Petteys-131 "Marine Helo" Chapter 17 execute go arounds abruptly

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execute go arounds abruptly!
One is hesitant to criticize
one's peers, and though I was uncomfortable with the man's
technique, I said nothing.
When I saw the helicopter on its
back, it crossed my mind that possibly my saying nothing was
partially responsible for what happened today!
The communications make an interest adjunct to the
story.
We'd take off talking to Ky Ha Tower.
After we were
clear of his traffic pattern, he'd clear us to "Landshark
Charlie."
The whole of Viet Nam was divided into various
sectors of Landshark; it was Landshark's job to coordinate
all air operations in his sector.
going.
He knew where we were
And he would give us save-a-planes along our route.
Save-a-planes came about because of an incident that
occurred early in 1966.
An H-34, flown by my friend Phil
Ducat, was struck by a friendly artillery shell.
Thus, the necessity to coordinate air and artillery
support became crystal clear!
Save-a-planes gave the
coordinates of the origin of the artillery fire, and the
coordinates of the impact area.
It behooved the pilot to
draw a line between the two coordinates and be sure not to
fly between them!
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CHAPTER 18
RESUPPLY
Resupply missions were another of our operational
staples.
Food, ammunition, and all the necessities of
existing in the field.
We had a rule that for an
"Emergency" resupply, all we would haul is water and
ammunition.
We didn't have instruments that enabled us to
see the trees at night.
resupply at night.
It was extremely dangerous to do a
But if the lives of the troops were at
stake, it was a risk that we gladly took.
But nothing
pissed us off more than to find our "emergency resupply"
consisted of toilet paper, candy bars, and writing packets
for letters home!
Certainly there's nothing life
threatening in being out of toilet paper until the next
morning.
Resupply for the South viet Namese Army (ARVN) was
different.
It reflected the cultural differences of the
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men.
Whereas the U.S. troops would get tidy tan boxes of C
Rations, the ARVN would get tins of Nuoc Mam and live pigs.
The little pigs would be wrapped in little trusses made of
woven grass, not unlike large versions of Chinese handcuffs
we all had as children.
Little woven tubes that you could
stick your fingers in, but couldn't pullout.
I'd look back
at the forlorn little pig as he struggled helplessly.
look back at me.
He'd
The ARVNs spirited him out like a sack of
groceries (which he was).
Our next trip into the LZ, I saw
the ARVNs merrily slicing up what was left of the pig,
carrying the hunks of fresh meat in all directions.
Another thing was the Nuoc Mam.
made:
Here's the way it was
They had galvanized tin floors about five feet
square, with turned up edges and a low point drain.
Then
they'd build a cube about four feet on each side consisting
of layers of herbs and spices and raw fish.
Then another
layer of herbs and spices and another layer of raw fish.
Then, they'd let it 'ripen' in the Viet Nam Central
Highlands sun for three months, continually drawing off the
black oily substance that would collect in the tin.
It had
a powerful smell that was a cross between "feminine odor"
and stale armpits!
If it were spilled in the aircraft, the
smell was impossible to eradicate!
In talking with the
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special Forces guys that had tried it, they said it just
tastes peppery.
The viet Namese use Nuoc Mam for their
protein supplement.
They sprinkle it on their rice and
vegetables.
Medical evacuation was the most appreciated role played
by helicopters in viet Nam.
rate to a minimum.
It did much to cut the death
Countless lives were saved that would
have been lost in any of our past wars.
priority, night or day.
on occasion.
It had the highest
We also supported the viet Namese
One time we picked up a little old viet Namese
man and his wife and flew them to a Viet Namese hospital in
Quang Ngai, about 20 miles south.
He'd stepped on a mine.
His legs looked like a roast wrapped in butcher paper!
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CHAPTER 19
Jl
I ~r1cJ J~)
AYgy§:t 1966
First night in RVN.[ The quarters and living facilities
are not that bad.
We have a screened, tin roofed hut that
is quite comfortable.
I had a chance to take a field shower
and wash out the rotten crotch from two days aboard the KC
135 that brought us here.
The KC 135 was like being in a mailing tube ••. no doors
or windows and all the seats faced backwards.
inside, then they open it ten hours later.
you are somewhere else!
You are shut
Lo and behold,
The worst part of the cycle is
waiting for the engines to start after they've shut all the
doors and hatches, or waiting to get off after they've shut
down the aircraft.
It's only at that time that the humidity
and heat is stifling.
Our first night at Oa Nang showed the vastness and the
seeming permanence of our installations there.
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Armed Forces radio stations play rock and roll music,
albeit the music's a bit dated.
The programmers evidently
have no access to the latest top 40 hits back in the states.
The weather's cloudy and cool now.
The bath towel is still
as damp now as when I hung it out last night.
impressed with the humming activity and bustle.
was OK.
But I'm most
Breakfast
Grits, powdered eggs, cinnamon rolls, coffee, table
cloths, plates and metal utensils.
Quite
nic~
1 september 1966
We converted all our money to Military Payment
certificates today (MPC).
It's strange.
The money has
pictures of women on it, and is printed in strange
colors ••• bright greens and blues or reds.
All the different
~
denominations of coins are\different size of bill.
It's raining, and will probably continue to do so until
next April.
The pilots of HMM 364 seem glad to see us
since we'll be taking their place flying the day in and day
out missions.
Notes of interest:
around.
There are not enough weapons to go
My standard issue side arm (a 38 special) has been
on order for six months.
But the Group and Wing Supply
people won't forward the requests.
If they admit we don't
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have side arms, it makes them look bad, since it's their
responsibility to provide us with them!
The joke goes that
they're going to introduce VD into the Navy Supply system,
because then no one would be able to get it.
We can see the Soviet trawlers off the coast.
the LORAN (Long Range Air Navigation) stations.
They jam
We heard
they lured a B-57 over Hinan Island with false signals, and
it was shot down by Red Chinese MIG 17s!
Living conditions aren't bad.
The special non-skid
boot cleats pick up the mud like crazy!
skivvies are proving unnecessary.
