-the

Pershing Cable
56th Field Artillery Brigade
Vol. 1S, No. 11
November 1979
llllppenJaa Ille l/fbl, 1/llal, 1/ Ntll Field Artlleriel ...... t /4~ IDfuuy

Dragon: a
super-bad
tank killer
The Anny calls It the M-47 Medium Artt\.
Tank Weapon. Most folks know it as the
Dra.gon. Any soldier who's fired it calls it a
S\qler.tlad tank-killer.
Recently 25 Dragon gunners and assis t
ant gunners from Companies A and B. 2nd

Battalion. 4th Infantry, fired the weapon at

the Hohenlel1 MaJor 'l'ralnlng Area. The
soldiers put 18 trafning rounds down-rartKC
as part ol the.Ir p~lification training.
The weapon Is almost deceptivel> toylike in appearance- just a big tube with a
foam rubber cap on each end. Put the
Dragon in the hands of a skilled rir<1r.
though. and he can bring heap big smoke
on the bigest n baddest tank on eMth
J ust 8* uy
flrtd one.
Mftl lib Alplaa'1
Mu Lamport

w.

or Pf'C Cleveland armer I see ph~

1011 'llley know what a DragW"

round cu do lo a tank.
The (irer sill on the ground. tube on his
shoulder. feet braced against the bipod at.
~ lo the muzzle. Tbrou&h the sights.
the firer locates the movin1 larset ta tank
silhouette 900 meters away and movin
on). He then "locks in" on the target. removes the safety and fires away.
The missile roars from the tube In a
cloud ol fl~. amoke. !lll5l and flying chips
ol foam rubber. The round pulls with it a
strand ol wire. which carries guidance signals from the weapon's sights.
As the fl~r follows Ille moving
larjlet, Sltllll uplosiOIIS j-,iding

Wee cllerry bomb&) MN LIie missile

tllls way and that ID relpODK lo SI gnals from the sight system. Then. If
Ille fir er bas done the job ri&bt. tbe
missile bits tile mark and goes to
work.
What if the enemy is slinging nasty
chemlcal or biological agents at us' Small
problem. Part of the Dracon training at
Hohenlels conaisted of firing the wea pon
while wearing the Ml7AI protective mask.
Lamport became the lirst Pershing infantryman to hlt the tarset with the Dragon
while wearinc the mask.
SUpervisln& the training at Hohenlels
were SSgt. George Jones Jr. and SSgt.
Rodney J{jmura, both of Company A. Jones
tlhe Dragon range NCOICI and Kimura
t the range safety NC01 have bolh attended
the three-week Dragon instructor course
at Fort Benning. Ga.

In This Issue:
How lo spend Christmas .................... pg 2
2/4th Hero honored ...... .. ........ .. ....... ... pg 3
S0ldler deslgnsownfashion1 .............. Pll4
lnneringftl 0-A day ........................... pg S
Auto bums at Neckarsulm ................. pg 6
Modernizing Anny ......................... ... Pl 7
Bde soccer tournament ...................... Pl 8

November 1979

Pershing Cable

Page 7

The Army is modernizing

WASHINGTON I ARNEWS) - Much has

been said and written about the Armys intention to modernize the force fort he l980"s.

But what Is this modemlzatlon ioing to In

clu<E'? How will It affect the individual soldier?
In an interview with ARNEWS. the Army
Olie! of Staff. Gen. E.C. Meyer. outli~ his
plans to explain that modernization process
to soldiers in the field and how lhey fit Into
the plans for the Army of the future.
Jrs important that there be better understanding in the field of how the Army intends to modemlze lhe force.. .when were
going to get new signal equipment. when
we re going to ~et new intellfgence equip
ment. when we re going to get new tanks
and soon," Meyerexplained.
Therefore. in the near future were going to be sending a series of bulletin boardtype posters to the field explaining the program for modernizing the Army and how
people fit into that program.
.. Any soldier will be able to look at these
p06tcrs on their unit bulletin board and get
an idea or what the Army in the future is going to look like. he remarked. we want to
insure that soldiers know what the big plan

is for the Army so they may have better appreciation for what they can do to help in im-

plementing that plan:

Meyer stressed that not all his contact
with soldiers will be through normal comrrunications channels. although he will
"continue to look at what is taking place out
there through the chain of command and the
Inspector General.
Tm trying lo establish a climate
through which t~ chain of command feels
free to tell me what they rea Uy think the
problems are. I will also continue to use the
Inspector General to go around and take a
look at those areas where their experience
can beusedelfeclively . he added.
" ln addition to these communications
channels. I want to open up communications through as many means as possible.
(Olltinued the Anny's top military leader.
"I'll continue to drop in on installations for
unannounced inspections and discussions.
and we are also going to use more media
techniques to respond to questions from the
lleld. were getting questions lrom the lield
now that myself. the sergeant major I SMA
W.A. Connelly I and the secretary 1currord
L. Alexander. Jr.1 can respond to using re-

tum video tapes."

