Engineer Memoirs
A
General Kinnard inherited a set of tables of organization and equipment [TOE]
which were quite rough. Neither the Howze Board nor my actions in ACSFOR
were very refined. As a result, Kinnard added to and trimmed men and equipment
from the 11th Air Assault Division as his tests progressed. He was not able to cut
the personnel because maintenance of helicopters was costly in terms of people.
But he was able to cut the vehicles down drastically, from 3,500 to 1,500.
Moreover, the vehicles were all light; he tried to make do with nothing larger than
a 1/4-ton jeep. The number of helicopters grew as time went on. Whereas the
standard Army division had about 100 helicopters, the 1 lth Air Assault Division
wound up with about 430.
Q ..
What about fire support in the 11th Air Assault Division?
A
Most of the fire support was furnished by the 2.75-inch rockets and . 5 0 - c a l i b e r
machine guns with which the helicopters were equipped. More fire support came
from the 24 Mohawks which were equipped with 5-inch naval rockets. [The
division had 30 Mohawks, but 6 were strictly for surveillance and carried no
weapons.] In addition, the division had three battalions of M-102 howitzers. The
M-102 was a lighter version of the 105-mm howitzer. And finally, it had a Little
John Battalion which was equipped to fire conventional and atomic rounds.
Q ..
Wasn't the other equipment in the 1 lth Air Assault Division also lighter?
A ..
Yes. Engineer bridging equipment, for example, was lighter. Every piece of
equipment had to be carried within, or slingloaded by, a helicopter. Even small
pieces of equipment were made lighter. For example, plastic water cans replaced
the heavier metal ones. Ladders for descending from helicopters were made of
aluminum, gas tanks were replaced by rubber bladders, and so forth. Kinnard
encouraged his men to think up ideas for making equipment lighter and they
responded admirably. In addition, Kinnard was given a slush fund of about
||content||
.5
million by General Art Trudeau, the chief of research and development. Trudeau
was a great believer in air mobility, and just as he had done for the Howze Board,
gave the 1 lth Division funds with which to purchase items on the open market.
There was no need to develop a lot of equipment which already existed. It was the
best
||content||
.5 million investment the Army ever made.
Q ..
Let me jump ahead. Later, w h e n you took over the 24th Division in Germany,
wasn't there an opportunity for developing a better conventional army as opposed
to simply relying on nuclear weapons?
92
Previous Page
