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I'm new to this forum and don't have a good feel yet for how members feel about their privacy. Thus far you folks seem relatively open about who you are and what you do.

This makes me wonder if there might be some merit in starting a member biographical sketch thread. There are so many of you who are very knowledgeable regarding the military, armor, and vehicular things in general that I'd be interested in knowing more about you, id est, did you serve in the military?......if so, what unit?...when?....where?.....what type of hardware were you associated with?......what do you consider your hobbies?......what makes you so interested in armor?......do you build models?......and so on.

There's more to Doug Kibbey than meets the eye; Neil Baumgardner always amazes with the scope of his knowledge of the esoteric and arcane; Roy Lingle has served tours in Vietnam (What MOS? What unit? Where?); while the cryptic screen name "Joe D." can only belong to (I presume) the legendary Joe DeMarco.

Any value in this? Or would most of you consider this poor manners and an invasion of your privacy?

Enquiring minds want to know!

Well JoeD is not Joe DeMarco. However he is fast becoming (or already is) the expert on M-60s that Joe DeMarco is on Shermans. It may be a few days till he participates much. As he said in his recent posting he just returned safely from an extended trip to the 'Big Sandbox' and we are all glad he's back.

Everyone does have a 'profile' that you can look at. Most of us haven't taken much time to put anything in it. Recognizing that I just put some more information in mine. You can access a persons profile via the little 'Profile' button at the bottom of their posts (Duh ) I would encourage folks to share a little more info about themselves there.

- A-109E

Roy Lingle has served tours in Vietnam (What MOS? What unit? Where?);

I'll give a hint about one of those tours...while we didn't know it (or each other at the time) Roy and I were both ACAV commanders in the same troop of the 2/11th ACR in Vietnam for an overlapping period in '72 sharing the same operations, patrols, and Night Defensive Perimeters and Firebase and never "met" 'til we stumbled into each other on the old AFV forum. We've still never met F2F, which is a shame!

And I've never formally "Lingled" and he's never "Starshipped". What tales could be told then, eh?

I also updated my profile..

P-O

I updated mine too

Jeff Lewis

Ditto...

Neil

Yeah same here... god only knows why

Hi Bob (A-109E)! Hi Folks!

- A-109E

I'm new to this forum and don't have a good feel yet for how members feel about their privacy. Thus far you folks seem relatively open about who you are and what you do.

..... I'd be interested in knowing more about you, id est, did you serve in the military?......if so, what unit?...when?....where?.....what type of hardware were you associated with?......what do you consider your hobbies?......what makes you so interested in armor?......do you build models?......and so on.


Roy Lingle has served tours in Vietnam (What MOS? What unit? Where?)

Enquiring minds want to know!

Ask and you shell be bored....
USMC May 1964 to 1968, RVN Summer of 1966 to Summer of 1967
MOS 6741, tactical air control
Switched to the US Army in June of 1968, ended up at Ft. Riley as a 11D (how known as 19D) in a light tank battalion with M551 Sheridan tanks. 1st Bn (Light) 63rd Armor, 1st Infantry Division (detached), the division was in Vietnam at the time. Mostly M114A1 will a little time in a M113A0 APC
Helped move the unit down to Ft. Bragg to become part of the 82nd Airborne Division. Same group of equipment from Ft. Riley.
Sent to Berlin, didn't like the place, reinlisted to get of out there. M151A0 Gun Jeeps.
Went to C Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th ACR RVN, someplace east of Long Bin. M113A1 ACAV, hit a land mine which set fire to the vehicle and totally destoryed it.
11th ACR stood down, got sent over to the 23rd Arty Group which didn't know what to do with a Scout.
Transfered to G Troop, 2nd Sqdn, (Seperate) 11th ACR, more M113A1 ACAV time, didn't lose that one but I did destory a final drive just befor stand down. As for where in Vietnam, you will have to ask Doug sence he was with the HQ section he was able to see maps while us folks down in the line platoons never had any maps.
Ft. Ord California, working down at Hunter Liggett full time. A little time in M60A1s with most of it in M113A0 and M113A1s.
Germany, 1974-1977, Scout Platoon, CSC, 1st Bn, (Mech) 30th Infantry Division in Schwenfurt. M-114A2s and M113A1s. I though I had seen the last of the M114 when we replaced them with new M113A1s. While I have never done time in a Starship, I did have to find a river crossing point for the M60A2 company that was cross attached to the 1/30 during a Reforger FTX. 1977-1978, S-2 Bn, HQ, M577, very interesting job!
Ft. Bliss, Texas, B Trp, 1st Sqdn, 3rd ACR, M114A2s(SURPRISE, SURPRISE!), M113A1s, and M551's as acting PSG most of that time.
Medically reclassifed out of the AFV combat arms world into the Signal Corps. Year in Korea, some time at the five sided puzzle palace, (the nicest thing about that, the best military liberty I ever saw!) and last three years working at a NATO assignment in Naples Italy. Retired in April 1987.
I think that about covers most of my military time.
Currenlty work the midnight shift for the US Border Patrol as a radio operator. Which if things are slow, I can hang out here until something pops up.
Hobbies: hanging out here and building 1/35 scale AFVs. I AM A MODELLER BUILDER!!!!! My wife claims all I do is collect kits and I never build anything. I am a member of the local IPMS model club and AMPS. I was into board wargaming for a few years. I still have a collection of AH and SPI games, but I haven't found anyone here to play with.

