Mail Call (2002–…): Season 4, Episode 4 - Guided Missile Destroyer - full transcript
From now on, I'm the
grinder and you're the meat.
It's time for "Mail Call."
Welcome to "Mail Call."
It's time for a little
art lesson, gunny style.
And I'm going to set up
my studio right out here
in the woods.
Got my paint.
Got a canvas.
Now all I need is the
appropriate brush.
Well, how about this?
The M3 submachine gun, better
known as the grease gun.
Why is it called the grease gun?
Well, that's a question from
Charlie in Columbus, Ohio.
And I've got the
answer right here.
When the US got
into World War II,
American GIs had only
one submachine gun
that they could turn to.
And that was hard
hitting Thompson.
The Thompson was an excellent
weapon, very well made.
But it wasn't cheap.
By 1942, the army was looking
for a little less pricey
alternative.
And on December 24, 1942,
the Ordnance Department
accepted a new design it dubbed
Submachine Gun Caliber 45 M3.
Now, the M3 won't win
any beauty contests.
It was stubby, crude,
and cheap looking.
But that was the whole point.
The weapon was made from
stamped steel welded together
with no frills and
no fancy wood stock.
The M3 was manufactured by the
Guide Lamp division of General
Motors.
And it cost them
less than $20 apiece.
Compare that to a couple
of hundred dollars
for each Thompson and you've
got yourself a bargain.
When guys first got
the M3, they said,
if the Thompson is a Cadillac,
then the M3 is a Jeep.
But once they took
it into battle,
they changed their opinions real
quick since the M3 was lighter
than the Thompson and
practically foolproof thanks
to its simple design.
The grease gun fired
a 45 caliber cartridge
from a 30 round magazine at a
rate of about 350 to 400 rounds
a minute.
Well, that's a bit slower
than the older Tommy gun.
But that rate made it easier to
keep the M3 on target, since it
didn't buck as much.
It had an effective range
of about 100 yards, which
is just fine for the close
combat you might find
in city fighting or battling
it out in the woods.
More than 600,000 grease guns
were built during the war.
The M3 soldiered on into
Korea and even saw some action
in my war, Vietnam.
Those ugly, cheap guns
share won rich praise
from the guys who used them.
But why did GIs call
this a grease gun?
Well, looky here.
This is a vintage tool that
mechanics used to lubricate
or grease their vehicle.
Doesn't take much of an
imagination now, does it?
And while you were having
your butts educated,
I set up my shooting
gallery here.
So let's just take a look to
see what kind of a masterpiece
the old gunny can create with
this 45 caliber paintbrush.
Makes sense, doesn't it?
Oil painting with a grease gun.
Now, the M3 wasn't the
only submachine gun
made on the cheap
with stamped steel.
The British had a comparable
weapon called the Sten gun.
And Jay in Mount
Vernon, Ohio wants
to know if I can tell him more
about this baby right here.
Well, Jay, that's my job.
The Sten gun got its name from
combining the first letters
of the last names
of the designers--
RV Shepard and HJ Turpin--
and the first two letters of
the Enfield Royal Small Arms
Factory where it
was manufactured.
The Sten gun was the
first submachine gun
to be made with
stamped steel parts.
It's where we got the
idea for a grease gun.
The Sten fired 9
millimeter ammunition.
It was updated during the war.
A later version
known as the Mark 5
was a favorite with
British airborne troops
since it was a lightweight
weapon that still packed
a good punch.
With a 32 round magazine
sticking out of the side,
the Sten gun was easier to
shoot from the prone position
than, say, a grease gun.
And I know what you want.
You want the old gunny to blast
away at some more paint cans,
don't you?
But I ain't going to do that.
I don't want to flood the
market with too much of my art
and devalue my higher
caliber masterpieces.
I just got an email from
Chad in West Virginia.
He writes, what do those crazy
looking AWACS airplanes do?
Well, Chad, they are
kind of crazy looking.
Crazy like a Fox.
In the Air Force, they call this
aircraft the eyes of the eagle.
