THE HISTORY OF THE M113 GAVIN TRACKED ARMORED FIGHTING VEHICLE
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD4RWmotso0
BREAKING NEWS!
Plain old "Gavin" M113 is ranked #1 by Top 10 IFV show
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CdOO1fCAOBE
DoD, U.S. ARMY HAS BEEN CALLING M113s, "GAVINS" FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW---LET'S MAKE IT "OFFICIAL"
Fort Benning...Home of the Infantry...
During WWII, General James M. Gavin led American Paratroopers on numerous parachute combat jumps, leading them all the way to Berlin and victory over the Germans. You can read about it in his book, On to Berlin.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6WD5jZxRkE
part 2
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekbYvtfPW0U
However, his men had to walk wherever they went exposed to artillery, mortar and machine gun fire, claiming many lives. Towed antitank guns and pack howitzers delivered by gliders or parachute dropped in pieces were even towed by the Paratroopers themselves!
75mm Pack Howitzers = Pack Humans!
They often had to borrow horses and wagons just to get from point B from A as recounted in Breuer's book, "Drop Zone Sicily". Here, Colonel Gavin leads the troopers with the 75mm pack howitzer...
Even Gavin himself had to get a jeep from an anti-tank unit during the Holland operation
...where just a few light tanks with mounted AT guns delivered by gliders could have enabled the British paras to reinforce LTC John Frost's men holding Arnhem bridge. When Paratroopers came up against tanks, they were outgunned with just hand rocket launchers "bazookas" and some jeep-towed AT guns by glider. The consumate innovator and leader of men, Gavin even authorized a tank-killing "bazooka" patch to reward those who took on the German panzers with these inadequate weapons.
After the war, General Gavin wrote in his 1947 book "Airborne Warfare" that we should have light tracked armored personnel carriers and assault gun/recon vehicles that could be parachuted intact, ready-to-fight into battle to be our "Sky Cavalry" to give Paratroopers mobility, protection and firepower:
"Using a 150-foot canopy singly, or in combination with a 90-foot canopy, it is practicable to drop an artillery piece and its prime mover. Some visionary individuals have even suggested that personnel carriers be dropped in this manner. The idea has merit...
....Organizations created to fight the last war better are not going to win the next. Nor is building an airplane around the ground weapons that won the last war an assurance that we will win the next. Keeping foremost in our minds the functional purposes of our means of ground combat, these means must be developed and produced so that they can be delivered to the battlefield in sufficient quantity to gain the decision. ..not only must our airplanes be developed but our ground fighting weapons and equipment as well. Only thus will we attain a position of dominance in Airborne Warfare"
General James M. Gavin in Airborne Warfare
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General Gavin as the U.S. Army's Head of Research and Development employed young talent like then Captain Hal Moore to come up with improved parachutes and later tracked armored fighting vehicles. This was the first "heavy drop" of a platform-loaded artillery howitzer using a delayed opening, two-state cargo parachute system, which we take for granted today. Here the extraction chute pulls the load out the back of the C-82.
After the extraction chute has cleared the load from the aircraft it pulls out the main cargo parachute which is set to deploy vertically so the load comes down on its platform. Platform airdrop loads enable the entire gun and even prime mover vehicle and ammunition to be dropped as an intact unit compared to the WW2 artillery pieces that were dropped in pieces by underwing bundles (most WW2 cargo planes did not have a twin or t-tail for a large, unobstructed rear opening for large parachute loads to slide out) widely scattered on the drop zone.
Gavin here has a jet KIWI transport with forward swept wings probably an idea he got studying captured German scientist documents on how to delay sonic boom compressibility to get faster speeds.
Both jet engined and prop-driven KIWI carrying planes are shown here taking off from a CONUS airfield/runway. The artist did a great job bringing General Gavin's ideas and gives you a real 1940s George Pal science fiction movie feel.
General Gavin clearly sees KIWI pods like our "BATTLEBOXes" as living shelters for Forward Operating Bases (FOBs). The KIWI pods like today's ISO containers also carry all the vital supplies they need to survive and can be configured for different tasks, ready upon air delivery to go into action. Here General Gavin has an arctic scene and today as we speak, scientists are living in the South Pole in Jim Brennan's SeaBox living quarters made of modified shipping containers.
Gavin also realizes such modular shelters mean the entire base can be moved in an instant to a new location as required, so no time or money is wasted on inferior static buildings you cannot take with you on peaceful expeditions or expeditionary warfare.
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More proof that the current USMC is living off the legacy of the past lusting to re-enact WW2 beach assaults. We do not get a clear signal from the NAVSPECWAR community whether its safe to drop SEALs in a rubber boat 5-10 feet above the water from the rear ramp of a C-130 using LAPES. Richard Gabriel in his book, Military Incompetence says it was tried in the 1983 Grenada invasion but with disastrous results. If the carrier aircraft is a seaplane, it simply lands on the water, comes to a slow taxi or halt, then detaches the floating KIWI pod. The Geiger Board of 1946 said to avoid nuclear targeting of the vulnerable and obvious surface fleet, marines should come ashore by seaplanes. An actual "Flying LST" was fielded, the R3Y Tradewind but the WW2 re-enactment bureaucracy with billion dollar amphibious ships for Navy officers to play Captain Kirk killed the whole seaplane option when they found a flimsy technical excuse to kill programs. In the case of the R3Y it was problems with their engines that gave them their excuse and voila! a U.S. Navy without ANY aircraft capable of landing in the water. That we could have amphibious KIWI pods that would be the only part of the carrier plane to touch the water, then take-off is a level of sophistication several steps ahead of the current marine and naval mind.
Notice as far back as 1947, General Gavin has TRACKED tanks coming out of his KIWI pods to render fire support for his beloved Paratroopers who realize OPEN TERRAIN when they see it = DROP ZONE for them. Another of the tracked tanks is shooting a barrage of rockets to saturate bombard the enemy, yet another capability absent in today's Navy/Mc team. The tragedy is that 60 years later AMERICA'S PARATROOPERS STILL DO NOT HAVE ANY TRACKED LIGHT TANKS AND PERSONNEL CARRIERS while the rest of the world's Airbornes do...to include impending foe, Red China's Paratroopers.
In fact, Gavin BEFORE WW2 realized with the rest of the U.S. Army that wheeled trucks to "motorize infantry" was fatally flawed and was rejected as a norm and only tolerated as an expedient if a linear battlefield situation existed where safe "rear" areas existed.
On page 47 of his masterpiece on DoD reform and future war, "War and Peace in the Space Age" (WAPITSA), General Gavin gives an example of where a good idea (using fossil fuel engines for mobility) gets rightly rejected by bad, half-assed applications like wheeled trucks which result in huge targets for the enemy when the concept just needed to be applied to TRACKS that can go cross-country and not be clusterfucked along roads/trails by being widely dispersed:
"My feelings were assuaged by a story that an instructor told me of a truck-mobility exercise conducted by the students between World War I and World War II. It was based upon the German invasion of France in World War I. As history now shows, the enveloping right wing of the German Army failed to carry out its role and thus the French left wing, and perhaps the entire army, was saved from annihilation. Analyzing the campaign in the twenties, and on the assumption that the gasoline engine was here to stay and would be used in numbers in war, the students were given unlimited truck mobility to carry out the German attack once again in a map exercise. After loading all of the German troops in trucks and stringing them back on miles and miles of roads, they reached the conclusion that, as the battle was joined, the trucks were a disadvantage and the German Army would have been better off without them. They actually slowed the German attack down. So, the conclusion: foot mobility is better than truck mobility."
After WW2, 8-wheeled trucks exactly like today's horrible LAV3/Strykers were considered but rejected by the Korean war-wise U.S. Army (Page 77 from Hunnicutt's book, Bradley a History of American Fighting and Support Vehicles. That the Stryker-o-philes would reject sound military practice to foist wheeled truck narcissism in 1999 to the present day just so they could boast they are not in tracks like the heavy force troopers they look down on is immoral and a rejection of the purpose which General Gavin created such troops to be HONEST and FULLY ADAPTIVE USING WHAT WORKS BEST. It also shows that there is no "adult supervision" within DoD that fact-checks alledgedly "new" schemes to waste billions demanding a sound combat and experiential base for them. If someone with rank says something is good, the lower-ranking lemmings say, "Yes, Sir!" which is the height of disloyalty to go along with anything blindly.
Gavin warns us again in WAPITSA on page 48,
"We must be able to tolerate criticism. 'If our treatment of the honest and skilled dissident is not to be liberal, then the army will be filled with more time-servers than in the past and will stagnate, to the great waste of the nation's treasure and, later, its life.' 3 As expressed by Robert G. Ingersoll:DEFENSE WEEK article reveals Army digital hubrisI tell you there is something splendid in a man who will not always obey. Why, if we had done as the kings had told us five hundred years ago, we should all have been slaves. If we had done as the priests told us, we should all have been idiots. If we had done as the doctors told us, we should have all been dead. We have been saved by disobedience.
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"Precision Guided Munitions" circa 1947. Clearly, when you read general Gavin's book he knows its not just nuclear weapons that demand we decentralize our maneuver units, but also precision guided high explosives, too. This is why for the Pentomic Army he had our Soldiers in air-transportable, armored M113s on tracks so they could fan out on the non-linear battlefield and keep moving even if there was no roads/trails via cross country and amphibious mobility.The official history of the U.S. Army for that time period says the following:
www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/amh/AMH-26.htm
The seven divisions stationed in the United States constituted the strategic reserve. Four of these-two airborne and two infantry-were designated in 1957 the Strategic Army Corps (STRAC) and were maintained in a high state of readiness for quick deployment in event of an emergency. The other three were earmarked as STRAC reinforcements and as a training base for expansion of Army forces should the crisis become prolonged or develop into a full-scale war.With the emphasis on mobility, even the larger and heavier weapons and equipment were designed to be air-transportable.
A program to produce ground and air vehicles with the necessary battlefield mobility led to the development of armored personnel carriers, such as the M113 with aluminum armor, that could move troops rapidly to the scene of operations while providing greater protection for the individual Soldier. Since
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highways and bridges might be damaged or destroyed, dual-capability amphibious vehicles that could travel on rough terrain and swim across rivers and swamps freed the fighting units from total dependence upon roads.