Our dyed green
And we have limited warm
showers, though they have to be Navy style (get wet only,
soap down, and rinse off).
We did qualify for August combat
pay (an extra $500 a month).
3 September 1966
I went on my first resupply mission today.
rice and people for the ARVNs.
We hauled
We picked up the supplies at
Quang Ngai' and dropped them off at Duc Pho, Nui Dau, and
Mu Duc.
You can find them on the map.'
The thing is, the
'lake' north of Nui Dau (BS 880331) is really rice paddies.
'See Fig. 19-1
'See Plate 5
Fig 19-1
RESUPPLY PICKUP POINT tJEAR QUAtiG IlGA!, 3 SEPT 1966
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We took two women and some ARVN soldiers out of there,
and took them to Quang Ngai.
The smell was something
fierce ..• a cross between urine and a strong 'feminine odor'
about describes it.
But you have to hand it to them ..• when
the ARVNs fortify a perimeter on some little hill, they take
their women with them.'
The advisor at Duc Pho told us not to take any
passengers out of his hamlet.
I guess the VC are going to
hit it, and he doesn't want all his ARVNs bugging out.
Here on the base at Ky Ha, viet Namese workers are
prevalent.
How can they maintain security?
It won't be
long until the VC mortar this place on a dark and stormy,
moonless night.
We had a 'Recon Insertion' this morning, near Phuoc
Lam.
We couldn't land them, so we brought them back to the
main base at Chu Lai.
successfully.
The next team was inserted
The landing zone was tiny, but we were able
to land five H-34s in it.
The scenery was breathtaking.
the countryside are quite striking!
The different greens of
Dark green jungle,
grass green plains and valleys, with yellow-green rice
'See Fig. 19-4
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paddies and yellow-brown thatched hootches.
It was so clear
you could see for miles in great detail.
The only thing that made me pucker was that the thicket
at the edge of the LZ was only 30 years away!
If "Luke the
Gook" had been there with his automatic weapon, he could
have nailed us all without exception.
One of my friends went into an ARVN outpost for a MedEVac.
The ARVNs shot at him!
His crewman saw one guy stand
and open up with an automatic weapon.
So he blew him away
with his M-60, but not until one of our guys had a wound in
the leg.
4 September 1966
CHY LAI
It won't be long until there are viet Namese girls
working in the laundry, the 0 Club and the mess halls.
viet
Namese workers are already working on the construction
projects!
It's all being done under the orders of Gen.
Louis Walt (dubbed BOL, for Big Dumb Lou).
Undoubtedly, he
in turn is under pressure from the Ambassador, the idea
being to aid and make friends with the civilians.
problem is there's no way to keep out the VC.
The
We can expect
to be mortared and sappered with all the intelligence they
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have on our every movement.
They will probably drop an 82
mm right into our crapper when I'm on it!
Col. Johnson, MAG-35 C.O., didn't allow any viet Namese
aboard the base during his tenure.
So now, with him gone,
the old apathy, slothfulness, path of least resistance
thinking is setting in.
We'll have viet Namese girls
cleaning our quarters before long.
Then all the Yankee
Imperialists will drink, screw, and piss away all their
secrets, compromise all their operations, and undoubtedly
kill a goodly number of themselves.
The answer they will
give you is "when your time comes, it comes."
It's an
archetypal surrender for responsibility for one's self.
They would rather worry about the more important things,
like the ice machine breaking down, or mail call.
Incredible!
" ..• the very apathy on the subject which the
criminal desires!'"
Napoleon once said that it is a Commander's
responsibility to resign before he would let a superior
misuse his command (or something to that effect).
It's a
sad testimonial on the self-seeking spinelessness of our
commanders to see the way they let their men be wasted.
'Science and Health, with key to the Scriptures.
Baker Eddy. Pg. 102:22
The
Mary
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strong, dynamic, natural leaders are, without exception,
passed over and "shit-canned."
Only the colorless ass-
kissers who spend their combat tours writing glowing,
bordering on fraudulent, operations reports seem to make
rank.
In order to run an air strike over here, you have to
clear it with:
1.
MAG - 36
2.
1st Marine Air Wing (MAW)
3.
3rd Marine Amphibious Force (MAF)
4.
ARVN District HQ
5.
Saigon
6.
MACV HQ
It usually takes two days to run a clearance.
So if
you spot a 50 calibre AA weapon, it has usually moved by the
time you get clearance to hit it!
The newspaper reporters appear to be looking for antiwar tidbits.
They go out of their way to find an incident
where we have bombed a village by accident, and interview
someone who then says there aren't any VC in it.
The thing
that really gets me is their propensity to hang around aid
stations, talk to the freshly wounded as to how he feels
about the war.
How would you feel about it in the throes of
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pain and shock?
Very few of them go on the helicopter
strikes, or on patrol with the Battalions any more.
They'd
rather get their stories hanging around an aid station like
flies on shit.
5 September 1966
CHU LAI
The year in front of us appears to be an insurmountable
barrier.
Yea, verily, some of us will not live to see the
end of our tours.
I remember the euphoria of the homeward
bound we met as we were processing in.
off on us, the inbound to the war.
It mistakenly rubbed
How little we had to be
euphoric about is only now dawning on our consciousness.
Facing the war a day at a time appears to be the only
choice.
We are being broken in slowly, which I appreciate.
When we aren't flying, we can flake out.
aren't too bad.
The hootches
They are wood floors and framing over which
tents are stretched.
There are various "conditions" we stand from time to
time; Condition I is on the flight line in your flight suit,
so you can be airborne in minutes.
Condition II is in squadron spaces, but could be
airborne in 30 minutes.
And it goes on down to a Condition
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IV.
But we have an unofficial Condition V:
drunk in the
rack! '
6 September 1966
We picked up 21 troopers at BS710980, just northwest of
Phuoc Thuac at 1630, with daylight fast falling.
them at BS 418998, called Hill 707. 2
team radio relay station.
