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  1. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Galt View Post
    Ken,

    I don't know if you remember, but I used to work at the club as a short order cook.

    The night of the shooting I was off. I missed all the excitement and didn't know about it until the formation the following morning. How you could sleep through something like that, I don't know.

    I remember that the instructors would go up in the hills in the winter and were supposed to survive off what they carried up, and some of them would sneak down at night.

    I would hear a knock on the back door of the club with a secret order for burgers and fries. The instructor would come back in 10 minutes and pick up the order at the back door and be gone back to the mountains.
    Ha ha, funny story. Perhaps you and MountainMan1978 did meet on occasion!

    I was trying to remember what you did. For some reason I dont remember you working there.

    As for the shooting, I remember SSgt Easter as being a pretty cool guy that everyone liked, and that Gunny was pretty much a total a**hole that no one liked. Such a shocking thing to happen on such a small and tight base.


  2. #17

    TexasDvlDog Tell Us about the New BEQ's

    Texas,

    Can you tell us about the new BEQ's that were errected in 85?

    On the picture, it looked like they were build on the area that used to be occupied by the Supply warehouses up towards the boneyard.

    If you have more info on what the area was like when you were there, it would be nice, i.e. any new building between Pickle Meadows and the town or Bridgeport or Walker.

    Thanks.

    Dan


  3. #18
    I've been back a few times since then -I actually lived in Walker for a few years after getting out working for Mono County Paramedic Rescue. Married a local girl at Cloudburst Meadow (just below the training site). We go back for the 4th of July celebration every few years to catch up with folks. The base is completely different now from when I got there in 77. Colonel Knutson was 'running' the place, though we all knew that Sir John Marjanov was the real authority. We had dogs running around the place, and as Instructors we had pretty liberal rules about our uniforms, facial hair and such. Then Colonel Guy arrived and squared us away, along with 1st Sgt David and Gunny Logan. Best job I ever had!


  4. #19

    Personnel in 79

    Mountain Man,

    I remember the 1SG David was in charge of the softball team summer of 79.

    Who was the 1LT that was in charge of the instructors corps during that time?

    Whenever we had guard duty, he would always want to have a briefing and a debriefing before and after each shift.

    Walking around that big base all by yourself on those snowing winter nights sure was a daunting task.


  5. #20
    Lt. Chapman was assistant to Capt. Allen. He was a pretty good guy, as was the Capt. after he got things organized the way he wanted them.


  6. #21

    keecher

    To Dan Galt and ameriken.

