Sabot,
Your on for the swap...shoot me an e-mail and we can work out the details. I'm going to see my Uncle this weekend and I will gently broach the subject and see if I can't get some of his slides. Thanks fer the input guys...I'll post pics when I get it done. Attempting to get the M3 Lee pics posted now!

I assume you're talking about the vinyl tracks for the link & length. You'd be nuts to trade the Esci kit for the old Tamiya M60A1;) . Your e-mail isn't listed on the member directory, so e-mail or PM me your address and I'll get the tracks out on Monday.

Rob--at long, long last I finally discover an honest general officer.
DJ

Why thank you DJ, although it is not entirely true. I do feel like I'm taking advantage of a guy when you trade vinyl tracks for individual links. But, he may not like single link and he probably needs the older chevron style, so I guess this is a win-win trade.

Arencga - The M60A1s we had in the 5th ID in the late 70s all came from Red River with the search light mounts on the right rear of the turret. We had to remove the corner of the bustle rack to mount the search light at the rear. We had the smaller VSS-3 searchlights, the large Tamiya light is the VSS-1. We left our search lights mounted over the gun all the time. The only time we carried a light on th rear rack was when a tank was performing searchlight duty at gunnery, then they carried a spare on the rear rack. In fact, we lost a searchlight in a freak occurence. A tank was parked behind a moving target berm down range ( the berm was suppossed to be hi enough to protect the tank. The crew got one tracka little too high on the back side of the berm, the top of the berm had apparently been worn down by inert rounds skipping off the top. Well, a practice HEP round was over on a panel target, skipped off the top of the berm and then apparently hit the cupola of the searchlight vehicle then smashed the spare searchlight. The searchlight crews always had all hatches closed, the engine was running at about 2000 RPM to power the searchlight, they never knew what hit them. After the night runs were over, they tried to open the cupola hatch, it was jammed, two of the cupola vision blocks were shattered and the searchlight was nowhere to be found

Ranger,

I suspect the fact that we were a Reserve unit had something to do with us leaving our searchlights in storage. We rarely got our tanks more than 20-30 klicks from our home motorpool, so we could leave them behind. Add to that the fact of the installed searchlights sitting out in the sun and rain, and storing them was a better idea anyway. I had forgotten about the corner of the basket having to come off when the searchlight was hung on the storage rack.

Your comments about the searchlight tanks on the range reminded me of a very sad and tragic event that occurred in about 1984 to one of our searchlight tanks. The two tanks detailed to be searchlight tanks were coming off the hill we placed them on, and the first tank tried to take the sharp turn at the bottom in High range. He partially missed the turn, and had to back up to make it. The second tank had let his gun tube get misoriented, and was slewing to get it back downrange, when his driver nearly ran in to the other tank in the twilight. The gun tube slammed in to the commanders hatch and popped the lock loose, slamming it shut onto the commander's head. He died within a few minutes, and there was nothing anyone could do.

The SSG who died was from another platoon, but I knew him as quite a character. He had been a SEAL in VN for several tours, had spent several years after as a merc in Africa, and had trained the Saudi and Israeli armies as a contractor. At the time he died, he made his living renting out his large collection of military vehicles to Hollywood production companies. To keep busy he moonlighted as a lighting director...for porno movies! (No kidding!) He flew to Arizona from So. California for every meeting and drill, just because he loved being a tanker so much. It was a shame to loose him, but he went out doing what he loved, so I guess that much is good.

Sorry if this is a bit heavy for this forum. Funny thing about memories...get them started and it is hard to stop them.

Just goes to show how much appreciation we need to have for our men and women in uniform. You don't have to be in combat to give your life for your country. Thank you to all who are serving and have served. And as always, God Bless America!