Sorry to repeat myself but I "feel the need". I originally visited and joined Mil.com to try to locate some of the people I served with in Germany, my longest duty assignment. BTW, so far I've found none but I feel I have found a "home away from home" here anyway, thanks.

A part of my senior meanderings took me to the Redstone A rsenal web site, very interesting. I failed to realize the significance Redstone had in , not only missile defence but space exploration as well. Werner Von Braun and all that.

I list Redstone A rsenal as one of my mil.com communities (currently with 53 members) and have emailed a few of them who indicated duty there in my day but have gotten no response from anybody.

Just a point of curiosity for me (and therapy) that I remenisce and wonder what's up during/since 1962. Anybody with ties to or interest in Redstone, etc? I've been to the mil.com ADA forum [hey, migbuster et al] but I guess I'm more focused on kicking around more of the "beer hall", chasing skunks, local good ol' boy kinds of things. Any takers?

I was flown to Redstone in 1983 via a C-130 to take part in TOW-2 Missile testing when I was with the National Guard.

quote:

Originally posted by ErichG2:
I was flown to Redstone in 1983 via a C-130 to take part in TOW-2 Missile testing when I was with the National Guard.

Thanks, Erich, sounds like maybe you were TDY there? How long a stay? Billetted on base?
I was assigned to the School Troop Command while inn training. Lived in a barracks with mostly Germans, and a few Marines - NATO affiliated. Was just hoping to jabber about the mess hall and enlisted life there in general. I'm guessing by the 80's it was already altogether different from 1962. During the Cuban missile crisis, I heard that all the permantly assigned Nike missile units (I wasn't aware there were any such there till I heard they were gone. I never had occasion to mix with them) deployed to Florida. As far as I know only the students remained.

quote:

Originally posted by cheapthrills:

Thanks, Erich, sounds like maybe you were TDY there? How long a stay? Billetted on base?
I was assigned to the School Troop Command while inn training. Lived in a barracks with mostly Germans, and a few Marines - NATO affiliated. Was just hoping to jabber about the mess hall and enlisted life there in general. I'm guessing by the 80's it was already altogether different from 1962. During the Cuban missile crisis, I heard that all the permantly assigned Nike missile units (I wasn't aware there were any such there till I heard they were gone. I never had occasion to mix with them) deployed to Florida. As far as I know only the students remained.

It was a 4 day weekend drill. Yes we were billeted in pretty nice barracks near the NASA part of the base. I remember the cars with the NASA emblem on them and I remember the mess hall and barracks were fairly new at the time.

We caused quite a stir in the Mess Hall because above our NG Bucky Badger patch was the unit designation in a Ranger Scroll. So the Regular Army folks thought we were Ranger affiliated (heh-heh). They got rid of the Ranger scroll two years after I transferred to the Regular Army.

The range was out on the back 40 somewhere. It was run by civilian clothes engineers from Hughes Aircraft. We live fired I think 6 or 8 missiles while they took measurements.

TOW2 Missile Heads Downrange, you can see the red dot from the xenon tracking light in back:




T0W2 Test Equipment:





C130 We flew in on:




Even got some time on the C130 up front, not bad for a lowly PFC......Missouri Air National Guard.....flew us there.

quote:

Originally posted by ErichG2:
It was a 4 day weekend drill. Yes we were billeted in pretty nice barracks near the NASA part of the base.

Must have been quite an adventure for a young pfc. I got there right out of basic as an E-1, made E-2 5 weeks later!

Like I say, I've visited the Redstone website. They have archived pages of pix spanning the years, of facilities I never saw. On the site, I couldn't even spot the the gate I used to get on base where there was a display of Nike missiles (Ajax and Herk). I never saw the firing ranges or any of the barracks you mention (probably). Where I was was no more than 1/4 mi off the highway. Just a few buildings including our barracks kinda clustered in about a four "blocks" square area. The barracks was a stout 2 story modern, for the days, masonary bldg. Sure nothing like the WW2 barracks in Ft. Jackson. Mess hall was a short hop across a couple of bridges, past the beer hall. There was a little px and barber shop, etc.