We dropped
It's a little recon
It's being held by about a
platoon on a hilltop located on a very high ridgeline.
One
side is a sheer cliff, and the other a very steep slope.
They were being attacked by NVA wearing camouflage uniforms.
It's so remote; the NVA must have had to hike for days to
get at our soaking wet, smiling, young Marines!
The Huie
gunships had been making gun runs all afternoon, supporting
them.
We actually machinegunned NVA' less than 20 yards
from the Recon positions!
We brought them the
reinforcements and lots of ammunition at about 1700.
If we
hadn't, they would have run out overnight sure as hell.
They were so low on ammo earlier, the Huies were actually
dropping belts of ammo out of their own guns to the troops
'See Glossary
2See Fig. 19-2
'See Glossary
IA3.1
Fig 19-2
HILL 707 , 6 SEPTill1BER 1966
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on the ground.
The troops used the belts to feed their own
M-60s.
7 September 1966
Had a chance to fly a UH1E today.
run (shot a smoke flare in the ocean).
We went out on a gun
The plane commander
let me make a couple of passes, firing the four external M60 machineguns, and the 2.75" rockets.
The gunsite
consisted of grease pencil marks on the windshield and an
iron crosshair that swings down from the overhead.
Primitive as it may seem, more sophisticated systems fail to
do all that much better.
My rocket was within five yards of
the flare, and that's close enough.
8 September 1966
We went to the village today, and bought shower shoes.
I got some great pictures of viet Namese fishing boats,
etc., and a good picture of the fish market.
You could feel the consciousness of the village:
the
people in it were serious-minded people going about the
daily tasks of life.
The young viet Namese girls have the
potential to be extremely beautiful women.
Their eyes and
hair, face proportions are very pleasing; it's only the
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harshness of viet Namese life that spoils them before they
have a chance to develop.
The kids in the village are the ones that pick up most
of the English.
They all say "Hoo ah yoo, Loo-Tenan?"
One
little tyke came up to me and said, "Hello, Loo-Tenan •...
Fuck Loo-Tenan!"
You know full well the troops have been
teaching them to say that!
The impact of U.S. troops here is apparent:
a row of
junk shops with these people selling souvenirs, mirrors,
wash basins, etc.
Little photo shops, beer parlors.
It's
actually no different than any street right adjacent to any
military base.
The intrusion on the normal village life
seems a shame, somehow.
A Major in HMM-361 got shot through the head today.
was on a routine resupply mission.
grinds on.
He
That's the way the war
Actually, things are pretty quiet.
standing down until after elections.
The VC are
But the Marines sweep
an area, and get ambushed returning through the area they've
just swept!
It's the "Head in the Sand" politicians that
tie our hands!
God damn politicians!
The Korean Marines (ROKMC); if they get sniped at, they
level the village from whence the fire came!
out pretty fast and the sniping ceases.
The word gets
But U.S. Marines
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can't shoot unless the target is confirmed, permission from
Saigon is granted, etc.
face!
All the Viet Namese laugh in our
That's the whole thing in a nutshell ... we're working
on the enemy's terms.
The ROKMC, by the way, is damn good!
well disciplined!
Well organized,
When you resupply them, they give you a
note at the pickup point with the coordinates of where they
want the load to go.
When you arrive, they pop their smoke.
At the LZ, they are right there to unload the bird.
with the
u.s.
But
Marines, you circle around and around trying
to contact the ground troops.
Finally, some PFC will say,
"Sorry, I can't talk to unauthorized stations on my net."
And so it goes ••• Parkinson's Law •.. strangling the Marine
Corps and losing the war!
10 September 1966
We spent the day on SAR (Search and Rescue) at Chu Lai
Airstrip.
nights ago.
We've been looking for an A-4E that went down two
The jungle's unbelievably thick!
150 to 200 feet high.
The trees are
The vines and branches are woven so
tightly together, it would seem that one could walk on them.
It was pretty uncomfortable; we were looking for the
downed plane, making lazy circles along the ridges, only two
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to three hundred feet above the terrain, deep in viet cong
territory!
If the NVA had been around with his 50 calibre,
we would have been in for real trouble!
We were looking a
little NE of Tra Bong, about 20 miles WSW of Chu Lai.
Living conditions aren't too bad.
We had a chance to
go to the MAG 12 (the Fighter Air Group) Officer's Club.
It's really nice •.• all fixed up with bamboo furniture, fans,
individual tables.
Quite comfortable.
I don't notice the
heat much anymore.
The climatization must be complete.
only thing you won't believe is the moustache!
The
People don't
even tease me about it anymore, so it must be progressing.
I'm still trying to pile up missions with VMO 6.
I'd better
get an AIR MEDAL before the rest of the Squadron gets over
here.
11 September 1966
The following are clipboard notes, scribbled at the
time on my knee in the cockpit ...
"Air so close to saturation, that the moisture
condenses under the blades, rotors appear to be throwing off
concentric rings."
"Many islands of villages, partitioned with trees, in a
light green sea of rice paddies.
As you approach the
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mountains, the sea of rice paddies dwindles to little lakes
and pools in the rising raw green of the mountains.
Then
the mountains rise higher, and the villages and paddies give
way to the shaggy deep green of the primitive jungle."
Tam Ky Special Forces compound is an excellent place to
buy beer.
It's cheaper than the USMC variety.
Aircraft
always fly in pairs; everywhere you see aircraft, you see
double.
The following are Briefing Notes from a mission:
Carry Blood Chit.'
If AIC down, PIU Crew.
After crew saved, try to save
bird.
I.
PLANNING:
Grunt 2 rapid buildup.
8 AIC Zone minimum for strike
Artillery prep for zone; no night flying
ceiling limitations; 3000 foot minimum
On emergency extractions, no limit 0700 to 1900
'A Blood Chit was a document in Vietnamese prom1s1ng
cash payment if the bearer of the Blood Chit were returned
to friendly forces unharmed.
2See Glossary
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II.