    Wow it's been 3 years since I've been in this site but all these stories about the meadows makes me have flashbacks to the old base.
    First off...A-hole 1st Sgt that shot SSgt Easter in the Pickel Barrrel was NOT 1stSgt David. He had nothing to do with it. The shooter was a instructor who was a sniper in Nam, a citizen of Guam I was told who the Corps would never let go home on leave cause he told them many of times if they let him home he wasnt coming back. Does that refreshen your minds any? His name is SSgt Hetzman.
    As far as Ssgt Easter being well liked? It sure wasnt any of us down in motor T that liked him. He was the real A hole of the base. And though tragic as it was that he was killed inside the club, sympathy did have to go out to his wife and young son who lived on the base. Easter's own mouth got himself shot and killed that night.
    Dan Galt, there's a name I haven't heard in years , but I do remember you my friend. Been many years. Your right in the fact that you were off duty in the kitchen that night, but Cpl Chuck Arnonne? was. Memory off on the spelling of Chuck's last name. I was in the club that night when Easter got killed. Hetzman and Easter were drinking bottles of Ouzo at the bar and the subject got on to " you go across the Walker river to the mountain on the left and I'll go to the mountain on the right. Whoever shoots the biggest deer wins"..Then as more drinks were consumed and the words got heavier it changed to " you go on the left, I'll go on the right, and who ever shoots the other first wins." And then there where the words of coward, and F you and Chuck then told Easter to shut the hell up. Hetzman was told to go back to his hootch and not return the rest of the night. As he was walking out Easter ran his mouth again. Hetzman left but returned with his M-14 match rifle. If you remember right Staff and above could keep weapons in their lockers instead of locked up at the Cp. Chuck cleared the bar and stood between Hetzman and Easter demanding that 1st of all Easter was told to shut the **** up and for Hetzman to clear his weapon. Clear it, remove and hand over to him the magazine and the bullet in the chamber. He ( hetzman) was told to return to his hootch, secure his weapon and do not return the rest of the night and nothing would be reported to the Colonel. As Hetzman was leaving Easter ran his mouth with " you didn't have the balls to shoot me anyways" Hetzman took a L step and inserted his hand in his R pocket, grabbing a fully loaded spare magazine, R step pulled it out, L step locked and loaded, R step spun and fired hitting Easter squarely in the chin with a M-14 match shell, picking Easter up off the stool, spinning him around a few times and slamming him face first into the corner of the wall minus the back of his head.
    The officer of the day which I believe was the gunny that night ran up to the club without even taking his .45 with him. This is what I remember to that incident. The following morning we all had to fall in in front of the CP and were told" Last night in the club there was a shooting. SSgt Hetzman is in jail, SSgt Easter is dead". Have heard 2 reports of this incident. The first was that Hetzman did 20 years and was paroled, the 2nd was that he was killed in prison..Don't know which is right.
    I was originally sent up there to run the movie theater but lacked a license to run the projector and would have been sent back to Pendleton. Only in the Corps do you need a license to show a movie. Seeing as I was with 7th Motors down at Pendleton I walked over to see Sgt Cathie and when he saw me asked me to stay there instead of going back down since he had a guy rotating out. So until May of '80 when I got out, I was the trailer driver doing the runs out to get the troops at Fallon Air Station in Nevada.
    Yes the movie theater was in the green building which also housed the px and the barber shop. Erik the barber,,,use to bring him once a month up to Reno in that little white chevy Luv truck we had to buy supplies. And to play the dollar slots at Circus Circus lmao!.
    Hope this clears up the incident at the club.
    Long live the memory of Col Guy and Sir John..
    Ameriken you wouldn't happen to be Sgt Jones of motor T would you?


  7. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by keecher View Post
    To Dan Galt and ameriken.

