So I have one of the M17 surplus pistols and sent a letter to the army requesting any history on it, to which they replied today. They stated that my serial number was traced to being delivered to the 3rd field artillery HHB at Fort Polk, Louisiana. I’m not sure what the 3rd means, nor what the specific tasks of the field artillery pertain to other than maybe something with tanks? Howitzers? Also what is HBB?

Thanks for any help.

Headquarters/Headquarters Battery

HHB = Headquarters and Headquarters Battery

In Artillery there are no Companies, there are Batteries

Not sure about the FA unit

Well that’s a start. What’s a battery vs a company?

A battery and company are 'equivalent' units

both generally commanded by a Captain (0-3)

a battery is a unit of 6 artillery pieces typically

HHB is basically the headquarters unit with a lot of the Battalions logistics components -- like commo, admin, supply, trans, etc

in other types of battalions like infantry and Armor, its referred to as HHC -- Headquarters, Headquarters Company with similar components -- admin, intel, commo, supply, etc

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A company in the U.S. Army is normally made up of three platoons, which means 60 to 200 soldiers, but it can have more. An artillery unit is called a battery and an armored air cavalry is called a troop. Leading a company, battery or troop is a Captain, 1st Lieutenant, or Major

Your M17 probably went back and forth to the chow line and the barracks.

quote:

Originally posted by LincolnSixEcho:
Well that’s a start. What’s a battery vs a company?

Company and battery are similar sized units. Artillery units have batteries, but most other units have companies. An exception is/was that cavalry units have troops. Trying to explain all the unit designations would probably require a book, but most are based on historical organizations. Many designations such as 3d Artillery were originally the numbers of regiments, but the US Army doesn’t have traditional regiments in the sense of what they were at one time any longer, although there is a 75th Ranger Regiment.

Again unless things have changed in the years since I retired, “field” artillery is the type that goes to the field and moves from place to place as required and usually fires at ground targets with howitzers, etc. At one time there were coastal artillery units in the Army that occupied fixed installations with very large guns along the coastline. Now there is air defense artillery that is mostly armed with antiaircraft missiles.

I’m sure we have many experts on the topics who can explain it better and more accurately than I, but that’s a bit more of a start.

Great info thanks so far guys!

3rd Brigade

"3rd Field Artillery" probably refers to the Third Field Artillery Regiment. Had it said something like "3rd BN 41st Field Artillery" that would be the 3rd Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment.

I was in an 8" battalion on my first tour at Ft Stewart and the batteries were split into 4 gun platoons that operated independently, giving the entire battery 8 guns. We also had a battery (or two maybe) of MLRS launchers, not sure how many launchers per battery. They were new and super sexy. Ultimately MLRS replaced the 8" howitzers Army wide.

There is a Field Artillery BN located at FT Polk as part of the Third Brigade of the Tenth Mountain Division (Don't ask me where the mountain is). But, according to the Ft Polk web page the Field Artillery battery is the 5th battalion of the 25th Field Artillery Regiment. A battalion would have a headquarters, headquarters battery. The battalion is a towed artillery battalion and would have towed 105mm and 155mm howitzers.

As mentioned above the HHB would include the Battalion Commander and the staff.

FT Polk link

Brigade schematic

I've got to do a little more digging, but the website I normally use is down. I need to see where the 3/10MTN BDE, HHC UIC sits.

Tomorrow I will search for a web site with a drop down graph.

Well, to the best of my knowledge, the acronym HHB only applies to Field Artillery (FA) and Air Defense Artillery (ADA) units.
As previously stated, HHB stands for Headquarters & Headquarters Battery. Battery equates to Company in this example. Currently, there is only one Artillery unit of either variation at Ft. Polk - that would be the 5th Battalion of the 25th Artillery Regiment (5/25 FA).
the 5/25 FA is part of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division.

Kind of an unusual way of stating it, but if you say to me 'HHB, 3, Ft Polk', that's where it leads me.

***Edit to add - CD228 beat me to the same finish line***

quote:

Originally posted by motor59:
Well, to the best of my knowledge, the acronym HHB only applies to Field Artillery (FA) and Air Defense Artillery (ADA) units.
As previously stated, HHB stands for Headquarters & Headquarters Battery. Battery equates to Company in this example. Currently, there is only one Artillery unit of either variation at Ft. Polk - that would be the 5th Battalion of the 25th Artillery Regiment (5/25 FA).
the 5/25 FA is part of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division.

Kind of an unusual way of stating it, but if you say to me 'HHB, 3, Ft Polk', that's where it leads me.

***Edit to add - CD228 beat me to the same finish line***

I'm just wondering if the BDE HHC falls under the FA BN UIC for property purposes.

I can't find an HHB/3rd FA at Fort Polk. There is only a 5/25th FA at Fort Polk currently.
I can't explain what they Army sent you.

The only active 3rd Artillery (FA) regiment currently active is at Fort Bliss Texas assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division.

I was assigned to the A Battery 1/10th FA 3rd Infantry Div. Schweinfurt W. Germany 1976-1979

1/10 is 1st battalion 10th FA regiment. It was also part of 1st Combat Brigade 3rd Infantry Division

quote:

Originally posted by LincolnSixEcho:
...delivered to the 3rd field artillery HHB at Fort Polk, Louisiana...

I suspect the 3rd referenced in the letter is for the 3RD Brigade Combat Team, 10TH Mountain Division which is stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana.

List of Units:
https://home.army.mil/polk/index.php/units-tenants/3

2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment
2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment
2nd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment
3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment
5th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment
317th Engineer Battalion
710th Brigade Support Battalion

The Headquarters/Headquarters Battery (HHB) Facebook page of the 5th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment, 3RD Brigade Combat Team, 10TH Mountain Division stationed at Ft. Polk can be accessed via this link:

www.FaceBook.com/HHB-5-25-Field-Artillery-3rd-Brigade-Combat-Team-10th-Mountain-Division-305476786245178/

I find it odd that the date of the most recent FaceBook post by the 5-25 HHB is 2015. Anyone wanna bet they lost their password and can't recover their FaceBook page?


There is another FaceBook page for the 5th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery Regiment located here:
www.FaceBook.com/5BN25FAR/

I did not find a photo of a M17 on either of the two FaceBook pages, but I did not look at all the pics they have posted from deployments and life at Fort Polk.

.

I wonder then if it really does pertain to the 5th/25th. It makes sense by what is being listed. I looked at the Facebook photos and it is interesting that I did not see any M17’s either. Are artillery battery’s not issued handguns?

quote:

Originally posted by LincolnSixEcho:
I wonder then if it really does pertain to the 5th/25th. It makes sense by what is being listed. I looked at the Facebook photos and it is interesting that I did not see any M17’s either. Are artillery battery’s not issued handguns?

With the exceptions of MP cavalry aviation and armor, most army units have very few pistols. For example in a typical infantry company of say 200 troops, there might only be 10 assigned pistols.
One for the commander, executive officer each platoon leader and each platoon medic. With the widespread issue of the shorter lighter M4’s carbine, this may be even less now.
Way back in the 80’s as an enlisted troop in a medical company, we had about 200 rifles but only about 10 pistols. When I deployed years later as an officer in an infantry battalion the only troops assigned pistols were some of the officers and about half the medical platoon

M240 gunners are also typically issued pistols.

And the availability of pistols in infantry units has been expanded even further with the M17, with the plan being to issue it all the way down to squad leaders and fire team leaders.