The Days Forward

West Point Class of 1969

Suzanne Rice

Smoke – 1972

     I spent the majority of my tour in Vietnam flying in the 60th Assault Helicopter Company [AHC], callsign “Ghostriders,” under the 7th Squadron -17th Air Cavalry, a composite unit. We had around 25 “slicks,” which is what we called our lift UH-1H

Helicopter Nose-cover Art

Hueys that carried troops and cargo, plus a gunship section of six AH-1G Cobra attack helicopters, the “Gunrunners.” 

     Our mission was to provide helicopter support to the Republic of Korea [ROK] White Horse and Tiger Divisions.  Our company was configured for combat assault

Shoulder Patch of the ROK Tiger (Mang-ho) Division
ROK White Horse Division (Peng-ma) Shoulder Patch

operations, where we inserted or extracted ground troops in landing zones, under gunship cover.  However, the majority of our missions were direct combat support, what we called “ash and trash,” usually routine single ships supplying troops in the field with food, ammunition, water and mail.  We got a lot of flying time on these missions, since they typicallylasted eight hours or more, with several dozen individual sorties.  Occasional missions included medical evacuation of wounded troops, and aerial reconnaissance for upcoming operations.  From time to time on all our missions, the bad guys took offense at our presence, and indicated their displeasure with gunfire, usually AK-47.  The ones shooting at me were mostly bad shots.

     The aircraft crew consisted of two aviators and two enlisted crew.  The Aircraft Commander was an experienced and battle-tested pilot who usually flew in the left seat, and his “charlie-pop,” or co-pilot, usually a new guy, flew in the right seat, gaining experience to become an Aircraft Commander himself one day. 

      In the left rear well, or cabin corner, sat the crew chief, who was the owner of the helicopter, in charge of its maintenance, who always flew with his bird.  In the right well sat the door gunner, who assisted the crew chief and was responsible for the machine guns.  Both the crew chief and the door gunner had pedestal-mounted M-60 machine guns, each with an ammo can holding a belt of 1,500 rounds. Their duties were to watch for enemy fire and to advise the pilots about the tail rotor in tight spaces. On direct combat support operations, we also carried an English-speaking ROK soldier, who relayed to us our missions.

UH-1H Huey “Slick” Inserting American Troops in a Combat Assault Landing Zone.*

     Since our airfield was located just a couple of miles inlandfrom the South China Sea, whenever we took off in the morning for a mission, the first thing we did was to fly “feet wet” (over the ocean), where the door gunners could test-fire their weapons.  Many troops volunteered to bedoor gunners just because they knew at least once each day they could fire their machine guns.  On routine missions, we sometimes let cooks fly gunner on their days off, and we even had a chaplain who loved to fly and shoot the gun.

     During test firing, the door gunners always wanted something to shoot at, and their favorite target was the sharks that swam near the surface in the South China Sea.  Since a shark is mostly cartilage, machine-gun bullets don’t do any damage, but they surely do annoy the shark.  Most sharks were small, but there was one Great White as big as our helicopter tail boom.  He roamed about 200 miles up and down the coast. After I made

Great White Shark in the South China Sea

Aircraft Commander (callsign “Ghostrider 8”), I absolutely refused to let my gunners shoot that shark when we saw it.  I figured if our engine quit, I did not want our crew to be breakfast for an angry giant man-eating shark.

     Whenever we took fire, our crew’s priorities were to

1.  Advise us where the fire was coming from. 

2.  Drop a smoke grenade to mark the target for the gunships.

3.  And only then, return fire with the machine guns. 

Our good ones could do all three simultaneously.  Before the mission, they would pull the pins on smoke grenades and reinsert them backwards to hang on the edge of the ammo cans.  They cruised with their little finger through the pull ring, so when they engaged with the M-60, it automatically pulled the pin and dropped the smoke.

     Sometimes out horsing around at the end of a day’s mission,we would practice dropping smoke grenades from altitude to see whether we could marka specific point on the ground.  The Aircraft Commander would fly straight and level and call the crew chief when to drop the smoke, then wing over to see where it went.

     Early in my tour (I wasn’t present for this incident), one of our young warrant officers chose as hissmoke bombing targetan old Vietnamese fisherman out in the Tuy Hoa River, about 10 miles in from the coast.  By the third smoke grenade whistling out of the sky obviously aiming for him, old papa-san finally got mad.  He pulled an antiqueFrench flintlock musket out of the bottom of his boat, hung it under his arm and fired, almost knocking himself out of his boat.  The Huey was pulling a steep left turn when the lucky musket ball punched through the plexiglass roof canopy and smashedthe Aircraft Commander in his helmet.  The ball embedded in the Styrofoam over his forehead, but it shattered his plexiglass face shield, driving shards into his eyes.  Since plexiglass doesn’t show up on X-ray, no one in-country had the technology to safely locate and remove it from his eyes, so they had to air-evacuate him to Japan to take it out.

