FSB Mace
Overview
FSB Mace was the large, semi-permanent regimental and battalion anchor base for 1st Cavalry Division operations in Long Khánh Province (Military Region 3, III Corps) during the 1970–71 drawdown. Unlike the temporary satellite firebases that opened and closed as the tactical situation shifted — Silver, Fanning, Jeffries, Fontaine — Mace stayed put: the fixed point on the map from which the other positions radiated and through which troops were staged, rearmed, and extracted. Jim Garvin, who served with D Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry ("Angry Skipper"), Range Platoon ("Range 1"), called it "the Regimental HQ and a very large installation."
Garvin documented Mace twice: his company first flew in by C-7 Caribou on 14 December 1970, and he returned to it in early 1971 when LT Druener — the former Range Platoon leader, by then acting Executive Officer — made him D Company mail clerk, a thank-you for having been point man longer than any other man in the platoon. His Mace chapter runs 23 February – 15 April 1971.
Location
Research notes place Mace at MGRS YT 570 085 (10.9272, 107.3527), about nine miles east of Xuân Lộc on the QL-1 corridor, at the southern foot of Núi Chứa Chan — the granite monolith the soldiers knew as Relay Mountain or "Signal Mt." These coordinates are Gemini-sourced and not yet verified against operational maps. Garvin's photographs, however, independently corroborate the geography: his company-area frame shows the hooches set against the steep flank of the mountain, his "Signal Mt" frame looks down on the base from a Loach, and the Gia Ray airstrip and village sit just outside the wire — exactly the placement the notes describe.
Layout
From Garvin's captions: the D Company area was sandbagged hooches and bunkers below the mountain. Rear-area permanent staff lived in tents with partitions and bookshelves built from discarded ammo crates. Crews built overhead cover for the sleeping quarters out of steel plates over a wooden frame, topped with several layers of sandbags and a tent — Garvin remarked that materials were hard to find and that he "didn't want to be under there at all" during incoming. Mace was very dusty, with no paving and a constant churn of helicopters and trucks. A hooch maid named Lang swept the company office and did laundry for the rear-area personnel; local Vietnamese were not allowed on base until after 8:00 AM and had to clear security before dark each night.
What the deck shows
- The base itself — the company area against Relay Mountain, Mace from the air, and the overhead-cover construction.
- Rear-area life — Garvin as mail clerk with the day's mailbags, his ammo-crate quarters, and Lang the hooch maid.
- A March stand-down — field gear stored at the company AO while the company went to Vung Tau; men loading trucks at Mace bound for the Gia Ray airstrip (Doug Hilts and Joe "Meatball" Fairchild among them).
- The mountain — "Signal Mt" (Relay Mountain) on the bluff above Mace, shot from a Loach.
Relay Mountain
Directly above Mace stood Núi Chứa Chan (Hill 837) — variously "Relay Mountain," "Signal Mt," "Gia Ray Mountain," or "The Rock" — a 1st Cav signal/communications relay installation on the summit (documented separately in the archive's research notes as relay-mountain). The signal detachment on the peak had direct line of sight into Mace's layout; guards at Mace looked up at the relay station's silhouette every day.
Sources
| Claim | Source | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Mace was the regimental/battalion anchor base; "Regimental HQ, a very large installation" | Garvin deck (v11_mace), slide 6 | high |
| Mace sat at the foot of Núi Chứa Chan / Relay Mountain, beside the Gia Ray airstrip and village | Garvin deck (v04_silver, v11_mace); Sargent Silver Star account | high |
| Garvin served as D Co mail clerk at Mace, 23 Feb – 15 Apr 1971 | Garvin deck (v11_mace), slides 1, 3 | confirmed |
| Coordinate YT 570 085 (10.9272, 107.3527) | Research notes (Gemini-sourced) | low / unverified |
| Built by 199th LIB; to 1st Cav control ~Sep 1970 | Research notes (Gemini-sourced) | low / unverified |
Built from Jim Garvin's FSB Mace deck (v11_mace) plus the two 14 Dec 1970 frames from his v04_silver deck, following the FSB Silver / Fanning pattern. The deck confirms Mace's role and geography; the MGRS coordinate remains unverified.
Open Questions
- [ ] Verify MGRS YT 570 085 against operational maps (Texas Tech Vietnam Archive or NARA).
- [ ] Confirm the 199th Light Infantry Brigade → 1st Cav handover (~Sep 1970) and Mace's closure/stand-down date.
- [ ] Identify LT Druener (former Range Platoon leader, acting XO Feb–Apr 1971) and Sam Perritt (took the quarters photo) — both currently unprofiled.
- [ ] Determine whether Sgt. Maurice Gay and Sammy Perot (slide 6) were D Co / 2-8 personnel or battalion/regimental staff — Garvin is unsure.
- [ ] Confirm the unattributed third man in the truck-loading photo (Garvin marks "Don Miller ?").
Today: About 9 miles east of Xuân Lộc on the QL-1 corridor, at the southern foot of Núi Chứa Chan (Relay Mountain) near the town of Gia Ray.
Mace was a semi-permanent, regimental/battalion-level anchor base, not a temporary satellite firebase -- it persisted across the 1970-71 drawdown while smaller bases (Silver, Fanning, Jeffries, Fontaine) opened and closed around it. Research notes (Gemini-sourced, unverified) hold that Mace was built by the 199th Light Infantry Brigade and passed to 1st Cavalry Division operational control about September 1970. Jim Garvin's photo record runs from the company's arrival by C-7 Caribou on 14 December 1970 (v04_silver deck) through his Mace "chapter" of 23 February - 15 April 1971, when he served as D Company mail clerk in the rear at Mace. Per the platoon-vs-battalion dating principle, Garvin's and other Range Platoon dates record individual movements, not the base's full life; Mace's establishment and closure dates remain unconfirmed.