STRIKE:
LZ Preparation
TACA' - UH1Es, 0-lCs (Kat-Killer, Bird Dog,
Klondike)
LSA - FM
Square away frequencies
1.
Ky Ha Tower
2.
Lemon - RIO'
3.
Red - purple
4.
Chu Lai tower
PIU troops, orbit clear of LZ, either 25' or 2000'
(200 feet to 800 feet is KIA' zone)
Min. of 1 mile straight away, no hover ldgs.
After TIO, stay low until airspeed Max. Fuel 1.5
hours.
III. STANDBY:
8 to 12 Z/C Ready Reaction Force
Condition III
Condition IV
IV.
ALL OTHER:
Reaction flight 60 minutes
90 minutes.
Got 2B briefed
MedEvac - 0700 to 1900 Egcy; anytime
Resupply - Ammo Chow H2 0 Clothing
Emergency Resupply - Ordinance only
Brief Crew Chief and Gunners.
informed.
'See Glossary
Keep your people
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V.
RECON MISSIONS
2000 feet AGL'
ARVN, ROKMC, resupply only.
Fly the Frag'.
one can divert you except a Flag Officer.
No
The
000' doesn't turn down Frags but will catch the
CO, XO or Ops 0 to straighten things out.
MOON MAN- MACS 7' go to Ky Ha Tower on apron, ARVN
Resupply - Loadmasters
Retractions- Estimate number of A/C.
all birds in LZ for last swoop!
Have
watch count
in retractions such that you get all the
people OUT!
'See Glossary
'One of the control problems in utilizing helicopter
assets during the Vietnam war was that local commanders
would try to order the pilots to do things for them, such as
dropping off personnel at locations not included in the
original Fragmentary Order. The way it was stopped was for
the Wing Commanding General to decree that all requests for
helicopter support were to be forwarded to Wing HQ for
proper prioritizing. Otherwise, you'd send a bird out, and
it'd never get back, with every field Colonel shanghai-ing
the bird for his own purpose!
'MACS - Marine Control Air Squadron. Their function
was to control the various elements of an air operation,
such as the troop carrier helicopters, the supporting
gunships, the fighter support, and the neighboring artillery
units, who mayor may not be running fire missions in the
operational area.
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Ops Officer:
Landshark alpha, TATC:
Mission #
# AIC
ETR
Artillery Save-a-Planes
Cycle:
strike
standby
Administrative
First Launch - 0400
3 Wing System in Squadron:
Night,
Medivac, Standby
Condition III - Ready Room
Condition IV - In Hootch
Mission Control - That's us unless there's a TACA
Recon - Speak to 6
wrong Freq -
Check with Landshark Alpha
12 September 1966
It's a tradition that one who wears his cover (hat)
into the Officer's Club must buy drinks for all those
present.
It was quite a sight to see men who'd finally
received orders back to CONUS' waltz in, defiantly wearing
'See Glossary
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a viet Namese bush hat and plunk down on the bar $30 to $40
to 'buy the bar' and take pleasure in it!
Each day varies, but the semblance of a routine is
this:
0630 Out of the rack, have breakfast
0730 - 1100
Fly, or sit on my fanny
1100 Lunch.
Then return to my hootch for reading,
shower and shave.
1300 Fly another launch, or standby for one.
1700 Dinner
1800 - 2000
Up to the Officer's Club for "Two Cokes,
with ice and a glass," and a lot of
shooting the bull with all the guys.
I'm in a unique position, in that I know just about
everybody.
All my contemporaries are here, just about ready
to go home.
squadron.
And of course I know all those in my own
So I know a larger percentage than normal.
Haircuts:
There'S a barber shop on the edge of the
perimeter, run by MAG -36, who employ civilians from the
local village ('Ville).
The barbers are friendly, take
infinite pains, and a lot of time to give you a good
haircut.
great!
They rub your back, pound and beat on you ... it's
The only problem was when I paid him.
The barber
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humbled himself so much it embarrassed me!
A posture of a
shallow bow, with his hands cupped in front of him, slightly
above his eyes ... maybe it's the oriental way, but I felt a
little guilty.
A village chief declared an "Open Kill" area south of
here last Wednesday (near Duc Pho).
he'd gotten all his people out.
at 'em!
He said, in short, that
Anyone left was VC, so have
F-4s, F-8s, A-4s and UH 1Es were all taking turns
making runs on the place.
The UH 1-Es were right on the
deck, machine-gunning anything that moved!
VMO-6 claimed 11
kills.
Yet, one wonders whether these people were really VC,
or merely that particular Village Chief's political enemies.
I heard of an incident where a village wasn't cooperating
with the VC.
To punish the village, part of the VC cadre
made a point of shooting at passing American aircraft from
the village in question.
Predictably, an American air
strike obliterated the village within the hour.
Thus, we
have the irony of American military might being utilized to
achieve VC objectives.
We were mortared last night.
A few short rounds on the
other side of the hill, and a grenade or two.
hear about it until today.
But I didn't
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13 September 1966
Nui Dang was overrun last night.
There was a company
of "PFs'"
stationed there.
wounded.
That's a lot, considering a viet Namese company
has only 100 men!
bags of meat!
We flew out 50 KIAs and 40
So we spent 5.7 hours flying out little
Lt. Nesmith said that a lot of the bodies
were in holes all hunched up.
This means once the shooting
started, all the PF's started burrowing instead of fighting.
Thus, the VC were able to literally cut them into little
pieces.
We'd been resupplying Nui Dang in preparation for the
monsoons.
Of course, the Bad Buys carried off everything.
They also took over the two howitzers and shelled the nearby
village as well as the adjacent outposts before spiking the
guns.
Nui Dang was re-occupied by ARVN Rangers.
Maybe
they'll stay and fight.
14 September 1966
When the VC hit Nui Dang two nights ago, they left all
the small arms lying around.
But they DID carry off all the
105mm howitzer shells ... 250 rounds worth!
'See Glossary
Most of the KIAs
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were in the fetal position.
they were killed?
inside job.
people!
Why?