Aviator Helmet with Plexiglass Shield Lowered

     My most memorable smoke story happened a few months into my tour.  As co-pilot, or “charlie-pop, I was at the controls flying a ROK regimental commander out to inspect one of his company compounds, located on a pinnacle back in the mountains.  I flew in at 2000 feet above the terrain, and when the company popped a red smoke grenade to indicate the winds at the helipad, I began my spiraling approach down to the company position.  As I was rolling out at the bottom approaching touchdown, the smoke grenade ran out, so the conscientious private on helipad duty popped a fresh smoke.  As I settled into a hover to touchdown, I thought to myself, “That’s strange.  I’ve never seen white smoke before.” 

     Just as the white smoke began getting sucked into the open Huey, the Aircraft Commander screamed, “Holy shit!” and yanked the controls out of my hands to go around.  I had just rememberedthat white smoke is CS, better known as tear gas.  As the aircraft gained airspeed, the choking tear gas in the Huey eventually dissipated, but all aboard were coughing with teary eyes.  The angry Aircraft Commander told the ROK interpreter that we were done for the day and turned back toward our base. 

     In a moment, the ROK came back forward and shouted over the noise, “My regimental colonel say, please, we go back.”  The Aircraft Commander declared there was no way he would take us back to that company.  The ROK repeated, “My commander say, please, please, please, we go back, just for one minute.” 

     Finally, the Aircraft Commander relented, and agreed to land us back at the pad, but this time he insisted on keeping the controls in his hands all the way.  When we touched down, the colonel steppedout of our aircraft and issued a command in Korean.  The ROK private who had popped white smoke snapped to attention on the pad.  A moment later his sergeant appeared and came to attention beside him.  A few seconds later, the lieutenant arrived and assumed the position of attention in the growing rank.  Finally, the captain company commander ran up the hill, still tucking in his blouse, to join the formation.

     When they were all assembled, the colonel gave another command, and all four soldiers removed their helmets and held them upside down in front of them.  Another ROK soldier appeared at the commander’s side, holding the case of CS grenades.  The colonel took one grenade from the case, popped it and dropped it in the helmet of the private, then sidestepped to the sergeant and did the same thing, and moved down the line, dropping a tear gas grenade in the helmets held by the lieutenant and captain.

     As soon as our helicopter’s rotor wash was blowing the concentrated cloud of tear gas directly into the faces of all four of the soldiers who had displeased him, the colonel climbed back into our bird, and his interpreter told the Aircraft Commander, “We go now.” 

     As we lifted off, I had learned a lesson – never fly into white smoke.  I’m sure the entire White Horse Division learned a variant of that very same lesson.

*Same type of aircraft flown by the Ghostriders supporting the ROK troops.  Behind the soldier on the left is the right-side cabin well, post of the door gunner.

FB Rifle – Work Continues – 1971

On Fire Base Rifle and along its access road work continued at a fair pace. 

FB Rifle Under Construction

     As time went on, we started to find some explosives along the road during sweeps and took harassing fire.  Usually an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) or a few AK (communist rifle) rounds would be fired at the sweep team and the NVA would quickly disappear.  It was suggested that I “vary our times” for clearing the road by battalion.  It took an hour and half to sweep the road each day and it had to be open by 0900. 

Sweeping the Road

BMNT (Beginning of Morning Nautical Twilight – when the first signs of light occur in the sky) was early but good light was about 0700 so we really could only vary by 30 minutes.  The NVA knew we would be at a point sometime within a 30-minute span – I did not get how that would help.  Division did get us some aerial support from the FLIR (forward looking infrared) aircraft.  It could tell if the earth had been disturbed (different temp) along the road.  Problem was we got the news rather late in the day – long after a sweep.

     In any case, the harassment fire continued.  One day when the other platoon was taking the sweep, the fire continued and did not break off.  We could hear the firefight about a click (km) away.  I went to the infantry support commander and asked that he help our guys out.  He told me he had orders to defend the hill and could not spare a man but would call for air.  My guys grabbed weapons and ammo and jumped in a ¾ ton dump truck and started down the hill on their own.  By the time they got to the sweep team, the enemy had broken contact and a pink team (LOH and Cobra Gunship) was overhead.

