8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Oct 1979)

1/2

the

Pershing able

56th Field Artillery Brigade

Vol. 15, No. 10

October

1979

Sappertlq &lie l/411t,

I/Ital, S/IMtlt

FleW

Artllerlesuol ile

/flh

nf1111try

Military

patrol.

overs

15km.

SCHWABISCH GMOND -   It was a

eel

into four-man teams: six American were all Gennan teams. The top

U.S.

team given a map and the grid coordinatesof the

good

chance to practice land navigation, to teams, 10 German teams, and one team was from Headquarters Battery. 56th Bri- second checkpoint. Once

the

team reached

use a compass

and

map.·· That was Spec. f composed

m

thr ee Germans and one gade. Members of that team were 5%1. point two, the soldiers were tested on their

James

Tup,per

·s assessment

ol

the intema- American. Tupper was the American sol- Ted Endicott,

Sgt.

David Jones

and

Spec. 4 ability to identify armored fighting vehi

tional milit.ary patrol

held

hereSept. 15 as dieronthemixedteam. Oscar Montalvo.

8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Oct 1979)

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Fred Baker,

who

••t

wo

yean

u •

Pet"•

shln11

mlni le cnwman,

10w

worb for Ille

Martin Marietta Compa1y al the Modlflc•·

tioa

Sbop.

Here Baker

carries

Ml

• medlfi

catlon to the

bruet

oa 1111

en et...__

I ELI. The modUicaUOI calls for Ille re-

SSct, J-pb

Jojola points

ont

a modlfk•

lion to

the

kla, pin

oa

ertdor-l11acher.

On

modified

Eu,

lbe kill

pl• Cal be

re

P OVed

aad

replaced by •imply removiq

Page 4

placement of

mOlt

wake eompoeeats tore

dltee

Illeclqace

of brake lock pud ,..,i.

ble Ille.

ne -

lnke IIDlq• are de·

slped

to clue • lade before reachlna a

temperatare

Mp

-&11 o inanlte

1M

EL

tires

.

elgbt

kit• tbat

bold

Ute pi•

11

place. Re•

placlnc: kin« plm ued to be a te-«1•Y and

expeeslve operation.

Pershing s

Mod Shop

91-,,A . . . . . .

by

SSll-LUCAS

HU1TON

Speedy repair and modification

of

Per

 lhing

equipment

i i

he mission of the

Per

shing Modification and Repair Activity

In

Frankfurt,WestGemany.

Commonly known

as

the "Mod Shop,"

the facility carries

out

depot-level repairs

and

modifies Pershing equipment

as re

quired. The more than SO civilians working

at

the Mod

Shop are employed

by

Martin

Marietta Aerospace, the prime contractor

for the Pershing missile system. The man

in

charge of the

shop

is

CWO

4

Don

R.

Mer

rick, who is assigned

to

the Pershing Pro

ject Manager's Office I

PPMOI at

fled.

stone Arsenal, Ala., wlltl duty in

Frankfurt.

Merrick

is

quite familiar with the Per

  lhing system, having been

Ulllgned

to all

three

missile battalions ol

the

56th Field

Artillery Brigade.

Merrick's

staff

consists

l three noocommissioned olfiCet"S.

who

are

also ass;lgned to PPMO: SFC Bob Lu

cas. the

NCO

in charge;

SFC

Dave Gibat:

and SSgt.

Joe

Jojola, the production/quali

tycontrolNCO.

Four ellsted personnel

from

the 579th

Ordnance Company

in

Neu

Ulm

assist

In

receiving and shipping equipment and

parts.

Pershlnc ,equipment needing repair fint

goes

to the

519th

Ordnance Company.

If

they can·t

fi:x

it." says Jojola,

it

comes to

lheModSh

.

The

stwp°t.s

the equipment and trained

people to repair

or

modify virtuaUy any

item of Perslling equipment, from tile

Another modlAcatloll ID Pf Ollret• Is tbe re

placemelll

of tbe service aid emer11eacy

lirake air

coaplings,

eommollly bow• as

tbe glad balllis." Here Jojola points

lo

be

brakes on the erector-laWICher, EL

sophisticated electronics

found

in

grammer-test station.

Mod

shop

mechanics. welders an

nicians

are

currently carrying out

ty of modifications. several of whic

lustrated in tlle paotoaraphs on

pages.

If

the

Mod

Shop

cannot repa

ir

a

says Jojola. a message is sent to ei

PPMO or

Martin Marietta in Orlan

The message describes

the

problem

reply tells

the

shop either to send t

to

the

U.S. for repair or what to d

pairit n

he

shop.

Both Merrick and Jojola tpron

Ho-HO.la, stress lhe

importance o

men

Improvement Reports

1E1r

EIR gives the individual the oppor.

report on problems concerning any

mflitary hardware. Tb

EIR is

a

soorceof nformation for the Mod Sh

If a person

at

a unit doesn·t su

EIR and Just

slts on the problem, .

Iola, lhe engineers at PPMO an

Marietta

will

never know

about

it: ·

The Mod shop is activel)' involve

Penhlng lJle

Extension

Assessm

lP'Bffl I

LEAP and the Life Extens

gram

tLEPJ. Penh.ing equlpment

use is nearing

lhe

end of its design

ice life. and LEAP will determin

needs to be done to refurbish the

system.

The second phase. I.EP. w

out lhe refurbishment to enable P

I •

equipment to

continue

"into t

seeable future, at least willJ the lat

Jojola said.

1ew "&lad bllld1, '#lllc• are

desi

mue II lmpoulble lo reverse tbe

IIMI emer«tDeY c.uectloaa

betw

~

ract« and tlit erector-Jauache

Pershing Cable