Olive Drab Green
Well-Known Member
Did you see how tight some of those spaces are? Like, not to be a dick, but I cannot even believe these kids went back there.
Veterans...Get the hell in here now!
- Thread starter 6ohMax
- Start date
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
Oh but it's all part of the experience!
To be fair, the rains hit after they went in. The cave would have been dry.
I enjoy SCUBA diving and I have several certifications. That training gave me some idea of what the cave divers were dealing with and it straight gave me the willies.
Safety first, safety second, safety always.
Olive Drab Green
Well-Known Member
I’d love to visit Thailand. I got frostbite in an Afghan cave one time. That was probably the last time I was in a cave.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
The last time I was in Thailand I was a child but I still remember the food, the climate, the beaches and the friendly people.
A return visit is definitely on my bucket list!
doublejj
Well-Known Member
Olive Drab Green
Well-Known Member
Oh, no comparison. Afghanistan has some complex cave networks, but Vietnam’s tunnel issue was something else. Nowhere to go, nothing to protect you from a tripwire you can’t see coming. Plus, fuck claustrophobic shit. And they extended all through Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand.
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Close to the time they cut hub's deployment order.
wascaptain
Well-Known Member
my next fitness challenge is a 911 stair climb in September. .
got allowed to use my old deptartments training center for my workouts.
went yesterday for the first time since i retired in 2005, was i stoked!
my old friends were still there waiting.....rescue randy and plug.
what i would give to still be in the fight
got allowed to use my old deptartments training center for my workouts.
went yesterday for the first time since i retired in 2005, was i stoked!
my old friends were still there waiting.....rescue randy and plug.
what i would give to still be in the fight
Attachments
doublejj
Well-Known Member
"GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!"......Adrian Cronauer dead at 79.
https://www.stripes.com/news/good-morning-vietnam-dj-and-air-force-veteran-adrian-cronauer-dies-at-79-1.538398
https://www.stripes.com/news/good-morning-vietnam-dj-and-air-force-veteran-adrian-cronauer-dies-at-79-1.538398
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
too larry
Well-Known Member
They might not all be US. This was a United Nations conflict, so it's possible the remains are several nationalities.
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Yes, hopefully there will be some additional materials in with the remains ie:id/tags. If JPAC is able to ID just one soldier and send him home, it's a win.
too larry
Well-Known Member
Very true. I assume the majority of them are going to be legit. I had heard a story on NPR that in the past, all of the remains were not American.
ttystikk
Well-Known Member
...or even human. I listened to that same article.
Let's hope there are at least a few families who will find peace and closure with this exchange.
too larry
Well-Known Member
Yea, I didn't mention the animal bones.
haight
Well-Known Member
You must mean young enough.
doublejj
Well-Known Member
@Padawanbater2 .....because u asked.....
The Western AO was a few square miles of rice paddies and woods on the west side of a canal that separated it from the 9th Infantry base at Dong Tam on the Mekong River in IV Corps South Vietnam . The canal was dug by the French and ran due north from the Song My Tho. It was an area that the VC used to shell us. They would set up a mortar tube, drop in three rounds as fast as they could, then take their tube and run like hell. There was a platoon of GI's out there all the time on guard duty. Keeping it clear was a 24 hour job. But because of the farming and the civilian population it wasn't considered to be the most dangerous place to be, or the most unpleasant. It could have been a picture post card if it wasn't for the war. Guard duty there was considered a lucky break from what we usually did.
The west side of the canal was lined with hoochs (houses) of the farmers and fishermen that used the Western AO and the surrounding waterways to make a living. Just beyond the stand of shade trees that sheltered the hoochs, it opened up onto rice paddies, dotted here and there with more trees and more hoochs.
On the East side of the canal was the Dong Tam airport, separated from the water by a 15 foot tall berm to stop direct small arms fire. At intervals along the berm were bunkers with 50 Cal. machine guns and the usual barbed wire and Claymores. But with the water as a natural barrier, the likelihood of a ground attack coming from the west was not great. What did come from the west were mortars and rockets.
