Missions

I pulled about 25 missions while in L Company, and only had contact with the enemy on maybe 10 of them and of that only being directly shot at once or maybe twice if you count being mortared. Shit seemed to most often happen right before I got there or right after I left. Everyone in the company had a code name for use on the radio. In Line Infantry Companies they usually had a roster listing everyone in the company and they would just refer to someone on the radio as Line Number 15 or 36 or whatever. We used code names, mine was “Rebel” tho usually they just referred to me as “Ed”. Jim McLaughlin was the “Old Duffer” because of his preference for Golf. There was “Paul Bunyon”, “Doc Holiday”, “Sniffles”, and any number of others either according to your choice or simply given by popular acclaim. Teams were listed by their platoon and number as mine was Team 1-1; First Platoon, Team 1. Missions were given their own code names and generally went in series; for awhile the missions would be named for states, then they would be named for cars, then maybe for animals. So you would have Team Buffalo that two weeks later might be Team Alabama. Just as well I suppose since it was so hard to keep the same people on a team for any length of time. During June, July, August, and September, I remember going on missions like clockwork, Five days out, three days in, five days out, three days in. But when the weather went bad, it was more like four months, four missions. I think I only pulled one mission in November, one in December. and one in January. They sent some folks to the MAC-V Recondo School but I begged out of it saying I had my fill of schools and would rather go on real missions.

The following memories of my missions are only barely chronological. Some things I remember happening on some of the first missions or some of the last but other than that the middle is pretty much mashed together.

I don’t remember who was the Team Leader on my “Training Mission”, but I do know he made a impact on me. The mission had been quiet the whole 5 days and I was probably getting complacent. The last night out I was told to put out my claymore about 30 feet down the ridgeline. Another guy, a “newbie” also went along to cover me. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I left my rifle at my position and just took the claymore. After setting it up and returning to the perimeter, the Team Leader made it very clear that if I ever did anything like that again, if the enemy didn’t get me, he would! Also on the training mission with us was a fellow named Frank Fratallinco. He was one of our six newbies and I’ll tell his whole story under “Fallen Comrades”, it was on this mission however where his code name “Sniffles” was issued to him. He had carried a bottle of insect repellant in his front pants pocket and it all leaked out. I guess he had sensitive balls because once that insect repellant got on them he “sniffled” for the last two days of the mission. One other thing that happened, probably on the training mission or my first after it. Somewhere in my training I had been told to keep my ammunition towards the front of my LBE so it would be easy to get to in a firefight. This I did, all my ammo and grenades were to the front of my LBE and my E&E gear and water were in the back. This created a problem as my rucksack rested on the back of my LBE and I could not get to my water while moving. I remember I very nearly had heat exhaustion when we were moving in the heat of the day and I could not get any water. Pride and stubbornness kept me from telling anyone of my predicament, but I can remember being dizzy and just about to go nuts from the sweat bees that were clustering around me. I went most of the day like that but was quick to change my LBE around when we finally stopped. I just moved my water canteen far enough to the front to be able to get to it with my rucksack on and never had any more problems.

After our training mission and I was assigned to team 1-1, SSG Delaney was my first Team Leader. He was capable and competent as far as I know and was probably the Team Leader when I had my first firefight. It was just the 1st or 2nd mission after I was assigned to team 1-1. It had been a quiet mission, we had seen or heard nothing for 4 days. During our travel we had passed a good PZ (pickup zone), so on the night of the 4th day we moved back to spend the night there and wait for pickup the next morning. Not a sound tactical idea I know now. Anyway, it was late in the evening and we were setting up for the night. I was going out to set up a claymore mine about 30 feet down a small finger. Since I was going to be setting up the claymore the SOP was that someone else would go with me to watch the jungle and provide “cover”. I was kneeling down placing the claymore in front of a tree (so the backblast wouldn’t hit us). My cover guy was standing beside me to keep watch. The enemy opened up on us. I recall hearing the rounds hitting around us. My cover guy fell down beside me saying “I’m hit, I’m hit!” I could not see any of the enemy so I asked him “where, where are you hit?” He said “I don’t know where, but I’m hit!” “Come on, I said, give me an idea.” “The shoulder, I think it’s the shoulder” he said. I was looking at his shoulder but I didn’t see any holes so I kept asking him if he was sure he was hit. I finally found it, the hole had been hidden in a fold of his fatigues. The bullet went through clean so there was only a hole smaller than a dime going in and coming out. It didn’t bleed much either. I was going to help him back to the perimeter but the team leader told me to stay there and cover while someone else came up to get him. At first I was looking but not firing because I didn’t see anyone. The team leader told me to shoot anyway. I was thinking of conserving ammo, but in a case like that the Team leader told me later, he would rather have me waste the ammo but maybe make the enemy duck his head or at least spoil his aim. At any rate I stayed out on the finger shooting up the jungle while someone else came out and dragged my cover guy back. Once they were back, everyone covered me while I crawled back. That was a good feeling in itself, I had been feeling very lonely and vulnerable out on that finger by myself. There were some old foxholes on our little hilltop about mid-thigh deep, not allot but better than nothing. The Team Leader called for the immediate reaction force and we kept up a sporadic fire into the jungle. I was surprised to see a fellow kneeling down in his little foxhole holding his weapon over his head and firing blindly into the jungle. The wounded fellow was yelling and cussing us all saying we were letting him die. Someone had bandaged his shoulder and a Medic was on the way so there was nothing anyone could do, but he was still cussing us all. As I said, he just took one round in the shoulder that went straight through so he wasn’t in danger of dying soon except maybe from shock. The Medivac came and got the wounded guy, the reaction force arrived and since it was late in the evening we stayed with them through the night and were extracted the next morning. They searched the area but did not have any more contact. I did not know it at the time, but the wounded fellow had been with me in Basic Training, AIT, Jump School, and had been one of the six volunteers with me for L Company. We had always been in different platoons, and didn’t know each other at all. His turned out to be the “Million Dollar Wound”, the bullet creased his lung and he was sent straight back to the “World” the United States, with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

