85 days, 26 Aug. ’67, Saturday
Here’s the kind of thing that makes me cry. Last night we were sitting in the club, relaxing, when Capt. Barkman came in and said that the Colonel (whoever he is) wanted us to go out. That afternoon (yesterday) a jeep had hit a mine just on the other side of town, just outside Gladys. One guy was hurt – no big thing. I didn’t even give it space in yesterday’s paper. But I guess someone saw somebody moving around in a clump of bushes just off the road.
Why the waited till after dark to go out – but away we went to check it out. We sat in the truck, loaded for WWII, in the rain (maybe that’s why they waited – it hadn’t rained yet that day) for an hour, waiting for everybody to get ready. As it turned out, we were actually on the operation about 10 minutes. The objective, the clump of bushes, was directly in front of Gladys, about 100 meters or less from the road – easy range for M-16s, grenade launchers, slingshots – anything, form Gladys itself; they wouldn’t have even had to leave the compound to get whatever was supposed to have been in there.
The bushes were in a clump, about the size of Singleton’s backyard jungle, and a good 500 meters out in the middle of nowhere. We walked from the road out to the clump, walked around it, and walked back to the truck, and went in. Ridiculous! All the Gladys artillery had to do, if they really thought something was there, was to put a canister round from a Howitzer on it and there wouldn’t even be a leaf left on the thing, let alone any VC or water buffalo, or whatever it was they saw moving.
Today’s activity was just about as bad. We went out with the 1/27th again, and again we were out humping all day and finding nothing. The officer in charge was Lt. Col. Hughes, and he lived up to the name by managing to disrupt the whole affair. In the morning, the choppers were late. When they did come, they dropped us off at the wrong place. We had to walk twice as far as was planned.
We spent the whole morning walking, missed lunch, and then Col. Hughes wanted to go out again in the afternoon. We waited for 3 hours for some more choppers, searched a small area hunting for a hospital (Cheui Hoe info) found only a Buddhist temple, and flew back; an hour late for dinner. A whole day wasted.
The temple was interesting (wish I had my camera). All the funny little monks and statues and they had a little compound behind the temple full of food and supplies - VC supplies? Anyway, all we did there was ring the bell and beat on a large drum in the backroom of the church. The monks got very upset when we did this – seems that was the death drum – every time there was death, they beat the drum – chased away spirits or something, I imagine.
86 days, 27 Aug ’67, Sunday
Another one of the ARVN outposts was hit last night, and a few stray rounds found their way to the compound, so we had to stay on 50% alert all night. While I was on (1 – 3:30) the same place was hit, and the first few rounds went awry and zipped by our bunker. They say things are pretty close when you can hear the bullets whiz by . . . .too close.
I guess they had pity on us from being out all day, and up half the night – we slept till noon. I spent part of the afternoon, helping get all our equipment, radios, gun mounts, etc. off one of the jeeps, preparing to turn it in. remember, I told you about the *** General, ordering M-16s for the S-2 (they’re here now)? Well, Recon’s now getting 7 new jeeps, a track similar to, but larger than, my Ft. Knox 114s, and possibly a couple of swamp boats, like they use in Florida! Also, Lt. Cito went into Cu Chi to brief the Brigade Commander on our operations, so that he, the Col., could in turn brief Gen. Westmoreland. The General wants to know what we’re doing, and how it’s working out.
Tonight was steak dinner night. I’m a pretty good chef. So much for today. I got your letter today; have a few comments. I hope the Post doesn’t take the letters. The Dispatch is all right, but the Post?! Let’s keep it local. I think the nationwide stuff should wait till I get home.
Having a time keeping up with the Public Opinions. They come about 2 weeks behind. Can’t wait to see who Ray Adams is. Suspense! Dave better get out of that marriage! I think that lawn mower was trying to tell him something. If he stuck his foot in his lawn mower, he might put it in his mouth when he says “I do”. Sounds like Jere’s getting along pretty good. Am I wrong in thinking that with the new draft law, he doesn’t have to be going full time to be exempt from the vultures? Tell him to write me and tell me what has to be done to do a good maroon – slight sun-gleam – paint job on a fiberglass body – as in Lotus Elan. I just can’t stand the thought of BRG – I’ve had too much green. Sports-car red turns me green. White has no class, black makes it look like a hearse, and turquoise reminds me of a streamlined robin’s egg. I think a dark Chevrolet-type maroon, with sun-gleam (not quite as much as the ‘Beam) would be nice. Unless I can get a special factory job, Jere will have to do it. Phil Shenk says there is a maroon Elan in Westerville (won the gymkhana). He says it’s real sharp; wonder where it was painted? Dreaming a little, Bob
87 days, 28 Aug. ’67, Monday
500 days left in the Army
Well, we’ve got to pull an hour of guard each night until the elections are over (Sept 3). Guess they’re afraid of more raids by the VC. Election harassment, and all that. Usually the advisor people pull the guard themselves (it’s the only time they even look at a gun).
