musings about armories

[THE PILGRIM]

Unless you have a really big indoor area drilling is probably somewhat restricted.
You can practice forming up into basic formations and that good old Army ritual- manual of arms.

The last time I was actually in an active Armory I was attending a Gun Show. It's not unusual in the
small towns around here to have Gun Shows in Armories.

 

[Brian41]

My only experience with an armory was the one in Flint, Michigan where I was told to meet at for my ride to Detroit and my draft physical. It was real old then and not in the best shape from what I saw of it. I believe I read in the paper that it was beyond repair now and would be torn down.
Too bad as Flint has lost many historic buildings in recent years.

 

[REM 3200]

GP Small and or Medium is a military term for General Purpose Small or Large. These are big green canvas tents, I believe a small is 12 x 16 feet. dry they are very heavy, wet; it could weigh up to 1000 pounds. I believe "The Swamp" in the TV show "Mash" was a GP Small on the outside and a movie studio on the inside! Ivan

GP (medium) tent (old style canvas) = 460 lbs. less poles, pegs and mauls to drive the pegs.

GP (large) tent (old style canvas) = 840 lbs.
These weights are for dry canvas.

The newer style nylon tents are much lighter.

I spent 3 years in a 400 bed field hospital.
We used GP(L) for hospital wards at 20 beds per tent, so you can see how much canvas we had to hustle.
Plus tents (medium and large) for ORs, lab, x-ray, dental clinic,
admin, supply, maint., mess hall & kitchen, motor pool and the hospital staff,
and other misc functions.
You can see how big a field hospital is.

 

[hoc9sw]

I think I saw every one in several southern states. Went to inspect drills with my Dad when I was a kid.

Beside the tent-drying (yes, that happened), they had to be big enough to drive whatever equipment the unit was issued into. That would have included (long before my time) horse-drawn artillery. Any town that had a Company of the National Guard would likely have one. Up into the pre-WWI era, the space might have been rented. Air Guard facilities would most likely be at / near an airport facility.

 

[snowman]

I think I saw every one in several southern states. Went to inspect drills with my Dad when I was a kid.

Beside the tent-drying (yes, that happened), they had to be big enough to drive whatever equipment the unit was issued into. That would have included (long before my time) horse-drawn artillery. Any town that had a Company of the National Guard would likely have one. Up into the pre-WWI era, the space might have been rented. Air Guard facilities would most likely be at / near an airport facility.

Sir,

Interesting information; thank you. I thought perhaps they might have stored the big guns in them. I'll have to look at the rear of the building next time to see any evidence of larger doors having been there(or maybe they're still there). So was your Dad a career man of higher rank?

Andy

 

[hoc9sw]

Andy,

He was Asst. Adjutant General, and a command officer in a division that covered multiple states in the post WWII - pre VietNam era.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Here in NJ all the old company armories were closed over 30 years ago, the units consolidated into battalion sized buildings. Back in the 1960s there was a tank company in my town-M-48s, IIRC, they would come to the shopping center on Armed Forces Day. I was in the 71st New York in the NYNG in he 1980s, they originally had a fine old armory on Park Avenue between east 33rd and 34th Streets, unfortunately the City owned the land, in 1971 they ousted the Armory, there's a high school there now named for Norman Thomas-a Socialist.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

You can see how big a field hospital is.[/QUOTE]

Land area it about the size of a hospital! The Army Reserve had a hospital unit in a near by town. I went to church with a few of the men, They only set up during Annual (Summer) Drill Their armory building was a mid 60's design. I set up at a couple of 100+ table gun shows in there. There is a town monument to men lost in Desert Storm, but the building is for sale last I checked. Like most armories in town they never had much parking, so most men reporting for drill or an emergency had to be dropped off ( or walk a mile from a shopping center. Ivan

 

[LostintheOzone]

Deming New Mexico Armory

This one was built a few months after Poncho Villa raided Columbus NM. in 1916. Interesting building as the whole second floor was a full sized basket ball court used in WW2 by the USO. A very good museum resides inside now.

 

[snowman]

Deming New Mexico Armory

This one was built a few months after Poncho Villa raided Columbus NM. in 1916. Interesting building as the whole second floor was a full sized basket ball court used in WW2 by the USO. A very good museum resides inside now.

Sir,

Thank you for that link with the pictures -really interesting stuff, to me. The difference with that one, apparently, is that it has two separate floors. The one I was in Monday evening, and the others I've seen, is that there is one floor -nothing between floor and rafters.

Andy

 

[rwsmith]

I've seen old armories......

I've seen old armories on military installations, in fact the building I was in had one as well as a decrypting vault.

When I hear 'armory' the first thing that come to mind is the National Guard Armories that were built in the early 60s all over the place. A lot of then have closed and are used for other purposes. My boy scout troop met in one that was pretty huge, nice concrete floor throughout, and armory room and a neato rifle range with a slanted steel plate in the back pointing down into sand. There were about 2 dozen rooms with various purposes. There was a bas relief sculpture in the wall beside the entrance door of all of these, commissioned by an artist that depicted soldiers in different era uniforms. Well, being bas relief cast concrete, you couldn't see it well far away, so sometime in the 80's the NG decided to paint the sculpture to 'look better'. The original artist caught wind of it and had a hissy fit that his work was carefully researched and these guys painted whatever they thought looked good. Many of these sculptures throughout the state had to be sandblasted to get the paint off.