XM757 Markings

[cranetruck]

Did some (light) sanding today and found some numbers and letters on the truck.
Shown below is the right front bumper, ""TDC FAS".
Anybody know what they stand for? Pretty sure FAS stands for Field Artillery System, though.

How are numbers repeated when written on the doors, front and rear? Found "05A2411" on the left rear of the cab just below "US ARMY", both in 3" letters/numbers. Should I expect the same numbers on the doors and front somewhere?

I have "US ARMY" on the right front, left door (probably on the right also) and on the left rear of the cab tub.
The stars appear to have been painted over while in service.

 

[maddawg308]

My best guess, from a miltary historical standpoint:

TDC FAS

Training and Doctrine Command, Field Artillery Section

 

[cranetruck]

Thanks Mike, it makes sense that the truck would have come from Fort Sill. OK, the only training battalion for the Pershing.

What markings could one expect if it in fact had been at the 3rd battalion, 9th field artillery unit at Ft Sill? Guess there is a battery in there somewhere too.

Another question, what do the numbers and the letter "A" signify on the door (circled in the image below)?

 

[67Beast]

Are you sure that your's is a 69' Does it still have the original built date on the data plate? I question this because your registration # does not follow suit for 1969 marked trucks. 5A2411 would indicate that it was built before 1969. Trucks built from 1968 and up until the change to the current style, would be marked like the one in the last picture. 05A20569. The last 2 didgits indicate the year of manufacture. 05 indicates the class of the vehicle, "A" is a place holder and the three numbers after are the number of the vehicle as registared with the Army with in that 05 classification. First truck registared for 1969 in that class would be 05A00169, the nine hundred ninety ninth truck would be 05A99969 and the thousandth truck would be 05B00169 and so on. Now for a truck with the older style like your 5A2411 (Which ran from the mid 60's thru 67') it follows a similar pattern except; 5 is the vehicle class, instead of 05, and the A still works the same except that it reflects four numbers, and no year on the end. The first truck in that series would be 5A0001, the nine thousand nine hundred ninety ninth truck would be 5A9999 and the ten thousandth truck would be 5B0001 and so on up. I had read an article by David Doyle which probably explains it better than I have. It was in MV sometime last year entitled "what can you do with some white paint".

Anyway, it's cool that you found these markings.

 

[cranetruck]

Thanks Dave for that refresher course!
Just checked the data tag and lo and behold, I got a couple of numbers wrong, should be 05A24169. I'll check the sanded area again on the truck tomorrow.

 

[67Beast]

Yep, that makes more sense now. What is funny is that your truck appaers to have been issued 36 trucks after the one pictured in the junkyard. 241-205=36

 

[cranetruck]

There were only a relatively small number of these vehicles built, possibly less than 500. David Doyle would know, I'm sure. To support the 100 or so Pershing missiles in Europe, would require about 300 vehicles. Then again, they were replaced by MAN 10-ton tractors, so I'm not clear on the numbers.

 

[cranetruck]

Today, I connected with a fellow who actuall may have driven my XM757 while at Ft Sill, OK. He added the following:

TDC = TRADOC
FAS = Field Artillery School
66T = Unit number from weapons department
05A = series number for al 757/656/791
241 = series number - not serial number
69 = Year of MFG

In front of the 66T was WD for
Weapons Department. Remember when the official camoflage patterns
came out. By time we were done with painting, spot paiting and respot
paininting, each truck took on it's own life or theme.
Steve

We spoke for a while on the phone and he said that the trucks had the star decals on them even if they never left the country. Apparently, my truck spent its previous life at Ft Sill, which also explains the low milage/high hour ratio.
Steve was with the Pershing program for 20 years and is very excited over my XM757. More to come.

 

[gimpyrobb]

How cool is it that you found a guy who actually used that truck! I think its even better that he was fond enough of it to give you all the info he had.

 

[DDoyle]

The command historian at Ft. Sill is a guy named Towanda Spivey. Of all the military museum historians I have dealt with (which is a lot), this guy is the most decidedly unpleasant, and unhelpful - but perhaps I consistantly got him on bad days.

However, should you need to pursue this avenue, PM me for his email.

If you are acquainted with someone on post, having them be your "face" for contacting the command history office would probably be the way to go.

Regards,
David Doyle

 

[cranetruck]

Thanks David.

Steve also explained that there was an MWO to change the battery set-up from the two under the passenger seat to a set of four, placed on the platform. The original battery box was turned into a tool box. This explains a "mystery" cable harness that was in the truck, it has a slave receptacle plus other connectors all made into one heavy harness. It was never used. Guess I should look for this new battery box.