     We decided that the situation could not continue, and we needed to clear area away from the road.  We asked for and received one Rhome plow D7 dozer and operator from Corps.  It initially cleared jungle and trees back over 50 meters on each side of the road.  It unearthed some RPG rounds and plastic explosive.  The harassment stopped.

      Then, we started to get sniper fire on the hill.  As I walked with an NCO across the saddle one afternoon, I heard a loud pop above our heads followed by another from the ridge across from us.  Turns out we were taking some rounds.  A very weird experience to hear the double pops – explains why civilian witnesses often confuse the number of rounds fired.  The first is the sound of the round’s sonic wave as it passes; the second the sound of the weapon firing. You never heard the one that got you.  Again, a red team’s appearance silenced the enemy.

      The infantry inserted a platoon on the ridge to clean out the harassers. They worked down a finger of land on the ridge and came to a steep cliff.  When they started to go back, the point man hit a booby trap that blew off his legs. Apparently, what we called “trail watchers” (NVA who followed US units and harassed and wounded guys) were stalking the patrol.  A MEDEVAC bird lowered a jungle penetrator hook and cable to get the wounded guy out.  Then the cable would not retract.  The pilot had to fly him daggling on the end of the cable to our hill and land next to him to pick him up.  He was a sight and he bled to death in front of us from the stumps that were his legs moments before, even with the tourniquets.

MEDEVAC Helicopter

     The “watchers” had apparently placed more traps along the finger.  We were asked to send a couple of guys over to rappel in and cut out a small Landing Zone to get the platoon out.  I sent three of my best guys.  They got enough cleared so that when the wind shifted in the afternoon a slick could get in and take everyone out in shifts.  It made for a long afternoon.

     We tightened security and reviewed our defensive positions.  We did the usual “mad minute” to check fields of fire.  A “mad minute” had every soldier on his weapon with tracer rounds included. (They lit up through trajectory as a coating burned off. Machine guns had every fifth round a tracer in their belts to adjust fire onto a target.)  This would give a visible check of interlocking fires and show up dead spots in ravines, etc. where we would set claymores (These were a surface mine that was a sheet of plastic explosive under a layer of ball bearing like pellets.  They gave quite a kill pattern.)  We also used “fugas.” This was a thickened diesel fuel drum with an explosive charge behind it and a thermite grenade or flare (heat source) in front.  It shot homemade napalm down the ravine when detonated.  A final check for a blind spot was a hand-thrown grenade, and I carried a few.  A soldier’s final protective fire line was usually to his right or left, as your front was covered by the guys next to you.  This way you were not exposed to enemy direct fire, but you had to rely on your neighbor to clear your front.  This “mad” practice also served the purpose of rotating ammo.  We carried 21 or more loaded magazines for the M16 in ammo belts.  Over time the magazines might rust, so they had a shelf life.   Mad minutes were actually quite fun.      Soon the next level of harassment started – mortar rounds.  As I walked near the side of the hill a large explosion went off on the far side of our hill.  The Infantry Captain yelled “incoming” and we all dove for cover.  It was what amounted to a registration round to help adjust the enemy’s mortar attack.  It was a rough technique to adjust fire, but sometimes effective I was told.  I dropped into the nearest hole which turned out to be a garbage sump only a few inches deep.  We heard the sound of several rounds going off and puffs of smoke from the disputed ridge. And then I picked up the most frightening sight, the actual mortar rounds in a long parabolic arch coming at us – like a fly ball to center field.  The rounds got larger, and we lay as close as we could to the ground hoping they would miss.  I felt like my buttons were keeping me too high off the ground.  They landed on target, the hill, and the shrapnel crackled in the air and the ground shook, but miraculously nobody was hit.  I had heard another attack described by an NCO when a Major was hit directly by a mortar and all that was left were his boots with some jell coming out – mortars could be very lethal.  We were very lucky.  Almost immediately the artillery on Fire Base Brick fired on the ridge.  And as soon as possible, a Pink Team (LOH and Cobra gun ship) appeared.  The LOH (small helo) pilot flew at treetop over the launch site trying to draw fire. Those guys were quite brave, to say the least.  No fire was returned, so the accompanying Cobra shot up the area and took out what he could. Next, someone called in Air Force F4s and they fired rockets and dropped napalm and explosives.  It was quite a show.  We did not receive fire from the ridge again while we built FB Rifle.  

