Iron Pigs

9,000 rounds of 155mm artillery fire.That's what it cost Bob Nerbovig to master the art of calling fire. Four yearsin the Mojave Desert with the 4th Battalion, 11th Marines. Four years of ground-slap and concussive force that shattered his inner ear and left a permanentringing in his skull.In December 1964, he thought he was done.But when Sergeant Miller asked him to return, to train the young Marines headingto Vietnam, to teach them how to hear through static and call coordinates thatcould save lives, Nerbovig knew he couldn't say no.The Iron Pigs were going to war. The massive M114 howitzers were heading to theRocket Belt around Da Nang, where the jungle was so thick it swallowed sound andthe enemy so close that every fire mission was danger close. Where a singletransposed digit meant friendly fire. Where illumination rounds were thedifference between seeing the enemy and being overrun in the darkness.Nerbovig's damaged ears, his vertigo, his constant ringing, his inability tofind level, became both his greatest liability and his most vital asset. Becausehe knew what these young radio operators needed to learn: that artillery isn'tabout destruction. It's about precision. It's about putting steel exactly whereit's needed, when it's needed, to bring Marines home alive.This is the story of the men who never fired a rifle but whose voices on theradio saved countless lives. It's about invisible wounds and visible courage.It's about the brutal, life-saving music of the guns.THE IRON PIGS: The story of the Steel Symphony. About Robert Nerbovig:I have been married for 59 years to my wife Pat. I am a former active duty Marine as are my 2 sons. We live in the mountains of Arizona. I have been programming computers for businesssince 1970 and designing and developing web pages since 1996. I am familiar with computer viruses and the havoc they wreak. I am the 26th great great grandson of King Olaf of Norway.(Saint Olaf)