US Army troops in Invasion of Grenada

Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Friday, February 11, 2005 1:14 PM

HI guys, I was stationed with 9th ID at Ft Lewis from '83 to '85. the rangers I knew wore Y webbing. I remember a foto on cover of SOLDIER magazine after the op- it showed rangers moving out on Grenada. the 3or4 rangers are all in tropical green with steel pots and ALICE packs packed to overflowing! AIRBORNE!!!

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 1, 2005 2:06 AM

Well, I don't know about the Rangers, but in my unit, although y straps were issued, an awful lot of us continued to use the H straps in the field, both for comfort and to make wearing the butt-pack easier. (The hooks on the Y straps barely reached the eyelets on the butt-pack).

Al

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 31, 2005 11:21 AM

Gino,
Glad I could help. I look forward to seeing the finished product. After checking out your showcases I'm sure it will be awesome.

A C Spectre

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HeavyArty

Member since
December 2002
From: Valrico, FL

Posted by HeavyArty on Monday, January 31, 2005 11:06 AM

A C Spectre,
Thanks. Just what I was looking for. Somehow, I missed that site in my searches. I concur on the steel pot issue as well. Patrol caps sound/look cool, but they offer no protection.

Got the CC A model exhaust are on the way, may be starting on this soon. Thinkl I am going to do a MH-60A Velcro hawk, initial Spec Ops blackhawks first used in Grenada.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 31, 2005 10:29 AM

Gino,
Check out this link, http://www.benning.army.mil/rtb/HISTORY/present/grenada.htm These pictures show Rangers wearing what looks like the "Y" style LBE not the H. It also looks like they wore steel pots the majority of the time on the ground. The shot of the two Rangers in Patrol Caps looks to me like they are in a rear area or "admin" mode and not on an actual mission. It makes sense to me that if there was a chance of being on the receiving end of hostile fire they would stay in steel pots.

Hope this helps.

A C Spectre

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HeavyArty

Member since
December 2002
From: Valrico, FL

Posted by HeavyArty on Monday, January 31, 2005 10:24 AM

QUOTE: I believe that they still had the "H" style LBE in 83.

A C Spectre,
Y harness was around and most regular Army units had them in late 70's. I think rangers wore Y harness, but not sure since they were wearing older Vietnam era OG-107 fatigues.

Thanks for the info though. Just trying to get accurate figures if/when I do this one.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 31, 2005 10:16 AM

Gino,
I believe that they still had the "H" style LBE in 83. As far as Patrol Caps, I have seen pictures of both. Shots of guys in PC's and shots of guys on the ground still wearing steel pots. My experience was any time we were on any type of aircraft we wore helmets, but that may not have been SOP back then. I will try and do a little research and see if I can get a more definitive answer for you.

A C Spectre.

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HeavyArty

Member since
December 2002
From: Valrico, FL

Posted by HeavyArty on Sunday, January 30, 2005 10:28 AM

Couple more questions. Did the 75th Ranger RGMT wear newer "Y" style LBE or older "H" LBE? Also, I know the Rangers wore M1 helmets during their airborne insertion, and removed them once on the ground for patrol caps. Did they wear patrol caps on thier air assualts too, or M1 helmets.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 11:17 AM

Gino,
I'm not sure if the picture above is actually from Urgent Fury. To my knowledge there was only one airborne insertion by the Rangers and that was the initial insertion which was done at an altitude of 500 feet. Because of the low altitude a reserve chute was not used because if a malfunction of the main chute did occur there would not be enough time to deploy a reserve. The Ranger in the picture is definitely wearing a reserve chute. After the initial insertion Rangers did conduct airmobile ops, but again to my knowledge there was only the initial airborne insertion which was done under cover of darkness.
The Urgent Fury vets that I served with in 1st Bat all had only the one Combat Jump.

The Ranger uniform at that time was the Vietnam era solid green jungle fatigue. The 75th did not switch to the woodland camo BDU until after I left the Battalion in 1988. I believe that change occurred somtime in 89 or 90.

A C Spectre

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HeavyArty

Member since
December 2002
From: Valrico, FL

Posted by HeavyArty on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 12:56 AM

Jon, I have been looking into that as well. Thanks, but most of the links don't work (only 1st one works). You can't leave all the Google code in the link. Try the remove frame button on the upper right of Google section, and it will take out all the Google code for you.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

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Cobrahistorian

Member since
December 2002
From: Aaaaah.... Alpha Apaches... A beautiful thing!

Grenada

Posted by Cobrahistorian on Wednesday, January 26, 2005 12:16 AM

Gino,

Take a look into the BDUs they wore as well. The 80-83 period was transitional, moving from the Vietnam-era ERDL camouflage to the BDUs we have today. The "transition pattern" utilities were cut exactly like BDUs, but were made from ERDL camouflage material, and so they came in the Green-Dominant or Brown-Dominant patterns. Green Doms would have been appropriate for Grenada, and I seem to remember seeing pics of our guys wearing them,. Here's one shot of a Ranger in ERDLs, followed by one in Vietnam Jungle Fatigues

http://www.ranger.org/images/wpe6.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.armyranger.com/learn/equipment/weapons/images/m21_01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.armyranger.com/mod.php%3Fmod%3Duserpage%26page_id%3D27&h=341&w=416&sz=42&tbnid=GDuSksEcOuAJ:&tbnh=99&tbnw=121&start=5&prev=/images%3Fq%3DRanger%2BGrenada%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

"1-6 is in hot"

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HeavyArty

Member since
December 2002
From: Valrico, FL

Posted by HeavyArty on Monday, January 24, 2005 4:43 PM

Thanks all, good info.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 24, 2005 3:34 PM

Gino,
It would have been the M16A1. First Battalion was one of the first units in the Army to get the A2's and that happened when I was there (85-88). 1st Bat Rangers dropped from 500 feet with no reserve chute.