FB Rifle Rebuild – 1971

In early April or so, I took on new mission.   We were to enter a “new” AO (area of operations), reopen a road and build a first-class permanent firebase for the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam).  It was the consummate Vietnamization mission.  The base was to be far enough west to be in the mountains but accessible by ground.  The site selected was an old US FB Rifle between FB Anzio (occupied by ARVN) and FB Brick (2nd Brigade 101st) and the new site was south of Phu Bai off of QL1 – the main north-south route in I Corps.

Wayne’s Area of Operation for FB Rifle

My Commanding Officer at the time, a UMSA 1968 grad, wanted me to take over as his executive officer.  But LTC Rodolph, my battalion commander, wanted me to take on this job – quite a compliment.  LTC Rodolph prevailed.

The S-3 (operations officer) would design the bunkers and base and my guys would build it.  I would have under my command two platoons of my company, C Company, plus the Headquarters equipment – literally, all but one platoon of the company.  The planning phase was kind of fun.

First, I had to recon the area and what was left of the old road by helicopter.  To do this, I was to ride as observer in a LOH (small bubble-like chopper).  My pilot was an 18-year-old warrant officer that loved to put the LOH through her paces.  First thing he did was show me how to use the stick and pedals to try and set it down in case he was hit.  I did not do very well.  We took off and surveyed the area.

 

A LOH Chopper Used in the Observation of the Area Phase

     Neither U.S. nor ARVN troops had been on these ridges or valleys for several years.  As we flew the road, my pilot made like a roller coaster ostensibly to make us less of a target – but he just liked scaring the hell out of me.  We would dive down at high speed and come within a few inches of the ground at high speed and then pull up.  My stomach felt like the worst roller coaster ride ever.  The road was narrow and overgrown and would require some clearing, new culverts, and fill.   On one pass we saw what seemed like a very large lizard crossing the road as well as some real tiny deer (local “mule deer” species).

     After the aerial recon, we did the next phase. We landed in on top of the saddle ridge we were to use for the base.  We assaulted in and the S3 NCOs started doing a topographic survey.  There were two hills with a lower ridge in between.  The road would approach the near hill at a very steep incline.  When we landed and secured the hill, we recognized that neither was large enough for a battery base and that the two and saddle were too large.  We stayed for the remainder of the day and were lifted out at dusk.

     The final plan was to actually cut off the top of the far western hill with dozers to create a large enough battery-sized base.  Since we could not level the hill and occupy it at the same time, we would set up our temporary base on the near hill, using culverts for temporary bunkers and some wire, claymores, and trip flares for security.  We would build the permanent bunkers, extensive wire and fighting positions on the west hill and move when complete.  The road work would begin simultaneously and be based out of our position.

     We made all preparations and assaulted into the saddle in early morning, supported by most of an infantry company.  We received no incoming fire, but our gunners blazed away, anyway.  After landing we began to clear the hill and land and assemble dozers and gear.  Another platoon from C Company was to work from the existing ARVN FB along QL1 and re-open the old road.  We did our best to create a secure position on the eastern part of the saddle. We landed and swept for booby traps and mines.

     My guys began to use the equipment (backhoe and M450 dozer) to dig in positions.  The dozer and another squad moved to link up with the platoon moving from QL1. The infantry guys loved this as the usual SOP was for them to use their entrenching tools and good, deep positions with no labor were a luxury.  As I mentioned the hill had not been occupied for several years and we encountered several snakes.  There were many types of snakes in Vietnam (vipers, bamboo vipers, cobras, etc,), but the troops referred to them as “two-step” or “four-step” snakes.  The myth was that if bitten you could go two steps or four steps before the venom took effect.  One of my guys killed a very long one and as his comrades played with it, we discovered it was a King Cobra with quite a fan.  As the sun set one guy said he knew something about snakes and had we ever read “Rikki Tikki Tavi” a story about a mongoose and cobras in colonial India.  “Well,” he said, “cobras always travel in pairs.”  No one got much sleep that night.

A King Cobra

     Several days into the job we had another encounter with local animal life.  About 0100, one of my guys on guard came up and awakened me.  He said, “LT, there is somebody just down the hill and they are breathing very loudly.”  I grabbed my weapon and gear and crawled to his position and listened.  I heard a very long, hard “grrrrrrrrrr” that was almost a deep purring.  I told him that it was not someone, but something.  Just then, a trip flare went off to our right in front of the M60 machine gun position.  A large tiger jumped in the light and down the hill.  The machine gunner was frozen and did not get off a round – neither did the rest of us.  In the morning we found tracks of a tiger and a cub all around the hill.  We did not see her again.

