FOX   FAX

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Journal of the 199th Recon Airplane Company RVN 1967-70  Vol.  5, Issue 2  Feb 08

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Swamp Fox Coordinator 2007-9               Woody Barnes Fox 35            swampfox35@bellsouth.net

Swamp Fox Coordinator 2004-6                Bob Woolley - Fox 26                              bjdubu@aol.com

Reunion Coordinator C&C                     Don Nicholson - Fox ??                        longtrips0@aol.com

Treasurer                                                Dan Aldridge - Fox 56                          Deepsea3@aol.com

Unit Historian                                         Charley Baker - Fox 46                 cbkbwdb@starpower.net

Patch and Shirt Project                            Gary Simon - Fox 16                            GaryLBB@aol.com

Web Master / Commo Chief                Ray "Doc" Jennings - Fox 032A               r.jennings@KTIS.net

IBDA Liaison                                             Sam Givhan Fox 31                         s_givhan@hotmail.com

Quad-A Liaison                                         Curt Herrick  Fox 26                         herrickcurt@verizon.net

Chaplain                                                  Larry French  Fox 35                lawrenceefrench@yahoo.com

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WEB SITE   www.SwampFox199thRAC.com

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FREE AIRPLANE !!   SEE EAA BELOW

 

Goals:

To find as many of our old friends as possible and get them talking to each other again.

To build as complete a history of the unit as possible and make it available to all the members.

To perpetrate reunions. The perps this year were Don Nicholson and Sam Givhan

 

 

Sergeant Holder was a charter member of the 199th Aviation Company (Lt).  The company was blessed with the brightest and best of NCOs and young motivated officers.  Sergeant Holder, then E-7, with an aircraft maintenance MOS of 67Z4H was a contemporary of SFC Donald Bearden, SFC William Corbin, SFC James Potere, SFC Luther Rhodes and SFC Charles Smith.  These NCOs were the backbone of the 199th.

    These were NCOs that were the cream of the crop who were instructors and leaders in their fields before they were assigned to the newly assembled and organized 199th at the beginning of 1967.  They, and leaders like CW2 Art Scholl and (First Sergeant) SFC Dwight Clark, built our company from scratch and insured that we arrived at Vinh Long, RVN, intact and prepared. 

     Once in country, LTC Robert McDaniel, C.O. of the parent battalion, once said to me, "I wish the rest of the 13th CAB had the spirit your people brought with you."  Sergeant Holder had that spirit of dedication to duty and pride in the unit.  He was a soldiers' soldier.  May he rest in peace and may God grant peace and comfort to his family.  He was a man we all respected and a man his family can be proud of.

    Sincerely,

CHARLES F. HUTCHINS, LTC USA RET (Commanding Officer Feb. '67-Aug '67}

    

From an old army prayer

 

            And when our work is done,

          Our course on earth has run,

            May it be said “well done”

          Well done, sergeant holder

                 “be thou at peace”

                                                                  Delta-6 (R. L. McDaniel)

 

 

 

 

 

Birddog Store - www.druid-consulting.com/bird_dog_model.htm

 

from Corky's - see the Bird Dog Store page

 

Patch and shirts

 

If you want to have a shirt or two monogrammed with the SF logo  Gary has a few Swamp Fox patches left as well. Contact Gary Simon @ GaryLBB@aol.com for details.  Remember, you have to provide the shirt(s).  Turnaround time is about 3 weeks.

 

 

WEB SITES of INTEREST

 

 

http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/

 

 

Cell Phones for Soldiers hopes to turn old cell phones into more than 12 million minutes of prepaid calling cards for U.S. troops stationed overseas in 2007. To do so, Cell Phones for Soldiers expects to collect 15,000 cell phones each month through a network of more than 3,000 collection sites across the country.

 

The phones are sent to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone – enough to provide an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad.

 

“Americans will replace an estimated 130 million cell phones this year,” says Mike Newman, vice president of ReCellular, “with the majority of phones either discarded or stuffed in a drawer.  Most people don’t realize that the small sacrifice of donating their unwanted phones can have a tremendous benefit for a worthy cause like Cell Phones for Soldiers.”

 

Cell Phones for Soldiers was founded by teenagers Robbie and Brittany Bergquist from Norwell, Mass., with $21 of their own money. Since then, the registered 501c3 non-profit organization has raised almost $1 million in donations and distributed more than 400,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers serving overseas.