The canal was about 50 ft. wide and was only about 6 or 8 feet deep. To get to the other side we had to use boats because the closest bridge was too far north to be practical to use. Sometimes the Navy would give us a Tango that would take the whole platoon across at once, but most of the time the army would supply us with a PAB (plastic assault boat) with a driver that would shuttle us to the other side in groups of 4 or 5. The PAB was a 15 ft. Boston Whaler fishing boat with a big tiller steered outboard motor. Four or five fully loaded troops was maximum load even at slow speed. It took longer to load and unload than it did to get across but the whole operation was done at a leisurely pace that made it seem more like a fishing trip than going to war. Sometimes the guys that we were replacing would be there to greet us and to take advantage of the boat ride home.
When we all got to the other side we would move to a position somewhere less than a klick from the canal and we would set up camp for the day. Then the locals would flock around us with all kinds of stuff for sale. You could get anything; jewelry, switch blades, fresh pineapples, stuff made out of empty shell casings, a bottle of Coke or beer. A cold "33" (ba-moo-ee-ba) was worth whatever they asked for it on a hot day. The local whore house was represented also. It seemed like a picnic sometimes. There was no reason for keeping a low profile. We wanted the VC to know that we were there. With all the fire power that we had available just over the tree line in Dong Tam, we felt safe enough.
As the sun went down the locals would "di di" on home before curfew. When it was dark, we would get up and move to a new location for the night just in case they had our day position targeted for a mortar round or something. The next morning the locals would find us again.
One day two kids came to the LT with a story about some VC tax collectors in a village not far from where we were. After some radio conversation with the company commander, the decision was made to go get them. The whole platoon went. We took the kids with to show us the way. We didn't trust them.
On the way there, we stopped, made a U-turn and went back the way we had just come, in a big hurry. I never found out why. Walking any trail more than once was a bad idea and it made us uneasy. Sometimes people make the wrong decisions. We were about to find that out.
I was the eighth guy in line behind a new guy, the RTO, the squad leader, a rifleman, the machine gunner, the M79 man, and the point man. We walked 20 meters apart. The two kids were with the point. The path that we traveled was on a rice paddy dike that ran about 75 feet away from the edge of a heavily wooded area. There was a canal that was sparsely lined on one side with trees and bushes that ran from, and perpendicular to the wood line, that we had to get across. Opposite the wood line and behind us was open rice paddy for about a half mile or so. The other side of the canal was open land too. If anything was going to happen, logic said that it would come from the wood line. But logic was the tool of the VC.
The lead men bunched up getting across the canal. There was a log to walk across if you could balance and you weren't too heavy. Otherwise you had to jump across and the guy ahead would catch you. Five guys were across the canal when the sixth guy, the RTO, stopped and turned around. He picked up his handset and lifted it to his ear when an explosion went off behind him. The blast, that came from the bottom of the canal, caught him at belt level and turned the upper half of his body and all his equipment into flying debris. The lower half just fell over. Three of the guys on the other side of the canal were wounded too and all five, and the two kids that led us into this mess, were cut off from the rest of us. The most badly wounded guy was in need of fast medical attention. The guy between the explosion and me was frozen and just stood there. The rest dropped down behind the dike and poured fire into the wood line.
I yelled at the new guy to get down but I ended up having to push him down behind the dike. There was part of a rib cage and some parts of the dead man's equipment where we landed and the new guy was freaked! I was freaked! I convinced him that to shoot into the wood line was prudent and we focused on the job. Over the sounds of battle I could hear calls for help from the guys on the other side of what was now a big muddy hole in the ground. We had to get the wounded over with us to get them dusted off and they needed help now. I crawled over to them and we all crawled back, dragging the wounded with us. The shooting stopped shortly after that.