One or my early missions was with a different team. My team (1-1) must have been down for some reason, for another guy and myself were sent out to replace two men already on a mission. I don’t remember why these two needed replacing, but we were inserted by a LOH (Light Observation Helicopter. The OH is not designed to carry troops or equipment tho it does have a small storage area. To save space instead of carrying our own equipment we just carried our LBE and weapon and took over the rucksack of the men we were replacing. We also carried out some extra water for the team. The water was in long rubber tubes like giant hotdogs. They were flexible and we carried them bent over our shoulders. When we got to the field, we got out and the other two got on and then we “beat feet” out of the area. For some reason I ended up as Rear Security or “Tail Gunner”. Rear Security is hard work. Not only are you suppose to keep anyone from surprising you from the rear, you are also suppose to cover the trail the team has made. This involves pulling branches back together, brushing footprints out as best you can, and generally putting the jungle back together as best you can. To do this you do much of your walking backwards, covering the trail and still trying to keep up with the team walking forward. It was particular hard this day because the team leader wanted to get away from the insertion point as fast as possible. I lost sight of the team a couple of times and that’s scary! When the team finally stopped for a break I passed word up that if they wanted the trail covered they had to slow down a little bit. I didn’t have any problem after that. I did OK I guess because after we finished the mission the team leader tried to get me switched over to his team.

Another mission I remember that involved injuries on insertion was with my own team. SSG Hund or SGT Clarke was probably the team leader. We were being inserted into a valley and the best open area they could find was on the side of a hill covered with elephant grass 10 - 15 foot high. The pilot brought the helicopter in sideways to the hill so he could take off quickly if necessary. The wind from the blades pushed the elephant grass down some and that helped, but still the helicopter was six or seven feet from the ground on the high side and 10-15 feet on the low side. The guys that jumped from the high side did OK (me included), tho it was a hard fall with full rucksacks. The guys on the low side had a rougher time. Jumping from that high they threw their rucksacks off then jumped after them. One of the men sprained his ankle badly when landing, another guy threw his rucksack out and it landed on another guy knocking him out cold. So there we were, a six man team with one man that couldn’t walk and another unconscious, and of course the noise of the helicopter had told everyone within a mile where we were. Evidently they really wanted a team in that area because the decision was made to extract us and insert another team in our place. The other team was scheduled to be inserted a few miles from us so they already had the right maps for the area. To get us out of the elephant grass on the side of this hill they dropped the flexible metal ladders to us. The helicopter hovers, the belly man rolls out the ladders and the team climbs up. Sounds simple, but really it is a hell of a task. The ladders are not fastened to anything at the bottom so as you climb your feet tend to push the ladder under the helicopter and you end up climbing almost completely with your hand and shoulder strength. We also still had full rucksacks which again pulled your shoulders back and made you trying to climb almost upside-down. The SOP was for the team leader to hold one ladder at the bottom and the assistant team leader to hold the other to make it a little easier for the other team members to climb. Then the assistant team leader would change sides and climb the team leaders ladder, and then the team leader was left to try climbing the ladder without anyone to hold the bottom for him and being already worn out by holding the ladder for five others to climb. My team leader in this case was able to climb up a couple rungs but then just stuck his legs and arms through the rungs and yelled up to tell the pilot to get out of there. You must understand that a helicopter hovering that close to the ground is very hard on the pilot and also very dangerous to all as it is a “sitting duck” for the enemy. The pilot lifted off and we went flying at 2,000 feet and 60 knots with the team leader hanging on to the ladder. Our Platoon Sergeant, SFC Kiama, who was the “bellie man” on this mission, took a couple snap links and climbed down the ladder to try to hook the team leaders LBE to the ladder for more security. This is while we are flying 2,000 feet in the air at 60 knots. When he did get down to the team leader he was told in no uncertain terms that the team leader was doing just fine and not to screw up a good thing. When we got back to base the helicopter lowered slowly to let the team leader get off the ladder and then landed for everyone else to get off. All the activity in that area had been noticed by the enemy and the team that went in to replace us go shot up pretty bad. One dead and one wounded. The wounded was a lieutenant on his first mission. Our Officers and Senior NCOs when first coming to the company would have to go out on a couple of missions as a simple team member. Regardless of rank, the team leader was in charge, and they tagged along for “experience”. After that the officers and platoon sergeants would fly as “belly man” or as C&C, “Command and Control” for insertions, extractions, and firefights. The story goes that a NVA and the lieutenant surprised each other. Either the lieutenant froze or the NVA simply reacted faster but his burst of fire wounded the lieutenant and went on through the perimeter killing a fellow on the other side. The fellow killed was Jack Moss Jr., from Talladega, Alabama.