Vietnamese Tiger Intruder

     The work progressed well, and we had the culverts in along the road except for one large stream crossing just before the populated areas and large elephant grass.  We would leave that as a low water crossing.  We had to sweep the road each morning for booby traps and mines and used to position our new XM 203s (a rifle and grenade launcher combination) on the front and to the flanks.  We had some “shotgun” rounds for the M79 part of the XM203s and had them loaded as we moved along.  The jungle and high grass were close.  On one sweep, the grass rustled loudly, and my guy fired the shotgun round.  We moved forward and discovered we had bagged a rather large boar.  It was sling-loaded to the battalion rear and mess hall for a “luau” for the colonel.

Feast for a Luau

Early in the job my relationship to my company commander had to be “clarified.”  He showed up one day by jeep and started to give directions to me and others.  He was not very helpful and really a REMF (Rear Echelon Mother F*&%) in my mind.  Maybe, that was not fair – Engineer CPTs in their first tour had gone somewhere else after graduation and had already missed the platoon combat experience.  They wanted that, but really, they were inexperienced to those of us lucky enough to be engineer LTs.  Anyway, his command tour of C Company was coming to an end (six months was the norm) and he would soon be replaced by another. 

     LTC Rodolph landed subsequently and asked what I needed.  I said that having the Company CO moving around giving sometimes conflicting orders was not helping.  The Colonel talked with him for some time and came back and told me everything was understood – my CO was moving to the S-3 and would eventually monitor the job from Battalion.  My company commander would not come to the hill again, and he was given other duties with what remained of his company until his change of command.  Amazingly he gave me more than the benefit of the doubt and a great efficiency report.  The efficiency report system was very inflated and you were rated on part of the report on traits from 1 to 4, all “1”s were the norm.  He did ding me with a “2” for tact.  That was an understatement!

     The only Vietnamese supposed to be in the area were wood cutters and Division designated a “wood cutter’s box” frequently to allow the locals to get firewood, etc. Everyone else we found were deemed enemy and it was a free fire zone.   The infantry guys would often send out patrols at night and set up ambushes.  These often included what we called mechanical ambushes – claymores rigged to trip wires to eliminate anyone on the paths.  One such ambush was very effective and the next morning they brought in several bodies.  One was an NVA medical doctor and he had a pith helmet as the NVA regulars wore.  Inside was a photo of his wife and daughter.  It was a bit disturbing to me.

     Anyway, after Mai Lai and the trial of LT Calley, the Army was hypersensitive to civilian deaths in Vietnam.  One morning a staff sergeant in the infantry battalion working our area was leading a patrol and let his guys sleep an extra hour.  They did not take in the mechanical ambush on time and some wood cutters were messed up.  The Division picked up the SSG and took him away and charged him with manslaughter we were told.   

Welcome to Vietnam – 1970

     My first memory of Vietnam was the pilot announcing, “we are approaching the coastline of Vietnam.”  I was still half asleep, suffering from two days of travel from North Carolina to McChord Air Force Base in Washington State before finally arriving at Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon. My Pan Am flight looked like any other Pan Am flight that I had taken, a commercial aircraft with attractive young flight attendants, which was the norm at that time. The primary exception was that almost all the passengers on the plane were wearing a uniform.  Most were in Army khakis, others in Navy and Air Force blue, and a few in civilian clothes, Department of the Army civilians and contractors. As I looked out the window and saw the coastline coming up and the rice paddies and mountains in the distance, I expected to see artillery and bomb explosions or tracers streaming into the air, but it was utterly peaceful. There was no sign that this was a country at war. Our plane landed at Tan Son Nhut, and we started deboarding down the portable stairs onto the tarmac. As I stepped out of the air-conditioned plane, I was struck by a tremendous wave of hot, humid air. It was my welcome to Vietnam and the climate I would be living in for the next year.

     My journey to Vietnam had started in March 1969. My class of 800 West Point cadets had gathered in Thayer Hall to select our first assignments. The selection process was based on class rank, and although there were hundreds of classmates in front of me, assignments in Europe, stateside, or Vietnam were still open to me when my name was called. Many of my classmates planned to get married or were engaged and wanted to avoid service in Vietnam as their initial assignment. Others did not feel ready to serve in a combat zone and preferred to go to Europe or a stateside location to gain experience. I selected Vietnam. There were many reasons. I had received a free education paid for by my country and felt an obligation to serve. My father had served in World War II, as had many of my uncles. The war was not going well, and there was a shortage of good junior leaders, and I felt like I could make a positive contribution in a difficult situation. Lastly, I did not have a fiancé nor steady girlfriend at the time, so I had only myself to consider.

