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Old 05-03-2009, 10:56   #16
BMT (RIP)
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They even dropped big drums of CS crystals along the border that came to life when you walked thru the area.

This was called "TRAIL DUST". I remember seeing area's in III Corp that were 3 Klick's wide and 6 Klick's long.


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Old 05-03-2009, 12:48   #17
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A number of TDY teams in that AO from 1st, 5th, and 7th SFGs with team designations in single, double, and triple digits and beginning with 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7. Some of the sites were also temp and turned over to the Tony the Tiger guys (LLDB) in a very short period of time. It all depends on when you were in there.

Richard's $.02
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Old 05-03-2009, 16:57   #18
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Question for GreenberetTFS

was the Lt. Powell the one that wounded himself with a "mini" grenade demonstratint the safety to some 'Folks"?
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Old 05-03-2009, 23:50   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike View Post
WTF is "SF Firebase?"

I was in an "A Camp" in that AO from Aug 68-March 70.

They dropped everything but snowballs all over the place.
Thet even dropped big drums of CS crystals along the border that came to life when you walked thru the area. It affected the little guys a lot more than us, but it definately kept people out of the area.

"ODA" is a term not used in those days. We were "A Detachments," or "A Teams."

Never heard of sleeping gas-think that was in "The Wizard of OZ"
Mike,

Your absolutely right..... I was thinking of todays terminology...... Thanks for the correction...............

GB TFS
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Old 05-04-2009, 00:46   #20
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Re: Terminology Back Then

We had A Teams, B Detachments, SF Companies in each Corp. Then we had Delta, Omega, Sigma, Gamma ( all were B Det's), add C5 and C&C with their FOB's. We called the Mike Forces by Corp, like I-IV and the Nha Trang MF.

We, in Omega and later CCS, were damn lucky to use SF A camps for launch sites. We never forgot whose damn camp it really was. Not too damn bright to piss off the team daddy or CO. That was a sure bet to get your ass kicked out of the camp to fend for yourself on the airstrip. My replacement at Duc Co pulled rank on the Team Co. He lost our underground TOC. Real frigging genious he was. How damn hard is to take care of the team that lets you use their camp?
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Old 05-04-2009, 05:58   #21
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Launch Site's

The 8 month's I worked on CCS Launch site's we never had any trouble with any camp.

The Team at Ban Don loved to see us use their camp. Every morning we would carry a sack of fresh baked pastry and bread to them.


They used our O-1E's for local AO VR's, if we were not in a push toget RT's on the ground. Plus we told them everything we saw along or accross the border in their AO.

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Old 05-04-2009, 22:32   #22
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Re: Ban Don

You came after me.
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Old 05-07-2009, 16:24   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blitzzz View Post
was the Lt. Powell the one that wounded himself with a "mini" grenade demonstratint the safety to some 'Folks"?
Blitzzz, Sorry for this late reply........Answer is I really don't know...........

GB TFS
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I believe that SF is a 'calling' - not too different from the calling missionaries I know received. I knew instantly that it was for me, and that I would do all I could to achieve it. Most others I know in SF experienced something similar. If, as you say, you HAVE searched and read, and you do not KNOW if this is the path for you --- it is not....
Zonie Diver

SF is a calling and it requires commitment and dedication that the uninitiated will never understand......
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Old 07-24-2009, 20:11   #24
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Old 08-03-2009, 21:04   #25
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Sigma spent a bit of time launching out of our camp a few times.
They stashed their stuff at the end of the strip and got us a lot of incoming.

Their chopper fuel and ammo got hit one day and made a huge mess.

I remember one pilot coming into the commo bunker and declared the fan "needed more pitch."
Fixed it right up.

20 minutes later he and everybody on his ship were burnt to cinders.
They were way overloaded on a sightseeing tour of a new AO. They put about 9 people into 6 bags.
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Old 08-15-2009, 12:05   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike View Post
WTF is "SF Firebase?"

I was in an "A Camp" in that AO from Aug 68-March 70.