Another ladder episode I had was after I had been there awhile and moved up to assistant team leader. The mission was mostly uneventful, we walked a ridgeline and reported several signal markers we saw. We did have a problem with one guy who had received some letters about his wife running around on him. His mind was just not on what was going on in Vietnam. He was making too much noise and other things like that. He had been out with us before and did OK so we noticed the difference. When we did finally get back to base the team leader agreed with me that it would be better to go out a man short next mission than have him in his present condition. The interesting thing about this mission was it’s ending. When the mission was over we went to a likely LZ we had seen. The only problem was one old scraggly tree about 20 feet high. Without that one scraggly tree there would be room for the helicopter to land and pick us up. The plan was to use a claymore mind to blow the tree down just before the helicopter came in on final approach to pick us up. That way we would be gone before anyone had time to investigate the noise. To blow a tree with a claymore you attach the back of the claymore to the tree( pointed away from you of course) because at close range the concave shape gives more power to the backblast. Well, the helicopter started in, we blew the claymore and when the dust cleared that old scraggly tree was still there. Something to remember-If you think it will take one claymore to blow a tree-USE TWO! Our pickup ship couldn’t land but fortunately it was already rigged with ladders for use on a different mission. Being assistant team leader now I held one of the ladders while the team climbed up than went to the team leaders side to climb up myself. As I was reaching the level of the floor of the helicopter, one of the men moved to make room for me. When he moved he accidentally fired his M-16. The round went just over my head. A little faster climbing and I would have caught it right between the eyes.

Another day, another mission. This one must have been about November of 1970 because bad weather had set in (Monsoon) and Sgt Fraizer was the Team Leader. We were inserted during a break in the clouds. We landed on a narrow ridgeline somewhere up in I Corps. I said “landed” I should have said jumped off, because the helicopter never stopped it just slowed down as it passed over this very narrow ridgeline. Now that is also a thrill. To get out of the helicopter faster it was SOP that as the helicopter made it’s final approach two men on each side would climb out on the skids. You would be holding your weapon out ready to fire if necessary and holding on to the helicopter with the other hand. On a mission like this in mountainous terrain, even tho the helicopter was on finial, you were climbing out on the skids while still 800 feet above the valley floor. As I said, it was a thrill. After landing we moved along a well used trail towards the top of the hill. Walking a well used trail is a invitation to trouble but I must say it was necessary in this case. This ridgeline was no more then 20-30 feet wide and dropped off at a 80 degree angle on each side. The sky we saw that day was the last we saw for 5 days. During the night the weather settled back in. The next morning we were in the middle of a cloud. The Team Leader did not want to move because if we had contact we would not have any support. We were well outside artillery range helicopters couldn’t fly in that soup. Of course sitting on that trail on the ridgeline was no prize either. We sat there for at least three days and never saw the sun. Couldn’t see move than 10-15 feet in that soup. It is hard to sit in one place for 4 or 5 days and not make any noise. I had my guard lifesavers rationed out so I could have one every 20 minutes or so. During that three days or so I went through my memory and fantasized about making love to every single female I could remember. While we were there we heard wood chopping in a valley just beyond the next hilltop. I wanted to go check it out but the ‘Team Leader did not want to lose our fragile communications. When we were finally extracted during another break in the clouds another team was inserted on the other hilltop to check out the wood chopping we had heard. This team ran into a pile of shit When they went down to check out the wood chopping they ran into a whole regiment of NVA. We ended up with two killed on the mission. The team moved back to the hilltop and were reinforced with more and more ground troops. It turned into a full scale battle before it was over, and the whole reinforced mass ended up having to break out to another location to finally get out of there. Our dead on this mission were Drapp and Stoddard. It was just another lucky miss for me

We pulled several missions in the Khe Sahn plains. We would usually fly up to Quang Tri and then stage out of there for the mission. Khe Sahn is where the marines had a big battle in 68 I think. The pilots used the old airstrip as a marker. They would fly to the old airstrip than take a shorter azimuth to where our mission was located. I did pull one mission right around the old airstrip, nothing special happened but I do remember how the area was really shot up. Other missions in that area were not pleasant. The area is rolling plains and hills with elephant grass 8-10 feet tall. You can’t see where you are going and it is terrible hot moving through the elephant grass with no shade.

