I first heard about the "new" guided missile system called HAWK in mid-1958. I was just about to graduate from the US Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) School at Fort Bliss, Texas. The situation at Fort Bliss at that time was a little uneven. The AAA School was still teaching 75mm Skysweepers (tube artillery), had just started teaching Nike-Hercules as well as winding down the curriculum on Nike-Ajax. Fort Bliss was the station of choice for hundreds of ex-officers who had become victims of a large reduction-in-force (RIF). They were all Master Sergeant E-7's and figured that the Army owed them something.
All of these "retreads" wanted to be in the Nike-Hercules system. Only a handful of pretty sharp Nike-Ajax men were sent to the Raytheon plant in Andover, Massachusetts, for courses in HAWK. There were three MOS's taught. PAR and BCC -- 228; CW Radars --221; and Missile and Launcher --227. There was a lack of information on the new HAWK system so rumors filled the void. The most popular rumors were that HAWK units were to be highly mobile, were all going overseas, and would spend all of their time in the field. These rumors tended to further alienate the new Master Sergeants from this system, and they intensified their efforts to get into Nike-Hercules. With all of those Master Sergeants how would a young E-5 with a family ever get promoted? The Army authorized a new pay grade: Master Sergeant E-8 and First Sergeant E-8. A few months later the Sergeant Major E-9 came on the scene.
If a young E-5 with a family had any aspirations for a promotion, it was clear that his future would be with the new system that nobody knew anything about and nobody wanted anything to do with. Those who had attended classes in Andover became the cadre for the Low Altitude Missile Department along with a rag-tag bunch of no discernible distinction that became that became the nucleus of the 2d GM Gp. The ranks of the 2d GM Gp rose to several thousand NCOs that were now HAWK qualified. Only there was nothing for them to do. We were required to make two formations a day and then expected to scatter. Some fellows found jobs around Fort Bliss in someone's mess hall, motor pool or supply room. I got a job at the FED-MART store on Montana Ave at Robert E. Lee Road. That lasted for about four months then I was assigned to HOS #5, the newly activated 6th Missile Battalion, 52d ADA. I could not have imagined it at the time but it turned out to be the most important thing that happened to me while I was a soldier.
The numbering of the battalionsas HOS #4, 5, 6, etc, meant "HAWK Overseas Units". I don't know what HOS #1 was, perhaps the cadre at LAM Dept. HOS #2 was a Marine Corps Unit; HOS #3 was a two-battery battalion that went to Panama and joined up with two batteries of M-42 Duster (Automatic Weapons). In 1967 I became the Operations Sergeant of that battalion at Fort Clayton, Canal Zone. HOS #4 went to Korea, and 6/52 was HOS #5. I was assigned to Battery A.
We trained at Fort Bliss from January to April 30, 1961 and then we scattered into three groups. Some men accompanied to Beaumont, Texas in trucks, then by ship to Bremerhave, and made the final leg of the trip by train to (in our case) Emery Kaserne. I envied those fellows because they must have had one of the most rewarding tasks in the US Army. A few guys went as "Advanced Party" with their German wives. The rest of us showed up at the Brooklyn Army Terminal and road the USS Buckner, arriving in June 16, 1961.
Al Garrett
