H & S ,on front bumper u.s.m.c. jeep

[chiefv8]

does any one know what h&s means on front bumper,saw on a few pictured in jeep,jeep,jeep,in the pacific.

[tipdog]

Headquarters & Supply?

Health & Safety?

[Dogtown]

H&S stands for:

Headquarters & Service Company

In a typical Battalion, you'll have Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, (Your line companies) and then H&S, which is support.

At least this is how it was set up in 3rd Tank Battalion in the 1980's.

Hope that helps.

Don

USMC 3rd Tanks
H&S Co.
1984-88

[chiefv8]

excellent,thanks chaps.

[F. R. Fox]

Yup, its still set up like that.


F. R. Fox
4th Tanks, 4th Marines
Co. H&S

[Dogtown]

Yup, its still set up like that.


F. R. Fox
4th Tanks, 4th Marines
Co. H&S

Are you an 1811 or a mechanic?

[F. R. Fox]

1812 is tanker. I am a 2146 Tank Mechanic. Its ironic since H&S has no tanks for me to work on.

[Dogtown]

1812 is tanker. I am a 2146 Tank Mechanic. Its ironic since H&S has no tanks for me to work on.

Wow, another mechanic! I was a 2145 - 2146 were the turret guys back in the day(I&O). They changed the MOS back in the early-mid 90's I think? I worked on the M-60's way back when....

Mechanic's school still back in Aberdeen?

[F. R. Fox]

Turret guys? We work on the entire thing! Hull and turret. I know the Army has Hull and Turret specific mechanics, but not the Marines. I suppose they figure they save time in training.

My schooling was at Fort Knox, Kentucky at the Army School of Armor. We were Marine Detachment, Company "D". As far as I know, Aberdeen is for advanced mechanics who want to get into a higher echelon.

As far as M60s, we have the AVLB. An M60 with a launch bridge on it. We never use them, and have no parts for them either. But as you know, the Marine Corps is the pack rat of the Armed Forces, and keeps anything of combat value.

[Dogtown]

Funny how things change I guess... The turret guys also did the optics. We lower peon wrench guys just got to remove the packs out of the hulls and smash our fingers in the final drive couplers. All for that stupid little 3/8 inch bolt that held it all together. Fun times... Back in the day, the crew went to Ft Knox for training and all the mechanics went to Aberdeen.

You're right about the Marines being the pack rats. It always cracked me up that we'd get the army rejects and fix them up to better than new. I remember one tank that we pulled the pack on.... it still had US Army stenciled in the engine compartment and under the top armor plate. I've got photos packed away somewhere.... I'll see if I can dig them up.

[F. R. Fox]

Yeah, they changed it now. Crew and mechs all go to Ft. Knox. That place had so much neat leftover WW2 armor, it was amazing! I loved training there, and going out to town and hitting up the antique shops for all their WW2 stuff.

The worst thing is working on those pieces of crap in the cold! Ft. Knox was so cold, (8 below zero) our M88 Hercules had its tracks frozen to the ground.

[AROOGA]

Tank Gents,

Headquarters & Service Company (sometimes called Heat & Steam) usually performs a lot of functions for Battalions: Admin, Supply, Maintenance, NBC, Legal, Motor Transport, Guard and CP Security, and other stuff not done in the Line Co's. The Bn C.O. and his Staff are on the H & S Co. rolls. How about this, back in the '60's, the Flame Tanks were in H & S Co.
Semper Fi,
T.

[F. R. Fox]

Could have used the flame tanks at Ft. Knox!

[Marty, SoCal]

Reviving an old thread.... we tankers used to call H&S "Hug and Suck"

Ferrel, do they still call the main reserve center where H&S co is at Miramar the "Puzzle Palace"?

[AROOGA]

Tank Wrenchers,

Here's one for you, although it might be a little before you started busting your knuckles on Marine Tanks. My first assignment was with 2nd Tank Bn, Force Troops, CLNC in he early '60s. The Bn had M48A3's and one Company of M103's (120mm gun) along with a Platoon of Flame Tanks (in H&S as mentioned before). Just down the road was the 2nd Anti-Tank Bn with that famous Lil' M50 Ontos (Greek = The Thing). If you are not familiar with the M50, just check it out online by entering "Marine Ontos". The "Thing" mounted six M106 RR's and the crew fired it from outside the vehicle. There's some good flics of that if you check out "The Battle of Hue City". Interestingly, the last active duty Ontos (one, kept up with spare parts by two) was used in a defensive position on GITMO in 1980, how's that for being "good to the last drop" and in the finest traditions of the Mar Cor? Back to where I was heading, did the Tank Mechs get assigned to Anti-Tank Bn's and to AMTRACS too or was there too much of a difference to allow such an economy of training. It would seem that engines and the rest of the powertrain along with suspension aspect similarities, that maybe a few course add-ons might be all that was required to do such a thing? Of note, the Mechanized Museum, MCB, Camp Pendleton will soon have an operational (except for demilled RR's) and completely resto'd M50 sometime this Fall. If you are in the area just before Christmas, you should be able to check it out along with the M48, M60, M103.

Here's an interesting aside, in all the glory stories of Patton and his tracked vehicle/armor exploits, not once have I ever read, seen or heard of him having a noteworthy encounter (positive or negative) with any of his tracked vehicle maintainers/wrenchers and their supporting efforts during his WW II exploits. You just gotta know his capabilities where in their hands and his "p-hairs" were in their grip. Anyway, God bless you guys and the armorers.

SF,
T.