One of the wounded was a Hawaiian guy. He had a sucking chest wound that i patched using the plastic bag that the bandage came in to seal off the air so he could breath. The bandage held the plastic bag in place. He was scared and asked me to stay with him until the dust-off got there. He was my friend and he didn't have to ask. I did what I hoped he would have done for me. I kept the sun out of his face and washed the mud off him. Because of his wounds he couldn't have any water to drink and I had to keep telling him that. The other two wounded were covered with small holes from the shrapnel. One was more serious than the other but they were both able to walk and sit up and all of their parts were there.
End of part 1.....
The Western AO was a few square miles of rice paddies and woods on the west side of a canal that separated it from the 9th Infantry base at Dong Tam on the Mekong River in IV Corps South Vietnam . The canal was dug by the French and ran due north from the Song My Tho. It was an area that the VC used to shell us. They would set up a mortar tube, drop in three rounds as fast as they could, then take their tube and run like hell. There was a platoon of GI's out there all the time on guard duty. Keeping it clear was a 24 hour job. But because of the farming and the civilian population it wasn't considered to be the most dangerous place to be, or the most unpleasant. It could have been a picture post card if it wasn't for the war. Guard duty there was considered a lucky break from what we usually did.
The west side of the canal was lined with hoochs (houses) of the farmers and fishermen that used the Western AO and the surrounding waterways to make a living. Just beyond the stand of shade trees that sheltered the hoochs, it opened up onto rice paddies, dotted here and there with more trees and more hoochs.
On the East side of the canal was the Dong Tam airport, separated from the water by a 15 foot tall berm to stop direct small arms fire. At intervals along the berm were bunkers with 50 Cal. machine guns and the usual barbed wire and Claymores. But with the water as a natural barrier, the likelihood of a ground attack coming from the west was not great. What did come from the west were mortars and rockets.
The canal was about 50 ft. wide and was only about 6 or 8 feet deep. To get to the other side we had to use boats because the closest bridge was too far north to be practical to use. Sometimes the Navy would give us a Tango that would take the whole platoon across at once, but most of the time the army would supply us with a PAB (plastic assault boat) with a driver that would shuttle us to the other side in groups of 4 or 5. The PAB was a 15 ft. Boston Whaler fishing boat with a big tiller steered outboard motor. Four or five fully loaded troops was maximum load even at slow speed. It took longer to load and unload than it did to get across but the whole operation was done at a leisurely pace that made it seem more like a fishing trip than going to war. Sometimes the guys that we were replacing would be there to greet us and to take advantage of the boat ride home.
When we all got to the other side we would move to a position somewhere less than a klick from the canal and we would set up camp for the day. Then the locals would flock around us with all kinds of stuff for sale. You could get anything; jewelry, switch blades, fresh pineapples, stuff made out of empty shell casings, a bottle of Coke or beer. A cold "33" (ba-moo-ee-ba) was worth whatever they asked for it on a hot day. The local whore house was represented also. It seemed like a picnic sometimes. There was no reason for keeping a low profile. We wanted the VC to know that we were there. With all the fire power that we had available just over the tree line in Dong Tam, we felt safe enough.
As the sun went down the locals would "di di" on home before curfew. When it was dark, we would get up and move to a new location for the night just in case they had our day position targeted for a mortar round or something. The next morning the locals would find us again.
One day two kids came to the LT with a story about some VC tax collectors in a village not far from where we were. After some radio conversation with the company commander, the decision was made to go get them. The whole platoon went. We took the kids with to show us the way. We didn't trust them.
On the way there, we stopped, made a U-turn and went back the way we had just come, in a big hurry. I never found out why. Walking any trail more than once was a bad idea and it made us uneasy. Sometimes people make the wrong decisions. We were about to find that out.
I was the eighth guy in line behind a new guy, the RTO, the squad leader, a rifleman, the machine gunner, the M79 man, and the point man. We walked 20 meters apart. The two kids were with the point. The path that we traveled was on a rice paddy dike that ran about 75 feet away from the edge of a heavily wooded area. There was a canal that was sparsely lined on one side with trees and bushes that ran from, and perpendicular to the wood line, that we had to get across. Opposite the wood line and behind us was open rice paddy for about a half mile or so. The other side of the canal was open land too. If anything was going to happen, logic said that it would come from the wood line. But logic was the tool of the VC.
