Mid to late November, I was getting short, about a month left in country. We were at the end of the wet season and just beginning the dry season. We’d had periods of busy firing our guns and other slower periods. I was told at one point we were firing more than the other two batteries in the battalion put together. Most of the men liked it when we fired regularly. One morning an Army evaluation team showed up to give the battery some performance test. Sounds funny, the Army evaluates your combat effectiveness in the middle of a war.
At first, I wasn’t impressed, figuring no big deal. I was introduced to the Lieutenant who would be observing and questioning our operations in the FDC. Immediately, I recognized him as the Lt. who had instructed the Fire Direction Procedures class that I took upon arriving in country eleven months earlier. He knew his stuff and this test was serious to have him included in the team. This was an entirely different kind of evaluation, he spent an hour or two interviewing all the men, except me. He spent time examining our paperwork, charts, maps, computer, power, and communications set-up. He was even checking for general cleanliness in the corners!
He said nothing to me until after lunch. He then issued a fire mission. We quickly determined the coordinates were well within 8in range and followed our normal procedures, getting to work, issuing the initial fire mission commands to the two gun sections so they could set their spades on the azimuth. As luck would have it, we got a call from the battalion AO for a real fire mission near maximum range for the 175’s. I was delighted at the prospect of having all four guns popping at the same time, a rare occurrence in the war now. There was a bit of banter among the crew about putting the test on hold, I told them to proceed.
One of the guys approached the Lt. and asked if we should continue and he answered that he was just there to observe our operations. We continued working the data and preparing the guns to fire. Mickey reminded me of the defective propellant that the 175’s had to contend with a few weeks earlier. More than one muzzle flash had occurred, creating a huge concussive blast. This defect caused damage throughout the battery area, the concussions blowing the medics’ stand-up locked metal locker open and spewing pills ten or more meters away. I woke up that morning on the floor of my bunker, having been blown out of my cot, and covered with 1/8” of fine dust, having slept through the excitement, (experience was needed to tell the difference in outgoing and incoming). I issued orders to one of the guys who wasn’t busy to find a high spot and observe if any gun was firing over another gun crews’ position, safety first. He reported back that all were safe to fire. We settled down and proceeded to conduct the missions as normal business. The real and test fire missions were both completed by 1500 Hrs.
All officers and senior NCOs were called together to discuss the results of the evaluation. I was confident in the FDC performance but didn’t know how the rest of the battery had done. The team leader, a Major, asked Capt. Shaefer if everyone was present, we were standing in a clear area between the guns. The BC confirmed we were ready to receive the report. The Major then asked the Lt., who had spent the day with us, to begin with his report.
