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The 4th battalion, 41st artillery, received a high overall average in the Tactical Evaluation. Rumors had the Tac Eval scheduled almost hourly during the 1st d of eligibility. "It's much more difficult to take a. Tac Eval from a garrison situation than it is in the field," said CPT.
The 4th battalion, 41st artillery, received a high overall average in the Tactical Evaluation. Rumors had the Tac Eval scheduled almost hourly during the 1st d of eligibility. "It's much more difficult to take a. Tac Eval from a garrison situation than it is in the field," said CPT.
The 4th battalion, 41st artillery, received a high overall average in the Tactical Evaluation. Rumors had the Tac Eval scheduled almost hourly during the 1st d of eligibility. "It's much more difficult to take a. Tac Eval from a garrison situation than it is in the field," said CPT.
.lli ~ filM: THE GIANT asks the question ''Why is this ma.n laughing'? 11 (see below)
VOL
"PERSHING IN EUROPE"
NOJ
41 PASSES TAC EVAL!
51
SEVERE WEATHER CONDITIONS
MADE FOR A TOU3H TEST OF MEN AND EQUIPMENT
BY
DENYS FRITCH
SCHWAEBISCH GMUEND Like
an actual 'W&r, the beginning of the Tactical Evaluation at the 4th Battalion, 41st Artillery came unexpectedly. But in spite of the element ot surprise, all 4 batteries tested received a high overall average. SURPRISE
Rampant rumors had the
Tac Eval scheduled to occur almost hourly during the 1st d~ of eligibility; but no one expected the actual call when it finally came at 6:10 that evening, Personnel were called in, equipment loaded, and the convoys began to roll well short of the marlmum time limit. Headquarters Battery set up in a location in hills to the east. Service and Btry C located elsewhere. Bravo, simulating encampment in a forest clearing, located its equipnent beside the airfield at Mutlangen. DIFF ICULTIES
"It's much more difficult
to take a Tac Eval from a garrison situation than it is in the field," commented CPT Joseph Carpenter, asst S-3 of the battalion. He went on to say that the difficulties are magnified "be-
KNEE DEEP in the snow. Members of Headquarters Battery, 4t~
Battalion, 41st Artillery, set up a tent during the Ta: Eval. It was all part of the fun as the battalion passec the big test with flying colors. (Arnv photo -- Fr itch ]
cause other duties continually interfere" with the exercise itself.
evaluation will be an example for others to follow."
HEW UNIT
WEATHER
The adverse weather conditions experienced during
the Tac Eval were also a problem. Early March's cold and heavy snow created an especially grim environment in which to take the test. In summing up the evaluation, CPT Carpenter indicated that "throughout the exercise, morale and esprit de corps were excellent. This
In light of the 41st 1 s
performance during their stringently graded exercise, the evaluators - a combined team from CENTAG and USAREUR -- inidcated that the battalion looked "like an entirely different unit" from the one they had seen the previous year.
H)
;,,Ii !971
7111:; GIANT
PAG:. 4
CHAPMAN: BEST OF 16,000
NaJ ULM - SGT Ronald K Chap-
man of the 1st Jattalion,
81st Artillery, has become the li:iAREt.'P. & 7th A~ Trps Soldier of the Year. As they say, he is "the best of 16, 000." The 22 year old ACS for D Battery' s 1st Firing Platoon has won every 'Soldier of the - -' title around. Amoung others, he was ma.de Brigade ~OY last January, In Heidelberg, he competed against 5 of t he best from Troops H. ,000 men , "l felt pretty confident when 1 competed at Brigade for Soldier of the Year," said SvT Chapnan, "but in Heidelberg l had the feeling it would be a toss-up. I just went in, tried the best l could, and l et cOllle what
plaque, a wrist watch, a
free round t rip flight to the States and a J day pass . hecogn!t ion of Chapnan ' s per fonnance took place at a c eremol\Y in Heidelberg on April 2. The JJrd Army a&nd and an honor guarc stood by as ~:G ,/illiam R Kraft, CG of L'JARWI! ancl 7t.h ~rmv Troop~,
'lr.&y,"
',-.'hat came were a ,$100 deposit in Big Ten, a large
presented the ~oldier of the
Year with the Troops plaque and congratulated him on his achievement. SGT Chanan is a member or the Church of Jesus Ori.at and served as a missjonary in 3cotland for two years . He took basic at Ft Lewis and AIT at Ft Sill, where he graduated first in his class. Nhlle a student in High 3chool in Mesa, Arizona, SGT Chapman was an All--State Choirist in both his Jrd and 4th yea.rs . At Mesa Co11111Unity Col lege as a pre-med student he set t he school cross country record. Will he stay a soldier? Chapman thinks not. At the end of hia service obligation, SOT Ch&pnan plans to return to his medical studies at the University of UtAh and eventually do mor e missi onary work.
