the

Pershing Cable
56th Field Artillery Brigade

'

A~st1978
Vol.
No. 8
Sapportllllg lhe 1/Ust, 1/llst, SJl'lb Fl ., Artllltritt ud tbe Z/Clb IDl'utry

{Photo by SSG Hutton)

As the Florida sun sets low in the
western sky, a Pershing crewman prepares one of his platoon's missiles for
possible launching. This photo and

the photos on pages 4 and 5 were taken at Cape Canaveral, Fl, during the
live fire mission carried out by Battery
A, 3184th FA, July 17-28. Three bat-

teries of the 56th Brigade have made

the journey to Florida this summer.
Read about why these live fire tests
are conducted on pages 4 and 5.

It really flies .............................. pages 4 & 5

Athletes unite ........................... pages 6 & 7
Soccer buffs take second ................... page 8

A dream to see 'it' fly can com

Story and photos

by

SS9t. Hutton
"I'd have the ass If I'd worked In
Pershing for four years and never
90t to see one of those mlssilesfly!"
Thus Sgt. Darryl Thorne, 20 of
Ta mpa, FL, summed up the feelings of many a Pershing soldier.
(Thorne Is an assistant chief of section In Alpha Battery, 3184th FA.)
For a Pershing missile crew
member, the opportunity to see a
Pershing m Issi le In flight Is rare indeed. Many Pershing soldier s have
spent years humping cables, mat
Ing and demating stages, "counting" missiles and enduring the
drudgery of wet and cold field duty
. and have never seen Pershing
leave the pad.
The chance to actually fire a Pershing mlsslle comes when a firing
battery gets "tapped" to go to the
united States.on a five fire mission.
This summer, three batteries have
made the tri p to Cape Canaveral,
Florida. Delta Battery, 1st Battalion, 11st Field Artillery and Alpha
Battery, 3rd Battalion, "4th Field
.Artlllery went to Florida In July.
Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion, 41st
Fleld Artlll11ry went this month.

The. Army's most powerful mlHile stands silhouetted ag'a inst a bright Florida
sun, waiting for the signal that will send It speeding toward its target in the Atlantic.
Page 4

Pershing Cable

The photos on these tv.

were taken during Alpha,
llve fire, July 17-28. The sol
volved were from the batte
and second p latoons. The r
all Pershing personnel .,,
gone on "shoots" this surr
printed below.
"Shoots" are olfic lally I
Follow-on Training (FOl
The value of an FOT l ies
formation obtained on the
missile system and in th,
ence for the sold iers who
the equipment.
Batter ies are "tapped"
Pershing Operationa l T,
(POTU) at Headquarters, 1
Europe In Heidelberg . Di
FOTs Is put Into a report to
Ch iefsof Staff, according t,
Fred Treute l , ch ie f of POTl
At the JCS, said lutel
mlttee compares P,
Ing
Minute, Poseidon an Pol,

slles.
"They look at how well I
stacks up against other mi,
terns In terms of reliabi
cost-effectiveness, Treutel :

PFC Michael H. Houston mans on erector-launcher control panel during a confidence count at
Cope Canaveral.
Augu

e true
page-s
3/84th':s
liers lny'sfirst
~mes of
io have
ner are

The POTU chief added that this

year's FOTs are "probably more
Important than ever because we're
looking down the road at the Pershing-2. There are a lot of people in
Washington who are debating t he
virtues of P-2."

,own as
Tests.
1 the in-ershing
experi operat.e

Live fire missions mean a great

deal to the troops who work every
day with Pershing. Sp5 William D.
McCall um, 25, of Branson, MO, Is a
Programmer Test Station (PTS)
operat or In the fi rst platoon of Alpha, 3184th. Sitting In his "box" (as
the PTS Is called) In FIOl'lda, MC
Callum said of the FOT: "It's
great! It makes It all worthwhile after doing all that stuff In Ger
many! "

by the
it Unit

SArmy
ta from
he Joint
Lt. Col.

CO,..

with I
rls misershlng
sile syslty and
aid.

By taking their missiles to Florlda and firing them, the crew men,.
bers "gain a degree of confidence"
In their skills, said Treutel. "Per
shlng Is a complex system- probably the most complex weapon the
Army has. The crew members have
a tremendously Important Job, and
on an FOT, they learn how lmpor-

(Continwtt on Page 8)

CWO 2 Walter 0. Ress (left) and Sgt. Ocivid C. Crouse of A-3/84 check out cable connections on
one of the first platoon's missiles. On an FOT, the firing battery sets up its missiles at Cape Canavet'CII exactly as they were In Germany when the battery was "lapped."

of a trail of fire and smoke, a Pern;iissil,e streaks skyward from Cape

el'Ol's :Pod 16. Alpha Battery successredthree missiles during its FOT.
;t,978

Every man Of' woman who hos ever worked with Pers"in9 knows why this ink rag is called "The Pershing
Coble." Al Cape Canaveral, crew members do everything they do in Germany - including "humping"
cables in 90+ degree heat.
Pemilng Cable

Page 5