On one mission there we came up a small hill and sent out a point recon to check out the top of the hill. They came back and reported seeing a foxhole with a AK-47 and NVA helmet next to it. This was a heavy team for some reason and we had a M-60 Machine Gun with us. We had called in the info and were told to collect the equipment. Four men including the machine gun went back up to the hilltop. We stopped about 15 yards from the position. One of the men volunteered to crawl on up and get the helmet and rifle but the team leader was suspicious and decided to recon by fire, shooting into the elephant grass on the other side in case it was a ambush. ( since it was on top of the hill they should have been able to see us moving for several hours before we arrived). In firing up the area one of the bullets must have hit the helmet because it set off a booby trap. When we had first reported the equipment a pink team (LOH and COBRE) had started towards our location. A good thing too; they arrived shortly after the booby trap blew up and reported a whole bunch of NVA on the other side of the hill. They had a field day shooting them up in that open terrain. We had done our job finding the enemy so some extraction slicks were sent to pick us up. The pink team reported movement around us so we set up a perimeter to wait for extraction. Since you could not see 10 feet through that elephant grass, we threw a grenade every couple minutes in a different direction to help the NVA keep their distance. The team leader wanted everyone to consolidate their grenades with him so he could ration them out better. We were in a very small circle, maybe 20 yards in diameter so it made sense, but somehow you just don’t want to give up the grenades you’ve been carrying for a couple days.

Our pickup ships finally arrived but we had trouble getting on them. We were still on the side of the hill, so since the helicopters couldn’t land they came in sideways to the hill to enable them to take off faster. The skids were still 4 to 5 feet from the ground on the high side and completely out of reach on the low side. While we were trying to climb on the helicopter the team leader blew the claymores we had set out for defense. I don’t think he warned the pilots he was doing this because when the claymores went off the helicopter took a giant leap sideways. The machine-gunner thought they were leaving and said the hell with the machine gun, he dropped it and ran for the helicopter. We did not know this until we had finally all got on board and started leaving the area, then the team leader noticed this fellow didn’t have the machine gun. Leaving the machine gun was a major mistake and we wanted to go back for it but the pilot would have none of that. He did tell the gunship to go back and fire up the spot we had left so maybe the machine gun would be destroyed. Normally after a contact mission, even if on the second day, a team would get three days in the company to reload and do the planning and overflights for a new mission. For some reason the company commander wanted to seen us back out the very next day on a new mission. The team leader did not like that at all and tried to get us out of it by claiming the team could not hear worth a shit after all the noise of the machine gun and grenades. This was not all a lie, I can’t say for the other team members but I did still have a slight ringing in my ears, tho it was not bad enough for me to refuse a mission. But then, I really was a dumb, gung-ho shit back then. We did go back out sooner than usual tho I think the team leader’s complaints did get us an extra day and enough time for him to do some of the normal planning and overflights for a mission

