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M113 APC: Ubiquitous Armored Personnel Carrier In Vietnam to Ukraine

We had M113's, with 50's mounted, in our Security Police Air Base Defense units on our air bases in Vietnam and Thailand. The concept was to use the M113's and M706's to move quick reaction forces under fire to attempted penetrations of base defense perimeters. Those things were powerful, fast, and a hoot to drive. Shooting the mounted M2 from them was a thrill to remember.
 
I was a young troop in 2nd Armored at Ft. Hood from 1972-74. We had a bunch of these! I've seen just about every variant made. I was in an air defense unit. We had versions modified to mount a Chaparral missile launcher while our sister battery carried the Vulcan anti-aircraft gun.
There were also versions set up as HQ/Comm centers and ambulances.
Great multi-purpose vehicle. Fast and very maneuverable. But the armor ain't that good. Anything bigger than a 7.62 will punch through and a .50 cal will eat it alive.
BTW: don't believe that stuff about them swimming. AFAIK there's still one sitting on the bottom of Belton lake in Texas. :rolleyes:
 
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FDC rode in an M577. that's about as close as I got to a 113.
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I was usually on one of these.
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IMO, the best, most versatile light armor vehicles ever. I've been on all variants from the original gasser with a 283 V-8 (same engine that was in my '57 Chevy) all the way to the latest M113A3 with better armor, a spall liner, greater capacity, external fuel tanks, etc.

BTW, in any practical battlefield sense, aluminum does not burn, or as fire fighter insider says https://firefighterinsider.com/aluminum-flammable/ it does not burn easily. In fact if temperatures exceed the melting point, it does not combust. The article has the specifics of temperatures and it takes 3632 degrees F for aluminum to actually catch fire.
 
I wish my experiences with the M113 were different, in a corner of our compound in Long Binh Vietnam sat a M113 that was used as a guard post because of a very large hole in it's side made by an RPG, my other was the burned out hulk of one that had a flame thrower, it seemed like someone on the napalm refueling truck forgot ( or didn't get the proper OJT ) to attach the ground strap.
 
I spent some time in M113s, but like SFC Ravencraft most of my time was in the M106A2 mortar carrier with the 4.2" mortar. Lots of good memories, but I'll admit it was all in training and we didn't get fired on. Cleaning he "slobberbox" and coming really close to throwing a track in deep sand with a newbie driver. Hearing it, I hollered to stop. One of the times the commo was working between driver and TC and I wasn't using a stick.
 
MSGDLDr said:
I spent some time in M113s, but like SFC Ravencraft most of my time was in the M106A2 mortar carrier with the 4.2" mortar. Lots of good memories, but I'll admit it was all in training and we didn't get fired on. Cleaning he "slobberbox" and coming really close to throwing a track in deep sand with a newbie driver. Hearing it, I hollered to stop. One of the times the commo was working between driver and TC and I wasn't using a stick.
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During my last post at Fort Bliss,Texas I was able to witness what a M113 with the anti-aircraft Vulcan could do to a drone- all I can say is that the drones disintegration was awesome !
 
gordie said:
During my last post at Fort Bliss,Texas I was able to witness what a M113 with the anti-aircraft Vulcan could do to a drone- all I can say is that the drones disintegration was awesome !
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That would be cool! We did a lot of Illum rounds, it was fun when we were lighting the range for the Cobras firing the Gatling guns with tracers...
 
I had the privilege of building the M113 APC and the 548’s from September 1966 thru May 1968 at FMC Ordinance in South Charleston, WV. Then in June 1968 I joined the Army and in my first overseas deployment to The 44th EBC in South Korea the first thing I saw as I arrived at my Duty Station was 30 M113’s inside a fenced in compound. I told the guy that I was with that I bet I had probably had helped build some of those !!! Made me feel proud !! These were awesome vehicles. Was glad to see this article and makes proud that I may had helped build some of these and also very proud to have Served my Country for 3 years of my life !!!
 


I have never seen one of these in which the heater worked.

I remember sitting in the back of one of those in the middle of winter, in the middle of Graff, in the middle of the night waiting for a fire mission.

I distinctly remember thinking to myself that night "Hell is not hot, it's cold"
 
The Doughboy WV said:
I had the privilege of building the M113 APC and the 548’s from September 1966 thru May 1968 at FMC Ordinance in South Charleston, WV. Then in June 1968 I joined the Army and in my first overseas deployment to The 44th EBC in South Korea the first thing I saw as I arrived at my Duty Station was 30 M113’s inside a fenced in compound. I told the guy that I was with that I bet I had probably had helped build some of those !!! Made me feel proud !! These were awesome vehicles. Was glad to see this article and makes proud that I may had helped build some of these and also very proud to have Served my Country for 3 years of my life !!!
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After I got out of the army I worked in an injection molded plastics factory. We made fuel filters for c-17s and we made bore brushes for 155 mm howitzers. Nobody else in the factory knew what those damn bore brushes were for.

I was still in the National Guard and I remember one of our sections lost their boar brush in the field once. So I went and asked my boss at work and and he gave me six of them, one for each gun in the battery.
 
After serving three years in the regular Army I was talked into joining the Army National Guard with the Armory in Azusa,CA. There as a sp/4 I used the bore brush on the Paladin and can say they really did the job. As part of my enlistment I quit after less than a year but it was an experience ( I got to drive and shoot that Paladin )!
 
gordie said:
During my last post at Fort Bliss,Texas I was able to witness what a M113 with the anti-aircraft Vulcan could do to a drone- all I can say is that the drones disintegration was awesome !
Click to expand...
After Gulf War 1 we did an 'ammo dump' prior to coming back... got to shoot the hell out of these into old vehicles etc just to get rid of ammo and vehicles. What a sound!
 
I think they brought concertina wire to secure an overnight bivouac perimeter in the field. Or perhaps they were headed to set up a firebase. I can't tell if it is old style concertina or razor wire from the photos
 
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