Were they sleeping when
Usually an outpost overrun is one-half an
If this were not so, the VC would lose too many
This is why they never hit 100% loyal outposts.
It
appears the VC are hitting these outposts to gather supplies
for THEIR monsoon offensive!
VC are liable to hit.
Ba To, Gia Vuc are places the
Yet our Generals always insist on
resupplying and reinforcing the outpost itself, by
helicopter while under fire!
They don't seem to understand
you can relieve an outpost by fire as well!
Or you could
drop a couple of battalions with their supporting arms
outside the VC siege lines, and surround the surrounders!
We are so predictable that the VC set out "flak
traps" ••• four or five 50 calibre machine guns on the
approaches to the outpost.
By this monsoon, the VC will
have carried off enough 50 calibre machine guns to reap a
grand harvest of American flying machines!
stories of the Korean Marine Corps (KMC).
Seems they
had a Lieutenant killed by a sniper from a neighboring
village.
So they surrounded the village and caught the
snipers!
They staked them out on the main street and
literally skinned them alive!
If we'd done something like
that, our liberal press would howl!
"Two wrongs don't make
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a right, and sinking to the level of our enemy" sorts of
arguments!
The KMC had no more trouble with snipers, I
might add.
"Ahh, but the end doesn't justify the means,
blah, blah ... " say the phony liberals, safe in the states.
And meanwhile, snipers pick off three or four a week near
American compounds.
When HMM 364 went into Hiep Duc last July, the village
chief and his wife and kids were all impaled on 1 1/2 inch
bamboo poles.
The poles went IN their ass, and out the back
of their necks, and stuck in the ground, all in a grizzly
row.
Everyone in the village was killed as well ... about 250
men, women and children.
Yet all the liberals will say
about this was, "Well, when you understand the role of force
in Marxist ideology, it's perfectly logical, blah blah
blah ... etc."
It is this sort of "heads we win, tails you
lose" reasoning being applied to our efforts over here that
will cause us to lose this war!
I've gotten dum-dum cartridges for my .38.
soft point.
More power,
It will do a better job if I ever have to shoot
at close range.
Tonight we spend the night as a Med-Evac standby.
Spooky!
You have to fly out to pinned down patrols and pull
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out their wounded.
It's a good opportunity to have holes
shot in you and your airplane.
It's getting "Hot" south of Quang Ngai.
Our S-2 '
thinks there are two battalions of VC regulars down
there ... part of the 20th VC Regiment.
We'll probably have
an Operation down there in two weeks or so.
Of course, to
catch these battalions, we should have moved last night.
But, you know how we must prepare all the staff Ops Plans in
pretty binders, all the flowery Op Orders, and brief our
loyal allies the ARVNs.
the VC!)
(And, of course, the ARVNs brief
By the time the operation gets away, the VC have
long gone!
All operations are termed a "Conditional Success" .••
that means three battalions of Marines (3,000 men) kill 15
to 20 VC suspects (local farmers), find a dozen rusty rifles
left over from when the French were here, and suffer 50
killed and 200 wounded from the precisely laid booby traps!
Meanwhile, the 3,000 man VC Regiment with their four 105 mID
Howitzers are hidden in caves the next valley over, safe and
untouched.
But the General's staff does have "Completed
Staff Work."
'See Glossary
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15 September 1966
I did it!
I had my first actual firefight with the VC!
I went on a UH1E ride, and we received an emergency request
from the infantry about seven miles went of Tam Ky.
They
were being fired at by some sniper with an automatic weapon.
We made six passes, some rocket, but mostly strafing.
When
you press the button, you see all those tracers spewing out
at your command.
To spread them around, all you do is knead
the rudders a little bit.
Just like a garden hose.
didn't see anyone or any fire coming up at us.
I
The infantry
kept shouting "Beautiful" to us on the radio, or "Try it
down the tree line a little farther."
If any bad guys were
down there, they'd fled the scene by then.
real kick!
But it WAS a
I began to feel like a real fighting man for a
change!
After that, we went to Quang Ngai for night Med-Evac
standby.
It was miserable ..••
I have a multitude of new
insect bites; and the tent we were lodged in had two inches
of water on the deck!
It was raining cats and dogs, and so
black out as to be unbelievable.
Then, to add to the
atmosphere, the air field at Qyuang Ngai is insecure.
A 155
mm howitzer battery kept firing "H & I," (harassing and
interdictory) at the rate of two rounds per hour.
Really
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grim.
It will be nice to get back to the relative comfort
of Ky Ha.
The mornings are strange, indeed!
We are awakened by
chickens, pigs, ducks and viet Namese, all growling,
grunting, quacking and garbling at the same time.
As we
took off at 0645, there was an entire viet Namese family out
in a rice paddy behind their house, all taking their morning
crap!
Mama, Daddy, and two little girls, all stooped down.
They've evidently found a way around toilet paper.
Tonight the new "Officer's Club" opens at Ky Ha.
For
this event, the nurses from the hospital ship "Repose" are
coming in.
Everyone is looking forward to seeing round-eyed
women.
HMM 165 is establishing a good reputation here.
We're
doing most of the flying for HMM 364 as well as a lot for
VMO 6.
So it's good to be well thought of, and not as a
"cry-baby outfit" as HMM 164 has become.
the Air Medals.
We're pulling down
I'm well on my way towards the first one.
17 September 1966
The monsoons have started ••• Lord have mercy!
You can
tell it's the monsoons and not the duty afternoon
thunderstorm from the mountains.
The surf has been high all
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week, and the wind blows steadily from the north •.. and RAIN!
It rains so hard as to be incredible!
Rain ... with depth,
power and confidence that goes back for countless millennia!
We in HMM 165 have quite a unique position.
We fly
with all the squadrons, because our own aircraft are enroute
by ship with the rest of the people.
needs pilots.
It just depends on who
Even if the H-46s have problems, we'll still
fly ... be it UH1Es, H-34s, or whatever.
No joke!
All the
people have given us a good reputation of "Can Do" types,
and not whiners.
