Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

[Jeffrey Cohen]

With the arrival of 1st NJ Battery A we will now be able to field a full battery of six guns.
There are only two things on the battlefield:
Our cannon and targets!
Hurrah for the artillery!!
Jeffrey Cohen
Sixth New York Independent Battery

[jarednichols]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

So i open up my US Army email account and this picture and caption are there to greet me,



Here was the caption:
"Union Civil War reenactors from New York fire two-gun salutes with a parrot cannon at the 90th anniversary celebration of Fort Dix, N.J., July 18. (Photo by Department of the Army)"

[Todd Watts]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

Now if they can just train #1 to ram properly instead of facing the muzzle and failing to refuse his torso to the gun.

[Jeffrey Cohen]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

We follow the NCWAA drill. I'm sorry it does not meet with your approval.
The picture was snapped in mid movement and so you would not see my number one being behind the muzzle upon the completion of his movements.
We don't cover the vent with the palm of our hands either.
The soldiers and combat veterans from WII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, and Iraq, seemed pretty happy. Members of the Fort Dix Museum and the U.S.Army's historical unit had no complaints.
I suppose you would wish us to strike a manly pose behind the muzzle and not cover out ears either.
It's too bad you could not have joined us. We could have used your most sage advice. We did offer to help out with gas and accommodations.
We will probably be providing support to the U.S. Army in the future, maybe you might condescend to honor us with your presence.
Oh yes, we did not ask for nor receive any reimbursement or fee for our services either time we were at Fort Dix, as we feel it's the least we can do to honor our men and women in uniform.
Regards,
Jeffrey Cohen

[Jeffrey Cohen]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

Jared:
The picture in question was taken this month during Fort Dix's 90th anniversary held on July 18th
This was the second time the U.S. Army asked us if we could help out. The original post was for a salute battery we did for General Leins's promotion ceremony. We were able to field six guns for that event.
Here is a link from the Fort Dix newspaper with an article about us:

http://www.dix.army.mil/PAO/Post07/post072007/post072007.pdf

I take it you are overseas, can we send a care package your way?
Regards,
Jeffrey Cohen

[1stMaine]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

Comrade Jeff,

Give me a shout next time one of these opportunities presents itself, I'd be more than happy to come down.

Respects,

[Todd Watts]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

No need to get testy Sean.:) Just pointing out that it is not to the 1860s drill specs. Modern Army have little idea what that drill was from what I have seen, nor would they have much reason to these days. They are quite happy if it goes boom. In that posistion, had the round gone off, #1 is dead as the rammer becomes a cloud of high velocity splinters in his chest, neck and face. But to each his own. And #3 never covers the vent with the palm of his hand. He uses the thumb and thumb stall to shut off air to prevent a bellows effect as the spinge and rammer are worked. Any tiny embers left in the breach could be bellowed into a hot coal if the air is not shut off, and #1 will then be ramming a bag of powder over the coal. When the fuze is in place, #3 is to place his hand beside the vent, not over it, to hold the lanyar as #4 eases away. I know a guy who placed his palm over the fuze in the vent during this proceedure, and #4 pulled the lanyard prematurely. The fuze blew completely threw the webbing between the thumb and palm of #3, ruining the use of his hand for life.

Drill specs back then reduced this danger by having #1 turn his torso outward pointing his left arm straight, and only his right hand/arm is connected to the rammer. When he throws his weight back to ram, this posistion refuses his face and torso as it passes beyond the muzzle. In the event the round explodes, only his right hand/arm is in any danger. If his thumb is not wrapped around the rammer staff, there is a good chance that as the rammer splinters and travels downrange, the rammer will easily break free of his grasp and only break the hand and wrist and possibly shower with a few splinters. His weight being thrown back in that posistion, he falls to the ground as the gun recoils over and past him. However, if he was unfortunate to have been tightly gripping the staff with his thumb around it when it went off, he might suffer hand/arm dismemberment. There is an actual reference to this happening I read several years ago. A #1 man was reloading a 3" rifle as the chief of the section went ahead to see the effects of the last firings. The chief reported that while he was ahead of the guns, he heard one go off, and he turned in anger because he had not ordered them to fire (and he was in front). He then saw a dazed #1 man without an arm and realized it had sent his arm downrange with the rammer.

[Jeffrey Cohen]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

Your post implies that my men don't know what they are doing. That is just plain wrong. You are implying that we are unsafe, not only wrong but very insulting. Fortunately most artillerymen in the hobby know my unit and we have a good reputation, if anything I'm told I'm too paranoid when it comes to safety . As I stated before the picture was snapped in mid-loading.
I'd also like to point out that when a cannon is fired there is excess of 10K PSI leaving the vent.
I hope you realize that most of the readers of this forum belong to artillery units and are quite familiar with drill.
Here is a article all members of my unit must read and sign off on before they get near our cannon:

http://home.comcast.net/~grepse/cannon_accidents_thru_2003.doc

This was given to my by the editor of Artilleryman Magazine. I have made this available in the past to people in the hobby.
I'm not interested in engaging in a war of flames and I hope this will close the subject.
Regards,
Jeffrey Cohen

[Todd Watts]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

Thanks for the link to the article. I'd heard of a few of those, but it will make for some "enjoyable" readings.

Wasn't trying to infer that you or your crew are unprofessional at all. Like I have stated earlier or on other posts, each unit has its own "drill" (or in some unfortunate cases, lack there of) and as long as it is safe it is probably fine. As we learn in the NPS trainings, the men back then developed the drill they had based on the experiences of people back then. They saw a guy hurt, so they figured out another way to do it and if it worked it remained but if another guy got hurt they changed it again. In many cases, each step in the drill was based on somebody getting maimed or killed. NPS guidelines are therefore "use the friggin' drill" with very few modifications and very well trained "safety officers" officating each firing demo. As such that has equalled zero NPS artillery drill-related mishaps since the policy was established in the 1960s. If you have a drill you like that works, by all means use it.:)

[ElizabethClark]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

Sir, having read the thread a few times now, Mr. Watts' comments merely imply that from the camera position, the gentlemen are not using the historic methods described in military manuals, and used in military practice of the day. He's describing the positive results and safety considerations behind historic practices. That's not flaming. It's discussing.

[FranklinGuardsNYSM]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

Jeff -

Ron would be proud. Keep me posted on the happenings at the Fort, I'd try to come out for it.

[Justin Runyon]

Re: Fort Dix salute battery is now complete.

Gentlemen, retire to your seperate corners.

Mr. Cohen, I saw no offense intended by Todd's post, merely the intent of discussion. Furhter, while we're at it, until further notice we will refrain from the discussion of modern substitutes for period drill techniques. I am not making a judgement call on the validity of anyones drill methods as I have not done the research requisite to make such a claim, however modern substitutes for drill belong on this forum about as much as modern substitutes for wool.