Were the Gamma goats used in Vietnam?
Got the Tamiya kit kicking around...want to know if I can place it in the jungle.
If they were there... Can anyone lead me to images?

Wikipedia says:
"The Gama Goat was a six-wheel drive semi-amphibious off-road vehicle originally developed for use by the US military in the Vietnam War. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gama_Goat
The Olive Drab site says that it was developed for the rugged terrain of south-east Asia (same same, different name ...)

Didn't find any images showing M561's in Vietnam though.

/ Robin

Hello Jon,

I am no expert on the Gama Goat so cannot vouch for their use in Vietnam, but I have noticed that the Tamiya kit has a later configuration of the lights on the fenders which as far as I can tell from references I have seen would not be suitable for a Vietnam-era (or even Grenada-era) vehicle. There might be other differences as well, hopefully someone with more knowledge than me can chime in.

Early configuration fender lights:

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2010/03/22/march-military-campaign-1971-m561-gama-goat/

Late configuration fender lights (a la Tamiya):

http://data3.primeportal.net/trucks/hans-hermann_buhling/m561_gamma_goat/images/m561_gamma_goat_02_of_87.jpg

Cheers,
Sven

I wouldn't put too much credence in the accuracy of that second picture. On the windshield, it has the symbol for a US armored divsion wih a #4 indicating the 4th AD. Yet the bottom of the symbol says "Old Ironsides". Old Ironsides was the nickname of the 1st AD. i think this picture is from someone's private collection and has been made "Street Legal".

Hi Steve,

Thanks, that is very good to know. I am using these pictures as references for my build, so this is valuable information.

Having said that, there does seem to be at least two different configurations of the lights as far as I can gather from various pictures.

AFAIK, the closest it came near Vietnam was Thailand

Some XM561 test rigs were sent there for trials in 1962 and 1965 :



http://www.vought.org/special/html/sgamaa.html

H.P.

Very interesting historical summary
The bit about buying what you have tested was amusing.
/ Robin

Well that narrows it down I guess.

Since I am building the 70s version as per instructions...I guess I will have to model a US base sentry or something from an unknown unit.

Or just put it on a plain toast base and let viewers decide.

I was stationed for a while in Ft Lewis WA... in 76.... I saw Gama Goats used there when we were on maneuvers

We had them in Germany in 1985, 2/6 Inf, 2nd BDE, 1st AD, Erlangen...I left in 1987 to go back stateside, but can't remember if they were still there when I left. I guess they belonged to HHC ??....



Rich

Now I never saw one, so I can't prove it by my eyes alone. Yet DaNang was supposed to have a couple of them. There is even talk of a guy getting killed on one when he got pinned in the middle. I would check the Marine and Seabee inventory in DaNang or even Chu Lai / Phu Bai areas.
gary

I was in 6-14 FA, 1st AD, in Zirndorf, West Germany from 1984-87. We used Goats in the recon/survey section and RATT rigs used them as well. When I left in '87 they were still there, but waiting to get replaced by HUMVEEs.

I was in Korea 1977-78 we had a few and the Grunts did also.
Lost one from Battalion on a river crossing.

Cheers

We had goats in 1973 with C Btry 1st 59th ADA in Mainz and
Wackerheim Germany. used to replace the 715s PU. Cargo and troop transport only. I think we only got one (C-27) that was assigned to motor pool.

There were no Goats in "Nam. They entered the inventory in probably '73. Replacing the 3/4 ton truck. Last time I saw one it was a target on Tank Table 8, Dona Ana Range Camp 1980...good riddance to the darn thing!

Dona Ana, I remember it well! We actually had them in HHT 1/3 ACR until at least 1986. I have a scar on my right forearm from being bounced around in the back of one. Memories, lol

We had them in the 11th ACR when I got there in 76-77, but they were on the way out of that unit at the time-- I was responsible for turning in the last one in 2nd Squadron in the spring of 1980, as one of the last things I did before leaving Europe as the acting Squadron S-4. The GG was really a maintenance nightmare, and we hated them. The funniest thing I ever saw though when it came to the GG was in the summer of 1982 when I was commanding a Smoke Generator Company at Fort Lewis, Washington. My company had been assigned to screen a drop zone for an air drop, with the intent of keeping the "enemy" from seeing the airdrop assembly area. A flight of three C141's flew over, each one carrying two GGs for airdrop. My driver and I had positioned our M151 so we could see the DZ. As the 141s came over, the GGs were rolled down the ramp-- being articulated, they all bent in the middle, on two pallets coming off the ramp, and the parachutes deployed perfectly except for the last one-- which shot straight out into the slipstream of the last 141-- tilted downward, and with only only one chute (of three) deployed as a streamer, dove right into the ground nose first at max velocity. There was a huge cloud of dirt and dust, but the wheels, complete with tires flew up out of the cloud in various directions and bounced away. My driver, who was a maintenance NCO, turned to me and said "well sir, that will be a helluva report of survey, but it's a good thing it was a Gamma Goat, so it's no real loss! He then added perhaps the unit motor sergeant saw it as a way to get rid of a "lemon"-- implying the 1000 foot drop might have been intentional! We were the closest to the impact, so we drove over and saw the crater-- there wasn't anything identifiable-- it was about 5 feet deep and wreckage was scattered about 100 yards in every direction. Thinking back over the years, I've often wondered if anyone lost thier job over that incident, which would be a shame given the Gamma Goat was such a piece of junk-- and they don't bounce well either!
VR, Russ

Wow..yeah small world indeed Dan. That was my first duty station, I loved it...miss that place sort of. Great time for an 18 year old kid at the time

I'm loving these stories I'm hearing from you guys, and by the way thank you all so much for your service. Oh well...I guess a basic landscape vignette will do for my little goat...and I'll try to get pics up once its finished.
I can't really compete with these soldier stories...but if I can relate a few-.
I was in the CAP when I was a teenager, maybe the greatest thing I ever did with my life just for the experience.
Remember being at Camp Douglas, Volk field Wisconsin attending common school. Got my first ride in a KC-135 and watched them refuel a pair of A-10s and a pair of A-37 Dragonfly's. Then the next day we hoof it to the bombing range to observe but find nothing but overcast and rainy Sky's. So the pilots...flying in A-10s treated us to some low level "attack runs".
And my final icing on the cake was an orientation flight in a UH-1 Huey with a couple of hot dog pilots who I think served in nam by the way they took us on that rollercoaster flight at treetop level that day. Side doors wide open and everything looking straight down to the ground.
I even think I remember a couple of gamma goats roaming around that base at the time.
Quite possibly this is the reason for my fondness for military equipment and modelling in general.
My thanks to all of you for listening to my silly rants and replying to this post.
It is appreciated.

Yes the Gamma Goat was a pile of dog doo doo! noisy prone to breakdown maintenance nightmare and only sometimes amphibious. hated them!

I distinctly remember having to wear hearing protection, the big ear muffs, when driving those things. So freaking loud!

Stenciled on the dash and Engine hump was "Hearing Protection Required" they were garbage!

We had a Goat in each mech infantry company in 1/11 infantry (mech) in the 4th Inf Division at Ft Carson in 1971. They hauled supplies for our M113A1s. Terribly loud. All drivers and passengers were required to wear hearing protection. All of our vehicles were still painted in solid OD.

And each company still had an M114. Now that was an underpowered piece of junk. It never left the motor pool.