Veterans...Get the hell in here now!

cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
doublejj said:
Hell of a Birthday present...
Coast Guard icebreaker funding reallocated to US-Mexico border wall
The new icebreaker had been intended to boost the Coast Guard’s fleet, which includes one working heavy icebreaker, the Polar Star, and one disabled heavy icebreaker, each of which have exceeded their 30-year service lives. The fleet also operates a medium icebreaker and a research vessel with light ice-breaking capability.
The U.S. icebreaker fleet is miniscule in comparison to Russia, which has more than 40 icebreakers, according to the Congressional Research Service. The melting ice has degraded Russia’s natural border defenses, prompting Moscow to respond with more ships and new military facilities in the region.

https://www.stripes.com/news/coast-guard-icebreaker-funding-reallocated-to-us-mexico-border-wall-1.540857
P.S. Happy Birthday Coast Guard
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They should donate the ship to Mexico and rename her the @mr. sunshine. It will be a goodwill ship breaking the ice internationally.
 
Olive Drab Green

Olive Drab Green

Well-Known Member
doublejj said:


A typical operation started with a formation of the Army troops on the pontoon tied to one of the ships that were the base to the MRF. There were two companies on each ship. We were checked by our squad leaders to make sure we had everything we were assigned and we were issued whatever equipment was specific to the operation. Weapons were given extra attention to make sure that they were ready for the task at hand. We weren't always told where we were going or anything else about the operation. It was just "going out." The information did get to us through the grapevine eventually. Some places were worse than others. I hated the area just northeast of Ben Tre. Quite often, the area of operation was all that was known and the details were worked out as the mission progressed.
The Riverine craft were normally tied up 4 or 5 deep to the side of the pontoon. To load the Tangos directly from the pontoon, all the boats were cleared away. Three boats could be loaded at a time. With all the stuff we carried, if you fell overboard you'd go down like a rock. So there were people stationed on the pontoon to hang onto us and pass us off to someone on the boat. Entering the well deck via the space between the closed ramp and the front of the roof structure, 35 - 40 fully load troops could be loaded in about 5 minutes. An infantry company could fit in four Tangos. As the loaded boats left the pontoon, they would form up with the rest of the boats into a single line that was typical for riverine operations.
The journey from the big river, would lead us to progressively smaller waterways where the alertness level increased according to the width of the passage. The Navy manned their guns and we kept our heads down. If anything did happen, there were three ways of dealing with it; (1)Shoot back and keep going, (2)Shoot back until the incoming fire stopped, or (3)Shoot back and unload the troops to go after them. More often than not it would be choice #3. Some operations were planned expressly for choice #3. We would slowly cruise the backwaters shooting at bunkers and stuff along the banks and when they shot back, we got out and chased them.
In an ambush the VC/NVA would fire from as close as 20 ft. if the waterway was narrow. It's hard to miss with an RPG at that range. They would shoot one shot and then run like hell! The first shot of an ambush usually hits what it's aimed at. We would shoot back, and call in ARTY and air strikes or maybe even get out and chase them, but a one-shot ambush would rarely yield an enemy body count. Done as a target of opportunity, as harrassment, as a delaying tactic, or just for fun, it kept our heads down and the pucker factor up.
When we stepped off a Tango's ramp we could be stepping into waist deep mud and thick vegetation or onto dry land. Or we might step right into the middle of a fire fight. When the ramp dropped it left the well deck without frontal armor. Sometimes the VC/NVA took advantage of that time when we were most vulnerable, bunched together in a confined area, by waiting to fire a B-40 rocket or small arms fire into the open bow. There was nowhere to hide if that happened. Small arms fire would bounce off the bulkheads inside untill it hit someone. A B-40 rocket only took a second to fire and its results were devastating. The Navy would prep the landing point with MG and canon fire if there was a threat. But it still happened often enough to make that moment when the ramp started to fall increase the pucker factor by 6 untill it was down, and we were out!
The battalion commander observed the operations from a helicopter. He and his radio operator flew in a LOH overhead directing traffic. If contact was made he could direct our movement, arrange fire support, and coordinate operations with the Navy. When the situation allowed, they would set down at the closest fire support barge or on a Tango boat with a flight deck near the CCB, and follow the operation by radio. If anything happened they could be airborne in minutes.
If the operation was based on good intelligence and we knew what we were looking for, we would be dropped off and the boats would move to a spot where they could provide the best fire support for us, or to our pick-up point. If the mission was expected to last a few days and we were within the range of our own fire support, the boats would go back to the big river and hold position, or go back to base. Sometimes one group of boats would drop us off and then head back to base while another group of boats would form a blocking force, and wait for us to drive the VC/NVA to them. Sometimes we would be dropped into an area by chopper, and then be picked up by boat. No two operations were the same but it was a rare occasion to be without the Navy.
I spent 13 months in the Army in the Mekong delta of Vietnam. We fought the war differently than the guys up north did. When I think back on the war, I always think about the boats.
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Thank you so much for sharing, brother. School’s had me extremely distracted, but I was hoping you might share. I want you to know, I am humbled and appreciate you so much. I can’t understand the personal feelings these moments had for you, and the weight they cause you to bear, for you personally, and for your comrades. To commiserate, not to compare, but your experiences echo quite a few qualities and happenings in my experience in Afghanistan. The mortarmen and searching for a PoO site you never found. Bodies being evacuated quickly by the enemy. Vehicle organization as it might apply to land vehicles. A green LT set us up in a staggered column formation in a wide open field similar to your case, which led to us getting ambushed. Shit like that. And I want you to know, I can’t get it from your perspective, but I understand every word you wrote, down to how it feels. You’re definitely not alone if you need someone to bullshit with. Love you, bro. Thanks for your service, truly. I’ve mentioned this before, but my Pap was a GM1 in the Brown Water Navy, serving three tours in ‘Nam. He killed himself when I was maybe 2. I wish I had known him more than I did, and I wonder what he’d think of me. I hope you’re alright.
 