What today's planners don't realize is that what was required for a nuclear battlefield is required today with PGMs in a Surveillance Strike System (SSC) that can be as equally devastating but in a more localized way: units ON TRACKS not wheels. We need GREATER PHYSICAL mobility, firepower, protection and livability features not less regardless if tied in to a "Mother May, I?" computer network to alleviate the anxieties of senior officials.
THE AMAZING DETAILS OF GENERAL GAVIN'S VISION
1. General Gavin's goal is to get THE ENTIRE Army "Airborne" and capable of 3D maneuver by aircraft delivery. Today's C-5s and C-17s make this a reality, we just have to CONTAINERIZE everything the Army owns so we do not waste precious time break bulk loading & unloading the USAF's current internal cargo volume T-Tail airlifters and the Army's internal volume CH-47 heavy lift helicopters.
2. Nore that the ideal KIWI pod carrier is still a specially designed aircraft that the pod snaps into for maximum efficiency since the aircraft doesn't carry the dead weight of a large internal volume cargo fuselage. The aircraft depicted here is like the XC-120: a CH-54 SkyCrane but with fixed instead of rotary wings.
3. Once a KIWI pod system is fielded all kinds of options become possible from the very aggressive to the very safe. The most aggressive is DROPPING the pod a few feet above the ground or water; if the carrier aircraft is a Burnelli ESTOL design the slightly above stall speed would be just 60 mph so a LAPES without a parachute or perhaps with a tail parachute on the KIWI pod may not be so severe an impact that the pod gets damaged. People inside are another matter. If its a land carrier plane, with tracked or air cushion landing gear ON THE KIWI pod itself, the plane could detach the pod once firm contact with the ground is made and pull up to return to flight back to base. The conservative option would be to land then could come to a taxi or stop and then detach the pod.
The KIWI pod has tracks to propel itself over the ground after detaching from its carrier aircraft.
4. The KIWI pod. First notice the two cargo cranes in back to load/offload supplies on pallets. There's a side door for Paratroopers to enter/leave the KIWI pod.
5. There are two sets of tracks which is incredible that General Gavin proposes this since it enables a vehicle to run over a land mine and still have 3 sets of tracks intact to keep going. On top of the KIWI pods are two machine gun or autocannon turrets to defend itself from enemy attacks or to attack the enemy, whichever happens first.
6. LOOK WHAT'S COMING OUT OF THE KIWI POD!!
Why its a LIGHT TRACKED ARMORED FIGHTING VEHICLE...sort of like a M113! Notice on its front are two mine roller wheels to sacrifice themselves if a land mine is run over to keep the main vehicle's tracks intact to stay mobile. And right behind it is either a Paratrooper on a motorcycle and/or pedal bike!
7. Here is retired LTC Chuck Jarnot's "T-MARS" minimalist 227mm rocket launcher described in our Air-Mech-Strike book to offer a barrage of rockets to saturate the Paratrooper's enemies for maximum "bang" with least amount of weight for air delivery purposes. Certainly General Gavin saw our own and the Russian and German WW2 barrage rockets on trucks and trailers and wanted the capability continued. Where are they today? Heavy units have 227mm rockets on very heavy MLRS tracked launchers and a few Airborne units are getting the HIMARS FMTV truck with a single 6-rocket MLRS 227mm rocket pack...otherwise there are no ground rockets in our Army light units and marines today! Gavin's trailer mobile rocket system still has merit.
The Current Future Combat System (FCS) of 2006
8. 60 years later, the Army is still playing with "futuristic" concepts like FCS when we could have had them back in 1947! Compare the current "Future Combat System" of 2006 (see pic above) to Gavin's of 1947...his vision is actually more revolutionary, creative and practical because its PHYSICALLY offering capabilities while the current FCS is all about joining hands mentally with Tofflerian computer networks and embracing PHYSICAL WEAKNESS when we still live in a very large PHYSICAL world full of real, PHYSICAL enemies! Here Gavin shows a future TANK with 4 sets of tracks to like today's Bv206S keep moving in event of a landmine attack. Notice he has the driver in the hull center like today's M1 Abrams heavy tank. The turret has twin autocannon like the German Geopard for a high rate of fire to shoot down aircraft or ground targets.
Another amazing concept from General Gavin: Airborne Combat Engineers arriving inside KIWI pods with ALL the gear they need to scrape out and pave a runway for an assault landing zone. Gavin has a front bulldozer blade and a backhoe with operator facing rearward like on today's John Deere 510 combination front end loader and backhoe. He even has a sprayer vehicle that today could be Rhino Snot [Envirotac II] instant soil pavement for follow on echelon aircraft to land. Also notice he has a small 2.75" or 5" rocket barrage tracked vehicle that may even be UNMANNED. So much for the "new" and "revolutionary" unmanned ground vehicle concepts we hear today.
Lastly, General Gavin was THE driving force behind the Army getting thousands of helicopters. It also cost him an early retirement when he made lots of enemies at the Pentagon to get this to happen. Here he's got some help from the legendary Frank Piasecki, another (still living) legend and maverick with a tandem rotor heavy lift helicopter with what looks strangely like a detachable 40 foot ISO shipping container underneath as armored half tracks drive in and out from front/rear ramps long before the C-5 was created with them in the 1960s.General Gavin's KIWI pod concept was and still is far ahead of its time.
The piston-engined XC-120 simply did not have enough extra power to spare for the extra tare weight of a detachable pod. Today's turboprops and turbofans can enable a modular pod equipped plane to work but anti-physical DoD is not interested and wants to play with mental gadgets to steer firepower when Planet Earth is still a very big place where MANEUVER is the key to changing peoples and governments. We have the world-wide ISO shipping container system to be our "KIWI pods" we just need to design a fixed-wing cargo plane around these "BATTLEBOXes". The S-64 SkyCrane can carry one ISO container now snug up into its skeletal body (see description below). Pods would enable every unit in the U.S. Army to be READY-TO-FIGHT at all times with "BATTLEBOXes" ready to operate as soon as they are delivered by air, land or sea.
Gavin's ideas still needed today have been suppressed by the military industrial congressional, think-tank complex--here's a letter from the 1970s where General Gavin's first book, Airborne Warfare is revealed as hard-to-find--
...you can read it online today N-O-W by clicking here: www.combatreform.org/airtbornewarfare.htm.
Just three years after Airborne Warfare published, the Korean War began and the U.S. Army still did not have the air-deliverable armored vehicles it needed and many men died. General Gavin wrote in his 1954 Harper's magazine article "Cavalry...and I don't mean Horses":
"Where was the cavalry? ...and I don't mean horses. I mean helicopters and light aircraft, to lift Soldiers armed with automatic weapons and hand-carried light anti-tank weapons, and also lightweight reconnaissance vehicles, mounting anti-tank weapons the equal or better than the Russian T-34s...If ever in the history of our armed forces there was a need for the cavalry arm--airlifted in light planes, helicopters and assault-type aircraft--this was it... Only by exploiting to the utmost the great potential of flight can we combine complete dispersion in the defense with the facility of rapidly massing for the counter-attack which today's and tomorrow's Army must possess"
During the Korean War, Gavin's VISTA Group participated in the 1950 Inchon landings and investigated why Close Air Support (CAS) was lacking now that the USAF was its own separate service. Horrified by Task Force Smith's mauling by the North Korean's 100 x T34/85 medium tanks that our weak 2.36" bazooka rocket launchers couldn't stop, VISTA concluded that 9-ton Ontos light tracked antitank recon/assault vehicles with 6 x 106mm recoilless rifles and C-124/C-123s transport planes should be procured to form a "Sky Cavalry" but it was rejected. After the Korean War, General Gavin became the Head of the Army's Research and Development Corps and vowed to do something about this dreadful situation so America's Army would be better prepared for future non-linear battlefields. Under his guidance the large and heavy M59 armored personnel carrier was replaced by the better protected, more mobile light tracked, amphibious and airdroppable Airborne Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle Family (AAM/MPVF) which became known as the M113 Family of Vehicles. FYI, the companion program General Gavin and then-Major Harold "Hal" Moore were also working on, the Armored Reconnaissance Airborne Assault Vehicle (AR-AAV) became the M551 Sheridan light tank, the first tracked tank to be parachute airdropped into combat in Panama in 1989. Since then, the M113 has been readily used successfully in combat by the U.S. and free world armies all over the world from Vietnam, the Middle East, Entebbe, Panama, the Balkans, the Far East, Desert Storm and is in combat today in both Iraq and Afghanistan fighting global terrorists. Despite being arguably, the world's greatest armored fighting vehicle of all time, ever---the M113 "Soldiers on" without an "official" name, though many other lesser vehicles now long since retired---have been named after a great Army hero; the M24 Chaffee, M3 Stuart, M4 Sherman... Since the M113 simply keeps on winning battles from Vietnam to today in Iraq its high time we name it after the Army hero---whose brilliance conceived it--General James M. Gavin.
We urge you to join General Gavin's wife, Mrs. Jean Gavin and other Paratroopers by signing this petition calling on the U.S. Army to recognize the genius of General Gavin and his vehicle; the M113 Family of Vehicles by calling them M113 "Gavins".
In a letter dated, April 6, 2002, Mrs. Jean Gavin wrote:
"I would of course be happy to help in any way that I am able to do so to achieve this goal"
This petition will go directly to Army channels to show that the troops already call the M113 the "Gavin" and want this name officially recognized. If necessary this petition will go to the American Senate and House of Representatives so by special act of Congress, the M113 will be officially referred to as the M113 "Gavin".
Write your Senator/Congressman today!
Outstanding Army Artist Chris Ashby created the amazing naming the M113 the "Gavin" cartoon above! To see more of her beautiful artwork and Army cartoons go to www.elusive-concept.com. Great job, Chris! =0)
We owe the memory of General Gavin, the lives of the many men who have gone before us, and the lives that will be saved in the future by the M113 that we honor this vehicle with the respect it deserves so we can fully utilize it to defeat the enemies of freedom in the present and the future.
Tidbit from WW2: General Gavin believed in Nicknames!
users.skynet.be/ jeeper/page96.html
"...what's in a name..."?