PERSHING FIRST AND LAST
IY OON SAMS Al
The 1st Battalion
81 st Field Artillery was ori~i nall.y organized as a traditional horse and sabre canlry outfit, the 23rd cavalry - one of two such units that were created from the 11th cavalry. Its creation f ollowed the 11th's return from Mexico where, under the command of General John J., Pershing, it had been in pur suit or Pancho Villa's band of marauders . With the entry of the US into war against the stern forces of the Central RM!rs, Troops A & B of the 23rd Cav were r edesignated Nov Jrd, 1917, as Btry A, 81st Field Artillery and anned with the famous "French 75, " a 7511'1111 horse-drawn gun. By t he time t he Battery had built up its manpower, t rained with the new weaoon, and debarked for France; it. was Nov 1, 1918. The 81st arrived on Nov 9 and the armistice ending the war was signed two days later , Most. or the unit ' s pers onnel were transferred to other units f or occupational duty. ar Jan, 1919, the unit was back in the States and after a series of moves, was inactivated on Feb 1, 1922. On June 12, 1940, Btry A, l/81st, was reoreanized at Ft Lewis, Wash. On the 21st or that same month, it went to Alaska to build Ft . rlichardson. After addit ions t ~ its strength, the now 81st Field Ar tillery Jattalion KEU
was charged with gi:arding
Alaska 's harbors and a irfields. ';/ith the advent of ~w II in the Pacific anc the Japanese invasion of t he Aleutian Islands, the eist went into a state of coffibat alert but saw no action. In December 194), the battalion returned to the US and trained as a 155n!m Howitzer unit. After training, it was sent otf to war on the Continent. It arrived in J:;ngland in 3ept 1944 and encountered its first combat a ction Oct 14 at ~elfrange , Luxembourg, where i t fired l47 rounds in 1) days a l ong the Mosel River. The battalion came to the defense of the clty of Luxembourg on Dec 16 during the German f orces' last desper ate effort t o drive the Allies back to the English Channel . For 12 days the battalion fired hundreds of r ounds nortr. and east into enell\Y tank and i nfantry formations , destroyin~ bridges and harrassing enenzy" crossings. ~ring t his period, every one or t he battalion's positions wer e subject to intense counter fire from P,l:ns of 88mm to 21Cbln. The 81 st eventually took up positions soutnwest of dastogne in relief of the 101s t Airborne Division. The beginnjng of 1945 was s nent recoverin~ lost ground . 1'hen, in l ate February, t.he battalion entered Gr.rrrany r ear ~u~ and ~e~an its at-
tack on the Siegfried Line
in the Schnee !::i.fel Forest. dy March 29, the 81st had crossed the !thine at St Goar and three weeks later it was at Stenn, where it remained until V- ~ Da.y - May 7, 1945, The battalion was lat.er ordered to the Pacific, but the war ended before it got under way. On Feb 7, 1946, the Elst was inactivated at Cair.p Kilmer, New Jersey. After a s er ies of activations, durin~ which it was first assigned as a training unit, then to the Honest John missile, and l ate.r to the Corporal missile, the unit was radesignated as the 1st ilattalion, 81st Artillery and was r eactivated at Pt. ~ill on Apr 15, 1~6J . Its weapon was the Al"II\Y'S new Per shing ,jssile System. The battalion was deployed to .i:llrope in Oct 1965. lt was initially harrisoned in N&cker nheim and .later at Lee i3arracks in l'.ainz . ln August 19~e, the battalion was moved to diley Barracks in :ieu ~lm, a relocation t hat was accomplished while still ~~: ntaining i l s ~uick keaction Alert mission in support or the NATO j trike r'orce. i n t ~e beginning of 1970 , the 81st undertook f r ojcct ,.jwap. 1t became the t~ir d and f inal Pershing battalion in the 5lth ftrtillery 3ri~ade t o make t he swi tct from t racked t.o wheeled vehicles arc t he inc~eased a~ncher c1,-'lbi ~i '..\ o~ t :ie 1,1a s ,,t. ..rr..