    Wow it's been 3 years since I've been in this site but all these stories about the meadows makes me have flashbacks to the old base.
    First off...A-hole 1st Sgt that shot SSgt Easter in the Pickel Barrrel was NOT 1stSgt David. He had nothing to do with it. The shooter was a instructor who was a sniper in Nam, a citizen of Guam I was told who the Corps would never let go home on leave cause he told them many of times if they let him home he wasnt coming back. Does that refreshen your minds any? His name is SSgt Hetzman.
    As far as Ssgt Easter being well liked? It sure wasnt any of us down in motor T that liked him. He was the real A hole of the base. And though tragic as it was that he was killed inside the club, sympathy did have to go out to his wife and young son who lived on the base. Easter's own mouth got himself shot and killed that night.
    Dan Galt, there's a name I haven't heard in years , but I do remember you my friend. Been many years. Your right in the fact that you were off duty in the kitchen that night, but Cpl Chuck Arnonne? was. Memory off on the spelling of Chuck's last name. I was in the club that night when Easter got killed. Hetzman and Easter were drinking bottles of Ouzo at the bar and the subject got on to " you go across the Walker river to the mountain on the left and I'll go to the mountain on the right. Whoever shoots the biggest deer wins"..Then as more drinks were consumed and the words got heavier it changed to " you go on the left, I'll go on the right, and who ever shoots the other first wins." And then there where the words of coward, and F you and Chuck then told Easter to shut the hell up. Hetzman was told to go back to his hootch and not return the rest of the night. As he was walking out Easter ran his mouth again. Hetzman left but returned with his M-14 match rifle. If you remember right Staff and above could keep weapons in their lockers instead of locked up at the Cp. Chuck cleared the bar and stood between Hetzman and Easter demanding that 1st of all Easter was told to shut the **** up and for Hetzman to clear his weapon. Clear it, remove and hand over to him the magazine and the bullet in the chamber. He ( hetzman) was told to return to his hootch, secure his weapon and do not return the rest of the night and nothing would be reported to the Colonel. As Hetzman was leaving Easter ran his mouth with " you didn't have the balls to shoot me anyways" Hetzman took a L step and inserted his hand in his R pocket, grabbing a fully loaded spare magazine, R step pulled it out, L step locked and loaded, R step spun and fired hitting Easter squarely in the chin with a M-14 match shell, picking Easter up off the stool, spinning him around a few times and slamming him face first into the corner of the wall minus the back of his head.
    The officer of the day which I believe was the gunny that night ran up to the club without even taking his .45 with him. This is what I remember to that incident. The following morning we all had to fall in in front of the CP and were told" Last night in the club there was a shooting. SSgt Hetzman is in jail, SSgt Easter is dead". Have heard 2 reports of this incident. The first was that Hetzman did 20 years and was paroled, the 2nd was that he was killed in prison..Don't know which is right.
    I was originally sent up there to run the movie theater but lacked a license to run the projector and would have been sent back to Pendleton. Only in the Corps do you need a license to show a movie. Seeing as I was with 7th Motors down at Pendleton I walked over to see Sgt Cathie and when he saw me asked me to stay there instead of going back down since he had a guy rotating out. So until May of '80 when I got out, I was the trailer driver doing the runs out to get the troops at Fallon Air Station in Nevada.
    Yes the movie theater was in the green building which also housed the px and the barber shop. Erik the barber,,,use to bring him once a month up to Reno in that little white chevy Luv truck we had to buy supplies. And to play the dollar slots at Circus Circus lmao!.
    Hope this clears up the incident at the club.
    Long live the memory of Col Guy and Sir John..
    Ameriken you wouldn't happen to be Sgt Jones of motor T would you?
    Hey, thanks for clearing up the story.....yeah, Hetzman was the fvcker. I couldnt stand the b*stard. I wouldnt be a bit suprised if he was killed in prison, in fact the story ends better that way.

    I was Cpl Maddis at the time, and I actually came in Jun 79 and ran the base theater until Jun 80. Yeah, I had to get a license to run those 16mm projectors. My sidekick was LCpl Lozano. We were in the same hooch with Galt, Reininger, Miller, Keiser, and Stone.


  8. #23
    BTW, Dan has a facebook page for MWTC: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118631393131


  9. #24

    Base Theater at Pickel Meadows

    Thanks for the detailed story of the shooting at the club.

    This is the first time I had heard some of those details and it has been 30 years ago.

    The item about having to have a license to run the projectors at the base theater made me chuckle. What would have happened to the world if someone unlicensed would have run the show. LOL.

    I had to take the projectors down to Pendleton in a van one time and the guy that worked at the base theater in Pendleton kept asking me questions about the use or abuse of those projectors. This was one of the many times while at Bridgeport that I was caught between the "truth" and the "TRUTH". You see shortly after I arrived at MCMWTC we had off on the Good Friday weekend. One of the guys brought the base theater projectors up to the hotch and we put up a sheet and showed movies in the hotch.

    One time we had an inpection down at the warehouse and me being the senior man as a LCP had to go around with the 1SGT and the LTC had to answer questions.

    We had one of those old field cooler in the office at the warehouse that was not used for anything. We also had a nice refriderator behind the office that guys would like to put beer in from time to time. I saw a six pack in there and told the guys to get rid of it before the LTC came so as not to get caught with it.

    Unbeknownst to me the guys had simply moved the beer from the fridge to that cooler. When the LTC saw the cooler, he asked me what was in it. I did not know, so I opened the lid, and there was a loaf of bread, and under the loaf of bread was the six pack. My reply to the LTC was "some bread and stuff." Fortuneately he did not bother to look for himself.