The lead men bunched up getting across the canal. There was a log to walk across if you could balance and you weren't too heavy. Otherwise you had to jump across and the guy ahead would catch you. Five guys were across the canal when the sixth guy, the RTO, stopped and turned around. He picked up his handset and lifted it to his ear when an explosion went off behind him. The blast, that came from the bottom of the canal, caught him at belt level and turned the upper half of his body and all his equipment into flying debris. The lower half just fell over. Three of the guys on the other side of the canal were wounded too and all five, and the two kids that led us into this mess, were cut off from the rest of us. The most badly wounded guy was in need of fast medical attention. The guy between the explosion and me was frozen and just stood there. The rest dropped down behind the dike and poured fire into the wood line.
I yelled at the new guy to get down but I ended up having to push him down behind the dike. There was part of a rib cage and some parts of the dead man's equipment where we landed and the new guy was freaked! I was freaked! I convinced him that to shoot into the wood line was prudent and we focused on the job. Over the sounds of battle I could hear calls for help from the guys on the other side of what was now a big muddy hole in the ground. We had to get the wounded over with us to get them dusted off and they needed help now. I crawled over to them and we all crawled back, dragging the wounded with us. The shooting stopped shortly after that.
One of the wounded was a Hawaiian guy. He had a sucking chest wound that i patched using the plastic bag that the bandage came in to seal off the air so he could breath. The bandage held the plastic bag in place. He was scared and asked me to stay with him until the dust-off got there. He was my friend and he didn't have to ask. I did what I hoped he would have done for me. I kept the sun out of his face and washed the mud off him. Because of his wounds he couldn't have any water to drink and I had to keep telling him that. The other two wounded were covered with small holes from the shrapnel. One was more serious than the other but they were both able to walk and sit up and all of their parts were there.
End of part 1.....
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doublejj
Well-Known Member
Part 2....
When we heard the thap thap thap of the Huey, we popped smoke and directed him to land as close to the wounded as he could. We sheltered the guys from the rotor down wash. The Huey driver put it down quickly with the open doorway toward us, just 40 ft away.
Just as the skids touched the ground, a B40 rocket (RPG)came out of the wood line and took off part of one of the rotor blades, throwing the Huey into a wild off balance gyration. There was the danger of being hit by the remaining blade as it took divots in the ground around the chopper, the renewed threat from the VC, and now there were more wounded. The soldier next to me got a piece of shrapnel through his knee cap and one of the door gunners from the chopper was hit too.
The down wash from the dust-off had also blown away the plastic bag from the sucking chest wound and he couldn't breath. I needed to find something to seal the hole quick! I used my thumb while we desperately searched for anything plastic. Someone close by had his tooth brush in a plastic bag and he passed it over. It worked but now his breathing was more labored. He was in more distress than before. He had to get out now!
The fire into the wood line slowed, then stopped. There was no return fire. Victor Charlie was gone. He had done his damage. We never saw the enemy but the results of his work was all over that rice paddy. We had been set-up. We walked right into it. They were smarter than us this time.
The second dust-off landed without incident and took the wounded out. I never saw my Hawaiian buddy after that. I hope he's well. Soon after that a Chinook came in and collected the downed Huey and its crew. We sent the two kids and as much of the dead man as we could find too. The rest of us tried to find out what the hell had happened.
We found that the VC had recovered an unexploded 155 mm round from our own artillery and planted it there the night before. It was dug into the side of the canal and we all walked right over it the first time we walked that way. It was detonated remotely by wires that ran down the canal AWAY from the wood line! When we returned fire the first time, we were shooting in the wrong direction. The guy with the B40 rocket didn't move into position until after we stopped shooting into the wood line. As far as we could tell, it only took two VC to do all this damage, and they got away without a scratch.
