VIETNAM
Phan Rang Air Base
Heavy Weapons
6258th CSG/AP, c.1965; 366th SPS, 8 Feb 1966-10 Oct 1966; 35th APS, 10 Oct 1966-31 Jul 1971; 821st CSPS, Apr-Aug, 1968;
822nd SPS, Aug 1968-Mar 1969; 823d CSPS, Mar 1969- Aug, 1969; 821st CSPS, Aug 1969-Feb 1971; 315th SPS, 1971-1972
© 2009

8. Phan Rang Air Base: Joe Taragowski, V100 HW, ready for the night with .50cal. 1970.

9. Phan Rang Air Base: V100, Steve Cole with .50cal. 1970.
Heavy Weapons' have the Biggest Guns.

10. Phan Rang Air Base: V100.
Joe Taragowski with new guy. 1970.

11. and 12. Phan Rang AB, Steve Cole pretending to be fighting with a Boa we killed one night.
Steve Cole skinned and clean it, but they wouldn't let me bring it home.

* Picture #2 above: The ammo is for the M-67, 90mm recoilless rifle. The round with the nose spike is a M-371-A1 90mm HEAT (High Explosive-Antitank) round and the flat nosed one is a M590 Antipersonnel (beehive) round. The Bazooka (generic term) was the M-1, M-9 and M-20 shoulder mounted rocket launcher. Their ammo closely resembled a mortar shell or the shell from a Viet Cong RPG-4/7. It was not encased in a brass canister, like that of the M-67 recoilless rifle. The Bazooka was an individual weapon and the recoilless rifle was a crew-serviced weapon, with a 3-person crew (Gunner, Assistant Gunner and Ammo Bearer). How do I know this? I taught M-67 Recoilless Rifle and M-66 Light Antitank Weapon (LAW).

Gary Jones, LM-363, VSPA Web Site Flight Leader