The official name is the E3
Century AWACS, Airborne Warning
And Control System.
If you can imagine an airport
control tower at 30,000 feet
in the sky, you've got a pretty
good idea what this crew is
up to, with the
help of a 30 foot
wide rotating radar dome
and serious computing power.
LORI JEAN ROBINSON: Our job
is to force accountability.
Checking people in and out as
they go and drop bombs and come
home, to make sure we
know who's air borne
and where everybody is.
Our job is to help with
time sensitive targeting,
to put packages
together once we've
found the appropriate target.
Our job is to help
with air refueling.
So we see everything
just like the tower does.
And we talk to all
those folks and have
all of those different jobs that
happen right on the airplane.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): When
they're not calling the shots
in the skies, you can find these
babies at Tinker Air Force Base
in Oklahoma, home of the
552nd Air Control Wing.
We got an invite
for a private tour
aboard these
modified Boeing 707s.
MIKE HOSTAGE: The
airplanes are older
than many of the crew members
who fly them and then work
on them.
These young 19, 21-year-old
kids working on these jets
are significantly younger.
But I think we'll fly this
well past when my kids would
be on active duty.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Now, back during Vietnam,
we were keeping tabs on
the air war in EC 121 Super
Constellations.
That's a four engine prop
plane nicknamed Connie.
The E3 Sentry came into
service back in 1977.
And they really strutted their
stuff during Operations Desert
Shield and Desert Storm.
It was one of the first
aircraft deployed to the Persian
Gulf in 1990.
During the buildup and the war,
they logged more than 5,000
flight hours while coordinating
thousands of air missions.
There's 33 planes in
the US AWACS fleet.
They sport special high
performance engines
that give them more
power and maneuverability
than the original 707s.
A 1,500 member maintenance
crew keeps these honeys
flying good as new.
LEONARD BENSON: I tell
them, if they would not
get on the airplane and
fly or put their family
on the airplane
and go fly with it,
then the airplane
should not fly.
It has to be that good.
Because 28 people's lives
depend on the maintenance person
that lets that airplane go
every time that they work on it.
R LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): That's why
than in more than a
quarter century of service,
only one E3 has ever crashed.
Once they're airborne,
an AWACS can cruise along
for more than eight
hours without refueling.
20 crew members may be at
their stations at any one time.
Another eight can be
catching some Z's, resting up
for the night shift.
Everyone contributes
to the same goal,
making sure American fighter,
bomber, transport, and chopper
pilots know where
the bad guys are.
That info is also mighty
important to the five members
of the AWACS cockpit group.
THOMAS COLLETT: Any enemy
would love to take out an E3.
If everything else
failed and it came down
to a fighter against us, I
would definitely put my money
on the fighter.
But we won't go down
without swinging.
We'll do whatever we can--
bank, dive, run, which
is our favorite tactic.
The mission crew will
vector friendly fighters in
to engage them, hopefully
shoot them down.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): But
I don't give enemy fighters
much of a chance
of getting close,
not with that big ass radar
perched on top of the fuselage.
That vantage point allows the
AWACS to see everything that's
going on for over 200 miles.
MARTY EDMONDS: The radar on
top of the aircraft senses,
convert that into
digital information.
The software inside the jet then
takes that digital information
and processes on it to
extract more information,
to glean what's really there.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Computers translate the data
into images on the screens
of surveillance experts.
RON STROBACH: We're the eyes
and ears of the component
commanders.
We're the eyes and ears of
everybody that's on the ground
as well, taking our information
and giving it back to them
for close air support.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
In a matter of seconds,
they can alert our fighter
pilots to the speed
and direction of the
approaching enemy aircraft
or let ground forces
know about low flying
targets of opportunity
down on the deck.
And with comm gear
up the wazoo, they
can talk to anybody
they need do.
MARK KRUID: We do that by
monitoring and managing
20 UHF radios.
We have three HF radios.
We have three VHF radios.
And we work in conjunction with
the flight deck, the aircraft
commander, and the
mission commander
to get them whatever
information it is.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
During an air combat mission,
AWACS personnel may be
circling high above the action.