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
doublejj

doublejj

Well-Known Member
BarnBuster said:
Never mind that it could one day, no shit, save their life, smh;

Six Marine lieutenants face separation after allegedly cheating on land navigation course
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/08/07/six-lieutenants-getting-booted-from-the-corps-after-allegedly-cheating-on-land-navigation-course/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MAR AB TEST 0807&utm_content=A&utm_term=Editorial - Marine Corps - Daily News Roundup
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Until you've been lost in the jungle at night with a green lieutenant, you don't know what fear is....
 
doublejj

doublejj

Well-Known Member
One Round Short.....
Early one morning after spending all night out on a night ambush & just before we collected up our claymores and trip flares we heard the "Thump Thump Thump" of mortars being fired. Obviously we had been discovered overnight and the VC were attempting to mortar our position. The first round hit about 30 meters out, the second 20 and the third at 10 meters, all in a direct line to our position. If they had fired 1 more round they would have had us.....:roll:
 
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BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
The Citation​

Technical Sergeant John A. Chapman distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism as an Air Force Special Tactics Combat Controller, attached to a Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Team conducting reconnaissance operations in Takur Ghar, Afghanistan, on March 4, 2002. During insertion, the team’s helicopter was ambushed causing a teammate to fall into an entrenched group of enemy combatants below. Sergeant Chapman and the team voluntarily reinserted onto the snow-capped mountain, into the heart of a known enemy stronghold to rescue one of their own. Without regard for his own safety, Sergeant Chapman immediately engaged, moving in the direction of the closest enemy position despite coming under heavy fire from multiple directions. He fearlessly charged an enemy bunker, up a steep incline in thigh-deep snow and into hostile fire, directly engaging the enemy. Upon reaching the bunker, Sergeant Chapman assaulted and cleared the position, killing all enemy occupants. With complete disregard for his own life, Sergeant Chapman deliberately moved from cover only 12 meters from the enemy, and exposed himself once again to attack a second bunker, from which an emplaced machine gun was firing on his team. During this assault from an exposed position directly in the line of intense fire, Sergeant Chapman was struck and injured by enemy fire. Despite severe, mortal wounds, he continued to fight relentlessly, sustaining a violent engagement with multiple enemy personnel before making the ultimate sacrifice. By his heroic actions and extraordinary valor, sacrificing his life for the lives of his teammates, Technical Sergeant Chapman upheld the highest traditions of military service and reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.
 
Montuno

Montuno

Well-Known Member
All this happened during a Spanish misión in Afganistan, during the rescue of same USA militares wounded n asedied by the enemy. Enemy shotted down the first Spanish hellicopter, but after a long fight, they rescued their heli n the USA militares:

Real imagen:

A cinema movie tráiler (English subtitles)) about it:
 
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