Ordnance Corps

NIKE HERCULES ORDNANCE SUPPORT UNIT HISTORY 200TH ORDNANCE DETACHMENT DSP 1/333 ADA and DSP 2/52 ADA

Air Defense Artillery

Hi Doyle,

Thanks for writing. I will try to clarify what took place when 1/333 ADA changed over to 2/52 ADA. I was indeed there for the transition.

I arrived at Ft. Bliss on July 15, 1969, and was assigned as a Nike Missile Repairman, MOS 22M20, as a member of DSP 1/333 ADA. I was a young SP4 at the time. We were a STRAC unit and had our line batteries set up on the North end of the old Biggs Air Force Base runway. Our equipment was mobile in configuration.

Our DSP shop was located in one of the old tin buildings along Jeb Stewart Road north of Forrest Road and our barracks were on Forrest Road in the 2400 area. We wore the Air Defense Center and Ft. Bliss patch which some referred to as the "Electric Basketball."

Towards the end of 1969 we were informed that the battalion was to be deactivated. We soon learned that many of us would be transferred overseas. In January 1970 we had a formation in the battery area. If your name was called, you would fall out and form up in another formation off to the side. My name was not called and I ended up standing with about a dozen other young men left behind in the old formation. I will never forget the feeling that came over me. We were told that we few would be shipping out to Korea. As soon as I could, I spoke with my Platoon Sergeant, SFC Green, and asked him to get me into the new unit. Within a few hours, SFC Green came to me in the barracks to inform me that he had gotten me off orders for Korea and that I would be staying at Ft. Bliss. What a relief!

Within days we sewed on ARADCOM patches and became DSP 2/52. We had a lot of work to do. Most of our equipment was turned in and reissued back to us. We turned in our M-14 rifles and received M-16's. We managed to get a few newer vehicles in the process. We were constantly changing bumper numbers on our trucks. First we stenciled HHB 2/52 ADA (PROV) in white on our O.D. vehicles. We had just completed stenciling the fleet when we had to change all the markings to black. I became an expert at stenciling. Soon we changed the markings to HHB 2/52 ADA (ELM).

2/52 ADA at that time was part of the 31st ADA Brigade which was headquartered at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida. The Miami-Homestead Defense consisted of the four permanent firing batteries of 2/52 ADA and some Hawk. At Ft. Bliss we had a 31st Brigade Element consisting of 2/52 ADA (Element) and 3/68 ADA (Element) which was a HAWK unit. There may have been another Hawk unit in the element as well.

All of the personnel assigned to the elements at Ft. Bliss had been transferred to Florida (on paper) and attached to Ft. Bliss. That may explain why some of us stayed here for so long. I was here for over four years. The 2/52 element had a full complement of DSP personnel, while the direct support in Florida relied on civilians to support their equipment.

At Ft. Bliss we maintained a full battalion of mobile Nike equipment. A small staff of line battery personnel remained at Ft. Bliss to perform operator maintenance on the equipment that was emplaced at Magregor Range. DSP moved to Magregor Range and our sister battalion 4/62 ADA moved to Ft. Bliss. We supported the 2/52 ADA equipment as well as the equipment belonging to Range Command. I really enjoyed working at Magregor Range in those days. Almost every week we would have live firings of Nike Ajax and Nike Hercules by units participating in Annual Service Practice. I got to work on Ajax as well as Herc as problems would arise.

Our line battery personnel would come to Ft. Bliss one at a time each year to train on the mobile equipment. We would go out to the field with them and fix any problems. They would actually fire a missile at the end of their three weeks of training. The concept was that if needed, we would deploy the mobile equipment by aircraft to any location in the world and the personnel from Florida would meet up with us to conduct the mission. We practiced loading C-5A aircraft with Nike equipment semiannually. It seems some of the senarios we practiced were actually what was carried out during Operation Desert Sheild/Storm.

In 1972, ARADCOM began to phase out. The 31st ADA Brigade 2/52 ADA element at Ft. Bliss became 2/52 ADA under the command of 31st ADA Brigade at Ft. Bliss. We received a full compliment of line battery personnel. The 4/62 ADA was deactivated and we at 2/52 remained as the only mobile Nike Hercules battalion in the army. I soon departed for Germany, to serve proudly with DSP 2/56 ADA.

2/52 ADA had been stationed at Ft. Bliss during the sixties prior to my experience. I recall some of the old timers telling about being sent to Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The battalion was awarded the Meritorious Unit Award for that operation. I recall they mentioned moving the equipment by rail.

I remember Pete Cox, Randy Well, and Jeff Lichtman very well. Thanks to your website we have had contact over the past year.

I hope I have answered some of your questions. The only thing I can add is that our General Support Unit was the 13th Ordnance Company here at Ft. Bliss during all of my assignments.

Thanks for letting me take this trip down memory lane. I love to recall my days with Nike. We sure had good people to learn from, work with and enjoy! We also had a darned good system as well!

Keep up the good work!

Regards,

Ken Johnson