But mentally, they're
right in the thick of it.
All the information about
where aircraft are--
bad guys and good guys--
gets to the mission commander.
The mission commander
then has to decide
where to direct all the air
power he has at his disposal.
ROBERT PASSANT: Sometimes
you can cut the tension
with a knife from here.
I think the toughest
part of the job
for me is assessing all
the information that
comes into the jet.
And sometimes making
a decision, we only
get one chance to make
the proper decision.
And hopefully we
do the right thing.
And I think we do every
time we fly this jet,
we execute the mission
properly, efficiently, and as
professionally as we can.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
The equipment on board
even comes in handy after
the dust has settled.
You see, the AWACS computers
don't just display information
in real time.
They record everything, too.
So each move of every
aircraft in an air war
can be studied
for years to come.
And as long as we're
on the subject,
I should probably give
the Army some credit
for the work they're doing
with aerial surveillance.
So I'm going to answer an email
from Anthony in Romeoville,
Illinois.
He wants to know about J Stars.
J Stars are the joint Army
and Air Force program,
kind of like AWACS.
But instead of looking
for bad guys in the sky,
J Stars finds them
on the ground.
It stands for Joint Surveillance
Target Attack Radar System.
And that means you got two
branches of the service
and two types of platforms.
In the sky, the Air Force
has a modified Boeing 707
with a high powered radar
tracking vehicles down below.
On the ground, you have a
special US Army ground units,
air and vehicles packed with
computers receiving the data.
The resolution is unbelievable.
You can actually tell if a
vehicle is tracked or wheeled.
Pretty cool.
Oh, and by the way,
we're not really
supposed to call
it J Stars anymore.
Not too long ago, the Army
and Air Force changed the name
from J Stars to Joint Stars.
Just thought the
obsessive compulsives out
there might want to know.
Jeff wants to know
what fire bases were,
how they were built, and how
they saved a lot of butts
back in Vietnam.
Now, this is a topic that I can
talk about with some authority.
Now, before Vietnam,
it was common practice
to keep the artillery securely
behind the front line.
In the rear with the gear,
their long range and accuracy
could deliver a world
of hurt to the bad guys
without taking any
flak themselves.
Now, Vietnam was a
different kind of war
with a different game plan.
Because there were no front
lines and enemy attacks could
come from any direction,
it was tough for our boys
to use the old playbook.
The VC had a tendency
to sneak up on us
and strike hard and
fast, oftentimes
retreating well before the
artillery could be called in.
Solution-- well, mix a
bunch of combat engineers,
some heavy artillery pieces, and
an infantry battalion and, bam,
you got yourself a
fire support base.
Fire Support Bases or
FSBs, or just fire base,
were islands of
artillery smack dab
in the middle of the
jungle, totally surrounded
by the enemy.
They varied in size.
But they all had the
same three objectives--
to support infantry operations,
to defend Vietnamese villages
threatened by the enemy, and
to defend other fire support
bases.
If one base did get knocked
out, the others close by
could pick up the slack
thanks to something
called interlocking fire.
Interlocking fire is
based on the concept
that if one gun goes down
or one position goes down,
the band of fire, the arc of
fire from other positions,
can cover what would
otherwise be a dead zone.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): Now,
an ideal location for an FSB
was on the high ground.
But you could build them
just about anywhere.
Once the site is
selected, the engineers
arrive and clear a suitable
helicopter landing zone.
Cue the demolitions experts.
Once an LZ is established,
heavy engineering equipment
is brought in to
create the gun pits,
bunkers, berms, and
fighting positions.
Then it's time to bring in
the guns and their crews.
It was standard practice to move
the troops in by helicopter.
But thanks to the
new lighter alloys
that the big guns
were made of, they
could use the
friendly skies, too.
The 105 millimeter and the
155 millimeter howitzers
could hitch a ride using the
CH 54 sky cranes and the CH 47
Chinook.
A typical fire base might have
a battery of six 105 millimeter
howitzers and a bunch of
81 millimeter mortars,
as well as an infantry
battalion for protection.