The VC would always mark their booby traps in some way. Sometimes it would just be a broken branch or piece of cloth stuck to a tree, but sometimes they put up a sign that said "Tui Dai" (too-e die) or "death zone." The sign that we found was on the other side of the canal. It was a piece of wood on the ground about 1" by 2" with letters painted in a color that matched the dirt. The whole platoon had walked right by it and never saw it. The theory is that our RTO might have seen the sign or something and was calling on the radio to pass the word when they blew it on him. RTO's were a preferred target.
The kids that led us into the trap were turned over to the ARVNs. They were brutal with their prisoners. None of us objected. They knew that someone was going to die when they started this. They weren't kids anymore and we all wanted them to burn in hell.
Later that day we got news that one of the wounded guys that we sent back died of his wounds. He was one of the original walking wounded. None of us expected him do die. The medics at he EVAC said he was sitting up smoking a cigarette and he just fell over dead. Some of the scrap metal inside him must have shifted or something. That brought the totals to two KIA, and four WIA for them and zero for us.
After it was all over we moved to a new day position and the locals found us again. A cold beer was just what I needed. These Vietnamese couldn't have anything to do with what happened. They wanted us there to buy their stuff. These were good Vietnamese, right? Anyway, I needed that beer!
That night on resupply we got a brand new PRC-25 radio, and a new RTO...... Another day in the Nam.
When we heard the thap thap thap of the Huey, we popped smoke and directed him to land as close to the wounded as he could. We sheltered the guys from the rotor down wash. The Huey driver put it down quickly with the open doorway toward us, just 40 ft away.
Just as the skids touched the ground, a B40 rocket (RPG)came out of the wood line and took off part of one of the rotor blades, throwing the Huey into a wild off balance gyration. There was the danger of being hit by the remaining blade as it took divots in the ground around the chopper, the renewed threat from the VC, and now there were more wounded. The soldier next to me got a piece of shrapnel through his knee cap and one of the door gunners from the chopper was hit too.
The down wash from the dust-off had also blown away the plastic bag from the sucking chest wound and he couldn't breath. I needed to find something to seal the hole quick! I used my thumb while we desperately searched for anything plastic. Someone close by had his tooth brush in a plastic bag and he passed it over. It worked but now his breathing was more labored. He was in more distress than before. He had to get out now!
The fire into the wood line slowed, then stopped. There was no return fire. Victor Charlie was gone. He had done his damage. We never saw the enemy but the results of his work was all over that rice paddy. We had been set-up. We walked right into it. They were smarter than us this time.
The second dust-off landed without incident and took the wounded out. I never saw my Hawaiian buddy after that. I hope he's well. Soon after that a Chinook came in and collected the downed Huey and its crew. We sent the two kids and as much of the dead man as we could find too. The rest of us tried to find out what the hell had happened.
We found that the VC had recovered an unexploded 155 mm round from our own artillery and planted it there the night before. It was dug into the side of the canal and we all walked right over it the first time we walked that way. It was detonated remotely by wires that ran down the canal AWAY from the wood line! When we returned fire the first time, we were shooting in the wrong direction. The guy with the B40 rocket didn't move into position until after we stopped shooting into the wood line. As far as we could tell, it only took two VC to do all this damage, and they got away without a scratch.
The VC would always mark their booby traps in some way. Sometimes it would just be a broken branch or piece of cloth stuck to a tree, but sometimes they put up a sign that said "Tui Dai" (too-e die) or "death zone." The sign that we found was on the other side of the canal. It was a piece of wood on the ground about 1" by 2" with letters painted in a color that matched the dirt. The whole platoon had walked right by it and never saw it. The theory is that our RTO might have seen the sign or something and was calling on the radio to pass the word when they blew it on him. RTO's were a preferred target.