We've been here only 16 days and already
some pilots have three Air Medals (60 combat missions).
I
have about four to go for my first.
The visit from the nurses from the Repose was OK.
There were a couple of cute ones, but they had such a crowd
of Field Grade Officers around them that a Lieutenant like
me didn't have much of a chance to get anywhere near any of
them.
Not that I could think of anything to say anyway;
"So, how do you like being surrounded by 5,000 horny men?"
or "Why do you round-eyed women look so big and pink?"
Believe me, the worst toad would have her chance to be
"Belle of the Ball" around here.
5,000 men to 40 nurses
creates a supply and demand situation that's extremely
favorable to the ladies.
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Interesting note:
There's a power plant being built
southwest of Da Nang, being constructed by the US Aid Outfit
RMK-BRJ.
We put a Regiment of
u.s.
"protect" the construction people.
off!
They didn't want "protection."
the VC in
us
Marines in the area to
But they were pissed
They'd been paying off
dollars to leave them alone.
that was better protection than
probably right).
u.s.
They calculated
Marines (and they're
Of course, the VC use the money to support
their war effort (and kill
u.s.
Marines).
One rumor was
that an influential, wealthy, American family has interests
in Panamanian and Nicaraguan shipping that carries
Interarmco "Farm Equipment" into Haiphong Harbor.
Is this
the reason we're not allowed to bomb the port of Haiphong?
Also, there was a VC R&R area just south of Duc Pho.
There is a mutual agreement between the ARVNs and the VC to
leave each other alone in that area.
We've had some Naval
gunfire down there, and some people think the VC overrunning Nui Dang was a reprisal for the Naval gunfire!
There's also a salt plant down there, the output of
which the VCs and the ARVNs split 50%/50%.
Crazy damn war!
But then again, ESSO pays off the VC to allow their fueler
trucks to take JP-4 and AV Gas up to Hue-PhU. Bai from Da
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Nang.
The fuel is used by the UH1Es that blast the VC.
So
it looks like the object of the war is to Make Money!
The tragedy is the young men who have been fooled by
the political ideology from both sides into thinking they
are fighting for something that's worth their life.
afraid I can't believe that.
I'm
I think I'll try to make some
money and stay in one piece!
17 September 1966
A Major informed me that in a few years there'll be an
Air Force base next to Ky Ha with another concrete runway.
I guess they're getting ready for a long war resupplied by
C-5's.
But this means this base will someday have rolling
green lawns, concrete air conditioned barracks, and a huge
shantytown full of bars, loan shops, and whorehouses right
outside the front gate.
The bearded old man in the North
keeps saying, "They'll go away just like the French."
Yet
the strings of bases we're building .•. here and In Thailand,
you KNOW we're saying "thus far, and no farther" to
communist expansion!
We'll be fighting these "Indian wars"
for decades to come.
Went flying UH1Es today. I got 3.1 hours and 3
missions.
I'll get that first Air Medal yet!
We got to
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shoot up a "ville" as well!
What a kick!
We strafed this
village that some gook' had run into after taking a few
shots at an observation plane.
Our wingman killed one
fellow in black PJs running in a rice paddy.
He
~
a bad
guy, because he had a rifle.
I saw some guys making it out
of the "ville" to the north.
But by the time we got turned
around they were walking and unarmed.
So we couldn't hose
them down with machine gun fire like they probably deserved.
This was about three miles northwest of Mu Duc.
The VC MUST be getting desperate!
They lined up 28
CHILDREN and shot them all in the head.
It was probably a
carried out threat for non-cooperation.
One little tyke who
had been shot in the left eye was still alive.
She was
flown to the hospital ship Repose, but was dead on arrival
(DOA).
This, of course, violates the principle of the
guerilla as a fish in the sea of the population.
do a lot of this sort of thing!
And they
But to shoot innocent
little children •.• it's hard to know what John Gook has in
mind when he does this.
Right now we're awaiting the arrival of "The Ship" with
all the rest of the squadron (and my trunk).
'See Glossary
Compared to
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all the rest, we of the Advanced Party will be considered
"salty."
Some interesting notes:
HMM 165 will be LIMITED to 30
hours per bird per month of flight time.
Parts, you know.
So rather than get more parts, they choose to fly less!
Also, the H & MS (Headquarters and Maintenance
Squadron) has done NOTHING to prepare for the H-46!
Probably because they've not known what to do.
working spaces, mat area, etc.
Not enough
For instance, there aren't
any hangars big enough to put an H-46 inside so they can
work on the rotorheads.
So how are they going to pull
maintenance checks in the driving monsoon rains?
The entire leadership here has expressed acute
inability to foresee and plan for coming needs.
The
attitude seems to be "take it a day at a time and play it by
ear."
The only trouble with this is you spend six months
waiting for parts or for hangars to be built.
You make a
day's progress, and then find something else that takes six
months!
So these dodo Colonels who have used the Marine
Corps as their scholarship to life will finally show their
true character of incompetence by outposts overrun and young
smiling Marines cut off, killed and captured due to lack of
helicopter support, while the Colonels' "day by day"
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thinking yields more and more grounded aircraft sitting in
rows.
It's interesting, though .•. the Colonels don't have
any problem organizing Officer's Clubs, getting whiskey and
elaborate air conditioning and ice machines!
You should see the III MAF Officer's Club in Da Nang!
And you ought to see 9' by 9' palates of HAMM'S BEER and the
acres of soft drinks, while the troops in the hills can't
get parts for their M-60s!
rations!
Or enough jungle boots or C
It's the same old story ... the Admin staffs start
absorbing most everything and the units they're supposed to
be supporting get hind tit!
You should see how the Army and
Air Force live ••• in air conditioned comfort drawing lowered
standard of living allowances (to the tune of $12.50 per
day!).
The illusions the Marine Corps works under ••. that
they try to run everything with the austerity of a rifle
platoon ••• but avionics can't be maintained in a windy, dusty
command post tent that has no work benches.
I
just wish the
staff pogues would face reality.