There is a method of being picked up by a helicopter when the helicopter can not land and the trees are too high for the ladders to reach the ground. At that time it was usually called a McGuire Rig when using your repelling Swiss seat or a Stabo Rig when using a set of straps worked in with your LBE. I know SSG Smith (FISH) was the team leader on this one because everyone else in our company had to use the Swiss seat version and he had acquired enough of the Stabo Rigs for our whole team. The Stabo Rigs are much quicker, safer, and more comfortable to use. Fish had come to us from Special Forces, word was he was kicked out for something, but he obviously still had connections. This particular mission we were working along the series of ridgelines on the eastern side of the Ah Shaw Valley. The night before our planned extraction day we went right to the tip of the ridgeline overlooking the Valley. The ridgeline was only about 30 meters wide and at the end dropped off on three sides like it was cut with a knife. That night we called in artillery on some NVA trucks moving down the valley. I don’t know if we somehow gave ourselves away or more likely the NVA knew someone had to be there somewhere and sent troops to check all the likely observation points. We were scheduled second for pickup the next day. Another team had been on the same type mission a few miles north of us. They had to use McGuire Rigs and it took them 8-10 minutes to get everyone hooked up. With our Stabo Rigs we were all hooked up and gone in about two minutes. As I said, we were scheduled second for pickup, so once they were finally in the air and headed back, Their cover Pink Team came on over to our location to find us and be ready when the slicks dropped the first team and came back for us. A helicopter could only pick up three men at a time on “strings” so it took two slicks to pick up a team. When the Pink Team arrived at our location they immediately reported that a platoon of NVA were a couple hundred meters down our ridgeline coming straight towards us. The pickup ships still had to drop off the other team and come back for us so we prepared for a fight. Because of the sharp drop-off on three sides it was obvious that there was no where to retreat to and this was Team 1-1s last stand. It seemed kind of melodramatic, but I very seriously took out my knife and stuck it in the ground next to my position. As I said, there was no place to go... The other guys near me understood and did the same. Fortunately our last stand was not necessary. The gunship kept the NVA pinned down until our pickup ships finally got back and picked us up. That is a very dangerous time for the helicopter, just hovering there, being a perfect target waiting for us to get hooked up. I know that feeling because as the helicopter slowly lifts you up, you are also a perfect target just dangling there on the end of a rope waiting for the bullets to hit you. It all worked out OK, and after clearing the area all we had to worry about on the 25 minute ride back to a firebase was whether the rope might break, or a knot slip, and how it would feel to fall 2000 feet into the jungle. That, and the fact that a strap had caught me wrong between the legs and it was a very painful ride for me. When we reached the firebase the pilot slowly lowered us so we could hit the ground first then pull the ropes out so he could land. Our pilot did a good job, some pilots seem to forget you are down there and drag you a bit either taking off or landing.

Night movement was not popular with the LRRP teams. Although Nightlight scopes were coming into use, they were still large, cumbersome and generally only used for guardposts and fixed positions on firebases. Moving in the dark through the jungle is pretty close to being blind. You cannot help making more noise and if you do stumble into something the gunships might not be much help until daylight. Team 1-1 did move a couple kilometers at night on one mission. SSG Smith (FISH) was the team leader. Smith was a big guy about 6’5” with blond hair. He just stayed with L Co a couple months and was gone again. Jim McLaughlin saw some pictures of him years later as a mercenary in Africa. I just remember that he knew what he was doing in the jungle and that he ate a lot and snored very loudly. Whenever you were on a mission with him, you knew you would be waking up a lot at night as whoever was on guard would have to wake up the guy next to him to wake up the guy next to him to wake up Fish. He would wake up roll over and 15 minutes the series would start up again. I think the situation on this mission was that we were too far from our scheduled PZ for our extraction the next morning. Fish decided we’d move out about 2or 3 in the morning and be at the PZ by daylight. To do that we had to get out on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere and literally “beat feet”. For men who were used to moving slowly, quietly, and staying hidden, to get out on a road and almost running (as close to running as you can get with 100 lbs on your back) was a upsetting experience. The movement worked just as Fish had planned and we were extracted right on time. Still, I can remember feeling very vulnerable out on that road as it seemed the moon and stars were trying there best to spotlight us.

One mission in the Khe Sahn plains we lost radio contact with our base. Everything went normal for the first 2 days but on the second night we lost radio contact. I should say they lost contact with us. We could hear them but they could not hear us. A team carries two radio’s with extra batteries, handsets, and antennas just so this can’t happen. Frazier was the TL on this mission and I was ATL so I was carrying one of the radios. We tried everything we could think of; new batteries, changing handsets and antennas around but we could not get either radio to transmit. I guess back in the company they were thinking of the team that had been wiped out and saying “oh no, not again”! They kept calling us all night and we kept trying to answer, but they just couldn’t hear us. The next day a pink team came out to check our last known position. We could see them and hear them calling us but still couldn’t transmit on either radio. I used a signal mirror to flash a sunspot on the gunship and he came in low and fast to check it out. That is a odd feeling too, watching a cobra come in low and fast, knowing he has his finger on the trigger, and hoping he recognizes you. Anyway they sent out a pickup bird and took us back to base. What was wrong with our radios I don’t know. The commo shop at the company said they couldn’t find anything wrong with them and they worked fine at the shop. That created the idea in some of the leadership that we did that just to get out of the field early. I only know that I tried everything I could to get those radios to work. If anything, while over there I was gung ho enough to volunteer for extra missions, not try to get out of them. I still don’t know how it happened, I only know it did.

