l)ershina Cable

Vol. 20 No. 5

56th Field Artlllery Brigade

May 1983

News media viE

Pershing at wo1
during field exe
by Jim Cnmblc1
During the recent field problem, the 3rd Bn., 84th FA hosted
a variety of news media people through.out its Area of Opera
tion.
Coordination for the visits was arranged through , he Baualion Operations Center (BOC), with Maj. Frank H. McPherson, lll, making sure that all commanders knew when they
would be visited.
2nd Platoon, Delta Battery was the f;rst one 10 come under
the eye of ARD's comera. ARD is the German I st program.
Leading the assault wos ARD's Robert Hctkiimpcr, world
renowned rcponer. Even though there ._here no interviews, the
c,amera crtw didn't mis.s anything.
Maj. Lawrence R. Sweat, the Ocha Btry. commander, es

coned theT.V. crew through his area. They had theoportuni,y

to witness and film a chemical attack, defense measures, break
down, move-out and convoy procedures.
After having observed soldiers in full MOPP for mo re than
four hours, Hetkiimper commented, [ didn't realize what 1hel'
have to go through to train. It mu>t be very ho, and hard on
them!" After having watched the soldiers prepare to move out,
he said, "I'm impressed, I really am.
By the time that the 2nd Ph. reached the 266th Chemical
Decontamination site, it was too dark to film, but the crtw
from ARO was given a walking tour with a full explanation of
how decontamination of personnel and equipment is accom
plished.
Ragis Bossu from Sygma (a large photo organiution) was on
assignment for Newsweek. 1st Pit., Charlie Battery provided
Sgt. Michael K. Pettibone, the NBC NCO for Btry. 0, 3rd
Bn., 84th FA teat, the 1ir for chemlc1i agents under the
w8tchful . - of the vllltlng ARD camer, teem. The

Climbing high Into the lrNs tor a slightly different view of a Pershing missile er- setting up In
the field, Regis Bossu shot photographs for a New,_k story on Pershing In Europe.

Pel'ahlng C1ble

May

ws
k

rcise

MlHIie crewman with 1at platoon, Btry.

C, 3184th FA huatle the unlodlng of
equipment under the vi- of photographer Ragls BOIIU.

h,m the chance to film Pershing in the field.

Bossu climbed trees 10 get different angles for his photos,
chased soldiers humping cables to capture the expression on
thtir fam and 1pen1 a day jockeying for the best position for
just tht right 1h01.
80,su ,aid. "I'm ,ery happy. I did not 1hink tha, I .,ould
ccr be ,llo..,td 10 do ,his. l am very plcucd. Ht shot 1cvcr1l
rolls of film. urnin g wi1h ,he convoy on 1hc Autobahn 10 ,hem
pulling into position ,nd setting up.
SFC Ann,ionrne Lohon had a Video Crew and Pho10snphcr accompany her down from USAREUR Audio Vi1ual
10 shoo, >1otk looug and pic,ur<s lor bo,h USAR.EUR and
the brigade. They spenl three days filming cvcry,hing from
HHS. 56th 10 Delea, 31&th.
They baiically 1h01 the same sequence of events as ARD had
,hot the prior wk .,hilc they were in Della's lotation.
The d1flcrcnt turns and people went away happy at having
hid the chance to s and film things 1h11 mos, ~oplc would
only hear ,bou,, or sec through ,heir (the medias) eyes. All
agreed that there wu , f,r bmer undemanding of what the
56th FA Bde. was about.
As Hc,kam~r had smcd urlior. 1 bclio,c that a lot of
m,seonccpuons can be clured up and a better undemanding
gamed.
The different .. i,i,ors all wanted co exttnd their thanks for the
opporiunity u wdl as the hospiuli,y tha, was shown co them.
Wha, really amucd them was 1hat no,hing was set up for them,
cvtry one of the soldiers J id just what he would normally do in
the field.

Welcome
to
"Harrell's
Diner"
Kitchen on wheels insures
hot meals for soldiers
It's kitchen-on-wheels that dishes out hot meals 10
,he troops attached to Hcadquancrs >nd Hcadquaters
Battery. 56,h FA Bdc. when they >re out in ch field.
And "ii", an 18-momh-old mobile dining facility
trailer, all belon~s to SpS Stcloni Harrell ... almost.
Harrell, the l1m cook and general supervisor of ,he
three p,,rson cooking sull thai prepared meals in the
field, already has named the trailer "Harrell's Diner.
The crew was responsible lor providing the soldiers
with three meals a day, aording to Hurell's super,.isor,
SSgt. Roosevelt Borden, the field mess sergeant.

camera teem spent mo1t of the day witching the platoon

working In complete MOPP gear after being "attacked by
aggre1aor1" using amolle aa almulated gu.

SpS Stefonl Harrell "cook1 coffee" In the

blttery's mobile dining l1clllty.

Preparing those three mc,ls lor the soldiers meant thu

the cooks had to wake up , i ,bout J :30 a.m. co begin
breakfast and by the time they finished wr,pping up
<!inner, it is usually pm 9:00 p.m.. he ,Jded.
"Twice day we served A mions, said Borden,
"usually breakfast and dinner. Tho midday meals .-ere
C rnions wirh rht "'m.ain courst can wnmcd 1n .a ,ub of
hot"'"'
"We used co cook out of a GP medium un,il the fall of
1981, said Borden, th.inking back to befor< the baner;"
rcciovcd the mobile dining facility.
Harrell ,nd 1ht res, of h,s .:rtw arc onethird ol the
normal suppon crew for the Bismarck Consolidated
Dining Facility in Schwabisch Gmiind, wi1h two bat1crics from 1st Bn., 41 st FA providing ,he rest of the
manpower.
Bu,, "they'll be glad to see us when we ge, b,ck (from
chc April field probl<m)," md Borden wnh a smile. \X'11h
o ne bancry on QR.A smus. only one b,ttery ...as running the permanent kasornc f,cility.
Whenever thcv return from the field. it means th>t
'Hrrcll's Diner: will have to be stowed awav sin un,il
chc nm field problem.

Photos and story by Brad Mosher

PFC Ruby Asmatrong (abow) dlahel out some hot food 10 HHB, 56th FA Bde. aoldlera at their field alte in
the woode, one of two hot meals given to aoldlers each day. In upper left photo, PFC David D. Parker works
on lighting e field stove 10 that hot meI can be prepared.

)83

Pershing Cble

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