The advantage to
mortars and howitzers
is they can do what's
called high angle
fire for indirect fire.
High angle means that
they could actually
fire pretty close to
themselves by basically lobbing
a shell high.
And it would come down
maybe in a position that's
called a [inaudible]
position, which is something
the artillery men can't see but
could be the back of the hill
within sight of them that can't
be reached by firing straight
at it.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Now, if terrain permitted,
the FSBs also made room for
the M109 self-propelled gun.
The M109 carried a standard
155 millimeter howitzer tube
in an armored chassis
that weighed 23 tons.
It also had a 50 caliber
machine gun, just in case
the enemy got too close.
Now, if you got
really desperate,
you could lower that barrel
and blast anybody trying
to get inside the perimeter.
All that firepower out
in the middle of nowhere
made FSBs a pretty
dangerous place to be.
They were prime targets for the
North Vietnamese and Viet Cong.
The enemy kept the
FSB gun crews on alert
at all times with
unrelenting attacks.
The objective wasn't
to overrun a base
and take a position because
they weren't going to hold it
anyway.
They were going to melt
back into the countryside.
Their objective
was to kill people,
to make headlines, and
demoralize our troops.
And they did a great job
over the course of time.
R LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): The gunners
had some deadly new shells
to counter these attacks,
the Improved
Conventional Munition,
or ICM, contained many
smaller submunitions
within a single shell.
These would break
apart in midair,
raining down grenade-like
explosives on the enemy.
Another innovation was
the M546 beehive round.
This little nasty had a
two part aluminum body
loaded with 8,000
dart-like flechettes.
As the shell came
apart in flight,
these darts would spiral
outward and create something
that looked and sounded like
a swarm of angry insects.
Now, that's what I
call killer bees.
But a lot of people still felt
like fire support bases weren't
such a great idea since they
were kind of like mini Alamos
spread out all over the place.
ERIC HAMMEL: They were supposed
to be temporary, in and out,
place to put artillery where it
could fire in support of a unit
moving around in the field.
However, because you were
covering the same field all
the time, it made sense to
keep the fire support bases
in one place.
What started out as a position
for an artillery battery
would soon have a permanent
assignment of a platoon
of tanks, at least one infantry
company, service and support
units, maybe supply clerks,
a kitchen, on and on.
That resulted in fixed
targets for the enemy.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): It'd
be easy for our forces today
to set up FSBs if needed.
But in this day and age,
our modern military's
usually moving too fast
to stop and build an FSB.
Back in Vietnam, the FSBs
never stopped bailing out
the grunts in the field.
Whether laying down fire
support for the troops,
halting a VC attack, or even
covering each other's asses,
the fire base gun crews
knew they were number
one in the protection racket.
Although far from perfect,
the FSBs played a major role
in a difficult war.
And those who served
on them fought
hard to get the job done.
We've got just enough time left
for another installment of GI
Jargon.
It's a Vietnam era
word this time.
Adrian in Bowling Brook,
Illinois wants to know,
how come we called
the enemy Charlie?
Well, it's so damn easy
I'm almost embarrassed
for you, Adrian.
Listen up.
Because I'm only
going to do this once.
There were two major forces
we were fighting in Vietnam.
There was the conventional
North Vietnamese Army, the guys
who were usually in uniform.
They were the ones
we called NVA.
Then there was the harder
to spot Viet Cong, made up
of guerrilla fighters
wearing civilian clothes.
They lived right in among the
South Vietnamese population.
And you know how
us military types
love to come up with short
ways of saying stuff.
So there was no way the Viet
Cong was going to stick.
We started calling
them VC for short,
or sometimes we used
the call signs for VC.
That's Victor Charlie.
But Victor sounded like some
waiter in New York City.
So we just started
calling them Charlie.
Not too politically correct, but
if you want that kind of stuff,
you're asking the wrong guy.
Semper fi.
Carry on.
I got some paint.
Check it out.
Whoops.
And I've got the
answer right here.
OK, I kind of jumped the gun
on the grease gun, didn't I?
