]

I'm glad there is anther artilleryman on here! Do you have any pics of your battery, Abe? I'd love to see your FDC vehicle! I was a Fire Direction Officer in Korea in 1998-1999. I was in B Battery / 2-17 Field Artillery at Camp Hovey near Donducheon. We were direct support to the wierd light/heavy bybrid brigade. I spent most of the year in the Chorwon Valley - and it was always either raining or snowing! This is me and my FDC crew with our M577:

this is picture from other troops but layout is same except some difference. COM does who control BCC(computer for calculating and control the battery) was place left corner. Frankly only with him and raido operator, we can mostly deal with any mission. VCO is placed right corner seat we place GFT and other stuff around there. HCO place around entrance. He had always trouble with ruler because ruler easily stuck with interior (you know K9 with base bleed can reach 40km so it need much longer ruler).

[panzergator]

Posed. Yep. That's why I don't have many pics. In those days of 35mm film, LONG BEFORE digital photography, our film was sent off post for development through the local laundry. That guy ALWAYS knew everything we were doing before we did, and I was very reluctant to take photos in the field.

[redleg]

Ben, you are THE MAN! That's classic US Army right there! We want you to kill the enemy, but if you kill them too efficiently it ruins the exercise! BTW when I was at Hovey 2nd Bde had two air assault infantry battalions (1-503 ans 1-506) and we had a mech battalion (1-9). DS arty was Paladin (2-17 FA) and we had a combat engineer company and ADA battery that were both mechanized.

Abe, that's a great pic! What kind of vehicle is your FDC in? It has a ton of space inside! I can't wait to see some pics of your micro armor battery! Let me see if I can find some pics of the inside of my FDC. We were in a M577.

[BenfromBrooklyn]

So here's the story.

Team Spirit 86 really was the most surreal and amazing time I ever had in the army.

I was in 3rd Bde, 9th ID HQ. As we were prepping to deploy for Team Spirit I got my orders to transfer to Korea. The brigade CO, then-Colonel Barry McCaffery (Of Desert Storm and CNN fame!) tried to have them deferred by declaring me critical but it didn't work- I suppose that part actually makes sense, because if a Brigade has a person so critical that losing him just before a major operation puts the operation at risk, then something is very wrong. As luck would have it, my actual date of transfer is JUST before Team Spirit is set to begin.

So I transfer. Of all the places I could end up in Korea, it's... another infantry brigade HQ! (I guess the army figured that's where I belong.)

As I arrive, most of 2nd Bde is already in the field. I walk into 2nd Bde HQ. There on the wall is the map with the operational graphics on the overlay. They are virtually a mirror image of the overlays on the maps at 3rd Bde 9th ID. WHICH I DREW. I realized what had happened. I had just switched sides just before a major exercise. It wouldn't have been so bad if I had any other job. But for this to happen to ME, who had literally drawn up the battle plan...

I had to make an ethical decision: was it cheating to pass on everything I knew? And I knew everything. I decided that since the Army had transferred me, the Army must expect that would give my new unit 100% loyalty. This fiasco was on them.

The day after I arrived at Camp Hovey, I am talking to the Brigade S-2, then the Division G-2, then I am briefing the whole Division Staff!!! I will never forget the look on the face of major who asked how I knew so much, when I told him it was because I drew the whole thing.

2nd Bde, 2nd ID, went into Team Spirit 86 knowing the whole plan of 3rd Bde, 9th ID. Every unit, every movement, everything they were anticipating.

It was a very interesting time. The brigade commander, knowing where and when the airmobile insertion would occur, had the smoke platoon deployed and they blanketed the area in smoke. The whole thing was silly.

[redleg]

That's a great story Ben! What a way to make a name for yourself at the new unit! LOL Did your old brigade find out that you went to 2ID?