Found some old pics from when I served

Twigg

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All are pics I took, none of me.

These are from 1977 when I was stationed out on the west coast on Port Hueneme, Ca with NMCB40. These pics were taken during one of the times we went up to Fort Irwin for training.

Enjoy.

Mugu Rock, Hwy 1
I snapped this pic somewhere south of the rock on a nice beach I used to hang out at. We (The Seabees) had our rifle range a couple miles on the other side of the rock.
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NMCB40 Alpha Co. my hooch Odd tent, eh ? My fire team found itself one man short and we were issued “shelter halves” so we jerry rigged a poncho and two halves into a bigger tent. Good thing as we actually had rain in the desert while we were there.
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Card game
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Main Camp
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Guard Duty
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Now the good stuff; The M-40 Recoilless Rifle on the range;
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You think its noisy being in between a couple of .50 BMG’s on the line ?
Try sittin’ in the fun seat on one of these !
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We had night fire too. That was cool.
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From the range tower
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Who else but a Seabee would hike out onto the range for some pics ?
(Unexploded ordnance was a possibility….[shocked] )
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One of the shot-up APC targets.
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A view through the optical sight on the recoilless, the object was to position the target between the stadia lines according to how the target presented itself and then let fly with one or two .50 spotter rounds to confirm being on target and push the bang switch
The red & white post is an offset night sight You zero the rifle on target during the day then place the stake in line with one of the stadia lines and adjust a light on the stake to superimpose on an illuminated dot in the sight.
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Here’s a stack of ammo boxes and spent shells,
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One week of full distance range practice was followed by one week of tactical war games, This was where we got to hump that friggin huge gun around in the desert on foot. Two guys on the breech, one on the muzzle with a box of two shells on your back, webgear, rifle, alice pack, team leader got the PRC-77 radio and pushed the tripod/wheelbarrow mount. Well, actually five days. Then two days going up against Opforce We were lucky to get a truck mount for that.

This was before MILES gear came into use, it was blanks, M-80’s lots of “observers”, real live tear gas and no candy-ass “stress cards” ! [smile] [laugh]
 
Neat pics.

What missions was a NMCB expected to complete with the 106?
Perimeter Defense?
Bunker-buster?
Tank-killer?

All of the above?

What was the policy for facial hair? IIRC, Chiefs could were beards right up until around 1984?
 
What missions was a NMCB expected to complete with the 106?
Perimeter Defense?
Bunker-buster?
Tank-killer?

What was the policy for facial hair?

Perimeter defense & anti-tank. The mission Seabees was always building things to support ground troops, the amphibious battallions were tasked with fleet support. Most of the tatical training we had was defensive in nature.

Anyone could have a beard in those days.

Thanks for sharing. When did you find making twig furniture as a passion?
That's something I've done off & on for fun since the mid 80's. Tried to do it as a full time business several times.
 
Mr.Twigg Hope you don't mind. I fixed up your old photos just a bit. I know the ones I had from 68 were in sad shape since storage wasn't a big concern years back. Hate to see old memories not as vivid for future generations to see.
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My pleasure. Mine were sitting 42 yrs and in sad shape. If you do have a special one that you want me to try and fix. Shoot me a line. I can fix most but no miracles. LOL Last two I played with.
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Looks a lot like the Barry Goldwater range in 1997. (I won't tell you what I was doing in 1977.) [wink]

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I'm the a**h*** with the beer. (And only 19 as I recall.) [grin]
 
Yeah those are my fav's too. [laughing]
The concussion from the combined blast of the muzzle and breech would literally suck the air out of your lungs if you didn't keep your mouth shut. You can see the trench behind the rifles from the back blast. It wasn't uncommon for those things to dig a V shaped trench a foot deep after a few rounds.

Standing behind a recoilless when it went off was deadly. The Vietnam vets told us if we ran out of anti personnel rounds to turn the gun around and wait then let the back blast take out anyone. We stacked a couple of wooden ammo crates behind one during this exercise and when we set the rifle off the stack literally disintegrated into splinters. Nothing bigger than 4 " was recovered.
 
The French mounted one of those on Vespa's LOL
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After World War II, there was little money for defense spending while the nations of Europe rebuilt their industry and society. When there was some cash to spend, one had to be creative to stretch it as far as possible. The French probably accomplished the most astounding example of that with the ACMA Troupes Aeról Portées Mle. 56. Deployed with their airborne forces, this was essentially a militarized Vespa scooter outfitted with a 75mm recoilless rifle. Five parachutes would carry the two-man gun crew, weapon, ammunition, and two scooters safely to earth, and the men would load the weapon on one scooter and the ammo on the other, then ride away. More impressively, the recoilless rifle could be fired effectively on the move by the best of the gun crews. Total cost? About $500 for the scooter and the recoilless rifle was war surplus. Were they successful military machines? Well, the French Army deployed about 800 armed scooters in wars conducted in both Algeria and Indochina."
 
Bet it went faster backwards upon firing than it went forwards! [laugh]

Or did someone else carry bricks/boards to put under the front tire to adjust elevation? [rofl]
 
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