"What makes you so interested in armor?"
I had to think about that one for a bit. I guess my interested started with an interest in military aircraft. After joining the Marines, I started hanging out at the base liberty. While reading a book about the XIX Tactical Air Force during WWII, I became aware of someone by the name of George Patton. That book on the 19th TAC AIR sent me off looking for more about that Patton guy. Reading books about General Patton lead to me AFVs. At the end of my 1st enlistment, I wanted to change my MOS to tanks. The Marines said NO. So I give the Army a try and ended up in the Scouting business which I fell in love with.

I was thinking the same thing you were about Joe_D.
Now you know more about me that anyone else cares to know. That is if you know story about the world's best Armored Scout Vehicle, The Lingle. If not, well we all will just have to fill you in on that story.
Sgt, Scouts Out!

Hey, profiles...

Radical idea, think it'll hold? OK OK, updated mine as well.



Jens O.

Also in the habit of collecting 1/35 kits.

Building them is another matter

Bought 2 compressors now I have no excuses whatsoever !

Never served in the military.

Transfered to G Troop, 2nd Sqdn, (Seperate) 11th ACR, more M113A1 ACAV time, didn't lose that one but I did destory a final drive just befor stand down. As for where in Vietnam, you will have to ask Doug sence he was with the HQ section he was able to see maps while us folks down in the line platoons never had any maps.

Well, Roy makes my assignment sound glorious, but basically, I had a fully combat-capable 113 ACAV that was a HQ vehicle only by virtue of having the troop medic assigned to it. What this meant in practice was that:

1. I wasn't any better briefed than anybody else in the line platoons.

and...

2. My vehicle accompanied whatever line platoon(s) were to sortie on patrols from the firebase or NDP's (since the Troop seldom did this en masse from NDP's, leaving at least an element behind to secure it) with the effect that we probably went out more than any single platoon since we never "stayed behind". Nor did we enjoy any special position and were simply absorbed into the formations as just another ACAV and functioned as such (generally with some crew members shanghai'ed from other vehicles, or among the cooks or mechanics, since we were understrength). There were certainly no perks.

What I know about where we were comes from attendence at TC meetings and aquisition of maps of the AO post-war (but it helps to have been a Scout up north). Still, I can't reconstruct a lot of the details of our ops down south because of the terrain, which is depressingly flat and featureless, even though I have more pictures from my time down there than I do from up north (where I spent more time).

This is the staff profile information I use on a modeling site I help run.

I am an active duty Army officer with 20 years of active duty and 4 years in the Vermont Army National Guard. I served as a Combat Engineer Vehicle (CEV) crewman (MOS 12F) in D Company, 104th Engineers, 50th Armor Division while in college (83-87). Discharged as a sergeant (E5) and commissioned as an armor second lieutenant the next day.
Entered active duty as an Armor (M1) officer in 1987. I was an M60A3TTS tank platoon leader, M1A1 tank company Executive Officer, and Headquarters Company XO, in Germany with 5th Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized); M1A1 tank platoon leader during Desert Storm with the 3rd Battalion, 32nd Armor Regiment; M1A1 tank battalion maintenance officer and M1A1 tank company commander with the 1st Battalion, 12th United States Cavalry Regiment; and commanded the Headquarters Company, 215th Forward Support Battalion of the 1st Cavalry Division.

I've served as an instructor at both the Armor School and at the Ordnance Munitions and Missile School at Redstone Arsenal. I was the S3 Operations Officer for the computer battle simulation center at Ft. Dix, NJ.

I served as the Commandant, Regional Training Site-Maintenance located at Fort Devens, Massachusetts for 3½ years. Currently, I serve as the Fort Knox G3/Training & Operations officer where we plan major training events for the installation.

I'm a graduate of the Army Officer Basic and Advance Courses, Cavalry Leader Course, Battalion Maintenance Officer Course, Logistics Executive Development Course, Airborne School and several Command and Staff Officer Courses. I've commanded M48A5, M1IP, M60A3TTS, M1A1, and several M1A1HA tanks as well as an M1A2 tank during transition training.

Now, my user name comes from my Officer Basic Course. I am short and the Mississippi National Guard officers that attended the course with me joked around and said I was hardly bigger than a 105mm sabot round. The nickname stuck for about a decade.

Profile updated.

Gentlemen, There is a lot of talent and experience evident here and it all makes fascinating reading. Thanks for your contributions and sharing your story!

Okay, I'll throw into this....

I was born an 'Army Brat' in El Paso Tx in 1960. (I lived several years there during 2 following assignments).




My family hails from Louisiana ( but only lived there in the early eighties, attending college.)

I grew up in Europe ( Germany 1962-1965 & 1973-1977) and have always had a love of modern military history as well as a love for Armor.



I am a 21 year veteran in the Army. I retired as a 19K44K42S (E-7/SFC)
on Feb 1, 2006.

My experiences are on early M-1's, IPM-1, M1A1, M1A1HA, M1A1HC, and M1A2's. Assignments included
Ft Hood, Tx;


Kirchgons, Germany;


Ft Polk, LA;


Camp Casey, Korea;


Oak Harbor, WA;


& Ft Knox, KY.


I began volunteering at the Patton Museum in the Volunteer Program in 2002 & have been significantly involved with many of the restoration projects as well as most of the exhibits & demonstrations.

To sum it up,....I know a lot of nothing, but a little of everything.

My specialties are the M-1 Abrams family (duh!!), Vietnam Era, Cold War Era, and the M50A1 Ontos.

Why the Ontos ?


Don