The Mighty Ninth

Strive To Reach The Summit


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Key_Gate.JPGGuarding The GateWell, Gents, the 105mm howitzer, M101A1, has remained here as the "gate guardian" at Ft. Sill for over 50 years!

Welcome Home, Brothers! It's been a long, long time.
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Aiming_Cir-3.JPGSurveyed Sites for the Aiming CircleThis is a larger view, looking down the line of surveyed stakes for training on the M2 Aiming circle, looking toward Honeycutt Road. This is now a rare photograph; it was taken just as the contractors were setting up shop to build a parking lot here.
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Aiming_Cir-1.JPGHoneycutt RoadIn the background, Bldg 5676, Allin Hall, formerly the BOQ, opened in October, 1965. The "twin tower", Bldg 5678, Aultman Hall, was opened shortly after. Both BOQs are now "hotels".
Remember Honeycutt Road? That's where you learned how to "lay the battery" with an M2 Aiming Circle. This area will become a parking lot for a new elementary school to replace the very old Geronimo school. I guess that's just "SADULU" for the old training site on the prominent ridge line of Honeycutt Road.
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Aiming_Cir-2.JPGM2 Aiming Circle - Surveyed stakeYou set up the tripod, hung the plumb-bob & centered it, levelled your bubbles, and computed your SADULU. It is going to be paved over as a parking lot. Just another Ft Sill memory.
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Price_Reunion_3.jpgReunion Photos - Dave PriceBANG! There is goes. The compression was just as powerful as the sound of the cannon being fired.
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Price_Reunion_1.jpgReunion Photos - Dave PriceThe 777 155mm howitzer on field display.
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Price_Reunion_5.jpgReunion Photos - Dave Price"Old Vets" on tour: Charles Skidmore, Dave Price, Wayne Crochet, John "Moon" Mullins, and Lee Dixon.
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Price_Reunion_6.jpgReunion Photos - Dave PriceToday's FDC? Not quite! All the computer laptops were behind these men out of sight. The old firing chart with RDP and square are on display...probably just for our benefit to remind us of our time in service...ie, the "old days". And, yes...the "check chart" has been abolished.
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Price_Reunion_4.jpgReunion Photos - Dave PriceFirst Stop: We toured the Basic Training barracks and met with the training staff. Looking particularly sharp was Sgt Schmidt, a top-notch female drill sergeant.
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Price_Reunion_9.jpgReunion Photos - Dave PriceAh...the great memories of the FDC tools we used in Vietnam. The only thing missing is the CONEX container that provided a 24-hr protected work environment. Without that, the FDC would be out of commission and unable to operate with the weather extremes found in the jungle. The "tent FDC" shown was a "first effort", but very untenable; we would be chasing maps and papers all over the place.
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Price_Reunion_8.jpgReunion Photos - Dave PriceVisit to the Ft Sill Museum: The FADAC - "Field Artillery Digital Analog Computer". It was the field artillery's first attempt to use a "computer" back in the 1960s for fire direction computation of deflection and quadrant elevation. It didn't prove itself at Ft Sill and neither in Vietnam. We were better with the training gained from spending weeks in Snow Hall.
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Price_Reunion_7.jpgReunion Photos - Dave PriceThe Paladin 155mm howitzer firing during the demonstration.
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