The kids that led us into the trap were turned over to the ARVNs. They were brutal with their prisoners. None of us objected. They knew that someone was going to die when they started this. They weren't kids anymore and we all wanted them to burn in hell.
Later that day we got news that one of the wounded guys that we sent back died of his wounds. He was one of the original walking wounded. None of us expected him do die. The medics at he EVAC said he was sitting up smoking a cigarette and he just fell over dead. Some of the scrap metal inside him must have shifted or something. That brought the totals to two KIA, and four WIA for them and zero for us.
After it was all over we moved to a new day position and the locals found us again. A cold beer was just what I needed. These Vietnamese couldn't have anything to do with what happened. They wanted us there to buy their stuff. These were good Vietnamese, right? Anyway, I needed that beer!
That night on resupply we got a brand new PRC-25 radio, and a new RTO...... Another day in the Nam.
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doublejj
Well-Known Member
9th Infantry Reverines....
The Navy provided the waterborne transportation and close support for the 2nd Brigade of the 9th Infantry. The parameters of our operations were dictated by the decidedly wet terrain. The wet version of the Army's APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) or "track" was the Navy's ATC (Armored Troop Carrier) or "Tango". Although an APC could travel in water like a boat, an ATC was a boat, so it was much better suited for the job. The brown water Navy's equivalent of the tank was the "Monitor". At 75 tons and 60 feet long, these were big boats for small waterways.
Most of the boats of the MRF were rebuilt from WWII vintage LCM-6 landing craft, and some were purpose-built to fit the need for armored vessels for close combat in restricted waterways. The swift boat hulls were taken directly from the civilian market and fitted with gun mounts. The French had tried using boats when they fought their war with the Vietnamese. Our boats improved on their concept.
Speed was secondary to armor and firepower on the troop carriers. Surviving the first 10 seconds of an attack, or even the first shot, could determine the fate of the boat and all those aboard. The steel hull stopped small arms fire and bar armor stopped RPG rounds (sometimes). They needed a .50 cal gun to shoot through the boats and that was a difficult weapon for the VC to move around in the delta. We returned sniper fire and B40 rockets with 105, 40, and 20 mm cannon rounds, .50 caliber and 7.62 mm machine gun fire, 81 mm mortars, M79 grenades and flame throwers. Add to that all the infantry's weapons. It made the VC think twice before firing the first shot. But they did. I was always astounded by the balls that it took to do that.
The Monitors or "Mike boats" had the heaviest firepower. These were built from the same landing craft hull as all the boats but they were fitted with a conventional bow. They were equipped with turrets on their bows that housed a variety of guns, from twin 40mm Bofors guns to a 105mm howitzer. The rear of the boats had two turrets with .50 cal. machine guns and one with a 20mm gun. A recessed deck in the middle of the boat held the pedistal mounted Naval version of the 81mm mortar that was used mainly for close indirect fire, but was also capable of direct fire. A .50 cal machine gun was mounted to the top of it. Variations in armorment were common. I remember seeing a Monitor with a belt-fed fully automatic 40mm grenade launcher and I heard about one with a minigun like the helicopter gun ships used. Another version of the Monitor was the CCB (Command Control Boat) with radios instead of guns in the well deck. The crews also carried M79 grenade launchers and M72 LAWs. Monitors provided the firepower to fight our way out if need be.
If you took the gun out of the forward turret of a Monitor and replaced it with a flame thrower, you got a Zippo boat. There couldn't have been a better name. Some Zippos had two turrets on the bow so they could light up both sides at the same time. The center well deck held the fuel tank for the flame throwers. When it was full the boat rode low in the water. After a 10 or 15 second run at a target with both nozzles spraying flames, the boat would ride a few inches higher. I witnessed this once from the next boat in line behind a Zippo. It was a truely awesome experience. It left both banks of a 75' wide canal on fire back about 100 ft, for the length of a city block. It was a truely awesome and effective machine.
