The Vietnam War

[Facman]

Did Mike survive the war?

Yes he did. A funny story about Mike... He was a big skinny fella, with weird foot problems that prohibited him from wearing the 'Jungle Boots' we typically wore in country. He therefore wore the standard issue leather boots, which did not hold up well in the jungle. He had all but wore out his current pair but was having trouble getting them replaced as the regular boots weren't readily available in Vietnam, so much so that he wrote his mother to complain about his lack of adequate footwear. Now Mike's mother was none other than Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago's secretary and when she heard of Mike's plight, she got the mayor involved in procuring replacement boots for Mike. Within a week, Mike had his new boots.

 

[Dutch Grenadier]

hahahaha that is a funny story indeed. Are you still in contact with him?

 

[Facman]

Sadly no. I have sporadic contact with just one of the guys I served with. It's one of the side effects of my PTSD, I tend to isolate and have very few friends. One aspect of the Vietnam War was the way we went into it. Unlike today where units deploy together with the guys they train with and perhaps known for years, in Vietnam we were deployed as replacements, thrown into a unit where we knew no one, and where no one wanted to know the FNG (F***king new guy), deep attachments were difficult to cultivate.

 

[Dutch Grenadier]

I understand that it is very frustrating to be a replacement within a sqaud that have been together for a long time and lost some friends who you are replacing. I indeed trained and served with the guys I deployed with. One of them is still my best friend. I do understand the drawback from PTSD. I dont have many friends also. I rather stay at home and enjoy the company of my wife and kids then go out. My current job is active enough.

 

[Facman]

'The Big Red One'...1st Infantry Division, US Army

 

[Facman]

Senior Corpsman (front) and Arty FO on a jungle trail in 'Leatherneck Corner', Vietnam.

 

[Facman]

Approaching Hill 950. Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam
The resupply LZ is on the left side of the position.
This was an old French position, surrounded by minefields but for the single file trail leading down both fingers (R&L) of the hill.

 

[Facman]

Abandoned Khe Sanh CB from Hill 950.
You cannot see them from this pic, but there are the hulks of 2 unflyable aircraft still laying beside the runway.

 

[Facman]

As I had mentioned elsewhere, I was not happy giving up my 'Steel Pot' for the modern Kevlar helmets, these pics illustrate why.


The ubiquitous 'Steel Pot Wash Basin'
These pics taken on Hill 950, Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam 1969

 

[Dutch Grenadier]

Where are you in this pick? Or did you make them?

 

[Facman]

Im the one at the basin in both pics.

 

[Facman]

CH-46 inbound with a pallet of C-Rations
Upon setting the pallet down, I will run out and disconnect the cables,a work party would disassemble and remove the cases of C-Rations from my LZ.


CH-46 inbound with a cargo net full of plastic jugs of 'hotel20' (h2o,water)
after the working party removed all the jugs, the chopper would return for me to hook up the now empty cargo net. Empty water jugs (expendable type) buried in a small hole.

Resupply mission complete, start to finish in less than 5 minutes.

 

[Facman]

Facman bringing in a CH-46 at an impromptu LZ in the 'Bush'.
Quang Tri Province, RVN 1969

 

[Dutch Grenadier]

As a Facman were you also part of a infantry squad? Did you go out of the wire on missions?

 

[Bootie]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Facman]

As a Facman were you also part of a infantry squad?

No, once I was assigned the FAC duties, my place was in the Co. HQ Section. From that day forward, I was attached at the hip to the 'Skipper', responsible for maintaining his commo with Air Ops.
Though while we were security for FB Neville, I was sent along with a platoon that was running a 2 day patrol in one of the drainages at the foot of the hill that FB Neville sat upon. But fear not my friend, I spent my first couple of months in country as a Grunt, and had my share of duty outside the wire, enough to convince me that I needed to find another line of work, which I did.

 

[Facman]

This is a pic of the CH-46 that would fly me into Hell, or as the mundane world called it...FB Argonne, along the border with Laos. We are being picked up at FB Alpine. The original intel was that the LZ at FB Argonne was 'cold' (meaning no opposition). The first chopper in, a UH-1 (Huey), with a contingent of Recon and Engineers, made their landing on the Upper LZ, where they were immediately engaged by the NVA force holding Argonne. The chopper was incapacitated, and it's occupants, some wounded, found themselves under intense small arms fire, eventually they were evaced by a hovering chopper. This caused us to have to land on the Lower LZ and assault the hill from the bottom up. Turns out the NVA had dug themselves into the previously abandoned FB and were ready for us. 3rd platoon (I was in 1st Plt, not yet Facman) was the first to land and suffered many casualties this day.



This is the view, taken several days after our initial assault, from the Lower LZ looking up towards the crest. The downed Huey is out of sight, as the contours hide our view of the Upper LZ. You can see the colored panel used to designate the Lower LZ at center right. My fighting position for the next 2 weeks, is just visible at center left. For the first week, all inbound choppers brought down 82mm mortar fire from positions in Laos, causing only a few birds to actually make it onto the LZ during that time, most would abort the landings as we reported to them that we were taking incoming on the LZ. It got so bad they even tried dropping parachutes with resupply for us...but all 3 attempts were failures, and we watched the parachutes descend into the jungle, far beyond our reach. Eventually airstrikes were called in on the resupply chutes to deny the NVA use of our supplies. By the end of the first week on Argonne, we were running short on chow, ammo and medical supplies. Needless to say, with my hole being this close to the LZ, whenever a bird would try and come in, the LZ was what they targeted, and we had to dodge a lot of shrapnel down there. I was not always successful, and I took some shrapnel in my left arm/hand while jumping into my hole during one barrage. I was not alone, as there were many Purple Hearts awarded for the occupiers of FB Argonne.

 

[Dutch Grenadier]

~respect my friend~ and great story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Facman]

Pic taken from Lower LZ...Looking west into Laos from FB Argonne 1.
In the foreground you can see 2 of our fighting positions. The guy walking in front of the holes is checking the wire for breaches. Smoke from a previous airstrike is in the vicinity of where we thought the 82mm mortars were located. Though I actually think this is where they came up with the idea for the game "Wack a Mole", as no matter how many airstrikes or arty barrages we put into the area, we never silenced those mortars. They would just pop up later and pound us again. Airstrike inbound...



Looking west into Laos from FB Argonne 2.
Airstrike landing on suspected NVA mortar positions.
The mortar fire on our position started slacking off only when the maneuver elements of the Bn, Alpha & Charlie 1/4 started sweeping the area to our west. Though not without great cost to both those companies. At one point we had to virtually strip the FB of infantry to go down and help Alpha Co. get their casualties up to the FB for evac. Had the NVA attacked Argonne at that time, they would have walked over the skeleton crew we left behind to defend the hill.

 

[Rico]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us, Facman.