Let go of that damn thing.
grinder and you're the meat.
It's time for "Mail Call."
Welcome to "Mail Call."
It's time for a little
art lesson, gunny style.
And I'm going to set up
my studio right out here
in the woods.
Got my paint.
Got a canvas.
Now all I need is the
appropriate brush.
Well, how about this?
The M3 submachine gun, better
known as the grease gun.
Why is it called the grease gun?
Well, that's a question from
Charlie in Columbus, Ohio.
And I've got the
answer right here.
When the US got
into World War II,
American GIs had only
one submachine gun
that they could turn to.
And that was hard
hitting Thompson.
The Thompson was an excellent
weapon, very well made.
But it wasn't cheap.
By 1942, the army was looking
for a little less pricey
alternative.
And on December 24, 1942,
the Ordnance Department
accepted a new design it dubbed
Submachine Gun Caliber 45 M3.
Now, the M3 won't win
any beauty contests.
It was stubby, crude,
and cheap looking.
But that was the whole point.
The weapon was made from
stamped steel welded together
with no frills and
no fancy wood stock.
The M3 was manufactured by the
Guide Lamp division of General
Motors.
And it cost them
less than $20 apiece.
Compare that to a couple
of hundred dollars
for each Thompson and you've
got yourself a bargain.
When guys first got
the M3, they said,
if the Thompson is a Cadillac,
then the M3 is a Jeep.
But once they took
it into battle,
they changed their opinions real
quick since the M3 was lighter
than the Thompson and
practically foolproof thanks
to its simple design.
The grease gun fired
a 45 caliber cartridge
from a 30 round magazine at a
rate of about 350 to 400 rounds
a minute.
Well, that's a bit slower
than the older Tommy gun.
But that rate made it easier to
keep the M3 on target, since it
didn't buck as much.
It had an effective range
of about 100 yards, which
is just fine for the close
combat you might find
in city fighting or battling
it out in the woods.
More than 600,000 grease guns
were built during the war.
The M3 soldiered on into
Korea and even saw some action
in my war, Vietnam.
Those ugly, cheap guns
share won rich praise
from the guys who used them.
But why did GIs call
this a grease gun?
Well, looky here.
This is a vintage tool that
mechanics used to lubricate
or grease their vehicle.
Doesn't take much of an
imagination now, does it?
And while you were having
your butts educated,
I set up my shooting
gallery here.
So let's just take a look to
see what kind of a masterpiece
the old gunny can create with
this 45 caliber paintbrush.
Makes sense, doesn't it?
Oil painting with a grease gun.
Now, the M3 wasn't the
only submachine gun
made on the cheap
with stamped steel.
The British had a comparable
weapon called the Sten gun.
And Jay in Mount
Vernon, Ohio wants
to know if I can tell him more
about this baby right here.
Well, Jay, that's my job.
The Sten gun got its name from
combining the first letters
of the last names
of the designers--
RV Shepard and HJ Turpin--
and the first two letters of
the Enfield Royal Small Arms
Factory where it
was manufactured.
The Sten gun was the
first submachine gun
to be made with
stamped steel parts.
It's where we got the
idea for a grease gun.
The Sten fired 9
millimeter ammunition.
It was updated during the war.
A later version
known as the Mark 5
was a favorite with
British airborne troops
since it was a lightweight
weapon that still packed
a good punch.
With a 32 round magazine
sticking out of the side,
the Sten gun was easier to
shoot from the prone position
than, say, a grease gun.
And I know what you want.
You want the old gunny to blast
away at some more paint cans,
don't you?
But I ain't going to do that.
I don't want to flood the
market with too much of my art
and devalue my higher
caliber masterpieces.
I just got an email from
Chad in West Virginia.
He writes, what do those crazy
looking AWACS airplanes do?
Well, Chad, they are
kind of crazy looking.
Crazy like a Fox.
In the Air Force, they call this
aircraft the eyes of the eagle.
The official name is the E3
Century AWACS, Airborne Warning
And Control System.