Most of my time was spent on Tango boats. These were the boats with the ramp in front that you've seen hitting the beaches in most of the WWII movies, with a little added armor. They were our trucks. They could be beached in the narrowest canal to drop the ramp and let us out. They were covered with bar armor and had turrets with machine guns like the Monitors. The well deck was covered with a canvas roof. Later versions were equipped with flight decks that could handle helicopters as big as a Huey. The well deck slanted down from the ramp in front to a little past midships and had bars welded at intervals accross it for footing purposes. We rode sitting with our backs to the sides on long rides or stood with weapons aimed to the sides and front when there was danger. With all guns (Army & Navy) firing we were a force to be reckoned with. When we got out in the big rivers where we were safer from small arms fire, we could climb out and sit on the gunwales or flight deck to dry out our feet, or just escape the heat below.
Sometimes the lead element of a column of boats was a PBR (Patrol Boat Riverine). These were the kind of boats that Martin Sheen rode up the river in "Appocalypse Now". There was no armor to speak of. Their defense was speed. They could duck in and out of trouble faster than the other boats and do it in shallower water. They could make strafing runs at targets and then turn around and do it again, all at high speed. They were not usually used in the narrowest canals with the Tangos where their speed could not be utilized. Armored vessels did that. They were often used to patrol the traffic on the main rivers and canals.
The ASPBs filled the space between the PBRs and the Monitors. The Alpha boats were armored, and had a 20 mm gun turret mounted high up on top where it could give 360 deg. coverage. They were used as patrol boats, minesweepers, and sometimes used to insert SEAL teams. They normally lead the boats in small waterways, and they would go ahead and prep the area sometimes, but from where I was, I rarely saw them in action.
I feel that it's important to mention the the Army had its own boats too. 16' Boston Whaler fiberglass tri-hulls with big outboard motors. Their designation was PAB for "Plastic Assault Boat". That name has always seemed like a joke that someone in an office in the Pentagon got a big kick out of. I imagine some little kid asking "what did you do in the war daddy?" "Well son, I drove a plastic assault boat." "Did it come with GI Joe actions figures Daddy?" The truth is we didn't use them to assault anything. Their main job was as a water taxi between the ships and shore, but they were also sent out at night with a driver, a rifleman with and M16 and a sniper using an M14 with a Starlight scope. They would shut the motor off and drift with the current and look for targets along the banks. They had to be very quite and be ready to start the motor for a quick exit. Holes in the boat were easy to patch because they were fiberglass, and there were more than a few patches.
Continued.....
The Navy provided the waterborne transportation and close support for the 2nd Brigade of the 9th Infantry. The parameters of our operations were dictated by the decidedly wet terrain. The wet version of the Army's APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) or "track" was the Navy's ATC (Armored Troop Carrier) or "Tango". Although an APC could travel in water like a boat, an ATC was a boat, so it was much better suited for the job. The brown water Navy's equivalent of the tank was the "Monitor". At 75 tons and 60 feet long, these were big boats for small waterways.
Most of the boats of the MRF were rebuilt from WWII vintage LCM-6 landing craft, and some were purpose-built to fit the need for armored vessels for close combat in restricted waterways. The swift boat hulls were taken directly from the civilian market and fitted with gun mounts. The French had tried using boats when they fought their war with the Vietnamese. Our boats improved on their concept.
Speed was secondary to armor and firepower on the troop carriers. Surviving the first 10 seconds of an attack, or even the first shot, could determine the fate of the boat and all those aboard. The steel hull stopped small arms fire and bar armor stopped RPG rounds (sometimes). They needed a .50 cal gun to shoot through the boats and that was a difficult weapon for the VC to move around in the delta. We returned sniper fire and B40 rockets with 105, 40, and 20 mm cannon rounds, .50 caliber and 7.62 mm machine gun fire, 81 mm mortars, M79 grenades and flame throwers. Add to that all the infantry's weapons. It made the VC think twice before firing the first shot. But they did. I was always astounded by the balls that it took to do that.