First time in a long time, I didn’t get any mail today. Nobody loves me.
Today would’ve been a beautiful day for pictures. We were in the choppers for about 20 minutes – that’s the longest chopper ride yet. They dropped us in the swamps by the river again. It was rough going all day – jungles, rivers, mud, red ants on the trees – they swarm on you and bite like horseflies, only about a quarter inch long (only?) but what big teeth they have, Grandma!
One guy got bit by hornets and nearly needed a dust-off chopper, he was so weak; the bites were the size of golf balls.
Little Joe shot a 12-foot python. We found several sampans and sunk them all, except one, which we kept and cruised the river in. It was my turn to ride in the bow with the machine gun.
Later the ARVNs began firing across the river – apparently at nothing. I figured I had never shot my M-60 yet, so I set it up and pulled the trigger, expecting rat-a-tat-tat. Got a big “bang”, and that was it. A round was “out of link”, and got caught up. Pulled out my .45 and, from being on my hip during 3 river crossings, it was wet and muddy. One round was all I could coax from it. This was getting ridiculous. I threw my grenade – a dud. Pulled my bayonet. All I got was the handle – the blade stayed in the scabbard. Tried my slingshot, and the rubber band broke. Glad there weren’t any VC coming at me. The only VC we saw ran as we were landing – we never got them.
I copped off the day by finally finding courage enough to ride with my feet out of the chopper, sitting on the edge of the floor. Didn’t realize they went so fast. The wind threatened to pull my shoes off for a while. The chopper gunner almost changed my mind as we were leaving. He began firing the customary “hope bullet” at suspicious hedgerows, etc. he was firing ahead of the chopper. The business end was about 5 inches from my foot. It he’d raised the gun another 5 inches . . . well, he’d probably have cured my ingrown toenail.
88 days, 29 Aug ’67, Tuesday
Forgot to mention the, but yesterday they brought some newspapers out from Cu Chi. We had a whole pictorial essay on CRIP. It was the second time out (when I got stuck) when Little Joe got 3 VC. I’ve sent the paper to my parents (I’m in one of the pictures). I don’t know what red tape you’d have to go through with copyrights, etc. to have the article put in the Dispatch, but it might be worth a try, it they could do it.
I wrote an explanation of my own of each picture. Forget that; just use only what the article has, and what’s under the pictures. They’d probably want to say where I was – that would be all right.
Since the town has been hit pretty regularly lately – election harassment – we went out last night. I suppose, hoping to intercept the VC before they got there. We’d been walking for about 20 minutes, when firing broke out to our rear. The VC were hitting Bao Trai. We never received any fire at all, but it was awfully close, just in the opposite direction. I figure we must’ve walked right past them in the dark. All they had to do was hide in a hedgerow – it was raining and very dark out. Apparently they let us go by so they could hit the outpost at the town gates. They’re not after U.S. troops during elections I guess, just the people.
I was afraid we’d go back after them, but we didn’t. I thought it was bad to hear shots in the daytime – try it at night! You have no idea how far away it is or where it’s going, especially as dark as it was. Later, we saw a light moving towards us across the daddies. We all laid down – in the water – to get behind the berm. The light come closer and closer; soon it was coming straight down the berm, which intersected the one we were on; the one I had my gun set up one – it was heading right down my hum. It turned out to be only one fisherman on his way back from fishing in the rice paddies (yes, there are fish in a few of them).
We didn’t shoot, but we should have. Anyone who walks around the Vietnam countryside on a dark night with a light – without a light – has to be crazy. He was one surprised gook when the Lt. Called for him to halt and 50 guys stood up in front of him, aiming rifles, etc. I imagine the business end of my ’60 three feet in front of him was enough by itself. Nothing else happened the rest of the night. We went in at 1:00 a.m.
Vietnam at night is a frightening place; Lord knows it’s bad enough in the day. As you walk across the berms, the hedgerows are nothing but dark, forbidding shadows; there’s no telling what might be waiting for you inside. There’s no sound except your own footsteps, and the rattle of a rifle sling or belts of machine gun ammo, slapping together. Occasionally, someone slips off the berm – “splash”. You never notice any of these wounds during a day operation, but at night they combine to sound like someone rolling a garbage can down a flight of stair into a swimming pool.
I can’t describe how the rifle fire sounds. It it’s very distant, it’s not much, but at times, when it sounds too close, you sweat. Every night you go out, you don’t hear fire that close. Tonight we did, and that night we shot each other, it was real close, and aimed at us, so I know what I’m saying. Every night you can hear distant fire somewhere. You hardly ever hear it during the day.