If you can imagine an airport
control tower at 30,000 feet
in the sky, you've got a pretty
good idea what this crew is
up to, with the
help of a 30 foot
wide rotating radar dome
and serious computing power.
LORI JEAN ROBINSON: Our job
is to force accountability.
Checking people in and out as
they go and drop bombs and come
home, to make sure we
know who's air borne
and where everybody is.
Our job is to help with
time sensitive targeting,
to put packages
together once we've
found the appropriate target.
Our job is to help
with air refueling.
So we see everything
just like the tower does.
And we talk to all
those folks and have
all of those different jobs that
happen right on the airplane.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): When
they're not calling the shots
in the skies, you can find these
babies at Tinker Air Force Base
in Oklahoma, home of the
552nd Air Control Wing.
We got an invite
for a private tour
aboard these
modified Boeing 707s.
MIKE HOSTAGE: The
airplanes are older
than many of the crew members
who fly them and then work
on them.
These young 19, 21-year-old
kids working on these jets
are significantly younger.
But I think we'll fly this
well past when my kids would
be on active duty.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Now, back during Vietnam,
we were keeping tabs on
the air war in EC 121 Super
Constellations.
That's a four engine prop
plane nicknamed Connie.
The E3 Sentry came into
service back in 1977.
And they really strutted their
stuff during Operations Desert
Shield and Desert Storm.
It was one of the first
aircraft deployed to the Persian
Gulf in 1990.
During the buildup and the war,
they logged more than 5,000
flight hours while coordinating
thousands of air missions.
There's 33 planes in
the US AWACS fleet.
They sport special high
performance engines
that give them more
power and maneuverability
than the original 707s.
A 1,500 member maintenance
crew keeps these honeys
flying good as new.
LEONARD BENSON: I tell
them, if they would not
get on the airplane and
fly or put their family
on the airplane
and go fly with it,
then the airplane
should not fly.
It has to be that good.
Because 28 people's lives
depend on the maintenance person
that lets that airplane go
every time that they work on it.
R LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): That's why
than in more than a
quarter century of service,
only one E3 has ever crashed.
Once they're airborne,
an AWACS can cruise along
for more than eight
hours without refueling.
20 crew members may be at
their stations at any one time.
Another eight can be
catching some Z's, resting up
for the night shift.
Everyone contributes
to the same goal,
making sure American fighter,
bomber, transport, and chopper
pilots know where
the bad guys are.
That info is also mighty
important to the five members
of the AWACS cockpit group.
THOMAS COLLETT: Any enemy
would love to take out an E3.
If everything else
failed and it came down
to a fighter against us, I
would definitely put my money
on the fighter.
But we won't go down
without swinging.
We'll do whatever we can--
bank, dive, run, which
is our favorite tactic.
The mission crew will
vector friendly fighters in
to engage them, hopefully
shoot them down.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): But
I don't give enemy fighters
much of a chance
of getting close,
not with that big ass radar
perched on top of the fuselage.
That vantage point allows the
AWACS to see everything that's
going on for over 200 miles.
MARTY EDMONDS: The radar on
top of the aircraft senses,
convert that into
digital information.
The software inside the jet then
takes that digital information
and processes on it to
extract more information,
to glean what's really there.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Computers translate the data
into images on the screens
of surveillance experts.
RON STROBACH: We're the eyes
and ears of the component
commanders.
We're the eyes and ears of
everybody that's on the ground
as well, taking our information
and giving it back to them
for close air support.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
In a matter of seconds,
they can alert our fighter
pilots to the speed
and direction of the
approaching enemy aircraft
or let ground forces
know about low flying
targets of opportunity
down on the deck.
And with comm gear
up the wazoo, they
can talk to anybody
they need do.
MARK KRUID: We do that by
monitoring and managing
20 UHF radios.
We have three HF radios.
We have three VHF radios.
And we work in conjunction with
the flight deck, the aircraft
commander, and the
mission commander
to get them whatever
information it is.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
During an air combat mission,
AWACS personnel may be
circling high above the action.
But mentally, they're
right in the thick of it.
All the information about
where aircraft are--
bad guys and good guys--
gets to the mission commander.
