Update December 2, 2017

1/83rd Unit News and General News	1. Remembrance - November 26th was the 26th Anniversary of the death of one of our 1/83rd Brothers. David Angelo Barbarino, a Veteran of "A" Battery (1970), Died 11/26/91 as a results of wounds sustained 4/13/70. More on David can be found on our website. Lest we Forget. (Rubbing from the Vietnam Memorial) Remembrance - December 29th is the 51st Anniversary of the death of one of our 1/83rd Brothers who did not make it home from Vietnam, Clarence E. Everett, a Veteran of HQ Battery (1966). More on Clarence can be found on our website. Lest we Forget. (Rubbing from the Vietnam Memorial) 2. Health Issues - I have recently added some additional information on Liver Flukes to the Health and Wellness section of the website. You may want to check this information out and consult with your health care professional to see if you should have any testing done. 3. Military Veterans can now shop at online Military Exchanges - Click here to register for this service. 4. 2018 VA Disability Compensation Rates - Click here for details. 5. The Mysterious Case of the "Missing" 5-ton Wrecker - This story, which I told you about in the October 16, 2017 update, will appear in the January 2018 edition of the Army Magazine. When I receive a copy, I will add the story to our website. Army magazine is a publication of the Association of the U.S. Army—all members receive the magazine as part of their membership. 6. Reminiscences - the story of the wrecker prompted a few other similar capers that would be good additions to our Reminiscences section. Here are two stories I received. If you can fill in more details let me know and I will add them. a. Bob Bosl (68-69) sent this one... "Interesting article regarding the alleged attempt at pilfering a 5 ton wrecker by 1/83rd-----I remember being already on the LST 281 when the truck almost got loaded. Reminds me of an episode at Camp Eagle when a staff sergeant and SP5 had both finished their tour with the 1/83rd (about July, 1969) but had both extended their stay in Vietnam by 6 months transferring to separate units in Bien Hoa. Discussion (possibly alcohol was involved) ensued, the SSG had some fear of flying, and decided that it might be more fun to borrow a Jeep and drive there. A soldier from 1/83rd made his way across the swamp down by the HQ showers to the 101st Airborne motor pool, "requisitioning" a Jeep. The 1/83rd motor pool guys painted different unit identifying numbers etc. on it, and prepared a fake vehicle log to go with it. Early the following morning, the departing 2 GI's loaded all their worldly belongings in the Jeep and headed South, ultimately arriving in Bien Hoa 3 or 4 days later. The SSG kept the Jeep, as his new unit didn't mind having an extra vehicle. The names of the 2 GI's are not included here as I'm not sure what the statute of limitations is for borrowing/repurposing government equipment, and I wouldn't want either to have their Good Conduct Medals retracted. Interestingly, no more than a week or 2 later, a Stars & Stripes reporter independently thought it would make good press to try to hitch rides on military vehicles from Hue to Bien Hoa to demonstrate the safety of travel throughout Vietnam. Due to closed/uncleared roads and other problems along the way, it actually took him over a month to make the same trip." b. Dan Minton (67-68) and Johnnie Pearson (68-69) sent this one... First from Dan... "Bill, B Battery was successful, for a few months, in "borrowing" a huge fork lift and loading it onto the LST that took us up to I Corps. I can't remember all the details, but if anyone from the motor pool or the gun crews is on here, they might remember how it all went down. I know the guys really appreciated how much help that fork lift was in loading and unloading EVERYTHING! I think it was eventually "found and returned" when we were at Camp Evans or Camp Eagle." Then from Johnnie... "If memory serves me, B Battery stole a fork lift on our way North." 7. Travel to Vietnam - Barney Downey sent me some information about his journey to Vietnam in 1970 that really surprised me and I wondered if anyone else had this same experience. If you did, let me know and I will also add it to the website. "Good to hear that your recent sailing under the Golden Gate bridge was better than the first ...my connecting flight from San Francisco to Oakland , in 1970 was on a large commercial helicopter, at night! A very short flight but pretty spectacular with all the lights on the bridge and the low altitude flight ...actually was my first helicopter ride of many to come." To which I replied... *"Hi Barney. That must have been an interesting flight, how did you wind up on a helicopter?"* Barney replied... "That’s what I was asking myself, when they put us on a helicopter from San Francisco to Oakland. It was all part of my ticket from Detroit to Oakland. I think the Army booked the flights back then, I don’t remember. However, I just looked this up and I believe it was this service. It was a Sikorsky Helicopter, that’s an unmistakable sound that I remember. It was quite an end to a long flight and the beginning of many. With all the lights of the bridge and this huge chopper in the evening hours, it was quite the memory though." I replied... "This is really fascinating, was it just military when you rode it or was it commercial? So you got off a regular commercial airline flight and right onto the helo? I wonder if any of the guys had the same experience, I'll have to ask." Barney replied... "No, it was a regular connecting flight to take me on to