Pissed off Grunts

Steve, Wade, Tony and Pete look pissed off and who can blame them.  It was April, 1970 and we were on FSB Candy pulling guard.  Pulling guard on Candy was the worst job I ever had on a fire base.

We were there about a month before the Cambodian Incursion took place.  The Army was working at softening up the North Vietnamese soldiers who managed large food and weapon caches in Cambodia, just over the border from Vietnam.  Large howitzers were pounding away at them from Candy twenty-four hours a day.

Yes, it was bad for the enemy on the receiving end of those guns but it was also bad for us.  The Army kept Candy lit up at night with white phosphorous parachute flares and the noise from those guns were deafening.  So there was not a lot of sleeping going on while on the fire base.  My eyes would slowly close until the slam of the next gun jarred them back open again.  Also, we were on the trailing end of the dry season.  The red dirt of Vietnam was powdery like talcum.   The combination of sweat on our bodies and that red, powdery dirt swirling in the wind, left us coated in grime by the end of the day.

Spending that week on Candy was the only time I remember when I wished we could get back out into the jungle for a little piece and quiet.        

Filling Sandbags for a Living

It was late July 1970 and I was serving as Supply Sergeant on a temporary basis while recovering from wounds.  We were finishing up the building of a new fire base in the jungle near Cambodia.  One of the last things that had to be done was filling sandbags.

If we had been closer to Bien Hoa where Vietnamese labor was readily available, the Vietnamese would have been doing that job.  But no... we were in in the jungle with no roads, no villages and no South Vietnamese civilians close by.  So we had to fill sandbags ourselves.

No one wanted to fill sandbags.  It was a back breaking, boring job.  Luckily it was temporary.  Once a sandbag was filled, it didn't have to be filled again.  There was only so many sandbags required.  These guys were lucky that they worked for Supply instead of having the job of infantry soldier or grunt in the field.  The guy on the left had the nickname of "Boots".  He was a trained infantry soldier who was able to avoid working as a grunt because the Army didn't make a pair of jungle boots large enough to fit him.  Talk about being lucky.

Sandbags, by the way, were used as protection from bullets and shrapnel.  The sand would catch the metal and not allow it to pass thru.  So if a bullet was heading my way and a sandbag was between me and the bullet, I was safe.  Filling sandbags was not a fun job but it was a necessary one.  

de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou

The de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou was built to serve the Canadian and US Army in the late 50's.  US military called it the C-7 Caribou.  We simply called it a Caribou.  I took this snapshot of the airplane at Bien Hoa AFB.

 Caribou's were used by the Air Force for transport when we needed a ride between FSB Buttons and Bien Hoa AFB.  I rode in one of these planes for the first time when I was taken to Buttons in February 1970 to meet up with my company, Ace High, 2/12th Battalion, First Cav Division.  Thereafter I flew in them when we had to go back to Bien Hoa for some reason.

The Airplane had two Pratt & Whitney engines that each generated 1,450 hp.  A large cargo door dropped down in the rear under the tail section.  It could carry 32 people, two jeeps or up to 4 tons of cargo.  the plane was designed to take off and land on short, dirt airstrips which made it perfect for most applications in the Vietnam War.  The larger C123's and C130's needed more runway.  In later years, Caribou's were used for dropping parachutists.

What I remember about them was the uncomfortable seats and the noise.  The folding seats were made of webbing and faced sideways like in a subway car instead of forward like most other airplanes .  When in flight, the noise from the engines would drown out conversation.  Other than that, they would get you where you needed to go.    

Hut in Cambodia

Our Company was in Cambodia in early May 1970.  We had invaded Cambodia a week before in a campaign called the Cambodian Incursion.  We were on the move heading toward Rock Island East; a large weapons cache that was discovered by Company D.  Along the way, we walked into an abandoned village and set up there for the night.  While there, I took a snapshot of this hut.