The mission commander
then has to decide
where to direct all the air
power he has at his disposal.
ROBERT PASSANT: Sometimes
you can cut the tension
with a knife from here.
I think the toughest
part of the job
for me is assessing all
the information that
comes into the jet.
And sometimes making
a decision, we only
get one chance to make
the proper decision.
And hopefully we
do the right thing.
And I think we do every
time we fly this jet,
we execute the mission
properly, efficiently, and as
professionally as we can.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
The equipment on board
even comes in handy after
the dust has settled.
You see, the AWACS computers
don't just display information
in real time.
They record everything, too.
So each move of every
aircraft in an air war
can be studied
for years to come.
And as long as we're
on the subject,
I should probably give
the Army some credit
for the work they're doing
with aerial surveillance.
So I'm going to answer an email
from Anthony in Romeoville,
Illinois.
He wants to know about J Stars.
J Stars are the joint Army
and Air Force program,
kind of like AWACS.
But instead of looking
for bad guys in the sky,
J Stars finds them
on the ground.
It stands for Joint Surveillance
Target Attack Radar System.
And that means you got two
branches of the service
and two types of platforms.
In the sky, the Air Force
has a modified Boeing 707
with a high powered radar
tracking vehicles down below.
On the ground, you have a
special US Army ground units,
air and vehicles packed with
computers receiving the data.
The resolution is unbelievable.
You can actually tell if a
vehicle is tracked or wheeled.
Pretty cool.
Oh, and by the way,
we're not really
supposed to call
it J Stars anymore.
Not too long ago, the Army
and Air Force changed the name
from J Stars to Joint Stars.
Just thought the
obsessive compulsives out
there might want to know.
Jeff wants to know
what fire bases were,
how they were built, and how
they saved a lot of butts
back in Vietnam.
Now, this is a topic that I can
talk about with some authority.
Now, before Vietnam,
it was common practice
to keep the artillery securely
behind the front line.
In the rear with the gear,
their long range and accuracy
could deliver a world
of hurt to the bad guys
without taking any
flak themselves.
Now, Vietnam was a
different kind of war
with a different game plan.
Because there were no front
lines and enemy attacks could
come from any direction,
it was tough for our boys
to use the old playbook.
The VC had a tendency
to sneak up on us
and strike hard and
fast, oftentimes
retreating well before the
artillery could be called in.
Solution-- well, mix a
bunch of combat engineers,
some heavy artillery pieces, and
an infantry battalion and, bam,
you got yourself a
fire support base.
Fire Support Bases or
FSBs, or just fire base,
were islands of
artillery smack dab
in the middle of the
jungle, totally surrounded
by the enemy.
They varied in size.
But they all had the
same three objectives--
to support infantry operations,
to defend Vietnamese villages
threatened by the enemy, and
to defend other fire support
bases.
If one base did get knocked
out, the others close by
could pick up the slack
thanks to something
called interlocking fire.
Interlocking fire is
based on the concept
that if one gun goes down
or one position goes down,
the band of fire, the arc of
fire from other positions,
can cover what would
otherwise be a dead zone.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): Now,
an ideal location for an FSB
was on the high ground.
But you could build them
just about anywhere.
Once the site is
selected, the engineers
arrive and clear a suitable
helicopter landing zone.
Cue the demolitions experts.
Once an LZ is established,
heavy engineering equipment
is brought in to
create the gun pits,
bunkers, berms, and
fighting positions.
Then it's time to bring in
the guns and their crews.
It was standard practice to move
the troops in by helicopter.
But thanks to the
new lighter alloys
that the big guns
were made of, they
could use the
friendly skies, too.
The 105 millimeter and the
155 millimeter howitzers
could hitch a ride using the
CH 54 sky cranes and the CH 47
Chinook.
A typical fire base might have
a battery of six 105 millimeter
howitzers and a bunch of
81 millimeter mortars,
as well as an infantry
battalion for protection.
The advantage to
mortars and howitzers
is they can do what's
called high angle
fire for indirect fire.