18 september 1966
I've been the Operations Duty Officer (000) for the
last 24 hours.
One is obliged to sit in the ready room by
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the phone ... not much fun.
And since I am an 000, I'll be
doing this every four to six days for my entire time here.
The other squadron fellows that we're relieving are way
overdue to go home.
So their attitudes, frame of mind, and
everything is very bitter.
One Captain, well into his 14th
month over here, told me that he got pangs of frustration
and desperation each time he saw the day's date!
I can't
blame them ..• especially since the Marine Corps wasted little
time getting them over here.
21 September 1966
Had an interesting day.
It started our rather slow ••. I
was only scheduled in the afternoon for a Condition IV VIP
standby in the afternoon.
I spent the morning scrounging
junk from the tents of the fellows that are leaving viet
Nam.
I got some more shelves and a pillow.
Then, after
lunch, I settled down and read part of the Christian science
Daily Lesson sermon.
At about the 4th section, the co-pilot
came in to give me the word that we were going, so I got
into my shit-brindle brown flight suit (which gets closer to
orange with each washing) and went down to the flight line.
We took off and landed at the III MAF HQ pad.
reality the old French HQ, right near the river.
It is in
The
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Marines have refurbished it, and it's quite elegant.
It's
easy to see the French influence in the city of Da Nang.
Near the water, the buildings are all shuttered and
balconied.
The city has tree-lined wide boulevards that
remind one of French cities, right down to the church
steeples in the background.
I've learned a few things ••• we were up there to shuttle
around a civilian advisor to the President by the name of
Dalton.
He is a fat, pompous fellow who expected the VIP
treatment.
He is here investigating the RMK-BRJ outfit.
seems that $200 million is missing!
disappeared!
It
Just flat ass
The government may yank that outfit out of
Viet Nam by January.
We also ate in the III MAF Officer's Club for dinner.
In this club they have everything, including bar girls and
crushed ice, a la carte roast beef, and raspberry shortcake
for dessert.
It's hard to believe other Marines are living
in bunkers and running patrols less than ten miles away!
But as it turned out, Dalton didn't need us; but
General Kyle did.
So we took him to Dong Ha.
It was a
great opportunity to get some pictures of the Hue Citadel.'
'See Fig. 19-3
\ for. I
Fig 19-3
,,"
HUE CITADEL,
SEPTilllBER 1966
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On the way home to Ky Ha from Dong Ha it got dark.
In
viet Nam when the sun goes down, the "bad guys" take over.
As we drove along at 3000 feet, you could see the yellowish,
almost white explosions of artillery shells going off on the
black carpet of the darkened landscape.
They pop, blossom,
and then fade to little reddish crumbs before disappearing.
We flew onto a couple of barrages south and east of Hoi
An ••. the blossoms were going off underneath the airplane.
We made an immediate hard right turn to get out of the way.
I lost sight of my wingman, and things got confused and
disorganized for awhile until we got squared away.
But the tracers •.. heavy calibre tracers ••. you can see
the "grunts'"
on the ground shooting them.
They move
unnaturally fast; they bounce around and vanish.
arc up at the airplane, it's like a bad dream.
When they
You are
trying to escape from the path of an oncoming train; but
you're in molasses, and can barely move!
Funny note:
In
the ready room at Hue Phu Bai there's a grease pencil
drawing in the corner of the Schedules Board of Snoopy on
his doghouse with his WWI scarf and goggles.
'See Glossary
But this time
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he has a cyclic' and collective2 (a la helicopter).
And
there are bullet holes in the side of the doghouse.
caption is:
The
"I say again ••• is your zone secure?"
All of HMM 362's birds have Snoopy's head with the
streaming scarf with a "Curse you, Red Baron" written on
them.
Quite a cutesy game.
Too bad people get killed
playing it.
By the way ••. Chu Lai got mortared last night.
about time!
It's
The attack damaged five A-4s (minor) and
wounded 13 Marines.
Nothing serious.
Of course, NOW people
wear hard hats ... NOW they're dispersing the airplanes ... the
old "closing the door after the cow's gone."
mortar Ky Ha.
They won't
The VC know who butters their bread.
Who
would bring them ammo and chow without our helicopters
(i.e., to our allies the ARVNs, who lose it, sell it or
abandon it to the VC)?
Would you believe the ARVNs
evacuated the outpost and just LEFT 5000 claymore mines?
Just LEFT THEM?
Zones!
Now we're finding them set up in Landing
It's things like this that give you boils on your
fanny.
'See Glossary
2See Glossary
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I also find I don't mind the smell of "night honey"
anymore.
The III MAF Club has a beautiful view of the
river, pretty viet Namese girls who will flirt with you, AND
the smell of YOU-KNOW-WHAT!
But, like everything else, it
ceases to bother you.
One closing note on the mortar attack •••.
the flare ship up.
They sent up
It's the C-47 (DC-3) that H & MS
(Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron) uses for all its
paper-shuffling aviators to qualify for flight pay by going
on jaunts to Bangkok or Japan.
They send it up during the
attack, and it is full of illumination flares that can turn
night into day.
This 1930's vintage airplane lumbers in
circles kicking flares out into the night sky, putting the
landscape into a surreal black and yellow contrast.
The
office pukes relish the opportunity to get out of the office
and into the thick of the action.
22 September 1966
We went on Recon Team insertions at BS 720460 and at BS
399920.
The latter one had to be extracted about an hour
later, because the VC had pinned them down.
zone (LZ) was unbelievably small.
in at a time.
The landing
Only one plane could fit
So we had to go in, one at a time, like ducks
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in a shooting gallery.
in the LZ.'
The plane ahead of me took too long
I had to circle the LZ amidst the thick of
things waiting for the zone to clear!
once, which didn't help.
I overshot the zone
We were the last plane in .
The
Recon people jumped into the helicopter, shooting as they
ran.
We were shot at in both recon drops and the one
extraction, qualifying us for a total of six missions for
the day.
Not bad!
exciting!
I have 26 missions now.
