Engineer, Construction And Equipment |
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TWS Ribbon Bar |
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1972-1972, 521, Infantry Training Regiment (Camp Geiger), 1st Infantry Training Regiment (Cadre)
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1972-1972, 1341, Supply Bn, 3rd FSR
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1972-1973, 1341, MCAS Rose Garden, Nam Phong, Thailand, ComCabs West
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1973-1973, 1341, MACS-5, MACG-28
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1973-1973, 1341, USS Pensacola (LSD-38)
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1973-1975, 1341, MACS-5, MACG-28
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1975-1978, Break in Service
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1978-1978, 1341, 4th Assault Amphibian Bn (4th AAV Bn)
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Reflections on Sgt Binfield's
US Marine Corps Service
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PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE MARINE CORPS.
My great great great grandfather served in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic wars. My father's father served in the British Army in WWI in a unit named "The Old Contempitibles." My mother's father served in the Italian Army in the late 1800's. My father served in WWII with the Navy. My uncle James was a career Marine Officer. I guess that you could say that it was a family tradition to serve, but I did not know the above information until later in life. While in high school, myself and two friends were to have joined the Marines on the buddy plan. I was the only one to go through with it. OOO-RAH!!
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WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK. WHERE DID YOU GO TO BOOT CAMP AND WHAT UNITS, BASES, SHIPS OR SQUADRONS WERE YOU ASSIGNED TO? WHAT WAS YOUR REASON FOR LEAVING?
1971 Parris island Platoon 397 1972 Camp Geiger, ITR 1972 Engineer School, Courthouse Bay, Camp Lejeune 1972 H&S Co., Sup., Bn.,3rd FSR, Camp Foster Okinawa 1972-1973 Sub Unit 1, H&S Co., 3rdFSR, Task Force Delta, MCAS Rose Garden 1973-1975 MACS-5, MCAS Beaufort 1978-79, 4th AMTRACS, Tampa, Florida USMCR
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IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN ANY MILITARY OPERATIONS, INCLUDING COMBAT, HUMANITARIAN AND PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS, PLEASE DESCRIBE THOSE WHICH MADE A LASTING IMPACT ON YOU AND, IF LIFE-CHANGING, IN WHAT WAY?
Supported 1st MAW combat operations in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. I was assigned to Bulk Fuel, Sub Unit 1, 3rd FSR from Camp Foster, Okinawa. Nam Phong Thailand, MCAS Rose Garden Task Force Delta air operations were of three distinct types: day fighter-cover, day ground-attack and night ground-attack. These missions in turn were associated with specific geographic areas and targets. Most numerous were daytime flights supporting MACV and the South Vietnamese in MR 1, MR 2 and Route Package 1 during the combat to regain Quang Tri Province. These tasks were conducted with F-4's and A-6's using bombs, rockets and cannon fire. Sorties normally consisted of two to three aircraft each. Daily the aircraft lined up on Nam Phong's single runway with engines screaming at 100 percent power as the pilots checked engine instruments. Each aircraft then took off in turn and quickly rendezvoused on its climb out to the target area. Many of the Marine flights hit a target, flew to Da Nang to refuel and rearm and then flew another mission on the return to Nam Phong. Fighter cover was in support of the ongoing strikes by 7th Air Force against the North Vietnamese political and economic infrastructure. The strikes, which had begun on May 8, were part of an extensive naval and air campaign to pressure the North Vietnamese into a negotiated settlement. The campaign included the mining of harbors, attacks against economic targets, the use of precision guided munitions (smart bombs) and a massive increase in the size and duration of strikes with the aim of reducing the flow of supplies into North Vietnam and support to their operations in South Vietnam. In contrast to the previous, graduated campaigns, commanders took all necessary steps to ensure target destruction. Marine F-4's conducted combat air patrols to protect aircraft from North Vietnamese reaction. This required them to fly a specified orbit point from which to cover tanker, command and control, electronic warfare and rescue aircraft over Route Packages 4,5 and 6. From orbit points they could track and engage North Vietnamese interceptors and air defense positions. The Marine KC-130's refueled the fighters going in and coming out. The missions witnessed Marine air integrated with the Air Force in air-to-air and deep penetration flight profiles. The interdiction of roads and trails in the Barrel Roll and Steel Tiger areas of Laos were the missions assigned to VMA(AW)-533 crews with their night armed reconnaissance abilities. LtCol. Brown wrote, his squadron began interdicting convoys on Route Package 1 on 12 August and, like our entire effort, it was relentless. To the enemy, this increased bludgeoning was crippling.
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FROM YOUR ENTIRE MILITARY SERVICE, DESCRIBE ANY MEMORIES YOU STILL REFLECT BACK ON TO THIS DAY.