One mission was a “stay behind”. That's when a larger unit leaves a area but leaves a small detachment in hiding to surprise the VC or NVA who always come to check out the area for things American soldiers leave behind but they can still use. “Things” can range from old clothes and parts of C-rations, to claymores and ammo ( and in one case a M-60 machine gun). Team 1-1 with either SSG Hund or SGT Clark as TL hooked up with a infantry platoon and rode into an old firebase on six helicopters. We stayed a day or two while the infantry platoon ran some short patrols around area. The hill the firebase had been on had been bulldozed over when the fire base shut down so now it was a bare hill of reddish dirt about 75 meters in diameter and 75 feet high. When the infantry platoon left, the same six helicopters came back for them, but one less soldier got on each one (just incase someone was watching). There was no place to hide on this hill, but it was the highest point in the area so we just spread out and stayed as flat and quiet as we could. Sure enough, after four or five hours a couple of VC/NVA came to check it out. One of our guys saw them at the same time they saw him. They exchanged rounds but nobody was hit on either side. Now we couldn’t surprise anyone so our mission was over or so we thought. The TL was trying to get our “higher” to extract us but they seemed reluctant. I think they wanted to leave us there as “bait” hoping to lure the enemy into attacking us in strength. Well, as we were waiting around that hilltop we heard a “thunk” sound that we all recognized as a mortar being fired close by. It was really kind of funny the way everyone’s ears perked up and we looked at each other like we were saying “No, tell me that’s not what it sounded like”. It was what it sounded like tho and the round fell just on the far side of the hill from me. A minute later and another “thunk”. Since the last one hit on the far side of the hill, this time I flopped over the edge on my side so if their adjustment round hit the hilltop I wouldn’t get hit. The NVA gunner had adjusted a bit too much tho and this round hit at the bottom of my side of the hill, which made me flop back on top of the hill which would be safer anyway when the mortar wasn’t firing. Now the gunner had us in a “bracket”, one shot long, one a little short, the next ones should land right on top of us. And not even a hole to take cover in. So we just sat there waiting for the “fire for effect” rounds. They never came. Those two adjustment rounds were all that were fired at us. I can assure you that now the whole team was immensely desiring to get off that hill. When the first contact had been made a C&C ship lifted off to see what was going on. I think we were attached to the infantry for this mission because I don’t think it was one of our guys as C&C. They still didn’t want to pick us up and the TL threatened to shoot the C&C bird down himself. Just words “I think”, but the TL was definitely pissed off. They did eventually pick us up, and this mission left me with a very definite concept of the phrase “waiting for the other shoe to drop”.

Strange things happen in the jungle, especially at night. We were on a mission in a area that had very thick underbrush. On one of our overnight halts we moved into the middle of thickest brush we could find. It was the dry part of the season and we figured not even the Charlie could sneak up on us without making a lot of noise. We slept as usual within arms length of each other. Sometime in the night the guard woke everyone up. There was movement around our perimeter. As we all sat, listening and waiting, I could hear what appeared to be a slow step going around us. It was very slow, and seemed to be very close, but all we could hear was the leaves on the ground as they crackled and broke. We could not hear any of the thick brush that would normally rub against a person. It was very dark moonless night and in that thicket it was total black. The steps were about 6 or 7 seconds apart and fairly regular. I listened as they went completely around our position and then faded out. The next morning we looked but could not find any footprints or marks of any kind. I don’t think any person could have went through that brush at night without making more noise than a step. We figured it had to be an animal of some kind, maybe a tiger or baboon, and I don’t think baboons moved much at night! After looking for the tracks the next morning, we moved on and I don’t remember anything else remarkable about that mission.

My team ran out of water on one mission. It was mostly the fault of a “FNG” that was also new to the team. We carried between 9 and 15 quarts of water for a 5 day mission. Usually at least 5 quarts was carried in a bladder bag inside the rucksack. If you didn’t pack it right tho it could bust when you jumped off the helicopter or dropped your ruck too hard. First off this guy broke his 5 quart bladder, then he drank the rest of his water in two days. I had never run out of water before so I gave him 2 quarts of mine, but he drank that up quickly too. Some of the others gave him some to get through five days. Unfortunately this was one of those missions where we were extended past five days because of the weather. Now everybody was out of water. The area we were in did not have any small streams that we had seen or that showed on the map. We had passed through an area where some line doggies had left a lot of C-ration cans lying around. It had rained the day before so went back and some of the cans still had water in them. We put a sweaty towel over the opening of a canteen to keep the big bugs out and collected the cans to pour through the towel into the canteen. Drinkable but not tasty. That carried us another day and then we were extended again. The next morning I spread my poncho out to let the morning mist condense on it and run to the center. I collected about 1/2 canteen that way. We were all getting pretty thirsty now but we weren’t moving much in the day and I did not think it imperative that we get out that day. The TL was very persistent on the radio tho and a bird finally came to get us late that day. They brought water out with them on the bird and although I thought I was OK, I did manage to drink a 2 quart canteen in two long gulps

I went on one wiretap mission in the A-Shau valley. It was a extra large “heavy team” plus. We sat up a perimeter and the commo guys hooked up their recording devices to the wires. We waited a couple hours and then left again. Nothing really notable except I almost shot a South Vietnamese soldier. We were in some elephant grass and he just suddenly appeared in front of me. If he had not been wearing a US steel pot on his head he would have been a goner. The word never got to me that we had some Vietnamese interpreters with us.

