"My recollection of the Blackhorse Convoy is that it was just less than 30 miles to Blackhorse from the 1st Log marshaling area. I have several pictures of the convoy and a few of the 720th's Detachment at Blackhorse.
I was assigned to Blackhorse Convoy at the end of August 1968 and worked it for about 6 months. The convoys ran every day, 7 days a week. They were only cancelled a couple of times while I was assigned, usually because the road was Condition RED.
We usually got up around 5 AM and got dressed and had breakfast in the Mess Hall. Then the drivers would go to the Motor Pool to check out their assigned gun-jeeps. The gun-jeeps used by A Company while I was working the convoy were identified as A-21, A-22, A-23, A-24 and A-25. At least one jeep had a tow bar and most had a red emergency light. I don't remember any having a siren. The drivers would then go to the parking area in front of the Armory. There, the gunner and the IC would be waiting. The beds of the jeeps were lined with sandbags, and the gunner would load as many boxes of M-60 ammo as could fit into the back of the jeep. After everyone was loaded up, the whole group would drive out through the back gate (Hwy QL-15) and go to a berm next to the road [Hill-23], to test fire all the weapons. The gunners always test fired, that way if a weapon misfired or didn't work they would return to the Armorer and check out another. Meanwhile the other jeeps would go to the marshaling area.
Each of the gun-jeeps were assigned a call number, i.e.: Car #10, #11, #12, #13 and Car #14 A total of 5 gun-jeeps were used. Car #10 was the lead jeep and usually raced ahead of the convoy and checked the road ahead. Car #11 was the NCOIC of the convoy. Cars #12 and #13 were positioned in the middle of the convoy. Car #14 was at the rear and had the job of keeping all civilians from interdicting with the convoy. The average speed of the convoy was 25-30 MPH.
We never had an officer or an NCO over the rank of E-5 work the convoy. The pecking order, while I worked the convoy was; new guys were machine gunners. They were usually a PVT or PFC. After they were there for a while or promoted, they moved up to driver. Finally after you had worked the convoy and knew all the jobs associated with if you became an IC. Almost all IC's were SP/4's.
The convoy usually left before 8 AM, we waited for the all clear from the 11th CAV. Depending on the number of vehicles we were escorting, and the trip lasted between 3 and 4 hours. We sometimes escorted up to 75 vehicles. I remember the usual number at 35-40 vehicles. The cargo varied from food, ammo, fuel, (AV Gas or POL) to PX supplies.
The trip was hot in the dry season and cool in monsoon season. In an open gun-jeep it was hard to keep dry during monsoon. During the dry season the road from Xuan Loc to Blackhorse was extremely dusty, with a red clay dust. The 11th CAV cleared the road every day before we would leave Long Binh, but sometimes the VC would sneak in and burry a mine. Several times we came up on debris of civilians who ran over the mines. The trees had been cleared back 100 yards on both sides of the road, but the road was not paved and was constantly mined and cleared. We sometimes received sniper fire along this stretch of road. That was another reason why Car #10 raced ahead, to detonate any mines after it had passed over them at 50+ MPH. That never happened though while I was working the convoy. Car #10 was the cleanest car and Car # 14 was the dirtiest, with all the dust from the convoy.
After we arrived at Blackhorse we went to the 720th Detachment and unloaded a couple of the gun-jeeps and went into Xuan Loc to visit a local establishment and wait for the truckers to unload their cargo. We would return to Blackhorse and load up and go to the marshaling area for the return trip to Long Binh. Some of the fellows didn't go into Xuan Loc and stayed at the detachment. We could eat in the detachment mess hall and go to the 11th Cavalry PX. Otherwise we took naps in the detachment Dayroom.
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