NDQSAAir Defense Artillery service during the Vietnam War
NDQSAA few of the operational documents that guided Air Defense Artillery during the Vietnam War.
Field Manual No. 44-1 U.S. Army Air Defense Employment is a guide for commanders and staff officers concerned with the organization, training, deployment and employment of Army Air Defense (AD) units and the integration of that capability with other U.S. forces. Hq, D.A. October 1965
FM 44-2 is a guide for air defense artillery automatic weapon (ADA) (AW) commanders at all levels from battalion to squad, and for commander and staff responsible for the employment of these weapons. The manual discusses the employment of ADA AW units; the procedures to support them in various tactical situations; and the organization of ADA AW units. Automatic Weapons are the M42 and the M55. The M42 consists of a full tracked, lightly armored 40mm gun motor carriage with two 40mm guns, often called the Duster. The M55 is a multiple caliber .50 caliber machine gun mount with four .50 caliber machine guns. It can be towed for short distances, loaded into a truck bed, or sling loaded from helicopters. It is often called the Quad.
Historically this is the first manual to give guidance for ADA AW in its secondary ground support role. Our copy includes change 1 effective 19 May 1967.
A few of the organizational documents that document Air Defense Artillery to include during the Vietnam War.
Center of Military History Publication 60-5 is the source document for unit linage and heraldry.
Our archived document is 2000
A few of the maps and other source documents that map help historians or other visitors interested in Air Defense Artillery during the Vietnam War.
Texas Tech has worked for years developing a listing of US and allied places and names in the Republic of Vietnam Area of Operations (RVN AO). The data are from AAR’s (After-Action Reports),
ORLL’s (Operational Reports—Lessons Learned), DSJ’s (Daily Staff (S2/S3) Journals), published works as
attributed, and other documents.
Our archived document is as of 2024
A few of the historical documents that preserve the heritage of Air Defense Artillery during the Vietnam War or other conflicts.
The Fisher Body Cleveland Plant 2 was the primary assembly location for the M42 Duster in World War Two. This file contains some information about the facility and pictures.
From Ted Thelen’s Nike Missile Web Site.
This site has a list of Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) codes from the Vietnam era. Charles Carter, a Nike Hercules ADA veteran, spent years researching and building the collection and shared it in 2012. https://ed-thelen.org/MOS-Vietnam-era.html
In the event they go dark an archived copy is in the library. MOS Codes in the Vietnam era
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m28V_XqHsKQ
A Department of Defense movie about Fort Bliss in 1970 and in their words, “Shows some of the highly technical and exacting training the Army Air Defense Command gives the men who operate our electronic air defense network.” It tells the history of Fort Bliss, then presents the Air Defense Artillery weapon systems capabilities and training. It is 28 minutes long. There is a short section at 14:47 about low altitude air defense training. It will jog the memory of veterans from that era about how set piece Army training was in those days. The instructors have memorized their presentation and are clear and distinct with a cadence that will either drive home the information or put you to sleep if is it right after chow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67YZIhX36h8
These are personal photos taken during a veterans Nike-Hercules training (226, IFC technician) at Fort Bliss in El Paso Tx. in 1968 then posted on YouTube as a slide show video without sound. It is linked here because there are buildings and areas that will be familiar to all air defenders who trained at Fort Bliss. 8 minutes.