A few days in July 1969

[Bill Farnie]

10 July 69

0900hr.

Bco to be inserted at YC 312923 and Dco at YC 315927, both to assist A/2/17th Cav's Aero-rifle platoon who has been in contact with NVA all night.

Brigade informed of fire coordination line:
YC 305950 SE to YC 308948 SE to YC 319935 SE to YC 326930 SW to YC 324923 along river to border. 2nd fire coordinating line, YC 305955 W to YC 300948 NW to
YC 307952 W to YC 290954 NW to YC 287958 W to 284958.
Area to N & E covered by Arty and area to W covered by ARA

Sounds good don't it? Sounds like everything is covered don't it?

1046hrs

Brigade informed NVA unit identified as the 803 Regt.
Brigade S-3 is trying to put ArcLight Mission and need clearance. ( ArcLight mission never happened. )

1235hrs

Battalion S-3 informed of Dco's insertion at YC 312931.
4th platoon was the first into the LZ and they called it cold. It was for them but it wasn?t for the rest of us.

1240hrs

Dco at YC 312931 receive incoming mortar rounds during rest of company insertion. They have visual sighting of movement 350 meters to their front. Enemy has started to register rounds. SA, MG and RPG
ARA on station.

At YC 312923 Bco receive AW fire from the west where there are caves. Bco returns fire having 2 enemy KIA's.

1310hrs

Dco in contact with unknown size force and informs Battalion that the enemy has gas masks and are dug-in around boulders and caves.

Things are lookin' good. What more could a guy ask for on a summer day. You think we would rather be back on the block and miss all this?

1500hrs

Dco receives incoming mortars from YC 308938. Have visual contact w/enemy mortar tubes and engage with MG?s
ARA on station. Incoming mortars 18 sec. between flash and impact.

1547hrs

At YC 312932 Dco request medevac.

For the rest of the afternoon we had running firefights with the enemy . We didn?t know it at first but their actions were deliberate as they drew us into a trap.

Now for some of us more experienced grunts, the red flags went up and we knew the enemy was making us do just what he wanted, but our CO wouldn?t listen. He never did take anyone?s advice. I only have a month and a half to go until my tour is up?..I?m thinkin? what am I doing here? I?m to short for this shit.

1703hrs

Brigade informed of typhoon coming in off the coast. Will bring bad weather for 3 days.

1738hrs

Dco at YC 313947 report enemy is fleeing to the north. Dco pursues and recons by fire. Gunships requested.

1740hrs

Dco at YC 313947 finds trail running up to Hill 996 and also finds trail w/commo wire.

1835hrs

Dco reports gunships observe trails to N, S, NE and west. Gunships also observe 50 to 100 fighting positions and bunkers.

Lets stop right here. Looks like a good spot. Why don't we NDP here for the night? Find enemy gravesite, of the fresh kind

2110hrs

Dco?s NDP probed on North and East. Request illumination. Didn?t help much. Between the jungle and the weather you couldn?t see shit.

2200hrs

Dco. at YC 313939, LP's report movement 25 meters to their south.
( a whole lot of movement )
Yes, I'll bet you grunts guessed it. A MAD MINUTE!

They didn't bother us again until O812 hrs the next morning, 11 July 69. Now this is according to the record , but I'm not so sure. The wind was blowing and it was still raining to damn hard to hear and we were too tired to care. Well that's not entirely true. We cared enough to forget about sleeping, but that's all. Took a moment or two to think about that girl back home. I wondered a little bit about what my friends were doing back in the world tonight. That PISSED ME OFF enough to keep that one eye open.

The stage is set for the battle for Hill 996

The next few days have always been hard for me to get through and I know that I'm not supposed to be here talking like this, but I think that those who didn't make it are looking down and maybe getting a chuckle out of me doing this.
Maybe I'll just go out on the porch and cut lose with my SKS. See how my neighbors react. Hell, I'll say I heard movement 25 meters out in front. They should learn just how that feels. Maybe they can invite me to a protest march against the War in Iraq so I can see how that feels. That sounds like an even exchange of experiences, doesn't it?

To be continued???.maybe