...as we had been forewarned by Intelligence that the Japanese would often trick our people by calling out names of the different individuals, Headquarters had ordered us to give every Officer in the Regiment a 'nickname'. At the time of 'Operation Husky I', the air and seaborne assault against Sicily, Colonel J.M. GAVIN commanding the 505th RCT (consisting of 505th PIR, 3d Bn / 504th PIR, and other troops) told me: 'Al, I want you to find a nickname for every Officer and all the key people of this Regiment'. So I had to come up with some fancy nicknames for everyone that's how Colonel Gavin got the nickname 'Slim Jim' (there were pretzels at the time called 'Slim Jim Pretzels' and since our Commander was a tall slim guy, I thought this nickname to be most appropriate)..."
(Alfred W. IRELAND, Capt, S-1, 505th PIR, 82nd Abn Div, USA, O-35113, recollections)
NEW BOOK ON GENERAL GAVIN!
The General and His Daughter: The War Time Letters of General James M. Gavin to his Daughter Barbara (World War II: The Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension) (Hardcover)
James Maurice Gavin left for war in April 1943 as a colonel commanding the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division--America's first airborne division and the first to fight in WWII. In 1944, "Slim Jim" Gavin, as he was known to the troops, at the age of thirty-seven became the 82nd's commanding general--the youngest Army officer to become a major general since the Civil War. At war's end, this soldier's soldier had become one of our greatest generals--and the 82nd's most decorated General officer.
Now James Gavin's letters home to his nine-year-old daughter Barbara provide a revealing portrait of the American experience in WW II through the eyes of one of its dynamic officers. Written from ship decks, foxholes and field tents--often just before or after a dangerous jump--they capture the day-to-day realities of combat and Gavin's personal reactions to the war he helped to win. They provide an invaluable self-portrait of a great general, and a great American in war and peace.
"General Jim Gavin was one of the foremost combat commanders of World War II. He was also the father of a young girl who was only nine years old when he left home, and he stayed connected to her through these letters. They are touching and highly personal, even as they give us a remarkable view of some of the century's most momentous events. Writing from foxholes and airplanes, muddy tents and castles, he was a teacher, historian, strategist, and loving father. In this volume--a gift for historians and general readers--Barbara Gavin Fauntleroy is an articulate and sensitive guide to the personal life of a great warrior who also happened to be her Dad."
---Ed Ruggero, author of Combat Jump: The Young Men Who Led The Assault Into Fortress Europe, July 1943 and The First Men In: U.S. Paratroopers and the Fight to Save D-Day
General James M. Gavin: America's Greatest Civil-Military Thinker
Click on pictures for full-size version. Pictures are newly released from LIFE magazine's archives through Google.
As a General beloved by his Troops
When people think of LTG James M. Gavin they think of the Normandy D-Day Airborne landings depicted in the film, "The Longest Day" or the Holland jumps in "A Bridge Too Far" where he was played by Robert Ryan and Ryan O'Neal. Below, he is meeting with President Truman in 1945:
President Harry S. Truman (C) holding officer's baton which belonged to Nazi General Hermann Goering while American officers (L-R) Maj. Gen. James M. Gavin, Gen. Alexander M. Patch, Gen. Lucian Truscott Jr. & Maj. J.M. Wilson look on, outside the White House
Location: Washington, DC, U.S. Date taken: June 15, 1945 Photographer: Marie Hansen
However, most Americans are unaware of General James M. Gavin's exploits AFTER his WW2 Airborne combat commands; he was at Inchon in 1950 during the Korean war for Army Research & Development and as chief put America into space and our troops in air-transportable, M113 all-terrain, armored personnel carriers backed by mobile, long-range, surface-to-surface missiles. He spoke out against DoD corruption and refused a 4th general's star to alert Congress that we were neglecting space and non-nuclear war capabilities that in a few short years later in Vietnam would cost America dearly.
Lt. Gen. James M. Gavin the Army's boss of research and development, leaving the Senate Office building after defending the Nike.
Location: Washington, DC, U.S. Date taken: May 1956 Photographer: Ed Clark
Gen. James M. Gavin at the Johnson Hearings, where he resigned from the Army. Location: Washington, DC, U.S. Date taken: 1958 Photographer: Paul Schutzer
When LTG Gavin retired in 1958, many people were sad and didn't want him to leave the service. He always enjoyed being with Soldiers; especially Paratroopers of all ranks since he was once an enlistedman himself....(he was a "Mustang")
Notice the O-1 Bird Dog Short-Take-Off and Landing (STOL) observation "grasshopper" aircraft in formation; LTG Gavin was the leading force behind Army Aviation gaining Air Mobility capabilities working with men like Major Hal Moore on air-deliverable light tanks who later commanded the 1st Air Cavalry at the battle of LZ X-Ray in 1965 and rose to be a Lieutenant General himself.
Retiring Lt. Gen. James Gavin during ceremonies at Fort Bragg, North Carolina with his wife, Jean
Location: Ft Bragg, NC, U.S. Date taken: 1958 Photographer: George Silk
As an Ambassador
As ambassador to France, he obtained their cooperation with NATO short of full membership.
Rep. to NATO Thomas K. Finletter (R) with Vice-Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson (C) and Amb. James M. Gavin during his visit. Location: Paris, France Date taken: April 1961 Photographer: Hank Walker
As a Man of Science
Leading civil-military research at Arthur D. Little, he drew on his experience as an armored commander in Europe and with WW2 tank destroyer officer and noted military reformer, Major Arthur D. Hadley helped create the National Training Center (NTC) so Army units would train realistically with force-on-force, freeplay war games using lasers instead of canned, scripted dog 'n pony shows so we would have the qualitative edge in any nation-state wars against the Soviet tank armies.
As a Romantic Husband
As a Family Man
Gen. James Gavin and Family Location: Cambridge, MA, U.S. Date taken: 1958 Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt 
Ambassador Feneral James M. Gavin Date taken: 1961 Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt
As Responsible Citizen-Soldier
LTG Gavin was a great public speaker and traveled across the nation urging citizens to take charge of their communities and form businesses that would be run by social responsibility--not corporate greed.
As a Man with Intellectual Curiosity
LTG Gavin never lost his curiosity about not just military and political matters but everything pertaining to mankind as his library shelf shows...here he is reading about the megaliths on Easter Island and painting with his daughters helping out...
Below is famous author and former British MI-6 operative, naval commander Ian Fleming's artist conception of how he envisioned his character James Bond, Agent 007 would look like...uncanny resemblance to General Gavin wouldn't you say? Art imitates life...in this case LIFE magazine!
After retiring from the Army in 1958, General Gavin was ambassador to France in the President John F. Kennedy administration.
He then lead the Research & Development firm, Arthur D. Little until 1977, making it grow from a $7M company to a $70M firm. Here is what the book, "Vietnam War for Dummies" has to say:
During the Vietnam war, General Gavin came up with a plan to win it, described in his book, Crisis Now, using strategic enclaves and went all over the country to get the American people to rally to his common sense---his ideas are EXACTLY what we need to turn the mess around in Iraq!
THE LECTURE
Hear LTG Gavin predict in 1972 the condition of the world today!
VIDEO
AUDIO
www.combatreform.org/cusb-a8185b.mp3 www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll
The Center for the Study of Democratic
Institutions Audio ArchiveProgram 569: Military Security Blankets
Army General James M. Gavin discusses his belief that the security of the United States no longer depends on weapons, armed forces, and holding areas of strategic value around the globe, but rather on less tangible factors such as the people's standard of living and the overall economic health of the nation. With Harry S. Ashmore, John Cogley, Sidney Holt, George McTurnan Kahin, Donald McDonald, and Robert Rosen. Mar. 10, 1972. [CSDI program number 569; UCSB tape number A8185/R7]
Listen: (28:30)
Download: Military Security Blankets (11.5 MB)http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/audio/8000/a8185/cusb-a8185b.mp3
During his entire life, General Gavin always had time to say an encouraging word to whoever he ran into, the epitome of an egalitarian leader.
In 1977, General Gavin advised Sir Richard Attenborough to make the epic war film, "A Bridge Too Far" which starred Ryan O'Neal as Gavin.
Though he left us in 1990 after a long life dedicated to others, his legend continues to grow as his predictions come true and we find ourselves in need of adopting his many ideas.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE3DE1130F936A15751C0A966958260
Lieut. Gen. James Gavin, 82, Dies; Champion and Critic of Military
By GLENN FOWLER
Published: February 25, 1990LEAD: Lieut. Gen. James M. Gavin, a World War II commander who went on to become a top Army administrator, a diplomat and a leading management consultant, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on Friday at the Keswick Nursing Home in Baltimore. He was 82 years old and had homes in Wianno, Mass., and Winter Park,
Lieut. Gen. James M. Gavin, a World War II commander who went on to become a top Army administrator, a diplomat and a leading management consultant, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on Friday at the Keswick Nursing Home in Baltimore. He was 82 years old and had homes in Wianno, Mass., and Winter Park, Fla.
When he retired abruptly from the service in 1958 after a dispute with the Pentagon over what he considered a diminished role for the Army in missile development, General Gavin was, at 51, the military's youngest general officer of three-star rank.
James Maurice Gavin was a native of Brooklyn who was orphaned in childhood and reared by adoptive parents in the coal country of Pennsylvania. He left school after the eighth grade and worked at odd jobs until he joined the Army at 17.
Setting his sights on West Point, the young private took after-hours courses to gain a high-school education and passed a competitive examination to win appointment to the United States Military Academy.
War and Rapid Advancement
He was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1929 and was a captain when World War II broke out. His military career was meteoric. He quickly became a paratrooper and had risen to the rank of colonel by the time he commanded the parachute combat team that spearheaded the invasion of Sicily in 1943. A year later, when he landed at Normandy on D-Day, he was a brigadier general and assistant commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. He was soon given command of the division and after leading the paratroop assault on Nijmegen, the Netherlands, he was promoted to major general.
He was a "hands-on" commander who was constantly on the go. At the front, he made a point of talking to Soldiers of all ranks and questioning them closely on their roles. He developed the habit, to which he clung the rest of his life, of rising at 4 A.M. and starting his work day shortly afterward. General Gavin's postwar assignments advanced him characteristically swiftly, and by 1955 he had become the Army's chief of research and development. He was an articulate, even zealous advocate of a strong military force adapted to mobile warfare.
The Rise of the Helicopter
As such, he was instrumental in developing the helicopter-borne forces that were to play a large role in the Vietnam War.