This was before the activation of the 3rd Bat and Regimental HQ's so the Rangers unit patch or "Scroll" was the older thicker scroll.

Hope this helps.

A C Spectre

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gburdon

Member since
January 2003
From: Burlington, Ontario Canada

Posted by gburdon on Monday, January 24, 2005 2:41 PM

Gino

Yes M-16A1 were still in use. The CAR-15 underwent a modification from it's Viet Nam beginning it now used the same barrel and flash suppressor as the standard rifle. DML M-16 family kit has this variant.

A variety of weapons were carried by Delta and Seals Ingram M-10, WWII M-3 'Grease Gun' and the H&K MP5 all suppressed of course

82nd carried M-47 Dragon missiles
Anyone could have LAW anti tank rocket
Ranger carried M-67 Recoilless Rifle

A private contractor provided unique ammunition vests of several patterns for testing to the 2 / 75th Rangers only issued in Olive Drab.

Hope this helps further

Cheers;

Gregory

VETERAN - (Noun) - Definition - One who signed a blank cheque as: “Payable to The People of Canada, Up To and Including My Life."

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HeavyArty

Member since
December 2002
From: Valrico, FL

Posted by HeavyArty on Monday, January 24, 2005 2:15 PM

Thanks guys. That is basically what I got as well.

One other question, were they still using M16A1 as well. I can't tell from the pics I have. I believe they were though.

Haven't picked figs yet. I was thinking DML USMC Fire Team (PAGST VESTS) for 82nd ABN troops running from the chopper. We shall see. Other option I'm toying with is an early MH-60A Velco Hawk with some Rangers. Not sure yet. I'll let you know. This is still in the developmental stages.

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

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gburdon

Member since
January 2003
From: Burlington, Ontario Canada

Posted by gburdon on Monday, January 24, 2005 2:07 PM

Gino

I pulled my Grenada (Osprey Men at Arms) reference and can confirm for you the following.

1. Rangers deployed with the M-1 Steel Helmet with Paratroopers harness installed.
2. Rangers were issued the Viet Nam pattern OG-107 (Olive Green Colour 107) Rip Stop Poplin Cotton Uniform and the Helmet Cover was Early Woodland Pattern material.
3. Most wore the Ranger OD green Patrol Cap of course with the "Ranger Crush" to it.
4. 82nd was deployed with Woodland Fatigues and Kevlar PASGT Helmets and Vests
5. Footwear was the Olive Drab Sided Boots Hot Weather (Jungle Boots)
6. Marines, Marine Recon and Navy Seals and Delta were deployed with WOODLAND pattern fatigues.

If you haven't picked figures for this project yet. I would suggest the RANGER's from Dragon or DML along with the SEAL, LRRP or Marine Recon from their 'NAM series of figures Dragon or DML. These will give you an excellent grouping of figures with lots of extras to swap between figures.

The OSPREY Book is also an excellent little reference with lots of good photos and color references for OP Urgent Fury.

If you need any other assistance feel free to reply and/or email me. I'll be happy to help where I can.

Cheers;

Gregory

VETERAN - (Noun) - Definition - One who signed a blank cheque as: “Payable to The People of Canada, Up To and Including My Life."

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Anonymous

Member since
November 2005

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, January 24, 2005 11:44 AM

Gino,
I served in the 1st Ranger BN. from late 85 to 88. All of the pictures that I saw of Urgent Fury showed the Rangers with steel pots. I can't confirm whether or not the 82nd had the kevlars at that time or not. When I got to the Battalion I was issued a Kevlar, but I'm not sure on the exact date that the unit changed over. I would guess that it was fairly quickly after the operation. As I remember, once one unit in Socom got a new piece of equipment, the rest of the units followed suit fairly quickly.

Hope that helps. Your idea sounds great, keep us posted, I'd love to see the finished product.

Regards,
A C Spectre

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HeavyArty

Member since
December 2002
From: Valrico, FL

US Army troops in Invasion of Grenada

Posted by HeavyArty on Sunday, January 23, 2005 3:25 PM

I have been researching an idea for a Grenada invasion dio. I know that Oct 83 was the transition period from wearing of M1 steel pot helmet and Kevlar helmet. I have seen photos of both styles being worn. Does anyone know which is more accurate or was more in use? From what I have seen, it looks like 82nd ABN was only ones with Kevlars. Marines and Rangers still had M1. Can anyone confirm this or add to it?

Here is my idea:
I am planning on building the 1/35 MRC/Academy UH-60A as an early model with early exhaust from the new Cobra Company set as a Grenada bird.
CC exhaust:

http://www.cobracompany.com/35016.htm

Gino P. Quintiliani - Field Artillery - The KING of BATTLE!!!

Check out my Gallery: https://app.photobucket.com/u/HeavyArty

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

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