    What fun times. Thanks for the sharing, please feel free to share any other stories you remember about being there, as a lot of times what is old hap to you brings back memories for the rest of us.


  10. #25
    Hello and Semper Fi, I was at MWTC from 9-78 to 3-80. I am new to this site and am happy to see others here that remember those days! Would love to chat with any one who would like to about our time there. Just seeing some of the names of the people that I was there with bring back great memories. I can be reached at:
    jswebb58@yahoo.com
    Thanks, Jimmy Webb


  11. #26

    Thanks for the Post Jimmy Webb

    Jimmy,

    Thanks for visiting this thread and posting something.

    You can share old memories here, or you can join our group on Facebook.

    Just type in Pickle Meadow Memories and you will find our group.

    I admit I spelled the name wrong, but thats ok.

    I have enjoyed the posts on this site as well as Facebook, learning new things about Marines that were up there at MWTC throughout the years.

    It would be cool to get some post from some Marines that were there when they tore down the quansit hut BEQ and put up the new barracks.

    If you google Marine Corps Mountain Warefare Training Center you can see the lay of the land today, which is a lot different than when we were there before 1980.

    Thanks again for the post Jimmy hope to hear more from you.

    Dan


  12. #27
    Here's the best pic I could find of the base today. It is more like a college campus, all the quonset huts are gone.




  13. #28

    Great Picture

    Ken,

    Thanks for posting the great picture of the base.

    I remember the 3 mile PFT run we had on March 15, 1980 there on Hwy 108 up towards the falls.

    The Hwy was covered with patches of snow and trying to make time was not fun. Also, I had gone to Carson City the night before, my 21st birthday, to eat in the casino legally for the first time.

    I don't know why, but I was by myself as Bill, Stoney and everyone else were doing something else that night.

    I would like to go back to the base sometime to see what everything looks like up close. I think I could still make my way along 395 to 108 and back to the base.


  14. #29

    Pickle Meodows

    Hey guys-I was at MCMWTC from 77-81. I actually came across this site by accident,boy the stories you guys tell,just like yesterday.If one wasn't there they would not believe it!! But,I know they are true.MCMWTC was my only duty station. I was there TAD,Camp Pen sorta forgot about me-LOL.It took a lot of paper work to get your food at the old club where we would allow the officers to drink with us! My name is Smitty,worked in mess hall.I liked that base,lot's of fun,little off the wall how we did thing but we rarely got inspected,Coy Guy didn't like them. The only bad egg up there was Maj. Heck,he was out to get me but,he never could make anything stick. Col Guy was always on my side!!! Does anyone remember Sgt Jone from the motor pool,he blind sided Col Guy right off his stool,OPPS he was then sedated for the night,went to see the old man the next morning Col ask him if he had a prob with booze he said no"Only when I can't get it"!!! Haircuts,ya right,shop was open when Erick could make it and might be 4 weeks befor you could get on.
    PK and Sandi did finally get married Gunny Logan retired in Bridgeport.
    You can contact me at dick_smith88@yahoo.com

    Carry on
    Smitty


  15. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by MountainMan1978 View Post
    I've been back a few times since then -I actually lived in Walker for a few years after getting out working for Mono County Paramedic Rescue. Married a local girl at Cloudburst Meadow (just below the training site). We go back for the 4th of July celebration every few years to catch up with folks. The base is completely different now from when I got there in 77. Colonel Knutson was 'running' the place, though we all knew that Sir John Marjanov was the real authority. We had dogs running around the place, and as Instructors we had pretty liberal rules about our uniforms, facial hair and such. Then Colonel Guy arrived and squared us away, along with 1st Sgt David and Gunny Logan. Best job I ever had!
    Gunny Logan was my boss,that old Col reminded me of Col Klink!! 77-81 was a riot up there.


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