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Nice Storage Unit find**AIRBORNE RANGER**


S McKibben
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The Ranger scroll is great too...this man was a LRRP (Long Range Recon Patrol) member under the 101st....75th Ranger Regiment Co. L

Correct.

 

I have a small group to a F Co Ranger who was a medic..He was also awarded air medals.He also served with or was assigned to SOG TEAM 45(from what he told me)Have not found any info as SOG Team 45

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What color oval would it have been?

 

 

Most likely at this time the SF oval.The teal blue one with gold trim and the gold bend going from the eleven o'clock postion to the 5 o'clock position

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Exactement, I didn't even give the Branch Unassigned a second glance because it was the correct EM discs that would be worn by a Green Beret in 1970. This subject has been covered alot, no, a GI who served in Vietnam as a 11B or 11C in an Infantry TO&E Infantry unit, and then a few years or whatever went Airborne, or was already Airborne and went for Special Forces, would no longer wear Blue Infanty Distinctives, he would be for sure wearing his CIB, but no Blue stuff. CIBs in the Green Berets of the Vietnam War era, now there's a topic all it's own, a multi page one, I think, it's a long one somewhere out there.

Is there a name somewhere in this coat?

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Most likely at this time the SF oval.The teal blue one with gold trim and the gold bend going from the eleven o'clock postion to the 5 o'clock position

Here we are Doyler.

 

post-34986-0-23938900-1368327881.gif

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Just to add the the Air Medal sidebar: Given we are discussing VN, but I know several 11B/11C that received the AM during the current wars. I also know there was Combat Aviation Brigades taking 11B volunteers to deploy as door gunners to Afghanistan. Medals are not MOS dependent, only certain badges.

 

As for the CIB. I see nothing that would definitively say he was Infantry prior to his SF service. I do not know much about the makeup of the 75th Ranger in VN, but could have he been a Forward Observer or Medic?

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S McKibben

Havent really had time to look. Just got the uniform today took a few pics and went to work. I will be off in a couple hrs and will take a look. The girl I got it from says theres pics and paperwork to. Hope she brings it tomorrow.

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Longhorn92

How about the scroll itself? How prevalent was the variant with "75th" and "L Co" reversed like the one shown? Or was it common?

 

As for the AM, someone recently posted the reg from back then; they were awarded fairly often, as far as I have seen.

 

One of my uncles had several in only four months in Vietnam before he was KIA. He was an 11C with the 1st Cav.

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Just to add the the Air Medal sidebar: Given we are discussing VN, but I know several 11B/11C that received the AM during the current wars. I also know there was Combat Aviation Brigades taking 11B volunteers to deploy as door gunners to Afghanistan. Medals are not MOS dependent, only certain badges.

 

As for the CIB. I see nothing that would definitively say he was Infantry prior to his SF service. I do not know much about the makeup of the 75th Ranger in VN, but could have he been a Forward Observer or Medic?

I believe you find TRR that these type of units would of course have contained 11Bravos, and of course 91Bravos, not sure on the other MOSs, I don't believe for instance that Artillery Foward Observers would be directly assigned to the Airborne Ranger Company of the Vietnam War, like in other Infantry units they would be temporally attached.

 

The TO&E of the Airborne Infantry Company was small, two platoons only with One officer and one EM in the HQ section, if you what to call two guys a section, plus eight six men patrols, (no Squads but called Patrols instead) the Company HQ Platoon had the CO plus 17 EMs, not sure on how many were of a Non Infantry MOS in this HQ PLT, but for some reason given the decorations he has, a BSM w/ V, plus a AM, I feel the chances are he was either an 11B or a 91B, this is the more obvious scenario, plus the fact he was in SF afterwards, not something one would see with a Supply Clerk really.

 

Here's the Lima Rangers site, I wonder if there's a name in the coat, too bad the Name Plate is no longer present as well.

http://lcompanyrangers.testsitebuilding.com/

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I believe you find TRR that these type of units would of course have contained 11Bravos, and of course 91Bravos, not sure on the other MOSs, I don't believe for instance that Artillery Foward Observers would be directly assigned to the Airborne Ranger Company of the Vietnam War, like in other Infantry units they would be temporally attached.

 

The TO&E of the Airborne Infantry Company was small, two platoons only with One officer and one EM in the HQ section, if you what to call two guys a section, plus eight six men patrols, (no Squads but called Patrols instead) the Company HQ Platoon had the CO plus 17 EMs, not sure on how many were of a Non Infantry MOS in this HQ PLT, but for some reason given the decorations he has, a BSM w/ V, plus a AM, I feel the chances are he was either an 11B or a 91B, this is the more obvious scenario, plus the fact he was in SF afterwards, not something one would see with a Supply Clerk really.

 

Here's the Lima Rangers site, I wonder if there's a name in the coat, too bad the Name Plate is no longer present as well.

http://lcompanyrangers.testsitebuilding.com/

 

 

Interesting, like I said I was not familiar with VN era unit organization. If we were talking OIF/OEF, I'd be all over it. Funny you mention the supply clerk thing...I had a team leader that was a NG wheel mechanic, then became a sniper qualified 11B, now he is with ODA. Just never know anymore where someone's career is going.