Another thing is the artillery at night. Not only the guns going off, but when you’re out, if the guns are aimed in your direction, there’s the unnerving sound of the rounds as they swish over your head. We’ve never had any rounds land close to us, but constantly you can see the flashes on the horizon, and seconds later hear the thunder and you know it isn’t rain.
Although not so frightening, there are always several flares on the distant horizon in any and all directions. Tonight we had them so close ) from the compound trying to illuminate the area the attack was coming from) that they exposed us to everything. Every time one went up, we had to get down. As I said, we weren’t quite that close to the compound or the attack, but remember these flares will light up a huge area. We were probably a 5 – 10 minute walk from the VC and another 5 – 10 minute walk from Bao Trai (time based on walking with a 50 man patrol in single file, fully armed, in complete darkness, on a little foot-high, foot or less wide, wet, slippery, uneven, mound of dirt). That even scares me; add another 5 minutes from the VC and 10 from Bao Trai.
It’s 2:30 now. I think every body’s back from coffee in the mess hall, and ready to go to bed. There went the light. I’ll sign off by flashlight.
Left in the dark,
Bob
89 days, 30 Aug. ’67, Wednesday
Peace, I’m a few days behind; I’ll start with yesterday. We had a colonel from Brigade come down and inspect our tent. He didn’t like the way beds were made, and he didn’t like our ammo being inside the tent. Cito, in so many words, told him what we did was none of his business.
They’ve put a restriction on leaving the compound during the elections. No one can leave, unless on official business, until Sept. 3; no more mail runs to Cu Chi. Cito promised us mail, though. I imagine he’ll invent some “official” business every day in Cu Chi.
We went out in the afternoon and managed to get shot at by some ARVNs (not S-2 people, but some other clowns that weren’t supposed to be out there in the first place). That kind of foolishness has to stop! While the scout section guarded two prisoners in a cemetery, the rest f the CRIP unit got 2 body count (2 VC killed) and captured two weapons. Pretty good day, I guess.
90 days! (Now eligible for R&R), 31 Aug, ’67, Thursday
As expected, we’re getting replacements now, faster than we can find a place to put them (4 today). We put a tent up for them this morning, went on an operation this afternoon, and in doing so we became the only outfit in the USA Army that didn’t get paid today. I’m not flat broke yet, but I’m losing air fast. (Would you believe, not broke but bent pretty bad?)
A lot has taken place in the past 2 days besides the new guys. Culver and Feliciano have been sent to the battalion commo [?] company, which puts them in their proper MOS [?] - lineman and Teletype operator. Feliciano has spent all but the 43 days he has left in Recon.
Bellamy leaves today for Cu Chi. He’ll spend the next 30 days there, then home. Garcia mad E-5 (buck sergeant) yesterday, and Beasly got orders for E-6 – stall sergeant, today. Marlar, Sabatino, Clark, and I got orders qualifying us to wear the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB). Nothing special, everybody in a combat gun MOS here in VN gets one. It’s like the Basic Training Marksman medals – doesn’t mean much, but it looks impressive.
We got our track today. It’s a 113, which is bigger, but similar in appearance, to the 114s. It’ll carry 10-15 people. A new guy – Joiner – will drive it. They asked me, but I told them I’d never driven a 113. Joiner has, so they took him. That’s good. He can do all the maintenance on it, too. I don’t think he realizes that goes with the driving.
I mentioned the operation. We did see some VC, but were too far away to do anything about it. Later on, they let me test my ’60 – worked nice. We got back in time to see Those Magnificent Men and Their Flying Machines.
91 days, 1 Sept. ’67, Friday
Now I know who Ray Adams is, I wouldn’t say he did a show fob, I’d say a good job. No reason it should embarrass Marlynn; it’s not a sit he was making the whole thing up. He did forget a couple of things when he explained the pictures. He didn’t mention that “Marlynn’s mother forces her to dust, water, and feed all her plants for 5 hours a day. The rest of the time, she uses for dancing.” Also he showed your stuffed animals you use for dance partners. He s her to dust, water, and feed all her plants for 5 hours a day. The rest of the time, she uses for dancing.” Also he showed your stuffed animals you use for dance partners. He didn’t mention that the stuffed animal you were hooding in the picture was your brother, Jere.
A planeload of VIPs was supposed to come to Bao Trai today, to observe some preparations for the elections. Rumors said that the group included Henry Cabot Lodge. They sent us to the airstrip outside Bao Trai to provide security for the plane as it landed, and then to escort them to Bao Trai. We left at 12:00 and sat on the jeeps in the sun until 4:30, when a chopper came in and told us that they weren’t coming. Even that was a lie. Actually while we waited for a plane at the airstrip, they went straight to Bao Trai by chopper, landing at the little pad outside our tent. The day wasn’t wasted – I got a beautiful sunburn.
