Hey everyone,
Does anyone have any tips on making the markings for Blue and Red teams during the REFORGER exercises? Specifically from the early '70s to '80s. I'm not really sure what they are to begin with so I'm not sure how to make them. Are they magnetic? Are they taped on? Or are they a big sticker like object? Also is there a certain way they are numbered, or are they just for vehicle ID? Thanks for any help.
-Seth

Hi Seth,

all the REFORGER markings I saw were taped on. some MBt used matal plates fixed to the turret rear. Sorry, no knowledge about the meaning of the numbers. I think that Verlinden, Tamiya and maybe PSM have some REFORGER markings in their ranges.

HTH
Hans-Hermann

Here's a related thread :

http://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/68177&page=1

and here's Verlinden set #335 mentioned in the above thread :



HTH

H.P.

In the very early years, only the aggressor tanks had markings added. They were a white square with a green triangle inside of a circle on white paper.

Starting in 1978 with Blue and Orange. Blue rectangles and Orange circles taped in place. I could see no rhyme nor reason to the numbering system. It appears that each platoon had the same number and it made it easier for "arbitrators/judges" to identify the vehicles from a distance.

The large plates on the rear of M60s and painted on the rear of M113's wasn't just for Reforger - those identified the company and platoon and sometimes the vehicle. Various colors, shapes and designs were used through various periods and I have yet to find one source of info that clearly explains these signs. Also - there're quirks like Bravo company has blue barrel stripes and if they are 2nd platoon it will have two blue stripes on the barrel.... so colors and such had specific meanings.

I have several tankgrad Reforger books, and several other books on Reforger but nowhere can I find this info spelled out. I've even gone through some old courses for tank platoon comanders and couldn't find anything specific. My guess is that each Division had their own way of doing things.

The numbers were also used to assess/verify "kills" by the combat systems and umpires, before the appearance of MILES system. A tank crewman would look through a telescope installed in the opened breech of the main gun to spot the enemy and the number would be transmitted over the radio as "tank x has engaged orange 123" The umpires would then adjudicate the engagement for record. Obviously there was potential for some "cheating"...




Look at the pic that Frenchy posted above... The yellow and black tactical signs or battle boards allowed units to identify friendly vehicles at a distance. The sign's shape meant a certain battalion, the black shape meant the company(upward facing triangle = A Co, Square = B Co, Circle = C Co and the downward point triangle= Combat Support Co, and the white slashes/roman numerals meant the platoon. Barrel bands normally reinforced the Platoon (Red= 1st, White= 2nd, Blue= 3rd, Black= HQ, with the number of bands (1-5) for the vehicle number. they yellow shapes of the signs stood out but the black shapes "morphed" when looking at them form a distance.

In the late 80's USAREUR came up with a standardized ID system that used the black battle board shape (square or diamond) for each division in a Corps (in VII Corps, 1st Armored Division used squares, while 3ID used diamonds, and I am not sure what 2 ACR used, maybe a circle or octagon). The markings consisted of with two sand colored numbers, with the first ranging from 0-9 for the Battalion (1-3/4 for 1st BDE's battalions, 4/5-6/7 for 2nd BDE, and 8-0 for 3rd BDE) and the second number ranging from 0-4 for the Company. Additionally the scheme used Israeli style "spinning" echelons to designate Platoons (upward pointing was 1st PLT, rearward pointing was 2nd PLT, downward was 3rd PLT and no echelon or a forward and rearward echelons was HQ PLT. The Company number and echelon was repeated on the forward skirts, forward hulls and doors of combat tracked and wheeled vehicles.

This marking system was adopted by the US Army and incorporated into AR 746-2, Combat Vehicle Marking System in the early 90's.

Sorry, a bit of a long winded response...

John

If you need a visual on what John was referring to my unit 4/8 cav, 2BDE, 3AD was 64. You can see the visual here
https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/206792&ord=&page=2

Good luck.

Sorry I took a while for a reply back. Thanks everyone for the help. I'm going to see if I can't find the Verlinden set for the variety, and if not it doesn't look like they are too hard to make from the how to on that link. The info. on the different markings is also greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
-Seth

Just one more question/request. If anyone has any pictures of M163s in MERDC during any REFORGER that would be great.
-Seth

http://www.panzerbaer.de/archiv/a_relaunch/us_ftx_reforger_1987-c.htm

HTH

H.P.

Awesome, thanks Frenchy. I just got done scouring the internet for photos, but nothing good turned up.
-Seth

You're welcome. Here's another one (REFORGER 85) :



H.P.

How do you find this stuff so easily? You wouldn't happen to have one with the four-color scheme would you? The winter verdant with the green, earth, sand, and black? Thanks for the pics.
-Seth

Edit: What I'm looking for is the above description with visible bumper codes for a 163 in Germany. Sorry I left out that info.

No pics, but here are the templates (in case you need them) :





H.P.

That's good enough for me. Thanks for looking.
-Seth