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Posted: 12/31/1969 Name: Joe Mattison Message: For Ew: Are you ok? Do you need to talk to somebody? I have a great phone number for you if you need it. Just let me know. Congrats on your Iron Man accomplishment, but to tell you the truth, I did 300 feet on a warm beach, and was able to slather 12 ounces of tanning oil on my skin, while wearing dark sunglasses and a straw hat. Did some Corona Light with Lime, and watched the sunset. Sang songs like..."sailing away to Key Largo". I know, I know....once again, I've got my priorities screwed up! Take care Iron Man....Joe |
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Posted: 12/31/1969 Name: ron rice Message: to answer some more questions and give some more fill in. i did not know heinz ketchum nor t tilson chinquipin miller or mike smith. a coup[le of other folks that served at mrc was walter marm medal of honor 1st cav known as "joe" he was a capt on pat comm. ret. as a full bull. also MOH gary littrell was on rope comm. got his as a vn reanger advisor. james tibbits drove a '57 chev and was always running out of gas. maybe because he and his wife had six kids. its been so long since i was there and i retired over 30 years ago i do not remember much about the field problems (ftx) i do remember we had h34"s at one time and we used otters and beavers taking off from camp airfield. also slicks and dustoffs. we jumped a lot on top of a bare mtn and the cadre jumped a lot in a farmers field on mrc road on the right where there was a stream and bridge lots of trees and barb wire. but i do not remember anyone getting seriously hurt. i do remember a mountain that we all called triple 3 six right o/s of mrc. i certainly climbed it a lot while being a lane grader. also the many streams snake, bears and stills. which were mostly abandoned but we were cautioned that if we came upon one to move awy from it quickly. also, on one particular patrol i ran into and old shack that had kkk propaganda all over it. we often used the old triple c camp for a base of patrol ops. i remember one night that i came into the tent and we had a gasoline lantern and one of those old gas pot belly stoves in there and capt scruggs took his boots off to dry his socks and he had one black and one o d sock on. we all had a good laugh over that. he was a great officer and said he was related to earl scruggs. maj bischoff came up to me after grading a 3 day patrol and said rice you know that intermittent stream right here as he pointed to the topo and i said yes sir and he said well it is mittent. he was soaken wet. most of our patrols left camp on foot. later on some jumping and fly ins. at one time we had support from a marine air wing and they supported us fairly often. i was not there when they added the cinder block section to the nco club. sometimes when "8" wolcott would tell me to lead the students to the 60ft cliff area i always went by the club and the officers swimming pool lagoon and always made sure they knew what we called it. i do n ot know about now but when i was there no students wore any rank. they were called ranger. unless they were field grade and then they did not do much except watch and tag along. i was not there when all the new buildings were built. the last time i was stationed there . the permanet buildings were the head shed, briefing shed, medical bldg, barracks, mess hall and thats about it. RLTH rice |
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Posted: 12/31/1969 Name: Joe Mattison Message: Ross, Jimmy, Cookie, and Doug and others: To resolve the SGM situation once and for all, I suggest that Ross contact June Wood, and give her all the names, and let her sort it out. Whatever she says is fine with me. She would have a much better memory on this subject then any one of us. She was the 2nd Ranger Co Secretary and the LTCs secretary. She would have prepared correspondence or did reports for all of them daily, and as a result would remember all of them, and given a few minutes with all of the names, would sort out the proper sequence and appx years much more accurately then any of us would. I'm trying to think above the belt on this one, because once Ross publishes his book, thats it...it will forever be that way. Miller could be very caustic sometimes. Completely cynical to the point of belittlement, but I only remember him doing it when something was so incredibly stupid, and it needed to be stopped. I liked Miller as the SGM. I don't remember problems during his time, and we were doing both the Mountains and the Desert. His "candor" and honesty was one of the reasons why we did so well with both of the operations going on simultaneously. Back to the SGM business...June Wood is the expert on this one, and I think that whatever she says....is how it was. Thats my vote. Thanks Joe |
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Posted: 12/31/1969 Name: Joe Mattison Message: Well said Bill. I just want to add that he did this as an Advisor with a S. Viet Namese Marine Battalion, and he was assisted in his bridge work by an Army Officer who primed and prepared the charges for placement. CPT Ripley, actually climbed under the bridge, under fire, scaling the girders like some kind of Hollywood action figure and placed the charges at key locations that would cause the bridge to collapse once the charges were blown. Mike Martin in one of his original books, captured the story as well as photos very well, and yes, Col Ripley is in the Ranger Hall of Fame, as he should be. Thanks again Bill. He will not be forgotten. |
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Posted: 12/31/1969 Name: Steve Hawk Message: Rangers Bob has posted the artwork for the USMRA Coin. The front and back were the most vote getters in our inpromptu pole from messages I received and those that were posted on the webpage. If you think we need to change anything please post them on the webpage so that all can see. For example. I think that the edges around the USMRA Schroll and the Brotherhood and fellowship ribbon should be in red. After the meeting on Thursday along with any comments you may have are posted I will contact the company and request the appropriate changes. Then I will ask Bob to Post the final artwork and we will make an order. After thinking long about it I believe we have already voted on the design. I'm just posting the artwork for final changes and approval. Rangers as you all remember this is staffing an idea. ANy response is welcomed. Rangers Lead the Way Steve |
