FSB Fanning

Vietnam
11 May 71 30 Jun 71

Jim Garvin
www.jimgarvin.org

Tour of duty:
Aug. '70 - July '71
U.S. Army
1st Cav. 2nd/8th
Delta Co. Range 1

May 1971
I first mentioned
Fire Support Base
Fanning in a letter
May 11 1971.
The Battalion had
just made another
move to Fire
Support Base
Fanning and this
Sky Crane is
picking up the
dozer after it has
completed its
duties of building
the berm around
the perimeter of
the new base.

May 1971
Fire Support Base Fanning
The low wall around the perimeter
was called a berm, which is broken
intermittently with guard positions.
Directly behind the berm are the low
hooches where the men of the line
company (those responsible for the
base defense stay.
Within the pie-shape section in the
upper right, was the T.0.C. (Tactical
Operations Center). The T.O.C,
included the mess hall, which is the
two tents on the far right side. The
Radio Shack is just above the mess
hall and above them is the medic
station. The rest of the structures in
that wedge are quarters and supply
points. Across that dirt road to the left
of the T.O.C. was the mortar platoon
quarters and gun pits. The two dark
areas at the upper right and upper left
are the helicopter pads.

May 1971
The two yellow squares in the very
upper left are fuel pillows filled with
aviation fuel. We had some excitement
one night when the Viet Cong shot a
tracer into one of these pillows and set
it on fire
The six rings on the near side of the
base are the positions for the six 105
artillery pieces. If you look closely,
three of the gun emplacements do not
have a gun in them. During the time
we were using Fanning we also had a
small Fire Support Base called King.
(see King below)
The trench in the lower left is the
garbage dump.

May 1971
This is a Cobra gunship. You
can see the rocket pods on the
wings, the mini gun and
grenade launcher are in the
turret under the nose. You will
notice the very narrow front
on this bird making it almost
impossible to hit straight on.
The pilot sits behind and
above the gunner/copilot.

May 1971
This is the
magazine for the
40 mm grenade
launcher
ammunition. It
also gives a
better look at the
turret.

May 1971
This gives a
closer look at the
rocket pods of
this Cobra.
Needless to say it
carries a lot of
punch. It was
rather colorful to
see this thing
unload its fire
power at night
with tracers in the
mini gun and the
flash of the
rockets.
This is Gary
Collins the fellow
who was getting
the award before.

May 1971
These logging trucks were frequently seen along Highway 1 as
I made my way to Fanning on a convoy..

24 May 1971
Fire Support
Base King was
unusual in shape
but no less
effective. This
shape resulted
from Battalion
splitting FSB
Fanning into two
bases with three
105s each. With
reduced strength,
it was hoped that
this shape would
help the defense.

Note there are only three rings indicating gun positions.

It also made us a little nervous with the jungle so close.

24 May 1971
This is a typical
log before it goes
out to the
company from
FSB King.
The boxes are
rations the green
bags are clothes
and the red bags
are the mail.

Ray Graham, Top Miller ?, Lt. Guidara

Ray is heading to the field and his ruck sack is next to the ration boxes.

24 May 1971
This is another
Sky Crane.

24 May 1971
Lt Guidara
talking to
Col Bacon on
Fire Support
Base King.

04 Jun 1971
The company
logged this day at
FSB Judy down
the road from
Fanning.
This is one of the
155s at Judy.

04 Jun 1971
This was the
ammo storage for
the 155 on FSB
Judy.