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blitzkrieg gsd

Very nice find a keeper for sure my friend. What are you thinking about restoring the jacket? Once you find out what all is missing do you plan on putting it back together?

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since no CIB is present, makes me wonder if there should have been a CMB. were those ever worn on the pocket flap, possibly next to jump wings? i don't remember ever seeing them there, but it was a long time ago. an award for valor says to me, either grunt or medic. nice find.when i see stories like this, i always wonder how the owner let it slip away. i have one uniform i have kept all these years. my class "A's" were given to a museum over 20 years ago, as the jungle fatigues mattered more.

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Thanks for posting the pic of the collar insignia. I looked up the history on the device. See below.

 

 

Collar Insignia: The Coat of Arms of the United States on a one inch disk, all gold color metal.

The Coat of Arms was first authorized for wear as a collar insignia by officers not assigned to a branch by Change 3, Special Regulation 41, dated 8 March 1918. It was authorized for wear and designated as the insignia for the Detached Enlisted Men's List by Circular 72 dated 16 March 1921. The insignia was discontinued as an officer collar insignia in 1948. The name was changed to "Unassigned to Branch" for enlisted personnel by Special Regulation 600-60-1 dated 8 April 1953. The name was changed to Branch Immaterial in 1976 and Command Sergeants Major were the only enlisted personnel to wear the insignia. The collar insignia was subsequently changed to "Command Sergeant Major" by Army Regulation 670-1 dated 1 September 1992

Fantastic uniform. I hope there is a name on there somewhere. It would be a shame to lose it's identity. That's a nice as a Vietnam era class A gets.

 

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I knew a WW2 officer who wore this BOS insignia when he was assigned to a training center stateside. He called it the "Army of the United States" insignia. The SF BOS wasn't authorized until the 1980s I believe.

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A friend was a basic 11 Bravo grunt in Vietnam, one of the Americal brigades if memory serves me right.

 

He had nothing to do with being a door gunner, nothing to do with aviation at all other than to ride helicopters in on multiple assaults.

 

He has at least a couple Air Medal awards for that, I have had the citations in hand and read them. I have had others in my collection that were the same, most often with 1st Cav guys in my experience.

 

Vietnam Air Medal awards to non-aircrew are not at all odd or irregular.

 

MW

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Why would the collar brass indicate "unassigned" rather than a specific BOS?

 

When an enlisted soldier changes from his current MOS to SF, his MOS becomes 18-series. At the time, SF was not a branch so 18-series did not have a branch insignia and wore the "branch unassigned" disk. I have read there was Soldiers who went against the grain and continued to wear their previous branch insignia. The crossed-arrows branch insignia was approved for wear by enlisted 18-series in 1984 and approved for the branch in 1987 which is when the official branch was born. http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/UniformedServices/Branches/special_forces.aspx

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Why would the collar brass indicate "unassigned" rather than a specific BOS?

Because SF wasn't a branch at that time, All enlisted assigned to SF wore unassigned brass, however officers wore the brass for the branch they were commissioned in (INF, ARTY, Sig Corps, etc.)

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A friend was a basic 11 Bravo grunt in Vietnam, one of the Americal brigades if memory serves me right.

 

He had nothing to do with being a door gunner, nothing to do with aviation at all other than to ride helicopters in on multiple assaults.

 

He has at least a couple Air Medal awards for that, I have had the citations in hand and read them. I have had others in my collection that were the same, most often with 1st Cav guys in my experience.

 

Vietnam Air Medal awards to non-aircrew are not at all odd or irregular.

 

MW

 

 

Agreed

 

I knew a 1/9 Cav guy and he had a bunch of Air Medals.Havent seen his brag box for years but I recall maybe 12

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Because SF wasn't a branch at that time, All enlisted assigned to SF wore unassigned brass, however officers wore the brass for the branch they were commissioned in (INF, ARTY, Sig Corps, etc.)

 

 

True

 

a relative of mine(retired E7) wore infantry brass and no one said a thing.

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So Air Medals were awarded to all troops who rode into combat in a helo? (notwithstanding pilots, co-pilots and door-gunners)

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So Air Medals were awarded to all troops who rode into combat in a helo? (notwithstanding pilots, co-pilots and door-gunners)

No, the AM shouldn't be awarded to individuals who use air transportation solely for the purpose of moving from point to point in a combat zone.

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No, the AM shouldn't be awarded to individuals who use air transportation solely for the purpose of moving from point to point in a combat zone.

Yes...I understand that. I was referring to those "grunts" who were air-transported directly into combat. If that was the case then many would be eligible for multiple awards?

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I have seen several Co D/151st Indiana Ranger uniforms and many had Air Medals. It usually involved a firefight between the troops on the Huey and NVA/VC below, not just a ride from point A to point B. We even have the uniform of an enlistedman from Vietnam who won a DFC for his actions on a Chinook.

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