Oakland, I think it was American Airlines, nonstop from Detroit to San Francisco and then this commercial helicopter to Oakland. Something else that just came to memory was meeting a pretty stewardess on the American flight, that sat down and talked with me. Since this was a skeleton flight, only 1 seat each aisle taken at the most, she even brought me a beer! When I told her I was heading to Vietnam, she said that I reminded her of her little brother, then she came back with her name and address and asked me to write to her and keep in touch! It was a pretty pleasant experience and flight, to say the least! I would venture to say that a lot of us heading to Nam at that time had that same experience with this connecting helicopter ride, based on this wikipedia info and years of operation. Ironically they filed for bankruptcy about the time I passed through there! Maybe a polling of the group would have had the same connecting flight, as you stated?! 8. 2018 Reunion - Mike Reetz (66-67) has advised that the next Reunion is planned to be in San Antonio, Texas from September 23, 2018 to September 26, 2018 at the Wyndham San Antonio Riverwalk Hotel. More details will follow at a later date. Mike's contact info can be found on the Full Roster 9. 1/83rd Website - Please let me know if you come across any links in my website that are broken. With so much content, it is inevitable that links go out of date so let me know if you find one that does not work. 10. Full Roster on Website - Check your entry on the Full Roster to make sure all your information is up to date. Notify me if any changes are necessary. If your email stops working, I cannot reach you if you have incomplete or incorrect contact details on the roster. 11. Support - Please let me know if anyone of you or your family have health situations so we can let everyone know of the need for our support. 12. Please remember that all contact info that we have for our group can be found on the Full Roster. This is the best spot to start if you need to contact one of the group.
Photo of the Week	The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree stands lit on November 29, 2017, in New York City. The 75-foot-tall Norway spruce is covered with more than 50,000 multi-colored LED lights and will remain lit until January 7. Photo Courtesy of The Atlantic
Interesting Links and More	1. Roger Hatcher (66-67) sent this video of a John Wayne special celebrating America. 2. A video of the bravery of the famed Tuskegee Airmen (from the American Veterans Center). 3. Barney Downey (70-71) sent this Donut Dolly story. 4. Dan O'Brien (69-70) sent this upcoming movie trailer for 12 Strong. In the wake of Sept. 11, Capt. Mitch Nelson leads a U.S. Special Forces team into Afghanistan for an extremely dangerous mission. Once there, the soldiers develop an uneasy partnership with the Northern Alliance to take down the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies. Outgunned and outnumbered, Nelson and his forces face overwhelming odds in a fight against a ruthless enemy that takes no prisoners.
Did you Know	During World War I, the United States sent approximately one million horses to Europe to supply Allied forces. Only 200 of the horses returned to the U.S., creating a significant shortage at home. (Courtesy of How-To Geek Newsletter)
Website Updates	1. If you come across anything that you think may be a good addition to our website let me know. Also, if you have any questions or suggestions regarding the website, let me know. 2. Check out all the latest updates by looking at the website Table of Contents.
Vietnam Veterans of America	1. VVA website
1/83rd Roster	Check your entry on the Full Roster to make sure all your information is up to date. Notify me if any changes are necessary. If your email stops working, I cannot reach you if you have incomplete contact details on the roster.
Missing members of the 1/83rd	Help us find those former 83rd members who haven't found us yet!! I am sure that each of us has someone they would really like to reconnect with. If we all pitch in, we may find many more of our old buddies. Here are some ways to do that: 1. If you are in contact or have contact info for any 1/83rd guys please contact them and tell them about our group or at least tell me and I will contact them. 2. Look through the roster on the website and if you know of others who are not listed, let me know who they are. Also, if you see any incorrect or missing info (including your own entry) let me know. 3. If you have copies of old orders tucked away someplace, send me a copy so I can make sure those names are on the roster. 4. Sometimes all it takes is a name and location and we can find someone but the more details we know the better our chances.
Rules & Regs	If anyone would like a current copy of the "Rules & Regs" document which has helpful information about using the website, let me know. Go to Contact Us and submit your request or email me directly.
Advisory	If you get an email from and it has a website link included anywhere within the email, most times you should be able to just click on the link and you will be taken to the website. Sometimes however, the link will not work because, in sending you the email, the link is deactivated although it is still usable. If this should happen, another way to use the link is to copy and paste it into the address line on your browser. Please be sure to let me know if you have any questions on this. Please make sure that your email system allows emails to be received from both of my email addresses, bill_t_08012@yahoo.com and artillery_83rd@yahoo.com