One of the things you get lrom soldiers
in the field is that they"re not getting enough
meaningful training: Meyer stated "Good
training is not usually lumped in with quality of life issues such as pay a nd benefits. But
when I talk about quality of life. in addition
to the Important aspects C()llcerning living
conditions. and way ol life. I mean providing soldiers good equipment and then challenging them with good. ,meaningful training. I intend to focus my ellforts concerning
quality o[ life there because lhal is the area
which gives purpose and value to the indi
vidual as a human being.
The Armys leadership is pushing to get
overseas tour lengths reduced and imprO\'
ing personal services such as lhe PX. the
commissary. medical support. to helr.
make Uving overseas an enjoyable and pos
live experience for the soldier.
The main shortfall that soldiers !ind in
their units today ls hopdull.y an occurrence
ol lransiti()I). and I expect that "'e will overcome that shortfall within the next year and
a half to two years: commented the General. "We are trying to get the resources to do
that. Including focusing on t he two-year enlistment. We are going to take extraordi
nary steps on how squads are ma Med. how
they are equipped and managed in the fu.
ture.
"The org11nizational effectiveness con-

Can

cept is going to be important as we design

the Army of the future." Meyer c-0nt111ued
As our Army has !ewer people in it. 1he
ability to relate to sub:>rdinates. the abiht\'
to get the maximum out of every indi \'1dual
and every piece or equipment "''ill become
more and more important. This will be particularly true in areas or reduced resources
such as dollars and manpower."
Because of reduced resources. the general-emphasized the Army will ha\'e to do a
better job of supporting its recruit()rS and
explaining lo the Army and the American
people that we have fine young men and
women in the Army. capable of per!orminK
our missions and objectives.
" We must do a better job or explaining
lhat there is a positive aspect of service in
the military. he offered. we have to convince people. even those who believe in u
draft. that wedo have a YOlunteer Anny and
were going to ha\'e to give it a chance to
work. We have to take the steps necessary
to get the quality and quanlit> ol people w
e
need in the volunteer force.
we have to accept the fact that ..-e ha\'e
a volunteer Army. We need to do a bet ter jub
ol explaining to the American public- and 10
Its young men and women the opportunlt,~s
the Army presents !or service and personill
deYelopmen1: Meyer continued. 1.n turn.
we in the Army must provide that meaningful experience ror the young person who
comes in."'

anybody tell me what OE is all about?

B) SSgt. THOMAS REED

Brigade OENCO

, Editors note: This is the first in a series of anicles dealing with Organizalional
E/Jecti1m~ss /OEJ and what it mean. to
soldiers in todoy'a Anny. TM author is one
o/ 90 noncommiswned o/ficers who are
participants in the Armys pi14t program
of OE. The OENCO piklt program is being
eooluated by the Anny Research Irutitute
lo determine whether OENCOs will become an integral pan of the Army's OE
program.,

dwing late 1971 and early 1m. which culminated in the establishment or a number
cl pilot projects. Ammg them was lhe in
stallation-wide implementation ol the Organizational Development ( OD1 concept at
fort Ord, Calif. The OD project slowly expanded to include a training course for
mid-level managers and ended with the establishment or the Organizational Effectiveness Training Center in July t97S. cThe
name has since been changed to the OE
Center and School. I
What these studles showed was that selected behavioral science and modern
management tecmiques are applicable to
the Army. These findings led to the introdtiction and use ol OE on an Army-wide ba

\\'hat the hell is OE?

I have have been asked that question
many timesby many people: my wife, my
parents. friends. commanders. stl\!f oflicers. command serge'ants major. In this sis. ,
series. I hope to answer thal question.
OE differs from tradltlonal Army apIn 1969, the results of the Army War Col- proaches to management by including adle~c studies on leadership and profession- vanced management and behavioral scialism. the Continental Army Command ence techniques which have been
Leadership Board and a study of basic collectiYely relerred to in the civilian sectrainee motivation at f'ort Ord. Calif.. con- tor as Organizational Development. While
verged to develop an awareness at Depart .-OD has been used in civilian industry ror
ment of the Army t DAI level that the be- several years to solve many or the same
havioral sciences were not being used to organizational problems which face the
their fullest potential in the Army.
Army. some ol the OD teem iques are not
An additional DA study was performed applicable lo a military organizal.ion.

OD methods and skills which compliment core Army values and leadership
principles have been selectively adapted
for use and are collectively referred to as
Oqpnizalional Effectiveness.
Thus the definition of 0 that l use Is
that it Is the application or selected ad,
vanced minagemmt techniques and selected behavioral science techniqes to a
military orpnization.
OE is what is called a total systems approach." In applying OE to a military or
pnization. one looks at both the people
processes" and the org11nizatlonal structure. the objective being to Improve the entire organization.
This ls not to say that OE might not include individual management development of skills, aUllu<Es and knowledge.
However. the broad emphasis Is on such
areas as leadership, group processes.
roles, organizational goals. intergroup relationships and structures.
The objective is to ultimately Impact
1.p>n the org11nizalions behavior. structure or authority relationships, objectives
and mission accomplishment.

cNext month : a look at how 0 can work

with the unit commander and his sub:>rdinates to improve his or her organization. J

ssci. Thomas Reed

'