The fact that I will always be able to say that I passed through the gates of Parris Island as civilian and departed as a Marine. No one can take that fact away. I was a Marine starting in 1971, and I am still a Marine, just not on active duty. Also, as I was aboard the USS Pensacola, LSD-38 in the Mediterranean. October 6, 1973 The Yom Kippur War brings United States and USSR to brink of conflict. The surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces on Israel in October 1973 throws the Middle East into turmoil and threatens to bring the United States and the Soviet Union into direct conflict for the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Though actual combat did not break out between the two nations, the events surrounding the Yom Kippur War seriously damaged U.S.-Soviet relations and all but destroyed President Richard Nixon's much publicized policy of detente. Initially, it appeared that Egypt and Syria would emerge victorious from the conflict. Armed with up-to-date Soviet weaponry, the two nations hoped to avenge their humiliating defeat in the Six-Day War of 1967. Israel, caught off guard, initially reeled under the two-front attack, but Israeli counterattacks turned the tide, aided by massive amounts of U.S. military assistance, as well as disorganization among the Syrian and Egyptian forces. The Syrians were driven back, with Israeli troops seizing the strategically important Golan Heights. Egyptian forces fared even worse: retreating back through the Sinai Desert, thousands of their troops were surrounded and cut off by the Israeli army. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, together with his Soviet counterparts, eventually arranged a shaky cease-fire. When it became clear that Israel would not give up its siege of the Egyptian troops (low on food and medicine by this time), the Soviets threatened to take unilateral action to rescue them. Tempers flared both in Washington and Moscow; U.S. military forces went to a Stage 3 alert (Stage 5 is the launch of nuclear attacks). The Soviets backed down on their threat but the damage to relations between the two nations was serious and long lasting. Kissinger worked furiously to bring about a peace settlement between Israel and Syria and Egypt. In what came to be known as "shuttle diplomacy," the secretary of state flew from nation to nation hammering out the details of the peace accord. Eventually, Israeli troops withdrew from some of their positions in both the Sinai and Syrian territory, while Egypt promised to fore go the use of force in its dealings with Israel. Syria grudgingly accepted the peace plan, but remained adamantly opposed to the existence of the Israeli state.
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OF ALL THE MEDALS, AWARDS, FORMAL PRESENTATIONS AND QUALIFICATION BADGES YOU RECEIVED, OR OTHER MEMORABILIA, WHICH ONE IS THE MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY?
The Marine Rifle Sharpshooters Badge. Not bad for a city boy from New York that had never handled a weapon before Paris Island. The Marine Corps allowed me to fire an M-14 and darn it, I was pretty good!
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WHICH INDIVIDUAL(S) FROM YOUR TIME IN THE MILITARY STAND OUT AS HAVING THE MOST POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?
SgtMaj Evans; He was the most impressive SNCO that I have ever met. The man was a Marine to the bone. Very professional, very firm, yet fair.
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CAN YOU RECOUNT A PARTICULAR INCIDENT FROM YOUR SERVICE, WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN FUNNY AT THE TIME, BUT STILL MAKES YOU LAUGH?
These things happened during NATO Exercise. Operation Deep Furrow '73, in Turkey. As we were de-snailing during redeployment to the Pensacola, I was taking a break. A Marine was standing on top of a jeep or generator getting ready to attach the lift hook of a CH-46. A wrong command or pilot error caused this Marine to be hanging from the hook as the chopper took off. He was about 20 feet in the air over water when he finally decided to let go. SPLASH!! Fortunately, he was not hurt. Don't throw a sealed C-Rat peanut butter tin in the camp fire, LOL.
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WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY SERVING, WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY?
I was trained to be a 1341, Engineer Equipment Mechanic. I am currently working and coming to the end of my 30+ years career as a civilian 1341, while working for Pinellas County Florida. I am a Master Certified Heavy Truck Technician that specializes in Heavy Equipment.
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WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS ARE YOU A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? WHAT SPECIFIC BENEFITS DO YOU DERIVE FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIPS?
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia Brotherhood. The best camaraderie that I have experienced in several try's in service orgs. Marine Corps Heritage Foundation - Supporting the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
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IN WHAT WAYS HAS SERVING IN THE MILITARY INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CAREER? WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST ABOUT YOUR TIME IN THE SERVICE?
I am more dedicated and have more discipline than my co-workers who did not serve.
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BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY JOINED THE MARINE CORPS?
OOO-RAH ! Keep the traditions of the Marine Corps going.
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IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU REMEMBER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND THE FRIENDS YOU SERVED WITH.
I have been able to post my experiences and share them with my Marine Brothers, whether I served with them or not. *
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