Night Ambush

[Bill Farnie]

Officers,
For the most part we had good leadership with two exceptions.

Lt. Gowan...

Lt. Gowan was the replacement for my old platoon leader who went home in December 68?. We met the new Lt. in our barracks at Camp Evans and while talking with us he announced that his goal was to leave Vietnam with at the very least, a Silver Star. He volunteered my platoon for everything under the sun. Every ambush, every patrol when we would be at a firebase, and when we were to do a combat assault we would be the first platoon into the landing zone. Our company commander, Capt. Hendricks (who by the way went on to obtain the rank of General and commanded the 3rd Infantry Division) put two and two together and had him transferred to an ARVN unit as a liaison officer and after a couple of months we learned that he was indeed awarded a Silver Star but lost his legs as a result of wounds received during the action.

Capt. Ditchfield....

We had a company commander named Capt. Owen Ditchfield. Ditchfield was a total f***up and was directly responsible for the deaths of 20 men including our Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Arnold Courtney Hayward, and the wounding of 26 men. The fastest way for an officer in the U.S. Army to get promoted is to command an infantry unit in combat. That's why Ditchfield was our CO. He came to us from the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment where he had been a pencil pusher looking to advance in rank. He had no combat experience and probably very little infantry training. He was completely incompetent. The reason our battalion commander was KIA was he had joined us in the battle to take command from Ditchfield. Even though I didn't have the rank, I was a squad leader. After the battle Ditchfield called all platoon leaders, platoon sergeants, and squad leaders (those of us who were left) to a meeting and he had the gall to give a critique of how we fought the battle. He was a total nut case and I doubt that he has any idea, let alone any remorse on how his lack of leadership quality caused so many casualties. He was relieved of his command shortly after the battle. I do pray that if he is still living that he is haunted every day with the memories of that day as I am but I don't think so.

[39mto39g]

s

[39mto39g]

Were pretty nasty also, They had a very distinctive sound. The 50 had a distinct sound also, The 50 was like a base drum, The 51 was like a base drum with an amplifyer. We captured one of these on wheels, BN commander put it in base camp next to the 50 bunker.

$5.00 for each picture of a different guy kissing James on the cheek at the party.

Ron

[MORTARDUDE]

Ron :

This is getting very, very kinky. What will you pay for a video ?? LOL LOL

Larry

[DMZ-LT]

Your on. Mountain boys gonna like this ! LOL

[frisco-kid]

Pretty much the way James described. I must say though, that I had a few pretty good officers. Ones that genuinly had our safety as a priority, for the most part. One of my favorites, 1st Lt. Earls, was KIA near Kontum. Had a couple of duds too, but they didn't last long. Had one WIA never to be seen again [couldn't have happened to a nicer guy], and one KIA.

I once went for 2 weeks without mail. I seriously believe that the only reason that we got it when we did was because Westmoreland paid us a visit in the field. He asked a buddy of mine how things were going, and Cos told him "Sir, I haven't had mail in 2 weeks." The next day we HAD mail.

Hot meals and cold drinks was the way James said. Usually the beer and sodas were hot. We'd steal the CO2 fire extinguishers off of the choppers to cool them down with every chance we got.

Samething with clothes. You'd wear the same ragged, sweat and blood stained fatigues for several weeks at a time. When we got some sent out to us, the platoon sergeants would pass them out to the guys that needed them the worst. Same same boots. Made it back to Phan Rang a couple of times and you'd see the REMFs walking around in clean, tailored fatigues sucking on a cold beer or soda. They were pretty good about keeping us in "beans 'n bullets," but really could care less about a few creature comforts for us.

Our main basecamp was Phan Rang. We, as a battalion, only returned to it twice my whole tour. The first time was the end of JAN67 [I got there JUN66] for 4-5 days. This wasn't a stand down, either. We ran company-sized patrols outside the perimeter the whole time we were there. We did get re-outfitted though. The next time was the end of MAR67 for about the same length of time. This time was a little more relaxing. Even made it into the Sin City that was just outside the perimeter. I was never back again until JUN67 to DEROS.

James, I talked to a few 173rd guys and they didn't seem to have it any better. This must of been an Airborne thing. I don't know. I didn't know how bad we had it until I met guys from other line units and compared notes.

LT: You probably would have had it ALOT more comfortable if you weren't attached to the 101st . Actually, I think it got better when the rest of the division started to arrive late '67. Although, it wouldn't have taken much to make it better and still suck.