 

“Cell Phones for Soldiers started as a small way to show our family’s appreciation for the men and women who have sacrificed the day-to-day contact with their own families to serve in the U.S. armed forces,” says the teens’ father, Bob Bergquist. “Over the past few years, we have been overwhelmed by the generosity of others. But, we have also seen the need to support our troops continue to grow as more troops are sent overseas for longer assignments.”

 

Through increased fundraising efforts, the Bergquist family hopes to raise more than $9 million in the next five years to fund new programs, such as providing video phones with prepaid service to allow soldiers abroad to see their families on a regular basis.

 

 

 

One of my classmates from flight school sent me this. Woo, it takes your from Stewart to Rucker and through the T-41, T-42 and Birddogs.

 

Dan Oates SF 26 1970

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alrPViPY_Vo

 

 

I have not been able to find out the class number or original source, but am still working on it. - editor (RJ)

 

 

 

This footage shows Army fixed wing flight training activities during a nine month period in 1968. The film was taken at Fort Stewart, GA and Fort Rucker, AL. Each training class was comprised of between 25-30 commissioned officers and distinguished by the color of their hats. This particular group of officers was known as the "Gold Hat" class. Initial scenes are of primary training at Ft. Stewart, where officers were taught basic flying skills in the Army's T-41 Mescalero (a modified Cessna 172). Scenes at Ft. Stewart include footage of the Army's T-41 training fleet at Wright Army Airfield (AAF) and pilots practicing takeoffs and landings on unimproved grass strips at Ft. Stewart. Advanced training at Fort Rucker was conducted in Army T-42 Beech Baron twin engine aircraft and the Cessna O-1 "Birddog" aircraft. The training pilots received in the Baron led to their multiengine and instrument ratings as Army pilots. The training in the "Dog" was tactical in nature and oriented towards preparing the new aviators for assignments upon graduation: a combat flying tour in Vietnam. There most would be flying the Birddogs in combat support activities such as reconnaissance, direction of artillery and naval gunfire, and forward air control. The T-42 footage shows officers being bused to Cairns AAF and activities from a typical training flight. In this sequence the pilot is receiving training flying with a hood and culminates the day's training with an instrument approach to Cairns AAF. The Birddog footage is taken at several satellite fields at Fort Rucker. Pilots are seen practicing landings over fifty foot obstacles, preflight activities, low level flying (dead reckoning), and the film ends with a scene showing the completion of a tactical 360 degree overhead approach and landing in a Birddog. - Great to see a well documented movie. This home movie should be very interesting to those who were at Fort Stewart, Georgia and Fort Rucker, Alabama in the late 1960's.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EAA calendar

 

 http://www.eaa.org/events

 

http://www.eaa.org/airventure/

 

6 Months 3 Weeks to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2008!
JULY 28 - AUGUST 3, 2008

 

 

 

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh News

 

 

Two new aircraft top the list of prizes in EAA’s annual sweepstakes - this new Cirrus SR20 
and a RotorWay A600 Talon helicopter kit.  Read more about the sweepstakes

 

 

IBDA

 

www.ibdaweb.com/merchandise.htm

 

Lots of new stuff on the IBDA web site.

 

 

 

www.ibdaweb.com

 

FROM: The Bark

IBDA has been very supportive of Birddog Unit Reunions and deserves our thanks. We can show it by joining up. Please follow the lead of the above pooch. It's only a few bucks. Well worth it for the magazine alone.  - editor (RJ) 

 

 

 

SWAMP FOX NETWORK

 

Welcome to San Oates Fox 26 doates@MRNewburgh.com

 

 

Note: call sign Fox ?? means I don't have your call sign.

          Drop me an e-mail and I will fix that.

         

           If you have a change of phone number, address or especially e-mail address.

           Let me know so we don't loose people.

          

           Thanks, editor

 

Soldiers Angels

 

Do check out this web site if you are looking for a charity to support our troops.

 

 

www.soldiersangels.com

 

 

 

Site News

 

status quo

 

If you have something to add to the Fox Fax, I need it before the fifth of the month.

I try to publish the weekend following the fifth. Sometimes I am even on time.

 

NOTE: NEW e-mail address below

 

Cheers Y'all  - Editor r.jennings@KTIS.net

 

 

 

(EOM)