The Monitors or "Mike boats" had the heaviest firepower. These were built from the same landing craft hull as all the boats but they were fitted with a conventional bow. They were equipped with turrets on their bows that housed a variety of guns, from twin 40mm Bofors guns to a 105mm howitzer. The rear of the boats had two turrets with .50 cal. machine guns and one with a 20mm gun. A recessed deck in the middle of the boat held the pedistal mounted Naval version of the 81mm mortar that was used mainly for close indirect fire, but was also capable of direct fire. A .50 cal machine gun was mounted to the top of it. Variations in armorment were common. I remember seeing a Monitor with a belt-fed fully automatic 40mm grenade launcher and I heard about one with a minigun like the helicopter gun ships used. Another version of the Monitor was the CCB (Command Control Boat) with radios instead of guns in the well deck. The crews also carried M79 grenade launchers and M72 LAWs. Monitors provided the firepower to fight our way out if need be.
If you took the gun out of the forward turret of a Monitor and replaced it with a flame thrower, you got a Zippo boat. There couldn't have been a better name. Some Zippos had two turrets on the bow so they could light up both sides at the same time. The center well deck held the fuel tank for the flame throwers. When it was full the boat rode low in the water. After a 10 or 15 second run at a target with both nozzles spraying flames, the boat would ride a few inches higher. I witnessed this once from the next boat in line behind a Zippo. It was a truely awesome experience. It left both banks of a 75' wide canal on fire back about 100 ft, for the length of a city block. It was a truely awesome and effective machine.
Most of my time was spent on Tango boats. These were the boats with the ramp in front that you've seen hitting the beaches in most of the WWII movies, with a little added armor. They were our trucks. They could be beached in the narrowest canal to drop the ramp and let us out. They were covered with bar armor and had turrets with machine guns like the Monitors. The well deck was covered with a canvas roof. Later versions were equipped with flight decks that could handle helicopters as big as a Huey. The well deck slanted down from the ramp in front to a little past midships and had bars welded at intervals accross it for footing purposes. We rode sitting with our backs to the sides on long rides or stood with weapons aimed to the sides and front when there was danger. With all guns (Army & Navy) firing we were a force to be reckoned with. When we got out in the big rivers where we were safer from small arms fire, we could climb out and sit on the gunwales or flight deck to dry out our feet, or just escape the heat below.
Sometimes the lead element of a column of boats was a PBR (Patrol Boat Riverine). These were the kind of boats that Martin Sheen rode up the river in "Appocalypse Now". There was no armor to speak of. Their defense was speed. They could duck in and out of trouble faster than the other boats and do it in shallower water. They could make strafing runs at targets and then turn around and do it again, all at high speed. They were not usually used in the narrowest canals with the Tangos where their speed could not be utilized. Armored vessels did that. They were often used to patrol the traffic on the main rivers and canals.
The ASPBs filled the space between the PBRs and the Monitors. The Alpha boats were armored, and had a 20 mm gun turret mounted high up on top where it could give 360 deg. coverage. They were used as patrol boats, minesweepers, and sometimes used to insert SEAL teams. They normally lead the boats in small waterways, and they would go ahead and prep the area sometimes, but from where I was, I rarely saw them in action.
I feel that it's important to mention the the Army had its own boats too. 16' Boston Whaler fiberglass tri-hulls with big outboard motors. Their designation was PAB for "Plastic Assault Boat". That name has always seemed like a joke that someone in an office in the Pentagon got a big kick out of. I imagine some little kid asking "what did you do in the war daddy?" "Well son, I drove a plastic assault boat." "Did it come with GI Joe actions figures Daddy?" The truth is we didn't use them to assault anything. Their main job was as a water taxi between the ships and shore, but they were also sent out at night with a driver, a rifleman with and M16 and a sniper using an M14 with a Starlight scope. They would shut the motor off and drift with the current and look for targets along the banks. They had to be very quite and be ready to start the motor for a quick exit. Holes in the boat were easy to patch because they were fiberglass, and there were more than a few patches.
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