[DMZ-LT]

James's " Pissed off homeless guys with guns and an attitude " Pretty well nailed it. Did I tell you I was an Opa ? Welcome home everyone !

[1CAVCCO15MED]

Most of my officers were draftees and their attitudes were about as bad as ours. The only Lt. we had intentionally shot himself in the big toe to get out. Then there were the NCO's.........

[exlrrp]

Originally posted by Andy You and I have something in common. You left a grunt unit to be a LRRP thinking things would be more mellow. Sounds a little crazy but I totally understand. After a year as a grunt I extended to be a door gunner knowing when I wasn?t in a chopper I?d be in an NCO club where I?d have ice in my J.D. Then extended again to be
a grunt in Saigon just knowing there were lots of ladies available. Had nothing to do with brass balls, each extension was a job with more creature comforts.

About those ragged uniforms. I?ll never forget after we fought the battle of the race track, just north of Saigon, in May of ?68 we got a visit. This full bird Air Force guy came out on a Huey and looked at us. Some in fatigue shirts, some T-shirts, some no shirts. Some fatigue pants, some cut offs, some splattered with oil, diesel, or blood. The night before our company had held off an attack by an entire battalion of NVA, lots of bodies in the field.

The Air Force dude looks at us and shakes his head and says, ?It was only by the grace of God that we held them off.? Then our CO yells, ?No Sir, it wasn?t God, it was Infantry!?
You give me an officer like that, a .50 and a mobile platform and I?d charge the gates of hell. (Sorry, still have a bit of an attitude.)

Stay healthy, sorry you had it so bad,
Andy

Andy
I was just a humble victim of circumstances, as are we all.

Y'see, this is what I'm learning over all this time on the internet--it WAS bad--and some had it better. But fuckit, thats just war. I volunteered for airborne,volunteered for infantry, volunteered for Vietnam, volunteered to be a lrrp.(note to myself: Start making better life decisions soon!) I think it was an Airborne thing, like it was a Marine thing. YOU'RE A LEAN MEAN FIGHTING MACHINE!!! You're rough! Youre Tough! Youre Scuffed!! Yeah, but think what that does for your personality. This may not be a good thing if you plan to have a life after the war.
Its funny to see the word mellow used about a job that I have seen described as "Suicide Missions On Blood and Guts Sunday Night (on The History Channel) Some BS, eh? I got news for them, I NEVER believed in the cause of Vietnamese Democracy to where I'd commit suicide for it. Sorry if this pusilanimous attitude lost the war but fuckit--I wouldn't go on a suicide mission for Iraqi freedom either, I just don't care about those folks.
The lrrps I ran with played the game on a lot higher level than I ever saw in the 101st. Here I go bragging again but I am fully convinced that my 5 man (sometimes 6) lrrp team did more damage to the enemy in 6 months than my whole infantry company did in the 6 months I was with them. And that was part time, too, we were in the "rear" 3 days out of 4.
But I volunteered for it because I was just fcking tired of where I was at. The war wasn't going no where and neither was I.
Here's the true fact of my volunteereing: I was sitting in a muddy hole after a week of fighting in the rain.cursing the day I was born. I was wet, cold, miserable, hadn't had a hot meal in?? I was real sure I was going to die soon and it would be as ugly and meaningless as all the other deaths I'd seen. This captain walks up to me and said: They got your name to go in the lrrps. I looked at him , all clean and shaved and shiny and I thought: I want to be clean. I want to wear dry clothes. I want to eat off a table again with a real knife and fork. I want to shit on a toilet.
And I stood up and I said Where the fuck do I sign?? That was it: so much for Vietnamese Independence, so much for patriotism. I just wanted a fcking day off.
It was a fortuitous choice, I never regretted it--well more than a few times anyway. Lrrps have their own huge dangers but they don't spend evry night in the field. If I hadn't gone lrrp I wouldn't have had any fun in Vietnam at all.

Why do they treat peop-le like that? Part of the corporate culture again. Did the Army have ANY school where they treated you with respect? If they did I never saw it and I went to Basic, Infantry, Airborne, Recondo and JOC Jungle School. They had me convinced I should sell my life for The Mission. Thats when I knew my life was cheap.
Have plenty more to say on this but have to run
Thanks all, I am SO looking forward to being with you all

James

[exlrrp]

Originally posted by 39mto39g I would like a picture of LT hugging James.
Id even pay $5.00 to get that kiss on the cheek (picture).



Ron

For a mere $100 more you can get a picture of me doing it NAKED!!
Suitable for posting at the Firehouse!
Stay Good, Ron
James