He was also the leader of a group of Army commanders who persuaded the Pentagon to let that service develop long-range missiles, a mission that the Army later lost to the Air Force and the Navy, though it retained control over tactical missiles for the battlefield.
General Gavin was often at odds with the Administration of his former commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower. He felt that conventional armed forces were being neglected by excessive reliance on nuclear weapons as a deterrent to war.
Critical of the Joint Chiefs
He was also critical of the role played by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, urging that it be limited to a planning role and that operations be directed by a completely integrated "unified command staff" that would ease rather than aggravate interservice rivalries.
Despite his attacks, General Gavin was marked for promotion to four-star rank. But in 1958, on the eve of that promotion and assignment as commander of the Seventh Army in Europe, he submitted his resignation, saying, "I won't compromise my principles, and I won't go along with the Pentagon system." In retirement, he became a vice president of Arthur D. Little Inc., the industrial research and consulting concern based in Cambridge, Mass. He served with Little until he retired as chairman in 1977, but he was never far from the world military and political affairs in those years.
Ambassadorship and Vietnam
First he was called upon by President John F. Kennedy to serve as Ambassador to France, a post normally reserved for wealthy members of the political party in power.
And in 1967, he returned from a trip to the Vietnam battlefields convinced that "we are in a tragedy." He argued that American involvement was distracting attention from what he saw as a need to counter advances by the Soviet Union in the Middle East, and that negotiations to end the war should be aggressively pursued.
That position, at loggerheads with that of President Lyndon B. Johnson, led some influential Republicans to promote him as a dark-horse candidate for President in 1968, but General Gavin asked his supporters to "cease all activities" on his behalf.
Outspoken on Paper, Too
His outspokenness extended to several books he wrote. War and Peace in the Space Age, published in 1958, was a distillation of his views on United States foreign policy. Among his other books were Airborne Warfare (1947), Crisis Now (1968) and his memoir, On to Berlin (1978).
General Gavin's decorations for wartime service included the Distinguished Service Cross with oak leaf cluster, the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. France made him a grand officer of the Legion of Honor and gave him a Croix de Guerre with palm. Britain named him to the Distinguished Service Order.
General Gavin is survived by his wife, the former Jean Emert; five daughters, Barbara Fauntleroy of New Canaan, Conn., Caroline Gavin of Weston, Conn., Patricia Gavin of Towson, Md., Aileen Lewis of Baltimore and Chloe Beatty of Riverside, Conn.; nine granchilldren and a great-grandson. A funeral service will be held at 1:30 P.M. Wednesday at West Point. A memorial service will be held at 2 P.M. Tuesday, March 6, at the Fort Myer Memorial Chapel in Arlington, Va.
BREAKING NEWS!
M113A3+ Gavins to the Rescue in Iraq!
EXCLUSIVE M113 GAVIN NEWS!! SUPER GAVINS TO RESCUE MESS IN IRAQ!
Meet the M113A3 Super Gavin in Iraq! Far Better Protected and Mobile than road-bound Stryker trucks!
* RPG pre-det bird cage all around but yet not so wide so Super Gavin can still roll-on/off USAF aircraft for 3D maneuver warfare capabilities, you can't do this in a Stryker truck!
* High Hard Steel belts on sides, front, rear to increase roadside bomb and bullet protection to beyond 14.5mm HMG protection
* Underbelly armor to defeat land mines
* Extra spall liner inside
* TAGS see-thru gunshields to protect and see enemy first to shoot & kill him
* Ability to stow troop gear, sandbags on outside beneath hull and bird cage to increase ballistic protection levels
* Rolls on tracks that are cross-country mobile and do not puncture and burn like air-filled Stryker truck tires
Notice that more Soldiers have died in 309 Strykers in only a few months of Iraq duty with all kinds of armor slapped onto them at the cost of millions of dollars than the few who have died in over 1,700 "vanilla" applique' armor-neglected M113 Gavins already in combat in Iraq for over 4 years!. Now with the situation desperate and the Army having wasted $BILLIONS and years of preparation time on inadequate Strykers and Humvees, the American Soldier turns to the greatest armored fighting vehicle of all time, ever--the M113 Gavin to save the day and bring him and his buddies home alive to be living not dead heroes. See the first pictures of the "Super Gavin" above!
NEW! M113A3 Super Gavins in Iraq combat by 1st Cavalry
This is a pic from a recent Fort Benning BAYONET newspaper showing a heavily up-armored M113A3 Super Gavin in Iraq being used as a HOOAH! backdrop showing its still a vehicle beloved by Soldiers in the Army; in this case, the Cavalry---who should have had these light tracks all along!
We still have a long, long way to go to fully adapt the U.S. Army to the non-linear battlefield..our light units need M113 Gavins starting with Delta Weapons companies and supply & transportation units with XM1108 cargo carrying variants...we still have thousands of M113 Gavins in storage that need to be put into service....but it was at this moment that the tide finally turned against the wheeled madness threatening to destroy the U.S. Army and our Soldiers...
American Iraq War Casualties
www.geocities.com/militaryincompetence/americaniraqwarcasualties.htm
Why Tracks Are 28% More Space/Weight Efficient than Wheeled Stryker/Humvee Trucks
www.geocities.com/armorhistory/infantrytanks.htm
http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/28/wirq128.xml
Replace the hopeless Humvee, Pentagon chiefs are urgedBy David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 28/04/2004)Armoured cars being sent to Iraq are not up to the job, according to a senior United States Army general, prompting calls for Pentagon chiefs to swallow their pride and reactivate thousands of mothballed Vietnam-era armoured personnel carriers.
With improvised bombs, rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenades taking an ever deadlier toll on coalition forces, the Pentagon is spending £225 million to replace thin-skinned versions of the Humvee, the US military's ubiquitous jeep-like transport, with an "up-armoured" model, as fast as they can be churned off the production line.
Humvees are proving easy prey on the streets of Iraq
Commanders have shuddered as troops attached home-made armour plating and even sandbags to ordinary Humvees, whose thin skin, canvas doors and shoulder height windows have made them highly vulnerable to attack.
The new, armour-plated Humvees have been touted by Pentagon chiefs as the best solution to complaints from the field about the standard version of the vehicle.
But Gen Larry Ellis, the commanding general of U.S. Army forces, told his superiors that even the armoured Humvee is proving ineffective.
In a memo leaked to CNN television, he wrote: "Commanders in the field are reporting to me that the up-armoured Humvee is not providing the solution the army hoped to achieve."
Reports from the field say that even with armour plating, the Humvee's rubber tyres can be burnt out by a Molotov cocktail, while at two tons, it is light enough to be turned over by a mob.
Gen Ellis said it was "imperative" that the Pentagon instead accelerate production of the newest armoured personnel carrier, the Stryker, which weighs 19 tons and moves at high speed on eight rubber tyres.
But the Stryker has many influential critics who say it is too big to be flown easily on the military's C-130 transport aircraft, and too cumbersome to manoeuvre in narrow streets. Instead, they want the Pentagon to turn back the clock and re-deploy thousands of Vietnam-era M-113 "Gavin" armoured personnel carriers, which are still used by support and engineering units, and are held in huge numbers by reserve units.
Gary Motsek, the deputy director of support operations for U.S. Army materiel command, said: "I have roughly 700 113-series vehicles sitting pre-positioned in Kuwait, though some are in need of repairs. I have them available right now, if they want them."
The Washington Times: Inside the Ring
December 12, 2003www.gertzfile.com/gertzfile/ring121203.html
The Army's pastMichael L. Sparks, an Army Reserve officer, and many like-minded veterans, are pressing the Army to move on from the new wheeled Stryker armored vehicle and embrace the past: the venerable M-113 personnel carrier.
Mr. Sparks wants the Army to bring thousands of M-113 armored personnel carriers out of storage, modernize them and put them in all combat infantry units; including the light infantry which has no armored vehicles. And he wants this affordable enhancement done quickly to help the troops in Iraq right away.
He contends the tracked M-113 is more reliable, road-safer and provides better protection than any wheeled vehicle can ever offer. He says studies prove compact tracked vehicles are 28 percent more space/weight efficient than placing armored boxes on top of wheeled suspensions/drivetrains.
"Our troops are driving around Iraq in doorless, fabric-sided [Humvees or High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles], fiberglass/thin metal 10-ton FMTV trucks and 21-ton Stryker rubber-tired armored cars and losing men's lives and limbs daily to roadside bombs and accidents," Mr. Sparks said. "Some Soldiers are also foolishly driving around Iraq in gasoline-powered captured or government-provided civilian automobiles. Combat psychology studies show if you look and are vulnerable it will embolden the enemy to attack you."
Some senators have been critical of the lack of armor protection for the Humvees, which fall prey to roadside bombs that have killed scores of American Soldiers. A program to "up-armor" them will take months, or years. Mr. Sparks, an infantry officer, said: "The Army has thousands of thick-skinned M-113 Gavin light tracked armored fighting vehicles sitting in storage that are 'as is' far better protection than the up-armored rubber-tired Humvees or Strykers will ever be.
"For a fraction of the cost of up-armoring Humvee trucks requiring years of time our men in Iraq do not have, we could fit in a matter of weeks underbelly armor, gun shields for the troops to fire out behind protective cover and rocket propelled grenade-resistant applique' armor to M-113 Gavins. This would supply all our men in Iraq protected mobility."
Reveals how out of touch current Army officials are.
They would rather waste billions on mental digital but physically impotent armored cars while the troops are slaughtered by physical RPGs, IEDs/land mines. The Army's leaders don't get it. They can put digital crap in M113 Gavins if they insist, but the important thing is to be PHYSICALLY PROTECTED.
But notice that if we got the word out to commanders in Iraq they could request up-graded M113 Gavins and force the Army to come up with another set of lies/excuses or to do the right thing finally.
Defense Week, Monday, December 22, 2003 DW Volume 24, Number 50
Date: 12/22/2003 1:11:11 PM Eastern Standard Time
Pentagon Approves Fifth And Sixth Stryker Brigades
BY NATHAN HODGE
The Defense Department on Wednesday announced plans for the Army to begin funding an additional two Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCTs), bringing the total number of brigades the service will procure to six.HEADED TO IRAQ? WANT TO SURVIVE? REQUEST M113 GAVINS THROUGH YOUR CHAIN-OF-COMMAND AND CONGRESS:That's good news for General Dynamics, which has hoped the Army would buy a full complement of Strykers. All told, the service plans to buy 2,121 of the vehicles, at a total cost of $7.2 billion, according to the Defense Department's latest Selected Acquisition Report.
