The Mighty Ninth

Strive To Reach The Summit


Most viewed - Joe Cook
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JCook-123.JPGWestern PA?133 viewsIt looks like western Pennsylvania to me during the rainy season.
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Joe_Cook.JPGHere's where it all began133 views(2nd from right 1st row) While attending the NCO Academy at Ft Sill, I remember taking my turn to march the class. I marched them into the flower bed of the Officer's Training Barracks. I commanded 'Platoon,halt' and then 'about, face' and 'forward, march'. As I looked back I saw about 40 spots of (turning marks) marks in the flower bed gravel. So I then commanded 'double time,march'. A day or two later I was sent to California and then to Hawaii (on a PAN AM flight) and hooked up with the 2/9th.
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JCook28.JPGBase Piece - May 1966132 views#3 Gun Section - Base Piece
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JCook43.JPGLt Herrick, 2/9th FA staff; Lt James A. Mager, Corps of Engineers131 viewsJoe poses with two Lieutenants. The sign overhead reads: "Bravo Ever Ready" and "Mighty Ninth Sir" with the unit designation and the 25th Inf Div Tropic Lightning patch in the center.

L to R: Lt Chris Q. Herrick and Lt James A. Meger (Corps of Engineers) on either side of Sgt Joe Cook.
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Joe_and_the_Medic_4.JPGHanging Out131 viewsSgt Joe Cook, UNK, and our Battery Medic Sp4 Riddle.
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JCook89.JPGHere...write this down131 viewsSp4 James McBrayer, Jr is giving me the coordinates for Battery Center
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JCook38.JPGFrom the "Pink Kitty" to Tent City for the FDC131 viewsWe bailed out of the "Pink Kitty" FDC. Obviously, it was not sustainable in our new jungle environment. This GP-small tent also served as the FDC sleeping quarters.
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Joe_and_the_Medic_2.JPG130 viewsI wasn't doing a good job, so the Medic took over. Note the surgical precision he uses to cut the bread. Medic Riddle was the same guy who attended to SSG David Spears who was KIA during a firing incident.
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Joe_and_Medic_1.JPG130 viewsMore cooking lessons. Here, the Battery Medic (name is Riddle) watches how I cut a loaf of bread.
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JCook22d.JPGUnderground Bunker - the orginal CONEX FDC concept130 viewsThe next change for our FDC operations was CONEX containers. We buried two (2) CONEX containers in Base Camp. They were dug in with the help of a bulldozer. They were facing each other, dropped into the hole and covered with sandbags. We made a "sandbag staircase" to get back to the surface. I don't know how this would work out in monsoon season. Inside the containers, we used red lights at night and white lights during the day. We moved in our standard field tables for the charts and placed the radios on ammo boxes.
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JCook21.jpg"Base Camp" - Jan 1966129 viewsThis is our FDC location at Base Camp, Pleiku, 11Jan66. Sp4 Larry L. Black is half-turned to the camera, Sp4 James McBrayer, Jr is using the pick to make foxholes, Huckaby is by the "Pink Kitty". The "Pink Kitty" is the FDC training trailer that we brought over from Hawaii. We decided later that a plywood FDC trailer above ground was not a smart move. The picture is looking north, northwest.
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JCook27.JPG"Base Camp" Haircut129 viewsGetting a haircut while part of my wash (see the green fatigues?) is hanging in the background. Note the 2/9th insignia on the barber's cap.
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