In April 1966, Capt. Frank Szustak assumed command
of Charlie Company whose mission it was to support the 1st Brigade of the 9th
Infantry Division. When Capt. Szustak arrived to take command of Charlie
Company there was nothing there but himself. Subsequently, he was given
facilities near the First Brigade location and began receiving personnel and
TO&E material. Very early on it was rumored that the Division would be
deployed to Vietnam. This appeared an insurmountable task as there were
very few cadre assigned to Charlie Company. The First Sgt. was Joe E.
Lee, a non-deployable E-8. The next senior NCO was an E-5, also
non-deployable. The EM's being assigned to Charlie Company were mostly
draftees who had just completed AIT. These individuals for the most part
were highly skilled soldiers. 
Some others that were assigned to Charlie
Company were "retreads" who earlier had gotten in trouble at Headquarters
Company or E-Company. During the months April 66 until mid-October, the
company was involved in receiving and processing new equipment, establishing
an ASL, training for deployment and providing direct support maintenance to the
First Brigade. Around August or Sept., Charlie Company was assigned an
experienced maintenance EM by the name of Sgt. Radford Merideth, a career
soldier with extensive experience who was key to the subsequent success of the
unit's mission requirements in Vietnam. By Thanksgiving time, all
organic equipment was packed and shipped to Vietnam. The new First Sgt.,
Melvin Conover joined the unit just days before its departure via train to
Oakland Army Terminal in Calif. Like Sgt. Merideith, First Sgt. Conover
was a God-send and was considered on of the best First Sgt.'s around.
The deployment by train was a new experience for
all the military. The train pulled into the Oakland Army Terminal where
we disembarked and went to our assigned berthing in the U.S. Naval Ship called
the Upsure. The voyage lasted about three weeks and some of the soldiers
became violently seasick and vowing never to come bac
k to the US by Ship.
Subsequently during the next several months, the Unit was involved
in building quarters, shop areas, and improving the area. The Unit was
in direct srt of the First Brigade whose missions continually required
them to operate in locations some distance from Bearcat. Charlie Company
always accompanied the First Brigade with all of its TO&E equipment including
its full compliments of spare parts.
