Virginia, United States
Occupation: Geologist, Environmental Scientist
Interests: Vietnam History
About dqshistorian
I am the Historian for the National Dusters, Quads and Searchlight Association and we cover all the air defense artillery (ADA) units that served in Vietnam. I trained on the M-42A1 Duster AW SP "twin-40mm" tracked vehicle and the M-55 quad 50 machine gun mount. I served with B Btry, 4th Bn 60th Arty (Dusters) in Pleiku in 1971 and closed out these types of units in late 1971. The ADA units in Vietnam include the four quad-.50 batteries, attached to the three DUster battalions, and were specifically created to serve in Vietnam. The quads were initially deployed in 1967 on 2.5-ton movers with the M-55 trailer mounted quad 50 gun carriage bolted to the truck bed. By 1969 the prime mover was changed to the 5-ton. They served multiple tasks during their roughly 5 years of service including: anti aircraft coverage for ground troops (very rare); firebase perimeter defense (daily); strong point security (daily) and of course convoy escort and security (routinely). In their role as convoy escort and protection they would fall under the category of Vietnam Era Guntruck. The batteries were specifically designed, trained and manned for this task by dedicated officers and enlisted men, thirty-two of whom died. In order to assist modelers and other historians in preserving the imagery and memory of these men, I will try to be available to respond to technical and historical questions about these units. ADA "First to Fire" and our motto continues with "Last to Leave" Respectfully Paul Kopsick DQS Historian
I am the Historian for the National Dusters, Quads and Searchlight Association and we cover all the air defense artillery (ADA) units that served in Vietnam. I trained on the M-42A1 Duster AW SP "twin-40mm" tracked vehicle and the M-55 quad 50 machine gun mount. I served with B Btry, 4th Bn 60th Arty (Dusters) in Pleiku in 1971 and closed out these types of units in late 1971. The ADA units in Vietnam include the four quad-.50 batteries, attached to the three DUster battalions, and were specifically created to serve in Vietnam. The quads were initially deployed in 1967 on 2.5-ton movers with the M-55 trailer mounted quad 50 gun carriage bolted to the truck bed. By 1969 the prime mover was changed to the 5-ton. They served multiple tasks during their roughly 5 years of service including: anti aircraft coverage for ground troops (very rare); firebase perimeter defense (daily); strong point security (daily) and of course convoy escort and security (routinely). In their role as convoy escort and protection they would fall under the category of Vietnam Era Guntruck. The batteries were specifically designed, trained and manned for this task by dedicated officers and enlisted men, thirty-two of whom died. In order to assist modelers and other historians in preserving the imagery and memory of these men, I will try to be available to respond to technical and historical questions about these units. ADA "First to Fire" and our motto continues with "Last to Leave" Respectfully Paul Kopsick DQS Historian
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