Ever wondered what guns would say, If guns could speak:
I was made 40 years ago. Shipped from Springfield MA down to Miami FL to International Distributers. From there it made its' way to "FayetteNam" North Carolina. Purchased by the 2nd Lt. that I did my tour with, a few days before the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Abn Div was deployed in response to the Tet offensive in VietNam. In less then 36 hours the first planes took off. The 2nd Lt and I lasted about three days before our C-141 Starlifter took off for Alaska, Okinawa and VN. We were fully functional in about 6 days
Having landed in DaNang - we spent a few days around there to get a little acclimatized to the weather and the war. Then I was onto a truck convoy to the Hue area. There we worked to push the unfriendlies out of the areas around the city and out to the west. We stayed there about five months pushing almost to the Ashau Valley..
The 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Abn Div was the brigade that deployed to Viet Nam. The brigade had 3 battalions of combat troops plus a slew of support folks assigned to the brigade headquarters company plus a support battalion. A battalion had three line companies plus support troops assigned to the headquarters company. A line company had four platoons-three line platoons and a weapons platoon. The battalion also had a red-eye section-it was an anti aircraft section armed with a hand held missile called the red-eye. The 2nd Lt commanded this section. Since we had no enemy aircraft He and I only lasted about a week assigned to that job. Next We were assigned to command the weapons platoon of A company of the 1st of the 508th combat regiment. I think the regiment designation went back to WW II but it was my battalion. We were a light mortar section. Since we were now in the Hue area which was mostly deep jungle the mortars were useless. After another week or so we replaced a Lt. commanding a line platoon who didn't cut the mustard. About two weeks or so in country the 2nd Lt and I became the commander of the 3rd platoon of A company of the 1st of the 508th of the 3rd brigade of the 82nd Abn Div. I stayed with him there for about 6 months and was replaced by a guy from the 101st Abn. Div. Since we all deployed at the same time the brigade was faced with everyone scheduled to leave at the same time they started infusing us with folks with different DEROS(date expected return over seas). Our name was drawn from a hat. We were to go to the 101st but never did. Instead we were assigned as the XO of the brigade headquarters company. That lasted about two months. In that time we left the Hue area for Cu Chi and after only a few weeks headed for Saigon. Shortly after getting To Saigon the B company of the 2nd of the 504th (I think that is the battalion but am not positive) needed an experienced platoon leader so 2nd Lt and I were assigned there. I remained there until my DEROS. There we had a few tunnel experiences but mostly set up night time ambushes.
I didn't see any other handguns used as personal weapons. I'm sure they were there but hidden. Troops were forbidden to take M-16s into Saigon so I was there in the 2nd Lt's pocket. It gave him comfort to have me along.
When we returned to the States I stayed his faithful companion for another 38 years….
Giz
Thank you for your service, a great story, and a 
I was pleasantly surprised though to find out that he was an enthusiastic shooter and a Life Member of the NRA. He took me to a friend's home where there were lots of guns of all sorts and a whole lot of parts that came from a recently deceased gunsmith named Fred Schmidt. My new owner and his friend carefully took me apart and replaced any part with any wear with all new, carefully matched parts... WOW, I felt like a new gun! 
I also got a new set of these cool "Combat" grips and we went to a lot of indoor and outdoor ranges where I got to show my stuff more than any time in my life. Then when the boss got interested in "real world" defense training using PPC events, I got a transplant. My well used 4" barrel was replaced with a brand new 6" barrel and I sent a lot of 158 gr SWCs down the range toward those man silhouette type targets. What a great time that was.
Glad you liked it.