I could not get over how different the hut was from Vietnamese homes.  The more affluent Vietnamese had large homes designed by the French.  Those with a lot less lived in shacks made of scraps of plywood for walls and steel sheet for roofs. In contrast, this house was so natural feeling with its grass roof and walls.  It was as if the Cambodians were 200 years behind the Vietnamese in progress.  Maybe a house like this was typical of rural farmers in both Cambodia and Vietnam.

The villagers had run off recently due to firefights in the area but had left behind a small pig tied to a stake.  One of our Vietnamese scouts decided to butcher the pig and cut the meat into small pieces while we built a fire.  When hot coals from the fire were ready, we skewered pieces of raw pork with pointed sticks and then held it over the fire as if we were toasting marshmallows.  That pork was one of the best tasting meals I ever had in Vietnam.      

Ready for my First Combat Assault

This snapshot was taken in February 1970 on the log pad at FSB Buttons.  I was standing there ready to head out to the jungle by helicopter for the first time.  We were waiting for the helicopters to arrive.

You can see that my shirt, pants and helmet cover were brand new.  The clothes were probably the last of three pairs I had received at Oakland Army Base in California.

In my left hand, I am holding the barrel of my M16 rifle.  I have not fired it yet but someone else used it before me so I assumed it was OK.  Around my neck is a bandoleer filled with 20 round clips of M16 ammunition.  

On my back is a rucksack.  The rucksack weighed about eighty pounds fully loaded.  Sitting on top, just behind my head is what looks like a pillow but in fact is a 5-quart canteen.  Just below the 5-quart canteen is two 2-quart canteens.  On my waste is a 1-quart canteen.  Add it up and I was carrying ten quarts of water.  The water weighed about 20 lbs. and would have to last me for three days.

Below the 2-quart canteens are two smoke grenades.  We each carried about six smoke grenades.  They were used to mark an area when bringing in a helicopter.  Below the smoke grenades is a poncho, poncho liner and air mattress all rolled together and used for sleeping.  In my rucksack was three days of food, a claymore mine, trip flares, frag grenades and an ammo can that was used to keep personal things dry like my writing paper and wallet.

Standing there, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I was just going with the flow and doing what the veterans did.        

North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco

When we were in the jungle and in the middle of a firefight, there were times when we needed heavy duty backup support from F-105 Thunderchief  or F-4 Phantom jet fighters  The fighters came in so low and so fast however that they could not possibly see the targets they were trying to hit.  That is where the Bronco came in to help.

The Bronco had 70 mm rocket pods down low and on either side of the fuselage that contained white phosphorous rockets.  The plane was slow enough and maneuverable enough that it could spot the enemy and then mark their location with a puff of white smoke from one of those rockets.  Then the jets would come screaming in and shoot there 20 mm Gatling cannon or drop 500 pound bombs on the white smoke left behind by that unusual looking airplane.

I can remember these planes maneuvering like a biplane high over the jungle, diving at there target then shooting those white phosphorous rockets.  They looked like they were having fun up there.

Combat Leaders Course

In April 1970, we were out patrolling the jungle when I received a pleasant surprise.  I had been chosen to attend a ten-day Combat Leadership course in Bien Hoa.  The Army needed more NCOs (non commissioned officers) in Vietnam.  There were not enough sergeants to carry the workload.  I was flattered that they picked me.  After all, I was a new guy with just a few months experience in the jungle

The course was offered at the VIP Center.  A helicopter picked me in a clearing close by and took me to FSB Buttons.  Then, I boarded an Air Force plane for Bien Hoa AFB.  From there it was a bus ride over to the VIP Center.

The course began with a rehash of the military strategy and squad level tactics training I had received in Advanced Infantry.  One of the ways they taught us how to lead was learning about personality types and the best way to work with each of them.  They wanted to make sure we knew something about how to deal with people problems.  The rest of the time they worked on building up our confidence so we would be ready when leadership was thrust upon us.

I become a fire team leader when I returned to the field.  I was promoted to Sergeant soon after.  The most important thing about the ten-day course in my mind however was I slept on a bed, ate three hot meals a day and drank cold beer every night.