In a December 2002 memorandum, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved SBCTs 1 through 4, but he directed further study of SBCTs 5 and 6 before the Army would receive final approval to field them.
An Army enhancement plan approved by Rumsfeld Dec. 8 also provides for the upgrade of the first four brigades. The plan calls for giving the final two Stryker brigades advanced fire support, network and sensor capabilities, and retrofitting the first four brigades with newer technology as it becomes available.
The Stryker-a wheeled armored vehicle made by General Dynamics-is seen as a key part of the Army's transition to a rapidly deployable future force. Outfitted with high-tech digital communications, the Stryker is designed to [allegedly] be delivered by C-130 Hercules airlifters, ready to roll into the fight.
GD spokesman [paid liar hack] Kendell Pease praised the Stryker decision.
"This is a very positive thing for the United States Army," he said. "It confirms that it was the right thing for the Army."
The Army's first Stryker brigade is now receiving its baptism by fire [token use] in Iraq. Certified as operationally effective in September, the Stryker unit from Fort Lewis, Wash., crossed into Iraq early this month following training exercises in Kuwait.
Some critics of the Stryker had suggested the Army wait until the first Stryker brigade proves itself in combat before moving to buy more SBCTs. In October, Col. Douglas Macgregor, a senior fellow at National Defense University, said he hoped the Army would "stop at three (SBCTs) and look at the remaining $3 billion sitting in the bank and go back to the Hill and say, `We've got some other ideas.' "
Mike Sparks, an Army reserve infantry officer and author, has been an active proponent of one such idea: upgrading the M113 family of tracked vehicles (affectionately-and unofficially-known as "Gavins," after legendary World War II paratroop commander Gen. James Gavin) instead of buying more Strykers.
In a statement sent to Defense Week, Sparks wrote: "There's no reason why Congress can't direct that the new brigades be equipped with American-made, up-armored, hybrid-electric, $500,000 each M113 Gavins tracked armored fighting vehicles upgraded from the thousands we have in storage that would have RPG [rocket-propelled grenade], landmine and small-arms-resistant gunshields to save our men's lives today in Iraq/Afghanistan."
In a report released last week, Victor O'Reilly, a defense analyst and author, forwarded a similar proposal.
[EDITOR: read the O'Reilly Report here: www.combatreform.org/ppd43.pdf]
Claiming that the M113-made by United Defense of Arlington, Va.-has been "neglected" by the Army, he asserted that the M113A2 models could be upgraded to a more modernized A3 model (but without hybrid-electric drive) at a cost of $210,000 apiece.
"The armored brigade combat teams currently fighting in Iraq have approximately 80 M113 series vehicles each," he wrote. "Upgrading these to a survivable and vastly more capable MTVL configuration would cost under $40 million" versus roughly $1.5 billion per Stryker brigade.
No Gavins needed
The Army says that critics of the Stryker are missing the point: integral to the vehicle, officials say, is the advanced network capability [electronic gadgetry "icing" that can be applied to any "cake" vehicle"] it brings. And with the approval of SBCT 5 and 6, buying more Gavins does not seem to be in the cards.
Maj. Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman, said the service was continuing with some planned upgrades to some M113s, but he emphasized that they are not a substitute for the new Stryker [handicaps] capabilities.
"We are not going to procure more" M113s in response to current operational needs, he said.
The M577 Tracked Command Post Carrier-part of the M113 family-is being upgraded to the M1068A3 Standard Integrated Command Post System, which replaces the older 4.2kW gasoline auxiliary power unit (APU) with a quieter 5.0 kW diesel APU, among other things.
"This per the program plans prior to" Operation Iraqi Freedom, Tallman said.
With troops in Iraq still facing hit-and-run ambushes, the Army is rushing to deliver up-armor kits for humvees and tactical trucks to the field. However, it will take time, and Stryker critics such as Sparks and O'Reilly have advocated that the Army take some Gavins out of storage to serve as a stopgap.
Tallman said ground commanders in Iraq have not made such a request.
"That is a command decision," he said. "That's up to the ground commander, but from a program standpoint, [there are] just scheduled modifications and conversions [for the M113] and no change to the program life cycle."
In addition to the first two Stryker brigades, which will be based at Fort Lewis, the Army is planning to base Strykers in Hawaii, Alaska, Pennsylvania and Louisiana.
The 172nd Infantry Brigade (Separate), based at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, will be the third SBCT. The Army then plans to convert the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (Light), based at Fort Polk, La., into a cavalry regiment with Strykers.
The fifth Brigade, slated for fielding in 2006, will be in the 2d Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. The sixth and final SBCT, scheduled for fielding between 2008 and 2010, is scheduled to be the 56th Brigade (Mechanized), 28th Infantry Division (Mechanized), of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
Sample Letter to your Chain of Command (where M113s are in CENTCOM etc.)
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
XXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXX 17 January 200X
SUBJECT: Immediate M113 vehicle plus-ups for xxxxxxx deployment to Iraq
FROM:
1. ____ x M113 Gavin light tracked armored fighting vehicles and ____ x M2 .50 caliber heavy machine guns be supplied to my unit in addition to our existing equipment in light of our new mission as provisional infantry. These equipments are in Army war-stocks and I request in writing an answer to this request. If FORSCOM receives this request I am confident it will be supplied to my men to accomplish the mission and save lives. The following explains why this additional equipment is needed.
2. Why is our Army accepting daily casualties in Iraq, Soldiers in Arlington Cemetary and walking around Walter Reed missing limbs when we have thousands of 11-ton M113 thick-skinned, tracked armored vehicles sitting in storage that could prevent these deaths and maimings? We have strong national backing behind the troops, but we're slowly pissing away national will (center of gravity) to casualties we didn't have to sustain. The current thinking for remedying casualties is to don more heavy gear, operate in larger units, buy more up-armored HMMWVs, put Stryker or "MRAP" trucks into the fray and slap make-shift armor kits again on vulnerable rubber-tired vehicles. EXPENSIVE, slow-to-field, doesn't protect the majority of our troops. NOT A RECIPE FOR SUCCESS. The solution for the non-linear battlefield where the enemy can attack in any direction at any time is not more Balkan-style "presence patrols" in inadequately or unprotected HMMWVs/Stryker/MRAP wheeled vehicles. We are taking dozens of casualties simply "driving to contact". Even up-armor HMMWVs cannot sustain an RPG. What can? Is cheap? What'll work---Now?
M113 Gavins---tracked armored fighting vehicles.
3. Our Army has thousands of 1.5" to 1.75" thick-skinned, 11-ton, metal road wheels, steel-tracked M113A3s are widely availability in war stocks to include CENTCOM and older M113A2s are unused storage here in CONUS (attached excel spreadsheet) and can be made land mine/RPG resistant. This information is compelling and should be forwarded with our request to FORSCOM.
M113s in war stocks (Army Prepositioned Sets)
[M113 Gavins in war stock data write to us if you are a Soldier needed it: itsg@hotmail.com]
4. Cost to to add underbelly and RPG protection to M113 is small; less than $78,000. Much of this add-on armor is already in the supply system.
M113 Gavin RPG resistant applique' armor
Passive Armor: www.rafael.co.il/division/ordnance/arm_prod_line/passive.html
Active Armor: www.rafael.co.il/division/ordnance/arm_prod_line/reactive.html
M113 Gavin underbelly armor
Belly Armor Kit / Cage No. 80212, P/N 4240277
Chapter III: Growth of U.S. Armored Forces in Vietnam www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/Vietnam/mounted/chapter3.htm
"To reduce mine damage to M113's, "belly armor" kits arrived in 1969. When this supplemental armor was applied to M113's and Sheridans, it protected them from mine blast rupture, saved many lives, and gave the crews added confidence" M113 Gavin Gunshields
NSNs Track Commander's Cupola Shield Kit, Machine Gun / 2510-00-121-8990 Shield, Protective / 2510-01-006-4587
TC's cupola gunshields + side gunshields for the two troop hatch MGs
The NSN number for the complete Gun Shield Kit including the cargo hatch side shields is NSN 2590-00-121-8990. AMDF price is $11,708.00. Check the Army supply system for availability(?) If the "system" doesn't have the shields (likely) the DSC bids for someone to make them like they did in 1999: 25 - SOL:SHIELD KIT, MACHINE GUN (10/29/99) http://www.fbodaily.com/cbd/archive/1999/10(October)/29-Oct-1999/25sol001.htm COMMERCE BUSINESS DAILY ISSUE OF OCTOBER 29,1999 PSA#2465 Defense Supply Center Columbus, PO Box 16595, DSCC-PBAB, Columbus, OH 43216-6595 25 -- SHIELD KIT, MACHINE GUN SOL SP075000R2737 DUE 121799 POC For Information Only, Point of Contact -- Carol Black Phone:614-692-1346 Fax: 614-692-1577 NSN: 2590-00-121-8990, YPC99201000244. Shield Kit, Machine Gun. Made in accordance with Army drawing 11660854 and all current related data. Full and open competition applies. Quantity is 52 each to be delivered within 150 days after date of award to Richmond, Va. All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered. See note(s) 12 and 26. Copies of this solicitation are available at the address above or by faxing 614-692-2262 or e-mailing: incoord @ dscc.dla.mil and will not be available until 15 days after this notice is published in the CBD. Requests should include the company name, address and solicitation number(s). The small business size standard is 750 employees. Technical drawings/bid sets are available from DSCC-VTCD via one of the following medias: internet at http://abiweb.disc.dla.mil; facsimile at 614-692-2344; e-mail at drawings @ dscc.dla.mil or by mail at Defense Supply Center Columbus, ATTN: DSCC-VTCD, P O Box 3990, Columbus, OH. 43216-5000. Requests should include theRFP number, opening/closing date, NSN, Purchase Request number (e.g. YPC), Buyer's name and your complete name and address. FEDERAL, MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL SPECIFICATIONS CANNOT BE PROVIDED BY DSCC. Proposed procurement contains a 100% option for increase quantities. This is an unrestricted acquisition. While price may be a significant factor in the evaluation of offers, the final award decision will be based upon a combination of price, delivery, past performance and other evaluation factors as described in the solicitation. Estimated issue date is 18 Nov 99. Posted 10/27/99 (W-SN395719). (0300) Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0194 19991029\25-0001.SOL) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 - Vehicular Equipment Components Index Page However if you don't want to waste months playing with DSC because your men are getting shot at in places like Iraq/Afghanistan, United Defense, the maker of the M113 Gavin can deliver 44 kits in 20-22 weeks. Their price would be around $8,000 per kit, saving you about 4K per kit. Understand that cost does not come into play when we are talking about the safety of our troops but $176,000 buys a hell of a lot of beans and bullets...or better yet more gunshields!