     When I deployed to Vietnam in August 1970, the war that began in 1965 was not going well for the US side. The Vietcong had demonstrated during the Tet offensive of 1968 that they could still control the countryside. Many Americans no longer supported the war, and daily antiwar demonstrations were the norm in the states.  By 1970, 40% of the junior enlisted soldiers serving in Vietnam were draftees, the vast majority of which were disproportionally serving in ground combat units. Most were good soldiers, but they were young and inexperienced. The average age of the 2.7 million veterans who served in Vietnam was 22 years old, versus 26 years old for those who served in WWII. Unlike in WWII, drugs and racial strife were common problems in most American units, especially among support troops.

Arrival – only 364 Days Left

     I had requested an assignment in the 11th Armored Cavalry Squadron, a prestigious unit near Saigon. When I arrived in Vietnam, however, this unit had all the lieutenants it needed. Hence, the Army assigned me to A Troop, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division, located in a large US base camp at Chu Chi. This unit was

operating about 60 miles northwest of Saigon in what was called the “Fishhook” as the border of Vietnam with Cambodia curved like a fishhook in that area. The entire area of operations consisted of flat terrain made up of miles and miles of rice paddies and jungle with small Vietnamese villages scattered throughout.

     The chief terrain feature in the area my unit had to protect was an inactive volcanic mountain several thousand feet high, called Nui Ba Den, or “Black Virgin Mountain”.

On Recon Near Nui Ba Den

The Army had a radio relay station on the summit, which came under regular attack from the VC. Consequently, the mountains’ sides had been bombed and hit by artillery so often that almost no trees were left standing. The most significant benefit of the mountain was to help those of us on the flat terrain surrounding it to navigate. By taking a compass reading from our location to the mountain, and another reading from an airburst of US artillery, we could use triangulation to determine our position on the flat rice paddies and

high grass. This primitive method of determining location was not without error and sometimes resulted in artillery fire missing the enemy, or even worse, falling on friendly positions. On the road from Saigon to Cu Chi Base Camp, we passed through the city of Tay Ninh, which is the home of a small Buddhist religion called Caodaism. As we passed by the beautiful Cao Dai temple, dozens of young monks in their orange robes moved around outside and in the neighborhood. The Cao Dai faithful believe that there are 36 levels of Heaven and 72 planets having intelligent life. The first planet is closest to Heaven, while number 72 is closest to Hell. Earth, sadly, is close to Hell at number 68. Maybe it was because the land they inhabited had been at war for more than 25 years.

     When I arrived, I found that my unit had just come in from field operations on weeklong maintenance and rest stand-down. It was an ideal time to arrive in that I had a chance to meet my platoon and fellow officers in an environment other than combat operations. My troop commander was serving his second tour in Vietnam and was shortly due to return to the states. He was a senior captain and an experienced leader and went by the radio callsign “Alpha six.” I was assigned as the first platoon leader and went by the radio call sign “Alpha-One-Six.”  Steve, the second platoon leader, “Alpha-Two-Six,” was an ROTC, 1st lieutenant who had been drafted to serve in Vietnam and was not happy about being there. Frank, the third platoon leader, “Alpha-Three-Six,” had arrived in Vietnam about a month before I did.  Although we were fellow armor officers, we had not previously known each other.  He was friendly and welcomed me to the unit.

     I had been a tank platoon leader at Fort Riley, with five M60 tanks and crews.  In Vietnam, I would lead a reconnaissance platoon equipped with six M113 armored personnel carriers (APCs), each of which carried a crew of four or five soldiers and was armed with a 50-caliber machinegun. These APCs had tracks instead of wheels and could navigate through rice paddies and light jungle. The platoon also had three Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance Vehicles (ARVs) or light tanks. Each was armed with a 152mm

One of My Sheridan “Light Tanks”

cannon capable of firing a Beehive round against ground infantry or conventional tank rounds against bunkers. Each Sheridan had a four-person crew and was equipped with a 50-caliber and 7.62mm coaxial machine gun. 

     My platoon was authorized fifty-one men, but there were always positions unfilled, soldiers processing in or out of the country, sick, or recovering from wounds. Consequently, fewer than forty soldiers were available on most days. Almost every noncommissioned officer qualified to serve in a tank or cavalry unit had already had a Vietnam tour by 1970, so there was a significant shortage of qualified NCOs in all platoons. My platoon sergeant, a staff sergeant, was assigned in the position usually held by a sergeant first class. He was not experienced and was not enthusiastic about the job placed upon him because of his seniority. He commanded the three Sheridan tanks as they could not navigate rice paddies and had to remain mainly on the roads. Consequently, my platoon often acted as two units rather than one. The APCs under my control conducted reconnaissance while the Sheridan light tanks under my platoon sergeant’s control escorted supply convoys or provided road security.