They haven’t let us rest much lately. We went out tonight in search of two mortar tubes, supposedly aimed at the compound. More Chieu Hoi information. I think he told them where some mortars were two years ago, and we had to go out to find them.
They must think they have lights pointing to their positions. I mentioned the feeling of walking the berms at night. Tonight we had the security of gunships at first, but after they left, I got the feeling that all they did was let every VC around know we were there. Of course, we never found the mortars. If they had been there, I doubt it we could have fond them, ever in the day time.
All our activities kept us from getting paid again today. I’m tired of working on credit. We go out and hump all day, and get shot at, and they can’t even find time to either send us in, or come out here to pay us.
Well, at least we didn’t get mortared tonight by those 2 tubes we didn’t find. Would have felt kinda silly if we had.
92 days, 2 Sept. ’67, Saturday
We went out early this morning and got sunburned some more – made it back in time for lunch.
I saw the Browns play Los Angeles on TV today. Ryan and Collins looked good the first half, and terrible the second half. Browns first 2 scores were set up by the defense on a recovery, and an interception. The second half, the whole team was asleep, and the Rams went ahead. Having watched the Browns for the past 4 years, I recognized the pattern, and left. I’d bet my paycheck – if I ever get it – they lost. We were supposed to get paid at 5:39 (also mail for the first time in 2 days) but the pay officers never showed.
We were lucky in a way. Some Chieu Hoi told Cito where he thought there were some mines in the road. He left the people that haven’t been paid yet behind, and took 7 others, who had been – new guys and a couple others who were in Cu Chi on payday – out in the track with the mine detector and haven’t come back yet.
Just found out why it’s 9:30 and no sign of our mine hunters. No, no mines; they tried to drive a 13 ½ ton track across a rice paddy, where a 160 pound person would have rough going. I know how easy it is to bog down a 7 /12 ton track in a mud hole at Fort Knox, so guess what happened to the “Rat Trap”? I guess it’s only about half visible out in the middle of rice-land. They have to stay out there all night now, and stand guard. That’s what can happen to these “out after dinner; back before the movie” operations.
I’d hate to be out there tonight – the night before elections. The artillery has never stopped all night (shooting who knows where) and one of the outposts on the far side of town has received fire several times tonight. Charlie’s definitely out tonight, trying to disrupt the elections (double guard on the compound tonight) and there sits 7 guys and 1.50 cal. (plus 7 M-16s) in a very stuck APC track, in the middle of it all –excellent target. If I was them, I’d sink it to about a foot out of the mud, and lock myself inside.
The pay officer hasn’t come, so I guess we’ll wait till Monday. There is a strict control on travel tomorrow; they won’t even let us go out on a mission tomorrow, so I doubt if they’ll let someone come out to pay us. Chopper flights, road travel, everything, is cancelled for tomorrow. I suppose they’ll let us go get the track surely they won’t make them stay out there another night.
No pay, no mail, something better happen pretty quick – there’s talk of mutiny! Even Charlie got paid this month, but we haven’t!
So this is the war on poverty,
Bob
93 days, 3 Sept. ’67, Sunday
Got paid! Well, everybody else did. They found the mistake they made last month, double pay for June, and took it out this month. I didn’t get a plug nickel. My $100 allotment went home at least. First chance I get, I’ll go to finance and see what’s happening and find out what I can expect next month.
Mail call made up for pay call. It was a three day accumulation. I got a few letters - my CP&D. the P.O., Patti’s cookies, and a ton of literature from Mid-Ohio. I sent Mid-Ohio a letter saying I enjoyed the races and missed them this year. They sent me a huge envelope, including everything from Entry Forms, Racing Posters, and Programs from this year’s three races, to picture postcards and a metal dash plaque. I was busy all day, reading.
The guys came back with the track today; got pulled out by some tracks from Gladys. They didn’t have anything happen all night. From the looks of the track, they did bury to only a foot above ground.
There are now 16 replacements out here now, including a new platoon sergeant and scout section leader. There are a few that have some time in VN, but at least 10 are veterans of only 15 days or less in Cu Chi. Makes me feel good.
All these new people make you wonder what will happen to recon when all the veterans leave. Not only the new people, but the thought that when the vets leave, I’ll be the veteran. Hope we still operate in this casual manner and don’t get formal when the new command takes over.
How did I forget? Let’s get back to mail call. I got my last roll of slides. Some are great, including the two of our VC trophy. I’ve got orders for about 40 prints of it. The rest will come in the mail soon. The last two will wait till I have the prints made.
No comments:
Post a Comment