I went on two missions with the “Hac Bao”, the South Vietnamese Rangers. They were one of the best South Vietnam units. We were listed as advisers, but actually we were mostly along as radio operators and forward observers to talk to American aircraft and artillery support. On one mission I don’t remember anything unusual except they shot one of their own guys who had left the perimeter to take a shit without telling anyone. We also traded some rations. They didn’t really care for ours except for the fruit and candy. I also found out that fish heads and rice is not too bad, but I wouldn’t want it very often. The other mission we came in on a hot LZ, meaning folks there were shooting at the helicopters as we came in. I was on about the 12th bird in line and I think the first 5 or 6 were the only ones really shot at. There was a 51 caliber antiaircraft gun at the corner of the LZ but no one was there by the time I passed it. The enemy around there must have decided we were too large a force to mess with because we did not see or hear from them again. The only other thing I remember was about the LZ itself. It was made of 7 or 8 really large holes that had just been blown. I guess some fast movers had put some really big bombs there to create the LZ just as we were on the way in.

Rollie Pollie Ohle was the company commander during the last part of my tour. He had been a Lieutenant Platoon Leader before I arrived but had been reassigned for some reason. Later on after he had made captain and our company commander was fired for losing his CEOI out of a helicopter, he came back as commander. CPT Ohle was not what you would picture if asked to imagine a typical Airborne Ranger LRRP. Shorter than most and not quite enough height for his weight. He had what counted though and more to share. As with any man, I’m sure he has made mistakes and has some detractors, but given a choice of who to follow into harm’s way; I’ll chose him. On one of my last missions we were picked up in a fog so thick you couldn’t see 20 feet. Again, although this time we were not high in the mountains, we were sitting in the middle of a cloud. I believe it was in the Ruong Ruong valley, tho I’m not positive of the name. It had been a normal mission, nothing unusual at all happened. Since it was one of my last missions, Frazier must have been TL. On our extraction day we moved out on a small knoll right on the edge of the valley to wait for our pickup ship. The company radioed that the weather report had the whole area socked in. We sat out our extraction day when it was clear for miles around us tho we could see clouds in the distance. We kept calling that in but aviation would not dispatch the birds against the official weather report. The next day was more of the same, clouds in the distance but completely clear around us. We called it in but of course with the same result. The next day it did finally close in on us and we thought we’d be in for a 10 day mission. Our second fogged in day we did not expect any help because after all now we really would be impossible to find and any pilot would probably lose his wings, if he survived trying to fly in that mess. Our commander (Ohle) talked aviation into letting him ride a “weather bird” out to see the conditions for himself. As I said now we were completely socked in, could not see 20 feet and did not expect any help. I guess they followed the river out to our area but suddenly we could hear the chopper. We guided them towards us by sound alone. It was quite a thrill to see the nose of the helicopter slowly appear out of the fog no more than 40 feet from us (the wind of the rotor blades helped push the fog around). Not expecting any help, we still had our claymores out, the bird was here tho so to save time, we warned the pilot then blew the claymores and climbed aboard. We had a thrilling ride out as the pilot zipped along no more than 20 or 30 feet above the nearby river. He could not go higher because the fog was hanging about 50 feet above the river. He hugged that river until we reached lower elevation and he had more clearance. It was a hell of a ride tho because he was not going slow as he followed every twist and curve that river made.

Jim McLaughlin was almost on a mission with me on which I was going to be the team leader. It was a quickly made up team from parts of teams that had taken kills or wounded. We still only had 5 men tho and I asked Jim to go with us as ATL. It was kind of strange because we had always talked of having our own team but it was with him as TL and me as ATL. By the time I was being asked to be a TL, near the end of my tour, Jim was running our company club. He had been on a mission where a friend and himself had been on a point recon. They ran into some bad guys and the other guy caught a round going through him shoulder to shoulder. It probably went through both lungs and the heart. Jim tried to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation, but he said he knew he was working on a dead man. Shortly after that mission the company club job opened up and Jim took over that for the last couple months of his tour. At any rate, Jim did not have to go on the mission with me because they cancelled it. Bad weather again I think.