     With my platoon sergeant frequently absent, I depended upon a less experienced staff sergeant who normally was only responsible for a five-man APC crew. He did a respectable job under the conditions but was little help to me in my first combat leadership role. As the platoon leader, I did not command a track vehicle but instead focused on the entire platoon. Specialist Carson was my M113 carrier commander, responsible for its maintenance and care and supervising the crew. He was a tall, lean soldier who was always professional and knowledgeable and greatly benefited me.

     Sgt. Hancock was the leader of my infantry squad and looked the part. Physically fit, striking in appearance, and a natural leader, he was my most reliable noncommissioned officer. Any time we were in a situation where there was danger, he was always the one I wanted with me on the ground. “Doc” was our platoon medic.  One of only four minority soldiers in the platoon, he was well trained, highly motivated, and much respected by the other soldiers. Doc enjoyed his job and the prestige that went with it. PFC Campbell, one of my favorites, was a short, baby-faced infantry soldier who loved to tangle with danger and embraced every opportunity to disarm a mine in the road or plant an explosive charge. Another colorful character in my platoon was Private Johnson, an American Indian, who wore a headband and looked like an Apache warrior.

Standing on the Left With My Platoon

     My father served in the same Marine unit for three years in the Pacific during WW II, where he developed life-long friendships. My experience in Vietnam would be different. My fellow soldiers and I would be respectful and cordial with each other, but there was little to bind us in our short time together except getting about the business of war. With one exception, I would never see any of these officers or soldiers again after our unit was deactivated four months later. 

Off to War – 1971

During the class of 1969’s tenure at West Point (1965-69), the peak of the Vietnam War occurred. US combat units were dispatched in 1965, the bloodiest week of combat occurred during Tet of 1968, and the peak strength of 549,500 was reached in 1969. Our daily lives, especially with respect to military training, were inundated with war-themed events. When the time for branch selection and assignment preferences arrived, a significant percentage of us volunteered for Vietnam.

In June 1969, we graduated, took our 60 days of leave and the vast majority of us went on to Airborne School, Ranger School and the branch basic officer’s course. Army policy at that time mandated that all Vietnam volunteers had to complete two months of stateside unit duty, before deploying to the Republic of Vietnam (RVN).

I had been assigned to Fort Carson, Colorado to the 5th Infantry Division (5th ID), later redesignated the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) (4th ID Mech), which had rotated back from RVN. I was the battalion Assistant Operations Officer (Asst. S-3) in the 2/10 Infantry. My new bride, JoAnne, who had a degree in education, but was unable to find work as a teacher, did secure temporary employment using her sewing hobby skills as an associate in a fabric shop. Since nearly a year had passed without me receiving my orders for Vietnam and Jo wondering when I’d be leaving, I decided to call Infantry Branch. I was connected to a major, whom I’ll call Prevaricator. I identified myself, explained the situation and waited while he pulled up my file. After a few minutes, he said, “Let’s see. Oh, yes. Well, with the drawdown of US troops in country, the earliest you’ll be there is March of ’72. Now, I just finished filling an October requirement for 150 Captains, but I could swap you out for someone on the list and get you there sooner.” I respectfully declined and said that March of next year would be soon enough. Before hanging up, I repeated March of ‘72, which he confirmed.

In addition to my regular duties, I performed “other duties as assigned”, to include sitting on a brigade board considering promotions to the grade of Staff Sergeant (E6). About three weeks after I talked with the Infantry Branch assignments officer, one of the brigade administration NCOs, who had played on the brigade softball team with me, appeared before the board for an interview. After the board adjourned, as I was leaving brigade headquarters, he approached me and asked how he did. As I was not permitted to discuss actions of the board, I told him I couldn’t reveal the results. He jokingly said,” Well sir, if I don’t get promoted to E6, I’ll have to put you on orders for Vietnam.” I simply smiled.

I continued assisting the Battalion Operations Officer (S-3) in planning field operations and riot control training for the Battalion. Then one day, I received a call from that brigade admin NCO, who said (somberly, “Sir, I’ve got some bad news; I just received a Request for Orders (RFO) for you for Vietnam. “Back in those days an RFO was the precursor to receiving a hard copy of reassignment orders. Thinking this was part of a joke, I glibly responded,” Sure Sgt., and let me guess, I‘ve gotta be there in two weeks.” “No sir, not two weeks, but by 1 November.” I could tell from his tone that he was serious. Just having been assured by the assignments officer that the soonest I would be there was March of ‘72, I assumed somebody had screwed up.                                                  

I waited until the following day to call Major Prevaricator and when I finally got a hold of him, he said he had just received a rush requirement for another 150 captains and was scrambling to fill it, by moving everybody up to a sooner deployment. Since there were few American troop units still remaining in Vietnam, he told me I would be assigned to Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV).

