haha yes ik :)

+k for leading village to victory

:( i am dearly sorry

Because I am a bear, sorry if my form frightens you :(

Me too! :O

The next morning someone spotted a VC walking nonchalantly across an open area just below the ridge where we were. I remember for some reason, we had a sniper with us on this mission. He carried an M-14 with a scope. He took aim on the VC, who was about two or three hundred yards away. He pulled the trigger, I heard the shot, and about a half second later, the VC fell. We watched for a moment, and then he moved. He was trying to crawl behind a big boulder that stood near by. The sniper fired a few more shots and it was over.

I cried so hard that night that I vomited. Peaches came over to me that night; he must have heard me crying. He sat there not saying much, but his presence and reassurance I remember. He showed me compassion that night. He understood what I was feeling and that’s what I needed.

We made it back to the unit all in one piece, albeit scared as hell! We joined the platoon, and as we moved down the hill into a small flat area, one of the guys, Peaches, a very young likeable guy from Georgia, spotted four VC walking along the ridge top. Lt Norton called for a hasty ambush. So we scurried up the ridge and hid in the vegetation. Lt Norton told me to point my gun in the general direction of the VC and start shooting when he gave the signal. The next thing I remember was a lot of gunfire. I remember just holding that trigger. After a short time, the firing stopped and I could hear someone moaning. I had never seen or heard death before. One of the guy’s, a sergeant, walked over to the VC that was moaning, he was just out of my sight, and then I heard a short burst of gun fire and no more moaning.

It seemed ironic that my first combat assault would end with me being killed by friendly fire. We didn’t have a radio, so we had no means of contacting the Cobra. One of the guys said, because I have very blonde hair that I should take my hat off and run out into the open waving my hands. I thought man this is crazy just about the same time the Cobra passed over again and sprayed the area with his steroid sewing machine. I had no choice, so I ran out like a mad man, waving my arms and jumping up and down to get his attention. It worked! He flew by and waved from his cockpit. I could just hear him thinking, whoops!

I dove under an old tree limb and didn’t move a muscle. The other guys did the same. I will never forget that sound, it sounded like a sewing machine on steroids, and then the whole jungle began to rip apart.

As I ran down the ridge from our Landing Zone (LZ), me and a few other guys, I can’t remember who they were, began to chase a couple of VC into the jungle. We ran quite some distance until we came to an open area where the trail began to drop off into a valley. I still remember the view from there it was post card perfect. Only problem was, we lost the VC, so we turned and headed back toward the LZ. As we turned and headed back through a small clearing, a Cobra helicopter spotted us. Cobra helicopters were armed with a side-mounted six-barrel "minigun" and a seven-tube 2.75-inch rocket launcher, which could rain down terror from the sky. Because we wore camouflage jungle fatigues and bush hats instead of the normal jungle fatigues and steel pots, the pilot thought we were VC and opened up on us with his minigun.

Lieutenant Norton gave me the machine gun and asked me to shoot at a tree about 100 yards away. I fired about 100 rounds and hit the tree only once, Lieutenant Norton said, “Good shot, saddle-up.” We all loaded into three or four helicopters and headed out for my first combat assault! Dan was sitting next to me telling me what to expect. As the helicopter got closer to the ground, everyone started to jump off. Everything was a blur; guns and rockets were firing and I was a little confused. What I remember next was Dan pushing me to the ground as he fired at a VC, who appeared to be just behind me. Dan saved my life that day. I think that’s what binds soldiers together; strangers from all parts of the country; from different cultural back grounds and differing political and religious affiliations. They’re all bound by the need to survive. You watch my back, I’ll watch yours! The soldier’s bond is a very special one, its family.

The following day after meeting the platoon, we were assigned a combat mission, which would be my first! That morning I noticed that everyone was wearing a red scarf. I thought this was crazy, but I didn’t say a thing. I found out later that it was a tradition carried on from a past group of Fox Force members. I think it was supposed to show the enemy that we were a little crazy as well as courageous. I know that I did wear the scarf, and I still have mine, but on hindsight, I think it was more crazy than courageous.

