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REMEMBER GRENADA 1983


BIGGREG
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Fender Rhodes

BIGGREG,

A few 'action items' for you to increase your accuracy.

 

1. Have your 82nd guys ditch the USMC jungle first aid kits. The 82nd didn't wear'em.

 

2. Ditch the "experimental" BDU cover on your M1 steel...a plain old, run-of-mill woodland ripstop cover is the standard.

 

3. Get para liners for your M1 steel helmets...my Ranger buddies would have called out those 'nasty leg helmets' in 2.5 seconds.

 

4. I know there are pictures of Rangers with Claymore bags but for the most part, they would have been attached to the flap of the pack. No pack...no Claymore bag.

 

5. if you are reenacting 2/325 (really the only 82nd unit to work with the Rangers on Grenada other than the 82nd CAB), ditch the flak jackets. The first four planes of 2/325 troopers did not have flaks...they caught up with them on 26 Oct 83 and by then, they were just stacked on pallets on the side of Point Salines runway. By late 26 Oct, they were distributed to the rifle companies. Subsequent 82nd units landed wearing theirs, but they did not work with the Rangers...

 

6. Everyone reenacting Rangers should have their strobe light pouch on the left shoulder strap. There should be one first aid/compass pouch on each side of the pistol belt buckle, not attached to the shoulder strap. Some Rangers had two ammo pouches, others four (two per side), along with the two canteen carriers/canteens.

 

7. The Rangers and 82nd did not conduct any operations with each other. They conducted a POL (passage of lines), when 2/325 took over the ridge line all along the perimeter of the Cuban compound. The Rangers moved down the side of ridge line to rest positions long the runway. So while the pics are nice and dramatic, they are purely fantasy.

 

Hope I didn't rain on your parade too much. But if you want to be accurate, these few tips should help get you there.

Best,

FR

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Reference the shotgun:

Almost every unit armory I saw, did have atleast a couple of shotguns. Most of them never saw the light of day, unless someone had a reason to carry it (or were on REALLY good terms with the armorer...). Most that I saw were the Remington 870, Winchester 1200, or Mossberg 500. I managed to persuade a 500, in lieu of an M9 on occasion. In the field, my brother carried an M60, but in garrison & guard mount, it was a Mossberg 500. He was later assigned a 500, after becoming an investigator. He could've chosen the 870, but liked the Mossberg better. (They were also in better condition than the unit inventory of Rem 870's.)

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Fender Rhodes

I'm not questioning the shotgun. There is photographic evidence of them being deployed to Grenada. I just never saw or heard of them being deployed with the assault echelons of the 82nd (meaning 2nd BDE). Most of the examples I have seen were deployed with the 82nd's 3rd BDE which was the follow-on echelon and coincidentally, the unit that arrived after the bulk (read: all) of the combat operations had been completed. While the 3rd BDE did execute presence patrolling, air assaults and looked for Cuban and Grenadian holdouts, major combat ops by that time were over.

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Thank you for your comments i'm happy to receive these comments to improve.

 

IF i may: :-)

 

1. got it you are not the only one who told me.. :-)

 

2. I had only that one.. i'll look for a better one.. ;-)

 

3. i had but i did not have extra "chinstraps"

 

4. based my impression of what Ranger friends told me

 

5. thank you for the infos.. a friend of mine that was in 325 told me Flak vest and K pot ALL THE TIME.. ;-)

 

6 thank you

 

7. We should have splitted the 2 units...thank you

 

Again thank you for all the comments

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Very cool! I was never really interested in Post-Nam conflicts but this different and rarely reenacted. I know in Europe that you and many others do all periods of conflicts which is a lot better than seeing here in the US the 506th for WW2 with very large Paratroopers and only doing D-Day (which only stands for the Invasion of German Occupied France).

 

All that aside very greatly done! Glad you go with what you got from research of Vets (who were there) and from Internet and Book research for photos. Great job!

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Great job!!!!

I'm proud to have you Greg, and "Remember" as my friends!!

 

The "Thread Counters" can massage my sweaty feet after a nice 25 miler.

 

Cheers Lads!

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Exactly. It took 5 seconds or less to pull down the full sleeves, versus having to roll them down. That folding method also worked so much better & looked a lot sharper when wearing the MP brassard.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Sgt_Rock_EasyCo

505 carried shotguns.

 

Please, guys don't carry weapons at the shoulder-ready. Look at the Rangers- weapons carried with butt stock low. Not saying you guys are, but I see WWII Reenactors doing it.

 

Jungle Fatigues were issued to the 505th while on the island then the entire Division for Conus Summer wear.

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505 carried shotguns.

Do you know what they had? (The Ithaca 37's & Stevens 520/620 were still used in Vietnam, but probably gone by '83. Although the Mossberg 500 was a '60s design, I don't think the military had too many in '83.)

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Sgt_Rock_EasyCo

Do you know what they had? (The Ithaca 37's & Stevens 520/620 were still used in Vietnam, but probably gone by '83. Although the Mossberg 500 was a '60s design, I don't think the military had too many in '83.)

We regularly used them for guard duty, heck all shotguns look same to me.

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I had a book (long since lost..) about the Rangers & Airborne in Grenada. The soldiers did well; but operational planning was poor. Command had little information and assumed the TO&E would be adequate. Combat leaders assumed the worst & loaded troopers down with even more gear and equipment. As a result, many jumped in with up to 200-pounds of additional weight. (Ammo, LAW's, rations, claymores, etc.) Many of the transport pilots had never flown in a combat area. When the green light went on, the planes were too low & traveling too fast. The result was several injuries, and lots of missing & damaged equipment. Luckily, Rangers are a tough breed & adapted in traditional form. (Ironically, British Airborne had almost identical challenges jumping into the Falklands.)

 

Reference the "Then & Now #5"

I find it amusing that the current photo looks more "GI" than the actual photo. (I have seen MANY a man decked out like the "recreated" GI. GREAT JOB!!) In reality, scrim on the helmet is useless about 98% of the time. Guys that did it were usually the brunt of SEVERAL politically incorrect comments & generally given a hard time. If you look at several of BIGGREG's actual photos, you see less & less as time passes. (I'm also wondering why the "real" GI would feel the need to smash a car window, or if it was staged for the camera?)

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Yea... Really...

1. If you are in a shooting conflict; they shouldn't be that close to your post.

 

2. Nobody else around that guy seems the least bit concerned. The guy behind him would have his weapon in a firing position if there was a threat.

 

3. You can partially see the drivers side and all of the passenger side. The shadow positions show the car to be empty.

 

4. Positioning of the vehicle, indicate that it either went past several people to get there, or was already parked. (Notice the vehicle behind this one.)

 

5. Even if there was somebody in there & you had to break a window, you'd break the window next to them and drag them out. This guy would have to break, reach across, and drag them out across the seat? Not likely.

 

6. During a shooting conflict; you SHOOT people that run roadblocks, run up on your position, or don't comply with your commands. You don't smash their window & ask for compliance.

 

Guess your "really" commentary was kind of rude; wasn't it?

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Fender Rhodes

In reality, scrim on the helmet is useless about 98% of the time. Guys that did it were usually the brunt of SEVERAL politically incorrect comments & generally given a hard time. If you look at several of BIGGREG's actual photos, you see less & less as time passes.

 

The scrim was a 2/505, battalion-level initiative based on the guidance of it's commander, Keith Nightingale and was worn throughout the campaign.

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