POC: Mr. Tom Reuter
United Defense
M113 Field Service & Spares
(800) 235-0015 Ext: 825
cell @ 256-453-7049
5. M113s are simple to operate and maintain. You could train a Soldier in a week quite well. You don't have 1 DA or civilian contractor per company running around like in SBCTs. The class IX is already in our supply system. The M113 is a multi-purpose vehicle: CSS, INF, ENG, MED. If you want to understand urban ops with a permissive and non-permissive environment blurring, and how to operate in it, look at Israel which oprerates thousands of up-armored M113s and doesn't lose a man a day in combat operations like we are in Iraq. Things Israelis know:
a. Tracked "Tanks rule"!
b. Tanks rule only when working well with infantry
c. Helicopters are great killers: but fly high, fly irregular patterns to avoid shoot-downs. The Longbow is great for precision interdiction. Paint them light tan or gray so they are harder to detect, track and hit during the day time.
d. HUMINT is decisive.
e. Snipers are far more crucial than home station training, manning, employment lend them to be
f. Muslim culture: if it looks bad ass- it is bad ass! Current enemy thinking: "Attack it if it has wheels, if it has tracks, leave it alone, it will shoot back and kill you"
g. That ugly, primitive, simple tracked IDF M113 still is ubiquitious and highly successful: it's heavily armored, it dismounts SOF and infantry, engineers to achieve decisive effects
Are we willing to lose more men than the Beirut barracks to IEDs and RPGs because our leaders are too worried about careers or the funding of Stryker to ask the hard questions of a caring Combat Commander: Why can't I have M113s? They are sitting in storage awaiting a use. Would we rather have me and my men die than weld or strap plates to the side of my HMMWV or wait for expensive and inadequate kits? A Ford Explorer SUV has better armor!
SSG Paul Johnson, 1-505 was KIA in Iraq from an IED.
He didn't die right away.
He died after a few minutes from burns. His HMMWV was blasted and burned. An up-armored M113 would have kept rolling and he'd be alive today.
6. HQDA PAO spokesman, Major Tallman recently stated in a DEFENSE WEEK article "that no ground commander has requested M113s". This is not accurate,
WE and many others ARE REQUESTING more M113s to fully equip our Soldiers with armored mobility and a means to aggressively fight back behind gunshields. Our men are going into harm's way and do not need to be put off with bureaucratic excuses about "MTOEs" and "TRADOC procedures"; we need the tools we require to accomplish the mission and get our men home alive and well.
If combat commanders knew M113s were available even more would request them. However, there is no reason why upgraded M113s couldn't be supplied immediately to us as a "test case" that could be expanded to be applied to the rest of the Army.
7. Iraqi Freedom Key Facts to Date
* 250 Soldiers killed by RPGs and IEDs in unarmored 3-ton HMMWV, 10-ton FMTV and thin-skinned 20-ton Stryker trucks or on foot that could have been saved had they been in up-armored M113s
* 2000 Soldiers wounded and maimed from all types of attacks, specific causes not known, but at same ratio as KIAs would likely mean 1000 Soldiers could have been saved disfigurement had they been in up-armored M113s
* Rebuilding up-armored but still thin-skinned 4+ ton HMMWVs will require two years which at current casualty rates will mean 250 more dead and 500 more wounded by next June's planned major troop reductions
* Up-armored HMMWVs severely stressed by weight their engine and suspension systems are not designed to handle will be even more road-restricted than current HMMWVs and will incur drastically higher operations and maintenance costs negating any desired cost advantages
* M113A3 tracks and engines can easily accept the extra armor/gunshield weights necessary to attain land mine/IED and RPG protection without excessive O & M costs
* Enemy is not targeting up-armored HMMWVs with weapons mounts, it's not accurate to assume up-armoring will protect our Soldiers when we know vehicle is too light to not be tossed into air by land mines/IEDs and cannot be armored to protect against RPGs
* If we up-armor all our HMMWV trucks at a cost of $250,000 each, the enemy will be forced to discover that they are NOT adequately landmine/IED and RPG protected and incur more friendly casualties despite 2 years and $239 million dollars
* Up-armoring M113s will cost $78,000 per vehicle and make them far more protected from land mines/IEDs and resistant to RPGs than any existing Army wheeled vehicle and this can be done in a matter of weeks
* The up-armored M113s are far more cross-country mobile than any wheeled vehicle to fully traverse the entire desert-urban terrain of Iraq to render more effective pre-emptive convoy security clearing of land mines/IEDs and small-arms/RPG ambushes
* M113s have a lower center-of-gravity than Army wheeled vehicles. M113s can swim and at least float if they should drive into an Iraqi river or marsh saving Soldier lives now being lost in roll-overs.
8. There may be built-in resistance to upgrading M113s within those that prescribe to the former CSA's wheeled vision but their private agendas should not matter when we can and should save lives and limbs with upgraded or even as-is M113s. It would be highly embarrassing to the Army that Soldiers were killed/maimed just because a mere 10 more M113 armored vehicles were denied a commander headed for combat.
9. Upgraded M113 Gavins would have a "home" in our Army after Iraq for non-linear war
The Stryker armored car purchase is very expensive at $3 million per vehicle and only affects 5 brigades out of 33 in the active Army. If a larger number of M113 Gavins were upgraded to get the majority of our troops out of trucks in Iraq, there is an easy "home" for them in the current/future force post-Iraq: supply them to the Delta Weapons Companies and Scout platoons in our light/heavy Divisions who now use inadequate HMMWV trucks for anti-tank and security missions. M113s are fully C-130 air-transportable, combat-loaded to include parachute air-drop. Furthermore, Light Sapper Combat Engineer units with HMMWV trucks transformed to upgraded M113s would be able for the first time to breach under armor using rocket line clearing charges and greater safety. Their brethren, Heavy Division Sappers use M113 Gavins now and need upgraded M113s, too. These M113s could be fitted with hybrid-electric drives, band tracks and the full C4I digital networking features now only resident in the 4th ID and a handful of Stryker wheeled brigades, transforming the rest of our Army to "Future Combat System" capabilities.
10. Specific Requirements
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
11. POC for this memorandum is (xxx) xxx-xxxx
Soldier XXXXXXXXXX
unit XXXX
CONTACT CONGRESS!
www.geocities.com/paratroop2000/wwwcongress.htm
Sample letter to Congress
Dear ___________________,
I am writing to you concerning our current war in Iraq.
Why are our men needlessly getting killed and maimed in wheeled vehicles that can never adequately protect them? Bribing Soldiers with $10,000 as a re-enlistment bonus just to get them to stay in Iraq for another year is pathetic! If you are DEAD you can't spend it. The Soldiers are not gaining anything from a financial bonus. However, these monies could instead be pooled together to save lives. For instance, the money that would have been given to 8 Soldiers ($80,000) a M113A3 Gavin light tracked Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV) sitting in storage could be supplied with RPG-resistant armor, underbelly countermine armor and gunshields to enable these same 8 Soldiers to fight alert, and heads-out to prevail in 360 non-linear combat, so they can return home ALIVE and intact.
I wonder if anyone in Washington has been paying any attention to the growing list of fallen Soldiers in Iraq. What do you say to a wife who loses her husband and is left raising their children alone? What do you say to the child who is left without a daddy and he/she wonders why daddy will never be back home? Why should Soldiers come home without limbs, or spend the rest of their lives with a disability when our country has the greatest equipment ever made and we are not using it? Our Soldiers are being treated like objects instead of people. They deserve a lot more respect than they receive when they are out there in the middle of HELL placing their lives at risk for the sakes of this country. When is someone going to do something about this?
It is extremely urgent that a bill be passed ordering the Army to up-Armor 500 M113 Gavin light tracked armored vehicles immediately and send them to Iraq, and stop having our troops drive in vulnerable wheeled trucks! It was a waste of my tax dollars to send over a bunch of useless vehicles, deathtraps, when the proper equipment should have been sent over the first time around. What excuse do we have for not supplying our Soldiers with the best equipment on earth that will protect them?
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXXXX
NEW! Giant 1:18 scale M113A3 Gavins @ Wal-Mart for $40....Radio Controlled versions $50
DESERT TAN
Yesterday we just found an exact same 1:18 scale TAN M113A3 Gavin that is RADIO-CONTROLLED for just $10 more!!
We found ours on the high top shelf at Wal-Mart and needed a ladder...
View once out of the box...
We took a 1:18 scale M401 106mm recoilless rifle from a BS BlueBox toys Humvee truck and placed it on a proper mount...a New Millenium Toys radio-controlled 1:18 scale M113A3 Gavin armored track...
Look Honey! I Shrunk the Gavin!
We need a Gavin reduced in width to roll on/off from inside an ISO container "BATTLEBOXtank" and a CH-47 but this is a tad bit too small even for our Chinook...
NEW! Academy 1:35 Scale Early Iraq War "Thunder Run" M113A3 Gavin!
PICS
www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3434
DESCRIPTION
www.relishmodels.co.uk/academy-1-35-m113a3-apc-iraq-war.html
ORDER ONLINE
www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/aca/kit_aca_13211.shtml
You can email us irish0001@aol.com or send a letter or post card to:
Air-Mech-Strike Study Group: General Gavin Petition
P.O. Box 1563
Columbia, CA 95310
Feedback! Read what the many thousands of Soldiers who call the M113 the "Gavin" have to say about making it "official"!
Roy A Lingle writes in:
"General Gavin was a very good leader and should have something named after him. I did some time on M113(Mo-gaser) and the M113A1. I spent a year with the 4th (Light/Airborne)/68th Armor, 82nd Airborne Division. That division didn't want anything to do with us treadheads."
