roscoemac
04-05-2009, 07:30
Welcome aboard!
Care to share some of the 77th SFGP history?;)
Team Sergeant
Joined 77th in Dec 1954. Assigned to FB 11 under a Maj. Dawson, FB Team Sergeant was Msgt. De Sota. Some high lights for me were: Summer 55 TDY to Fort Carson Col. for 50 days of mountaineering training including 2 and 3 man party rock climbing training and a week of survival training in the Rockies. Also spent time at Camp Hale for mule packing training with the only Army mules still left in the Army inventory. January 56 submarine infiltration training at Norfolk on the beach and on the Sea Lion, a sub used by the Marines. We could only get the sub in the Winter time since the Marines at it tied up other times. Colder than hell and only had fatigues, no wet suits or such. Maj. Dawson FB 11 team leader finally relented after some exhibited signs of hypothermia and let us build fires on the beach to warm up after ingresses and egresses through the surf. Unforgettable experience. Most of the time at Bragg was spent in the field as opposed to in the barracks. Also spent significant time at MacCall. In retrospect, the SF training at the time was unique in the Military much as it is today. Although the training today is much more extensive and difficult than we ever experienced. One other item that I recall is that we had a fair number of "Lodge Bill " personnel, i.e. foreigners who enlisted in our Army for 5 years to gain citizenship. Thus we had an instant multi-language capability. However, even with all that we could not come close to the SF capabilities and training of today. De Oppresso Liber.
Care to share some of the 77th SFGP history?;)
Team Sergeant
Joined 77th in Dec 1954. Assigned to FB 11 under a Maj. Dawson, FB Team Sergeant was Msgt. De Sota. Some high lights for me were: Summer 55 TDY to Fort Carson Col. for 50 days of mountaineering training including 2 and 3 man party rock climbing training and a week of survival training in the Rockies. Also spent time at Camp Hale for mule packing training with the only Army mules still left in the Army inventory. January 56 submarine infiltration training at Norfolk on the beach and on the Sea Lion, a sub used by the Marines. We could only get the sub in the Winter time since the Marines at it tied up other times. Colder than hell and only had fatigues, no wet suits or such. Maj. Dawson FB 11 team leader finally relented after some exhibited signs of hypothermia and let us build fires on the beach to warm up after ingresses and egresses through the surf. Unforgettable experience. Most of the time at Bragg was spent in the field as opposed to in the barracks. Also spent significant time at MacCall. In retrospect, the SF training at the time was unique in the Military much as it is today. Although the training today is much more extensive and difficult than we ever experienced. One other item that I recall is that we had a fair number of "Lodge Bill " personnel, i.e. foreigners who enlisted in our Army for 5 years to gain citizenship. Thus we had an instant multi-language capability. However, even with all that we could not come close to the SF capabilities and training of today. De Oppresso Liber.