MACV Patch

Later that night when I got home, I told JoAnne about our accelerated schedule and suggested we revise our calendar to shift to the earlier date. Like the fine understanding Army wife that she is, she contained her consternation and decided that we would make the change sooner rather than later.

At the appropriate time, we completed the Permanent Change of Station (PCS) process, spent time with family, said our farewells, and I boarded the “big iron bird” headed for Oakland Army Air Terminal enroute to RVN.

Denis in Country

Once I arrived in-country, 1 November 71, I began in-processing. During my initial reporting in to the administrative Specialist 4 (Spec4) at Military Region III (MR III) headquarters, he looked at my orders, glanced at me, uttered an epithet, followed by, “Sorry, sir, the last thing I need is another captain. I‘m not sure what to do with you, since I have no open slots.” This revelation appeared to contradict what Major Prevaricator led me to believe. Fancy that.

In the midst of doing the initial processing at Bien Hoa, I was suddenly told to report to the MR III adjutant. When I did, I found out that it was our classmate who was better known as the hockey team captain, who had just been tasked to recommend a Captain (O-3) for consideration as the MR III deputy commander’s aide de camp. He was reviewing files of O-3 officers who met the criteria and saw my name. Not wanting to put him in a bind and being somewhat curious, I agreed to be interviewed by the general (whose name I’ve forgotten). During the interview, I expressed appreciation for the opportunity, but thought I’d be more effective in that role after some combat time in the field. He appreciated my honesty and deferred to my wishes.

I was assigned to MACV Team 89 in Dat Do District, Phuoc Tuy Province, 50 miles southeast of Saigon on the South China Sea.

 With Richard Nixon’s Vietnamization program in full swing, our orders were basically: “don’t get wounded, captured, or dead.“

District Compound Entrance   

For the most part, activity consisted of inspecting Vietnamese local force units, gathering intelligence and setting ambushes and patrolling with those local force units. We had a few enemy contacts, but activity was relatively “quiet”. The village in which our team compound was located was stable, although in other parts of the district, there was some guerrilla activity, typically handled by the Vietnamese. During this time, Jo and I stayed in touch via mail, and once I was even able to break away to the US base at Vung Tau, to my south, for a MARS call (the telephone/volunteer ham radio connection. (To learn more about a MARS call, read: Keeping in Touch With A Soldier). We began planning for my Rest and Recreation (R&R). Every soldier in Vietnam was permitted one R&R during a year’s tour of duty. One had to complete 30 days in-country to be eligible.  Of the various choices, we had decided on Hawaii, which allocated seven days (including travel time). I put in my request and waited for the dates to be assigned. Jo, who was living with her parents, was then enrolled in a graduate program in education at the State University of New York (SUNY) – Oneonta, which would factor in to the logistics of us meeting in Hawaii.

Time passed, Thanksgiving came and went and a month later Christmas care packages arrived. Jo even sent me a small tree for our hooch. My mother-in-law, bless her heart, sent me a hip flask of bourbon (verboten) and a puzzle of the 1971 Playboy Playmate of the Year. That’s right – my mother-in-law! She always was very cool. 

Christmas Tree from Home

The American holidays of Christmas and New Years were mere precursors to the Lunar New Year (Tet) which was celebrated by the Vietnamese during the February timeframe. Prior to 1968, the holiday had been the occasion for an informal truce in the Vietnam War between South Vietnam and North Vietnam (and their communist allies in South Vietnam, the Viet Cong). But the fiasco of Tet of 1968, while an overall failure tactically, but a victory psychologically, put an end to that notion.  We paid close attention to intelligence reports, planning operations carefully. All indicators were positive so we cautiously and optimistically, were still hoping for a “come home early surprise” – a 60-day drop. In any event, Jo and I had Hawaii to look forward to. When I finally received my R&R orders, the timeslot was a week, including Memorial Day on the front and & my 25th birthday on the back. Jo made arrangements to stay at the Honolulu Hilton, and we would meet after my flight arrived and go to the hotel. This was done via snail mail, since Al Gore had not yet invented the Internet. Jo was, and still is, a master at vacation planning.

Honolulu Hilton on Waikiki with Marblehead in the Background

Little did we know then, what was in store…