The Gun Club, assembled in the gulch. (Actually, 106RR or "BAT" Platoon (Battalion Anti-Tank) and Flame Platoon, combined)… H&S 2/1/9 in the Northern Training Area of Okinawa, 1959). Since our recoilless rifles and Jeeps had not caught up with us yet, we were used as the Bn Aggressor Force. The rifle companies would come up to the NTA one at a time from Sukiran to find/engage us… and, since the boondocks were our 'home court', the second and later companies really didn't have a chance… This is kinda old Corps… M-1's, M1919A4 air-cooled .30 Cal Brownings, herringbone utilities, and in this picture, the old green woolen shirts, as aggressor uniform. Since no blanks had been invented for the Flame Thrower (M2), the Flame guys usually got to be machine gun crew… most of either team having the M1911A1 .45cal pistol as sidearms. We were camping out up there for multiple weeks… got hot chow once most days, and some kick-back time when between companies… I recall an all-NCO grabasstic patrol up a creek… or maybe it should have been called 'swim call'?, as we were all buck nekkid, doing the Tarzan bit with vines, etc… until one of us realized that if somebody got seriously hurt, we were all in deep kimchi… In this picture, over half a century later, I can identify, among other trades, a surgeon, a feddle gubmint landscape architect, a mortgage broker, several law enforcement officers, and more than one career Marine… (buncha dumb-ss grunts, anyway…)
Ddick
