Large Scale Central

Iraq Railroad Flat Car

Dave,
You ever read the book Tank Sargent? Actual adventures of a tanker along QL19, pretty neat read. I always used to see them sitting along the road on security as our convoys went by.

Don where are you stationed at over there. I was at FOB Speicher during OIF 2003.

I was at Ramadi in '03, and at Speicher in mid-04 through mid 05. I’m at Taji now…

Jerry Barnes said:
Dave, You ever read the book Tank Sargent? Actual adventures of a tanker along QL19, pretty neat read. I always used to see them sitting along the road on security as our convoys went by.
No, I haven't read that one yet. But part of MY story was included in a book called [url=http://www.amazon.com/Dragoons-Armored-Cavalry-Vietnam-1967-1972/dp/1420812815]Dragoons, by Grant Coble[/url]. The book is a collection of stories by the troopers in my unit from the beginning of our involvement until we left the theater.

Dave, I remember the TOWs well. I first went in uniform in the '77 and the TOWs were alway good for a laugh when they tried to shoot them out through the trees. The gunner would alway switch from hand control to body english when he finally decided that the wire was over something else.
In the Gulf War, the Cobras were still using them, and it was nothing out of the ordinary for them to shoot at something out of their range. The TOWs would run out of fuel, Since this of course made them start dropping, they would self correct, nosing upward, and land more often than not out in the sand unexploded. Same with some of the cluster stuff that was dropped. Night convoys were never fun, and you didn’t get off your truck until morning so you could see where you were putting your feet.
Nothing like Viet-Nam, mind you. It was only 7 months for me that time.