THE GREEN DRAGON
Shawn Stansfill, a retired SNCO and Vietnam ACAV combat veteran points out that we need Gavins that can fight without being buttoned up, using gunshields:
"I was in the 17th Cav RVN ACAV. I spent 69 in Nam and then was wounded. The ACAV can take a significant hit without harming the crew. I finished my military career in December 2002. I was a 1SG of a Heavy CAV Troop before I retired i.e. Bradleys and M1's I can tell you this the Bradley and the M1 are not suited for the type of combat in Iraq. Neither is the Humvee. The M113 ACAV is the "Green Dragon" as the NVA and VC called it. It is formable and perhaps the best fighting machine ever created. Properly equipped with the M2 50Cal and the new 240Bravo and CAV shields no enemy will prevail. I am beside myself watching the waisted American Fighting men die in the damn Humvee's. In addition the Styker does not fair much better and is in fact 10 times more expensive. In addition there are 700 sitting in Kuwait. Just damn it sitting there. What is going on with the brass. The answer is they can fight because they never have.
Call it Gavin or ACAV I don't care. Get the troops in to ACAV's yesterday and out of the damn humvee's they are worthless."
AMEN
"All media accounts indicate the unacceptable high rate of debilitating lower limb and facial wounds amongst our troops in Iraq is due to inadequate armor protection in HUMVEEs and similar vehicles. Providing uparmored alternatives and in field upgrades to existing vehicles to provide adequate protection against RPGs and mines should be a top priority. Whatever the your opinion of the wisdom of the war, there should be no controversy whatever giving our toops better protection. The current neglect of this crying need is nothing short of criminal. As to honoring general Gavin, the finest Army officer of his generation, it's long overdue."
Name = xxxxxxxxx
I have always wondered why the M113 did not have a name like the Bradley or
Patton AFV's. I always thought it should have a name and when I came across this website while looking for technical drawings for the M113, I thought it was long past time that the M113 was named. I beleive the Israeli Army call the M113 'Zelda'.
At first, I thought that the name Gavin was a bit bland until I read the story
of General Gavin in this website. I fully support this effort to name the
vehicle and to name it Gavin.
Does anyone know where I can obtain FMC drawings for the M113? my email address
is xxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
RONALD COX writes in:
"I TOO SERVED WITH THE 82ND ABN DIV-1974-1984 GEN GAVIN WAS AWESOME AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY!!"
Benjamin R. Cox notes:
"Give our Troops the best track vehicles available in Combat. General Gavin always thought 20 yrs. ahead of others and had the guts to speak to the Powers to be, while he was still on active duty, not wait until he was retired as 99% of our Generals do while on active duty. We have excellent
Combat type Generals on duty as I type this email, we'd better listen to them
if & when they can/will speak up again to the Powers to be. God Bless our Country and the Troops in the Air/Ground/Sea today. Just an Old Troop
(retired Military type)with not much longer on this earth, still feels the pain of every Troop that becomes a KIA in most part from poor combat vehicles
instead of track type units. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Daniel Bowen adds:
"An appropriate recognition for a great general of the 20th century. If General Bradley deserves to have an APC/IFV named after him, then surely James Gavin merits this recognition. General Gavin was a top combat leader, a tactical innovator, and was notable for evaluating all Soldiers on their performance without the ethnic prejudice so common in his era."
Timothy Rorer agrees and writes:
"This is an excellent endeavour. I've been a fan of the Gavin since 1988, 3 years before I enlisted in the army. In my MOS (11C) the 113 was a fact of life well after the rest of the army discounted them. They are easily maintained and very useful in field environments. Troops already using this equipment can easily 'train-the-trainer' with no expensive contractors needed. I believe that even without upgrades, they could be utilized in the operations in Iraq with more favorable results than the 'up-armored' hummers.
Once again, thank you for your work in naming this combat proven vehicle after it's creator!!!"
Paratrooper Cameron Troy Hutson writes in:
"I served in the 1st ID, 2/2 Inf, HHC Morters, and was there driving the old 113A2's and there when we got the new 113A3's, then I left there for the 82nd ABN. So I have jumped, and driven 113's I think the honer should go to Gen. Gavin."
Jeffrey Gavin of Pa says: "Yes"
Paul Tucker CA, says "yes!"
James Otley writes:
"Not only is the 3-D airmechanized concept an obivious culmination of the past 100 years of land warfare innovation (ie: armored and airborne), but also a practical and simplic answer of using manuver to solve the timeless defensive obstacle of firepower. If the Army would develop the M-113A3 Gavin in its amphibious model, the marines maybe willing to help support the program and therefore bear some of the inital program's cost. Lastly I was thinking that the airmechanized concept could help one other aspect of the Army "old" heavy formations - no long road bound logistical tail. After delivering the combat elements, the transport helos could then make continuous return sories anywhere into the battle area with supplies and/or evac missions."
Thomas Sullivan-Murad of VT says: "Make it happen"
ROCKY R. MINK says:
"I can not believe that this vehicle has not been utilized to
its fullest capabilities. This is truely what a foundation vehicle
should be for a light armored unit. Tracks not tires etc... This
presentation of adaptions/modifications of the vehicle should speak for its self if anyone is listening."
Here are some remarks by just some of the many thousands of Soldiers, Paratroopers, Concerned Citizens, Historians and Patriots who have emailed into this web site who refer to the M113 Gavin by its namesake and want it made "official":
"Long overdue!!"
"General Gavin epitomizes what every American Soldier should be. He was from a very common background, an orphan originally until he was adopted. An enlisted man first, then West Point and a great officer. He deserves this honor."
"The M113A3 version of the Gavin should be the basic vehicle for the IBCT. It does everything an LAVIII/IAV will do, it's lighter, tracked and C130 capable RIGHT NOW. The 82D should have one Gavin battalion per brigade for ground mobility and firepower."
"The Army should use the Gavin as the IAV and stop wasting millions and millions of dollars trying to make the inferior LAV III? work. The hell with the Army Chief of Staff desires lets get a vehicle that is proven and will do the IAV mission better.
"Yes, I agree that the M113 should be called the 'Gavin'."
"Even as it is nears the end of its career (which should be rethought) I believe this family of vehicles has served us well. I have utilized this series as an anti-armor Soldier and a cavalry scout. It is an excellent vehicle with the current modifications."
"It's amazing how we never suggested a name before, after all the missions it's accomplished, isn't B52 named 'superfortress', it is a combat vehicle, and we even named other armored cars, so it's worthy"
"I fought the M113 as a Mech Infantry PLT LDR in 1968 in 5/60(M), 9ID, RVN. I was an Armor officer who came from the states wanting to be in pure tanks. After being in combat with them, getting blown up from one, and being a REC PLT LDR with M48s, I learned to love that box on tracks. It never failed to do what we wanted, and after adding another .50 M2, it was an awesome battle wagon. I never knew about GEN Gavin, but if he's the one responsible, then name it for him with stars!"
"All our other armored vehicles have names, why not the M113? It always did a fine job when I drove one during my time in Germany."
"We already have the technology today to allow ARMY light infantry to be dropped anywhere in the world ready to take on any dictator or terrorist. This technology such as M113 GAVINS and E-FOGM's needs to be put into service instead of wasting billions on wheeled death-traps that wont protect Soldiers and cannot be transported by C-130, or OICW "starwars guns" that will only slow the Soldier down and reduce his ability to fight. The money that the army saves could be out to better use purchasing Ammunition so that Soldiers can get the realistic training they deserve and on Pay so the army wont have to resort to gimmicks in order to retain Soldiers."
"I remember being in 82d Airborne Division the first time I saw General Gavin and am familiar with his record and achievements. He was the best leader that I knew of during my 21 years service.
And it should be used in the medium formations of the up and coming BCTs."
"Overdue recognition for a courageous man on and off the battlefield."
"I agree that your fighting men and women show always go into battle with equipment equal to or greater than the fire power they are up against!
"Do It !"
"Having spent many years in the 82nd Airborne I know first hand what a great fighting vehicle the M113 is. I support this naming assignment.
"The vehicle has more than earned a name, in the last 30 years. It has served the Army longer than any other vehicle except the horse. After this LAV3 contretemps goes away, I will probably make at least 20 more."
"I wish that we had more forward-thinking officers of Gavin's caliber. Our force projection Army needs them!"
"It is long overdue that General Gavin, the greatest Airborne leader, be recognized for his contributions to the art, science, and history of warfare."
"It seems only fitting that the M113 work horse should receive the name sake of the 'war horse' behind!"
"The most recent variant of the M113 'Gavin,' has untapped potential in coping with the threat of the modern battlefield. Amazingly, despite its production line availability, it was the lack of them that exacerbated the loss of life in Mogadishu ('Black Hawk Down'). We ended up having to borrow an earlier model of the same vehicle from the Malaysians in order to extract our own Rangers. It would be irresponsible for us to send our troops into another urban threat setting without the readily and flexibly deployable M113 Gavin.
"I'M WITH YOU 100%"
"In 1946 thru 1948 I served in General Gavin`s 82nd Airborne Division in his 'A' btry 319th Glider Field Artillery Battalion as Cannoneer on a 105mmHowitzer, later in 'C' Btry 376th Parachute F.A. Bn. as Gunner on this field piece, as well as the 75mm "Pack-Howitzer. At 17, a Gliderman 1st,the General wanted all to be Paratroopers, so we were sent to Ft, Benning, Ga. for 'Jump School', my just turning 18. Gavin 'Led by example', so we would do anything he put to us, as we revered our leader. A GREAT man...one of the most outstanding leaders to come out of W.W.II. He deserves this HONOR, only, its too bad he is not still with us to experience this timely honor of having his vehicle, the M113, so named. All honor to his name!"
"You must give the troopers what they need to win the battle.
"I'm not sure that I served under the General, I do remember him being listed or pictured in Chain of command display, that were around.
"Please do this to honor this great American and man of honor."
"If he is the one that introduced the helicopter and the artillery in flight for the Airborne . Then it should be in his name. As I remember well all we had in Normandy is the bazooka."
"I am a veteran of the Viet Nam (conflict) War. I would support the General's name being held in high regards as he was a Soldier and a Great Leader during his military career. His name should live on."
"Suggest also that the M113 series be named Gavin as long as the M113 remains in service. However, Gavin's concept of light cavalry should be continue forward to the next personnel carrier vehicle, whatever that is."
"A great idea that is long overdue!!"
"Great idea, a long time overdue. Any chance to rename Fort Bragg to Fort Gavin??"