The platoon also had a couple of “Kit Carson Scouts”. Their names were Ten and Who. Kit Carson Scouts were VC soldiers who surrendered themselves to an American unit, this was called Chu Hoi. They received indoctrination and some training, and then were assigned to American units. The theory was they could assist American units because they were familiar with the terrain and the tactics of the VC. Many of us thought that, at least some were actually still VC. I was never certain how these guys were controlled, because they seemed to come and go as they pleased. After a few missions with the scouts, I accepted Ten as one of the guys, but Who, he always seemed lazy to me.

I was ushered into a dark bunker where I was introduced to members of my new platoon, Fox Force. Fox Force was part of Echo Company, which was comprised of two platoons; Four-Deuce mortar and Fox Force recon platoon. Our lieutenant’s name was Norton. He was very young. I would guess around 23 years old. I immediately liked him because he seemed so self-assured; I needed that at that time. He asked me if I had ever fired a machine gun. I said “only during training.” At that point, he introduced me to Dan, who was the current machine gunner. Dan had been in country for quite some time and decided to relocate to the rear. The platoon needed a machine gunner and I was picked for the job.

The force of the wind created by the Chinook tossed me into some barbed wire about twenty feet away. Trip flares began to go off, which totally freaked me out. I was pulled from the barbed wire unscathed and very embarrassed.

As we flew over firebase Abbey, it looked very dry and dusty. A river flowed lazily along the valley floor, creating a beautiful view from the helicopter. As the huey set down, red dust began to fly everywhere. I was amazed that the pilot could maneuver the helicopter down onto the landing tarmac. The firebase was built on a mountaintop that had been denuded. The trees and bushes had been replaced with artillery and bunkers. Barbed wire had been positioned all around the perimeter. Bunkers lined the inner edge of the perimeter and the artillery was located near the center. As I stood there looking at all of this, a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter began hovering over the tarmac. I had never been this close to a Chinook so I stood there just watching. Big mistake, red dust was flying everywhere and so was I.

I flew out to firebase Abbey a week or so after arriving at Camp Radcliff, my first helicopter ride. It was somewhat intimidating, that big green Huey, with its M60 machine guns, rocket launchers and most of all those two big open doors. I climbed on board and moved to the middle of the Huey. Two old timers sat in the open doorway. I knew they were old timers because they were sitting with their feet hanging out. It looked like fun, but I wasn’t ready for that yet. The Huey made steep left and right banks; it looked like the old timers sitting in the doorway would be thrown out at any moment, not to mention the target they made. The view was unbelievable! The jungle was so vast, green, and thick and the mountains were rugged and gnarly! Beautiful water falls and clouds swirled below the helicopter, how unreal it all seemed; so much beauty hidden behind the veil of war!

Well the mama-sans did come out to our campsite and they partied with us all night for twenty dollars each. When I say partied all night, I mean they stayed all night. I was a little hesitant about having these girls stay all night, but nature’s call intervened, I gave a pretty mama-san twenty dollars, and we both climbed on my air mattress. The party lasted about an hour or so and I wanted to sleep, but I had a problem. The air mattress was not big enough for both of us. I pushed her off hoping that she would find her way home so I could get some sleep, but she didn’t go home, she said something in Vietnamese and climb back on the mattress. I finally gave up on that tactic after a few tries and rolled over onto the ground wrapped in a blanket and went to asleep. I woke up just before light and she was still there on my mattress, so nature and I crawled back on that mattress until the sun peaked above the horizon and she “di di mau” (go quickly) back home.

If you were lucky when on stand-down, (time away from the jungle, usually three or four days at base camp), you would draw patrol duty on the An Khe side of Camp Radcliff. I got lucky one stand-down around my third month in country, and was assigned patrol duty on the An Khe side. We set up in the area around “Sin City” for the night. There were five of us in our patrol. We set-up an observation post so that we could detect enemy movement around the base camp and give them advance warning. Before we left the base camp, the old timers filled us in on the mama-san situation. They said it sounds crazy but when the mama-sans are there you knew the Viet Cong, wasn’t!