Every night since, we send a squad to ambush Charlie, but no luck yet. But, we still good friends, talked man to man about it, also talked our views about war. Our area is only 200 meters from the town and we sent no one to try to catch VC as they left Nuoc Mau.Īsked colonel next day if we could send a platoon to help cleanup. They burned 75 percent of the houses, using grenades and fire. VC hit about 0100, 50 of them, killed 5VN, 2 month old girl of village chief, 2 year old boy, and 3 men friendly to us. Hell of a mess, and we did nothing to stop VC or to help VN people clean up the mess. In this village we have in mind, Nuoc Mau, just south of Chu Lai on Highway #1, the VC came in force a few days ago and burned it to the ground. We would live right in village and help protect against VC attack. Trying to convince new colonel to let me form a CAP (Civilian Actions Platoon) in a local village of 3,000 people to secure village, train their people to fight, and work with them to improve health, sanitation, and living conditions. Don’t particularly like job because I can’t get out on operations or be of any use to the VN people. I told you I am now in the Battalion Tactical Operations Center (big bunker out in the boonies), coordinating helicopter support, jet air strikes, and making many decisions on company operations, use of artillery, illuminating the big picture. Never has taking a shit been more of a major production or a major work of art. Everyone struggled not to attract Charlie and prayed not to make a sound louder than the chorus of crickets who inhabited the woods around the latrine. The only thing more frightening than that unwelcomed nightly attack by those raging masses of mosquitoes was the walk one would inevitably have to negotiate to the latrine without a flashlight in the pitch-black darkness sometime in the middle of the night. There, I helped to coordinate company and battalion operations in our sector and in our area of operations surrounding Chu Lai and its massive air base.Īs a sidelight, I specifically remember existing in that semi-underground bunker for 16 to 18 hours a day – 0600 to about 0100 or 0200 hours every evening – wearing my black Vietnamese pajama pants instead of my fatigues – I was going native by that time – but sleeping in a fairly large tent above ground with four other officers and an ample supply of mosquito netting draped over each of our beds to keep the nasty intruders at bay. It would be the S-3 operations office in battalion headquarters for me for the last month or so of my tour of duty in Vietnam – no ifs, ands, or buts.įor those final weeks of the war for me, I worked in a huge underground bunker, abundantly sandbagged and camouflaged. I believed that the CAPs were one of the best ways to fight the war, and thus in a small but significant way, they would help to support and protect the Vietnamese people in their local communities and environs. Previously, the Marines had formed numerous CAPs in the villages in the I Corps area. And I even agreed again to remain in Vietnam for another six months. Again, I received the same message – sorry about that. Later – after the tragedy that befell our friendly neighboring village of Nuoc Mau and its 3,000 inhabitants and friends – I tried to convince the battalion’s new colonel to allow me to form and lead a CAP (Civilian Actions Platoon) unit for our local village of Nuoc Mau. Without a combat role on their resumé, promotion becomes a problem for them. For them, it’s a necessary and essential step up their career ladder. “We want the officers who are going to be lifers in the army, not ROTC commissioned officers, to be assigned to the combat leadership positions in our infantry units. The colonel reiterated the same reasons for squashing my desire to serve as the company commander of Bravo Company that I received when I first arrived in Vietnam when I assumed that I’d be assigned as a rifle platoon leader in some infantry unit. The colonel, however, had other plans for me. Captain Leonard’s tour of duty in Vietnam ended at this time in August, and he was deploying back to the States. I thought so as well and even agreed to remain in Vietnam for another six months. They thought that I should be the likely choice to replace Captain Leonard. The officers and NCOs in the company wanted me to stay. So, on the 4th, I said a final good-bye to all of the men in my platoon, plus a fond farewell to so many other troopers I had gotten to know and serve with in Bravo Company. The colonel wanted me to report to battalion headquarters ASAP. The unfortunate but unavoidable assignment that arose and was proposed by the commanding officer of the 3/21st Infantry Battalion last month, in July, became a reality at the beginning of this month, on the 4th of August.
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