But it IS
Both of my gunners were blasting away while we
were climbing for ALL WE WERE WORTH to get out of ground
fire range.
an M-60.
One of the other airplanes cut down a VC with
But we just "hosed down" the surrounding tree
lines and shrubs.
Real life adventure!
One Recon team
member had some wounds in his legs, but that was the extent
of it.
We didn't take any hits.
20 september 1966
I escorted a convoy from Hue to Dong Ha today.
We got
5.9 hours of flight time, but only one mission's worth.
The way a convoy escort works is this:
we fly race
track patterns on each side of the truck convoy as it drives
up the highway.
We are in FM radio contact at all times.
'See Glossary
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(This means you have to listen to their constant security
chatter .•• "Pinefold Alpha lead, all secure" ... and so forth.)
six hours is plenty, believe me!
The main hazard is mines.
What the VC do is rig some of our own dud bombs with the
detonating device, sometimes our own communications wire to
a hand-held detonator.
They bury them adjacent the road, or
deep enough so the routine magnetic mine detecting equipment
doesn't pick them up.
Then they just wait until the "little
jeep with all the antennae" passes over the mine, and
presto!
A crater 20 feet deep and 50 feet wide!
There's
not much we can do except fly the pieces to the nearest aid
station.
Hue' is very interesting.
capital for the occupying Chinese.
It was the medieval
All along the coast you
see a system of fortifications that the 1100 AD Chinese used
to control the countryside.
The main compound at Hue' must
have been indeed lavish, with massive moats, palaces, and
terraced gardens.
They all have this pattern:
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.
.
..... ,. .
The compound at Hue 1S almost a m1le on a s1de.
The
moat is filled with slime and floating vegetation, an
absolute greenish muck.
But notice from the arrangement of
the walls how they were designed to enable the defenders to
put any assaulter of the walls in a cross fire.
The hottest area is around Cam
Lo
They've encountered two NVA Divisions.
west of Dong Ha.'
It's turned into a
real "shit sandwich,,2 (to use the local vernacular).
The
Marine Corps just conducted "Operation Hastings" in that
same area last June!
And it looks like they're going to
need another one shortly.
The "Bad Guys" have a lot of 50
calibre machineguns up there.
It could be a real "shit
sandwich" for us, too.
We heard the HMM 265 has 15 to 18 planes "up" (that is,
in flying status) per day.
Yet General Robertshaw won't let
them fly more than 30 hours per bird per month, although
they're capable of much, much more.
And why?
His
Maintenance Officer pricks don't want their supply of spare
parts to be drawn down!
We had a similar problem here at Ky Ha.
The Navy
supply had the part we needed, but they wouldn't give it to
'See Plate 3
2See Glossary
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us, because it was the only one they had!
Maintenance Officer mentality:
a complete stock of parts,
then lock the door and go to the beach!
part to fix your flying machine?
Typical
"What?
You want a
Not on your life!
would cause me inconvenience and paperwork!"
It
As long as
they can keep their supply depot all tidy and stocked,
that's all they care about.
Forget about the "raison
d-etre."
23 September 1966
Went on resupply and medevacs today.
pictures.
color!
Got lots of nice
VC prisoners, burning villages, etc., all in full
Enclosed are little slips of paper.
hand these up to you in the cockpit.
The LSA guys
They load the
supplies, you find the coordinates and go.
I got some nice pictures of viet Namese children.
They're so cute!
But they all beg for cigarettes and have
frightful festering sores from cutting themselves, or
skinning a knee, then wading in the rice paddies full of
human shit.
It tears your heart out.
The civilian medevac stepped on a mine; his family were
evacuated with him.
The anxious, frantic look on the faces
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of the man's wife and his parents ••• one small indication of
the human cost of this war.
Interesting note:
All the children look the size of
six-year-olds, but they have their permanent teeth.
Little ••• but they're actually sometimes 12 to 13 years old.
The VCs we hauled were bound, and had their FRENCH
automatic weapon with them ..• but no firing pin.
We'd
brought in 1200 pounds of C-4 explosive to blow up their
tunnels, which went for three or four miles in every
direction.
25 September 1966
Today we had a General Davis come and give a talk on
Marine Corps personnel problems.
What a joke!
The Corps is
starting to do what the Air Force realized and remedied ten
years ago!
It's amazing how little sense of time one has over
here.
No weekends, nothing to look forward to in a short
term sense:
Just existing.
such long time frames.
No wonder the Chinese think in
I put in for R&R in Hong Kong today.
Maybe I'll get to go sometime.
Of course, if I do, I will
spend it in a solitary hotel room.
I will go to the Hong
Kong Christian Science Society and shake hands with little
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old ladies.
I will remember that Class Taught students of
Christian science don't talk to strange girls that drink and
smoke.
What would they say in church otherwise?
I am not necessarily looking forward to coming home.
Life here is very simple.
There are no conflicting social
pressures, and I am saving money hand over fist!
I have an advantage.
Over here,
In actuality, I live in the states
just about the way I do here, but it costs me more.
I'm
beginning to think that AIR AMERICA might be an answer for
me.
29 September 1966
It's 2000, and I'm tired.
this game of "musical hootches."
clean out a hootch.
We moved today.
We play
It's an all day job to
You have to shovel out the junk, swab
down the floor, delouse everything, and laboriously move in
all one's own gear.
etc.
This includes building new shelves,
But we're finally all moved in, and I have more room.
There are only six men in this hootch, instead of ten in the
last hootch.
It's raining outside ..• rain on the tin roof.
It would make one feel cozy if one didn't have to go out and
fly in it.
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Yesterday, we went to a village they'd bombed by
accident.
We flew out a dud 500 pound bomb.
There were
some Big Wigs at the site, apologizing to the villagers (a
General Elwood & staff).
They were actually paying off the
widows in Piastres to compensate them for the loss of their
husbands!
How's that for "civil Action," winning the hearts
and minds of the people!
How much is a man's life worth?
If that village wasn't VC before, it surely is now!