"Without question and its about time the General received this kind of recognition. If he had been Navy, a ship would have been named after him long ago.. 'Airborne' All The Way!"
"During my time in the 82d Airborne Division, I came to know of the hero, Gavin. He was a legendary Soldier and a morally fit gentleman. He certainly deserves this honor."
"He was a genius when it came to warfare. I suggest naming many things in honor of him, a great leader and a wonderful human being."
"I just want to wish you the best of luck with project."
"WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE!!!!
"Best General ever in our military!!!"
"I was in an M113A2 in Germany all we called it was a track. This is a fitting way to call it something worthy."
"Having served under 'Slim Jim' I feel he deserve every honor that can be given him. Being all-most 80 years old I would go anywhere in or out of this world with him."
"I don't understand why it has not been done. All the way!"
"I personally feel it is a good idea and I am sure General Gavin would be pleased."
"The GAVIN--- for General James Gavin ...General JIM........The greatest and youngest General ever in the United States Army !"
"Anything Soldiers from the sky accomplished should be taken into account
"It is right and appropriate an honor to name the M113 the M113 Gavin after the finest Airborne Soldier and leader of WW2, and tactician and strategist of the 20th century, James Maurice Gavin. I am most proud to come from Gavin's boyhood hometown of Mount Carmel, PA. He can never be over applauded for his achievements and contributions, and the peace and freedom he helped secure for each of us, America and the world. Airborne all the way!"
"Yes, this man has lead the way for the American forces continually for 30 years. He deserves this."
"What better expression can be given to a Soldier of such distinction than to give him the tribute he so much deserves. Paratroopers remember Gavin now it is time to pay honor."
"If the name 'Gavin' is accepted it would be a good idea to have an article about the name and the equipment in the various military magazines like the Legion, VFW, AMVETS and current pubs that are circulated within the military establishment. Suggest that a postage stamp honoring Gen. Gavin would be appropriate to help get the respect he deserves."
"You might remember the Waco Gliders and the Infantry they carried during World War II. (I'm a prejudiced 325 Glider Infantry Regiment Veteran.)
I am pleased to participate in this project. If I can be of any further assistance please let me know. I am quite willing to contact my congress men on this issue. Airborne!"
"As a young Lieutenant in the 82nd Abn. Div., from 1959 - 62, and stationed @ Ft. Bragg, I had the honor and pleasure of meeting Gen. Gavin. At that time he was U.S. Ambassador to France (appted by JFK) and was visiting Bragg with the French Ambassador to the U.S. and his wife. They placed an urn of earth from St. Mare Eglise (sp ?) at the 82nd's Museum. The least the Sec. of the Army, etc., can do to honor this great WW II and diplomatic leader is to place his name on the vehicle cited. Thank you for this initiative.
"Sounds like a great idea; I'm all for it!"
"General Gavin was a great general and deserves all the accolades we can bestow on him."
"Gavin was a great General."
"So many times in this country people that give/care the most go unrecognized were as those that don't give/care the get the most. It's high time we show our thanks to those that do care. Yes ! honor this man for his insight and caring for his fellow man"
"I just wish I had the opportunity to have served my time under his command. I am honored to sign this petition for the recognition of a great General. AIRBORNE"
"I served with General Gavin as a Company Commander in the 325 Glider Inf. in World War II."
"General James M. Gavin and his gallant paratroopers and glidermen liberated my home town Nijmegen during the so-called operation Market Garden 17 September 1944. I have met General Gavin on several occasions."
"It was a privilege to serve under the General."
"It is clear that this man should be seen for the man he was. Honor Him....
"great idea!!"
"It would seem to me that there should be little question of the right course of action reference naming this vehicle. 'It's a GAVIN'. Do the right thing please."
1st TSG (A) STAFF: ROGER. We will always refer to the M113 as the Gavin.
"What's the hold up?? Politics or what??"
"I think if my dad were still alive today he would vote on this, so in honor of my father who was in the 101st Airborne, 502nd he would be proud to be one of the voters to name this after General Gavin!!! My Father's name was John DeRose and I am very proud of him and all the men who served in WWII and all the other wars! Geromino! Sincerely, Eagles Daughter!"
"This would be an honorable and fitting tribute."
"Being a member of ALL the Airborne units from 1964 to 1976, if this is not named after him, the American government should be like an ostrich, which sometimes they are, and stick there head and 4th point of contact in the ground! Geronimo, Curahee, Rakassan ALL THE WAY!. Don't let his Soldiers' down and those who followed in those giant steps. If you do, God help this pitiful self righteous country because we are going down!!!!!!!"
"I would have thought that the Army did not need a petition to name the M113 in honor of one of our finest Generals..."
"Let the Armed forces do the job they were trained for and keep the Politicians out of it. Get good Contractors with the best parts for our mechanized Fleets. The Armed forces need to have the trust in all of their equipment to keep their Moral high and Fighting Spirit Sharp."
"I think Gavin was one of the best generals in WW II; Gavin deserves this recognition and much more."
"I fully support the name be the Gavin in honor of a great man."
"I do not think that there is a name that is more deserving the Gentleman, as He was referred to by the Men that loved Him so. We should Honor the name and remember Him by naming the M113 as the 'GAVIN' Airborne All The Way"
"Belated and long overdue but correct."
"GEN GAVIN WAS A FINE MAN AND A GREAT LEADER I SERVED WITH HIM IN THE 82ndAIRBORNE DIV FT BRAGG NC 504 PIR AND 325 AIRBORNE REGT"
"Slim Jim" Gavin was every paratroops 'paratrooper'. He was the youngest Major-General (age:36) in the history of the U.S. Army next to U.S. Grant! Many times in combat his 82nd troopers saw him shouldering an M-1 Garand. He was a 'front-line' leader. I was privileged to have met him on a few occasions. The last 2 were at the 40th anniversarie's of Ste. Mere Eglise and Nijmegen, where he dedicated the monument of the 'famous Waal River crossing'. He was truly an 'All-American' and this M113 should have his name on it!"
"I use to be a 19Delta Cav Scout, I drove the M113 and was the Track Commander for a while. I always felt like I could make a difference when I was in that doggone thing. I think it's an excellent idea to call it the Gavin. We have a building named after him here at Fort Bragg,NC (Gavin Hall). Let's Do It!"
"We have too few heroes in this day and age and when a real one comes along we do little to recognize him. It also helps the troops using the equipment to remember why they are getting such a safe ride. We did the same thing with the Churchill tank in the second world war so I agree that this is a brilliant idea and long overdue. Airborne"
"Gen. Gavin is most deserving of this honor."
"IT'S ABOUT TIME THIS WAS DONE"
"Support the ground troops with everything possible. Wars are won on the ground with the sons of this great nation bearing arms. I'm a former office with the 173d Abn Bde from Vietnam '69. Last man from the Brigade of that era still on active duty. I took care of the troops as a Captain physician at Co B (Med) and with 2/503 all at LZ English Bon Son RVN"
"Great idea. As Much as he has contributed to what we know today as Airborne Combat...do this for him so that his name stands out.....forever"
"Gen Gavin was a great leader and a man with vision. He was well qualified for his position at R&D."
"I believe there is no better way to honor Gen. Gavin and his great vehicle than by naming his m113 after him, he is as deserving as any of the past war heroes who had vehicles named after them."
"Een man met zo'n achtergrond verdien dit. A man with his background deserve this, he was a great man."
"SSgt 101st Airborne Viet-Nam; Mos 11B4P; A Lot Of WWII Troopers I Know Always Said They Needed Something Like That It Is A Great Honor For Him Long Overdue I Am Proud To Be A Part Of It"
"As a former member of the 82nd Airborne Division and a Life Member of the 82nd Airborne Division Association, I think Lt. Gen. 'Slim Jim' Gavin is an Icon of the Airborne Community deserves the honor to have the M113 APC carry his name. Every 'TROOPER' who wears the 'AA' patch wears the spirit of Lt. Gen. Gavin."
"Concur 100%. All the way."
"The COHORT Chapter proudly requests that the M113 should be named after General Gavin."
"I fully support this effort. It is the least that should be done. It is a shame that we wait so long to honor our Soldiers. We have more than enough public buildings, parks and roads named after politicians who did very little for their country. We should be naming things after the true American heroes. When we run out of the names of true American heroes and patriots, then begin using the names of politicians.
>
"Give Credit where credit is due"
"General Gavin led his troopers in combat and they had to walk. could not drop. Now that we can drop and not have to walk let call the M-113 "The Gavin" to keep that Gavin determination always present in our fighting troopers.
"Slim Jim Gavin gave the US Army a good name. Naming this piece of kit after him will remind the US Army of its honourable roots of supporting the good."
"Served proudly with the 82nd Abn 1973 to 1977. Read every thing possible about one of the Army's best Generals....'Jumpin Jim Gavin'"
"This gesture would only be a start in fulfilling our obligation to honor a great American. General Gavin was a soldier, officer, and statesman sine pari--without equal!"
"I'm a World War II veteran of the 101st. A.B. Div. and I know General Gavin is worthy of this honer."
"I'm signing this in honor of my father who landed on Omaha Beach and fought through France and Germany. I know he would sign this if he were still with us."
"Made my first combat jump with Col. Gavin shortly after Midnight july 9th 1943 on the Island of Sicily. Took off from Tunisia North Africa.
"He was a hell of a good man!"
"That's what I like about the American way of life; someone is always coming up with a thoughtful and appropriate idea. Of course the venerable APC should be named the 'Gavin' to honour not only General Gavin personally, but also as a symbol to help illuminate the magnificent qualities of this outstanding leader, and gentleman, to those who would bravely don the uniform, be prepared to carry the Colors into battle and do their best to emulate and build on his example. How could President Bush not agree? (from a humble Australian paratroop who experienced the privilege of serving with the 82nd Abn Div) God Bless America."
emailaddy = xxxxx
city/state/zip = Melbourne Australia 3075
theGavin = Yes
Comments = I served for 22 years in the Australian Army Reserve as an Armoured
Corps soldier in the 4/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse Regiment. My vehicle
was the M113A1 with T50 Turret.
Source = While surfing the web for M113 technical drawings.
Music by WW2 combat veteran of Operation Market-Garden, John Addison, from the superb movie "A Bridge Too Far"; which General Gavin was a technical adviser on