High angle means that
they could actually
fire pretty close to
themselves by basically lobbing
a shell high.
And it would come down
maybe in a position that's
called a [inaudible]
position, which is something
the artillery men can't see but
could be the back of the hill
within sight of them that can't
be reached by firing straight
at it.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER):
Now, if terrain permitted,
the FSBs also made room for
the M109 self-propelled gun.
The M109 carried a standard
155 millimeter howitzer tube
in an armored chassis
that weighed 23 tons.
It also had a 50 caliber
machine gun, just in case
the enemy got too close.
Now, if you got
really desperate,
you could lower that barrel
and blast anybody trying
to get inside the perimeter.
All that firepower out
in the middle of nowhere
made FSBs a pretty
dangerous place to be.
They were prime targets for the
North Vietnamese and Viet Cong.
The enemy kept the
FSB gun crews on alert
at all times with
unrelenting attacks.
The objective wasn't
to overrun a base
and take a position because
they weren't going to hold it
anyway.
They were going to melt
back into the countryside.
Their objective
was to kill people,
to make headlines, and
demoralize our troops.
And they did a great job
over the course of time.
R LEE ERMEY
(VOICEOVER): The gunners
had some deadly new shells
to counter these attacks,
the Improved
Conventional Munition,
or ICM, contained many
smaller submunitions
within a single shell.
These would break
apart in midair,
raining down grenade-like
explosives on the enemy.
Another innovation was
the M546 beehive round.
This little nasty had a
two part aluminum body
loaded with 8,000
dart-like flechettes.
As the shell came
apart in flight,
these darts would spiral
outward and create something
that looked and sounded like
a swarm of angry insects.
Now, that's what I
call killer bees.
But a lot of people still felt
like fire support bases weren't
such a great idea since they
were kind of like mini Alamos
spread out all over the place.
ERIC HAMMEL: They were supposed
to be temporary, in and out,
place to put artillery where it
could fire in support of a unit
moving around in the field.
However, because you were
covering the same field all
the time, it made sense to
keep the fire support bases
in one place.
What started out as a position
for an artillery battery
would soon have a permanent
assignment of a platoon
of tanks, at least one infantry
company, service and support
units, maybe supply clerks,
a kitchen, on and on.
That resulted in fixed
targets for the enemy.
R LEE ERMEY (VOICEOVER): It'd
be easy for our forces today
to set up FSBs if needed.
But in this day and age,
our modern military's
usually moving too fast
to stop and build an FSB.
Back in Vietnam, the FSBs
never stopped bailing out
the grunts in the field.
Whether laying down fire
support for the troops,
halting a VC attack, or even
covering each other's asses,
the fire base gun crews
knew they were number
one in the protection racket.
Although far from perfect,
the FSBs played a major role
in a difficult war.
And those who served
on them fought
hard to get the job done.
We've got just enough time left
for another installment of GI
Jargon.
It's a Vietnam era
word this time.
Adrian in Bowling Brook,
Illinois wants to know,
how come we called
the enemy Charlie?
Well, it's so damn easy
I'm almost embarrassed
for you, Adrian.
Listen up.
Because I'm only
going to do this once.
There were two major forces
we were fighting in Vietnam.
There was the conventional
North Vietnamese Army, the guys
who were usually in uniform.
They were the ones
we called NVA.
Then there was the harder
to spot Viet Cong, made up
of guerrilla fighters
wearing civilian clothes.
They lived right in among the
South Vietnamese population.
And you know how
us military types
love to come up with short
ways of saying stuff.
So there was no way the Viet
Cong was going to stick.
We started calling
them VC for short,
or sometimes we used
the call signs for VC.
That's Victor Charlie.
But Victor sounded like some
waiter in New York City.
So we just started
calling them Charlie.
Not too politically correct, but
if you want that kind of stuff,
you're asking the wrong guy.
Semper fi.
Carry on.
I got some paint.
Check it out.
Whoops.
And I've got the
answer right here.
OK, I kind of jumped the gun
on the grease gun, didn't I?
Let go of that damn thing.