1968
Managing Ammunition
Milton C. W. Pearson, the CSM of 106 Field Workshop, 1968-1969
Storage
My unit ammunition storage was in a American Shipping container (Connex) located in some scrub banana just south of the Unit's movie screen.
The back was to the South and an open entrance and entered via a waist high blast wall faced North.
The inventory included
- Hand held flares
- Smoke cannisters
- M26 grenades
- M18A1 claymores
- small arms ammo, including 9mm (for pistol), given that the F1 sub machine gun had been replaced by the M16
- and the larger calibre .30 and .50cal
Re-supply
The blast wall and distance to sleeping accommodation may not have been ideal, but, in the event of attack I could get there, load up the fitters tracks or another vehicle and do a drive past weapon pits and strong points in a resupply situation.
We had a fitters track located for some time in a scrape with the protective earth mound. It was located close to the B Vehicle end of the tank workshop "affectionately called the Opera House". This made maximum use of its .30 cal. Being armoured, tracked and equipped with a heavy calibre machine gun, the M113 was integral to the defence plan and strengthened defence in depth.
Restocking
For restocking I used the AAF Sig 52
I would take the form to the Task Force ammunition dump located on the Eastern side of the hill feature "Nui Dat"
Maintenance
I kept an eye on the ammo and would use up older stocks for test firing either for patrols, test fires by armourers etc. The idea was this rotation of ammo would then deliver ammo in a more pristine condition for patrols going out.
With a number of defence in depth weapon pits coming from the old Armoured Workshop location I found quite a number of rounds and grenades in those pits in such a poor state that I had those pits buried. Our Easterly defence in depth was the Armoured unit itself and the weapon pits that followed the road system near the main unit entrance. Of course those old pits would have been important given that they were established prior to 106's existence.
Never had an incident that I recall involving unit ammunition storage, except for the New Year's eve hand held flares. However, they had not been taken from the Connex.