Although a couple of missions were planned and then cancelled, I only pulled one mission as the actual team leader. I was still just a Sp/4, but I had been there longer than most and I guess I seemed fairly intelligent. I had pulled several missions as an ATL, I’m guessing 6 to 8 maybe. At any rate the platoon sergeant offered me the Team Leader slot for team 1-1 and I accepted. I guess I was to young to doubt my own knowledge and abilities. Looking back now I’m amazed at how much I didn’t realized how much I didn’t know. There were other E-5 Sergeants in the company who were either not offered the slot or were offered the slot but chose to remain a team member because they didn’t want the responsibility. I remember that one mission I pulled as a SP/4 ATL with a E-5 Sergeant TL, had a SSG, and two other E-5 Sergeants as team members. I must say though that the SSG was a newbie and he went out with us as a refresher before taking over his own team.
The mission I led was in one of the valley’s; Ruong Ruong, Spear, or Elephant valley, I don’t remember which. The planning was normal, nothing special. I do remember tho, that while waiting on the helicopter pad for pick-up, I got a real live case of the “shakes”. I don’t know why they suddenly came on but I was physically shaking. I was not worried about my abilities as I was convinced I was more capable than some of the Team Leaders I had been out with (or so I thought). Nevertheless, I did have a premonition that something was going to happen on this mission.
We were inserted along a small stream at the base of a ridgeline and immediately started moving up the slope. We moved a couple hundred yards and I saw several possible signs of something having been there recently but nothing that could not have easily been made by an animal. For some reason it had been unusually late in the day before we were finally inserted and only had a couple of hours of daylight to move and find a spot for a over night halt. After moving for awhile I let three guys rest and took two with me to scout the area ahead for the best way to go. The point man was leading with me as slack and the third pulling up the rear. After checking out the area, we were on our way back to the team and were only a few yards away when someone tripped a booby trap. I don’t know what kind it was or how we set it off. It was only a small “pop”, not even louder than a firecracker. The man ahead of me caught a small piece in the back, and the man behind be caught a small piece in his jaw, or vice/versa. Anyway I was not hit at all. Myself and the guy hit in the jaw made the few remaining steps and very quickly jumped back into the team’s perimeter. The guy hit in the back lay where he fell. Being the Team Leader, I told one of the others to go help him back into the perimeter while we provided covering fire. This guy wasn’t interested in leaving the perimeter tho, so I threw my code book to the ATL and told him to call in contact and a Medivac, and then crawled out to the fellow myself. I tried to pull him back while saying on the ground like they tell you to do, but that is actually damn near impossible with a grown man loaded with equipment. I finally just said “fuck-it” stood up, took a good hold of him and dragged him back that way. In the meantime the ATL had called in contact and Medivac but had not been able to give them our coordinates. I did that and checked the wounded guys. The guy with the jaw wound was doing fine and had a good attitude tho he was spitting blood all the time. The guy hit in the back was not accepting it as well. I could only find one small entrance hole 2/3 up his back and slightly off center from his spine. It did not seem a bad wound yet he acted like he was in great pain and couldn’t move. We were only a couple hundred yards from our insertion point where a helicopter could land and pick us up but I didn’t know if moving the injured man would create more damage. I ended calling for a Jungle Penetrator, a machine they could drop through dense canopy, we would lower the legs then strap the wounded man on for them to winch up to the ship. Medivacs did not like to use them because they were a sitting duck for a long time while trying to hover and then winch a fellow up. Also this crew was worried because a Medivac had been shot down a few miles from there a few months before. So, with a bit of confusion with the jungle penetrator, we got the wounded guys out, then carried their rucks the couple hundred yards back to our insertion point and loaded up on a ship ourselves. Then guy hit in the jaw turned out to be the worse wounded; He was gone 3 weeks to a month, the guy hit in the back was back with us in two days. His wounds were not serious at all and his problems in the field had simply been “shock” It is curious the way different people react to being wounded. One guy can nearly be blown in to and still fight and survive, while another can get what should be a minor wound and yet die from “shock”.
No one ever criticized me for the way I handled the mission, yet I knew I had not done well at all. The jungle penetrator was not necessary, If I had recognized that nothing was really wrong with the guy hit in the back, maybe I could have forced him to walk back to the LZ. And again, when I went out to get him the whole extraction got off to a bad start because my team was not properly trained and briefed. As I said, I can look back now and be amazed at what I didn’t know, yet there I was, a SP/4 with barely a year in the army, being the leader of a team out in the jungle by itself.
The booby trap I still don’t know about. What it was or how we set it off. Because it made no louder noise than it did, I suspect it might have been a triggering device for some explosives that didn’t go off. It did sound about like a blasting cap, and that would also be conducive to the small wounds it made. Guess I’ll never know but it could be that I was very lucky once again.

Gary Linderer, the author of several books on L Co, mentioned in one that the level of “expertise” in the company went down towards the end of the war. I would have to agree with him. The desire was there, I don’t believe there was any decrease in the attitude of the soldiers, but you can simply look at the experience level of the team leaders. Taking Team 1-1 as an example, during my time it was led by a SSG, SSG, SGT, SGT, SGT, SP4. And no matter how smart I thought I was, there is no way I should have been leading a Ranger team in a combat situation. I know the company leadership were given an assignment and did the best they could with what they had. I am proud that they considered me worthy enough, or just the best of the rest, to lead a LRRP team. But where were the SSGs that should have been our team leaders?