Now and then we could hear rumbling and feel the ground shake. I heard they were static-firing the Atlas 5 engines. I was only there for about 3 months, left just before Christmas, '62.

I understand Redstone houses, or housed, the Marshal Space Flight Center, hence the Atlas 5 tests. I'm guessing much of that activity moved to Houston (we have a problem), to NASA. Here's a big site: Installation History. For a peak at Redstone ****nal (censored, snicker snicker) activity today try here.

I attended AIT at Redstone ****nal in 1991. I was aware of the interesting history there. I have good memories being there. Our barracks were like college dormitories. Two rooms shared a bathroom (with a bathtub). The mess hall was on Aerobee Rd (sp)-nice place and good food!! I was in A Co 832nd Ord Bn. Remember the big hill? Also when we did a pt run after it rained, that clay was the most slippery stuff you could ever try to run on. Much worse than ice. From the training area that we learned to drive fork lifts and did sling out operations, we could see the big rocket at the space center. I would love to go back there one day.

I retired out of Redstone in 2002.

I'm military retire, but was working as a GS-12 for LOGSA.

When LCA shut down in 1993 out of PSF, they sent us all (or the ones who wanted to go) to Huntsville, at Redstone to form up LOGSA.

It took some getting use to, but I grew very fond of the place. Had a house and some land out in a little town called Tony,Al.

NASA is still there in part, after the space shuttle disaster (when the o-rings fail and the whole thing blew up) they move most of it to Huston,Tx. (and thats not OPSEC, the whole damn world saw it on T.V.)

So they play a small part in it now, but the space camp is still there and the museum (thats pretty neat).

Yea Marshal is still there...

There is still a lot going on in Redstone..it also has a huge logistic activity there, i.e LOGSA,plus Redstones logitics, LOGSA works for AMC.

I like it there, retire now living in AZ, but, if things ever change, thats where I would return to..

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 12520504:
I attended AIT at Redstone ****nal in 1991. I was aware of the interesting history there. I have good memories being there. Our barracks were like college dormitories. Two rooms shared a bathroom (with a bathtub).The mess hall was on Aerobee Rd (sp)-nice place and good food!! I was in A Co 832nd Ord Bn. Remember the big hill? Also when we did a pt run after it rained, that clay was the most slippery stuff you could ever try to run on. QUOTE]

2 rooms? Shared bath?! Of course, you were there some 30 after me. You kids were spoiled rotten. But then, I was assigned to the USAOGMS for school not duty cadre (assuming you were). My barracks digs was one huge room with dividers sectioning of 2 bunk spaces where something like 60 men, American and German, bunked. There were smaller rooms with 4 occupants or less. That's where the marines bunked.
On the other hand, pt run!? Big hill!? Hell no! daily morning formation and police call was as close as I got to Army. I was a student, that was my mission.

Mr. dman, thanks for the info. BTW in my civilian life, I was a GS-7, USDA, electronics tech.
Yeah, it is beautiful country but "there's no place like home".

No. I was there for AIT- 5 1/2 weeks. A lot has changed since you were in. It's been many years since I ETS'd and I bet there have been many more changes. I was an Ammunition Specialist (55B). I found the big hill on Google Earth and was able to locate other places from there. The big hill reminded me of home where there is a similar land feature nearby the house I grew up in. I really liked that place. I guess you can say we were spoiled rotten. Our barracks in Germany were the same. I saw some barracks at Ft. Bragg that were the same design. The Special Forces guys deserve to be spoiled like that if indeed they were the same layout. It was good accommodations.

This is a great site for Nike contacts

http://www.ed-thelen.org/

quote:

Originally posted by pastorel:
This is a great site for Nike contacts

http://www.ed-thelen.org/

Thanks, pastorel, I've been a regular visitor there for a couple of years now. I Also like the Nike Ordnance site hosted by Doyle Piland. Have exchanged emails with both guys and signed their rosters.