They dropped everything but snowballs all over the place.
Thet even dropped big drums of CS crystals along the border that came to life when you walked thru the area. It affected the little guys a lot more than us, but it definately kept people out of the area.

"ODA" is a term not used in those days. We were "A Detachments," or "A Teams."

Never heard of sleeping gas-think that was in "The Wizard of OZ"
When I was with the Cav at the 2/7 rear hq in Phouc Vinh the MPs dusted a bunch of old ARVN bunkers across the street to keep the hookers from utilizing them for illicit rendezvous. We got some harassment rockets one night for about 10 minutes. Most of them landed near the airstrip the 227th AHB area.

After the fireworks let up, I had the company xo s in the orderly room checking on any damage and WIAs (there were none).

Suddenly the battalion XO, a true Saigon commando, bursts into the room with tears running down his cheeks screaming "Gas! Gas!. They're firing gas shells! What are you people doing? Man the bunkers! Everybody on the green line! Get ready for a ground assault!!"

Found out that he had been taking his evening stroll when the hardware came in. He jumped into the nearest bunker he saw. Yup, it was a dusted one.
What a dork that guy was.

We were all over the Parrots Beak in the 70 incursion. Nobody seemed drowsy to me.
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Old 08-30-2012, 11:52   #27
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Parrots Beak

There are two items to this story. One is the parrots beak which was an area that jutted out of Cambodia into Vietnam, along with the angles wing. This area was Northwest of Saigon and was considered a very hot area. I believe that this area was the raid on NVA Headquarters where Mad Dog went missing. But that was on the Cambodia side.

The second thing is the 121st AHC. I was a door gunner on their gunships (Vikings) from 1967 to 1969. During this time they never traveled that far north as they were stationed at Soc Trang which is south of Can To.

John (Jack) Smith
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Old 09-06-2012, 16:25   #28
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III CTZ - B-36 MSF

While I was with the 3d MSF (B-36) '69 worked the area and kept being run off. We finally established an AO. Billy Waugh was recon 1SG and one of his RTs found one of the largest armories ever found in country. There were bunker after bunker filled with weapons, ammo, medical, and food. It required CH-47s looking like LAX, a/c after a/c to pull it all out. The downside for me was catching the wrong end of an 81mm at Rang Rang.

J R sends
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Old 01-24-2013, 00:44   #29
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RFI

I was surfing the site a bit and came across this thread. It made me think of I guy I can see clear as day (blond hair) but can't remember his name to save my life.. I'm hoping if I tell this story maybe he's on here. Dude was hard as woodpecker lips even in his late 50s (even for his age he ran most of us young pups ragged).

He was one of a very small handful of 19th SFG (A) brothers attached to A/2/5 SFG (A) around '95-96'' that had been MACV-SOG guys that were still running with us youngsters for a couple of CONUS trips and a OCONUS demining mission to Eritrea.

Anyway, I was on 543 at the time and this brother (18B I think) came along for a proof of concept doing Joint Theatre Missile Defense (JTDM) out in New Mexico. One day while were planning in Los Alamos, we were out back behind our team room cleaning.50 cals. An old civilian (GS employee) that had access to our area came limping up and said hey to us. During the conversation he made the comment that those guns would "take a big chunk out you". We agreed. He pulled up his pants leg to show us that he was missing much of one of his thighs. He began to explain that he had been a Loach pilot and had been flying low trying to smoke out ADA guns for the AH1s to kill and got a bit too close with a camouflaged DSHKA before he realized it. This SF brother that was attached to us and this guy start talking about call signs, locations and dates. Parrots Beak came up, and it turns out this Loach pilot is the dude that had pulled this SF brother out the shit one bad day. Things got a bit emotional and us youngsters just listened in silence and awe. So this pilot leaves and goes back and grabs an old photo albulm and comes back to show us that OH6 he was flying the day he pulled this SF brother outa Parrots Beak. I remember it was the OH6 in a museum at Fort Rucker, same tail numbers and everything in the pictures both in Viet Nam and Rucker.

Anyway, the point of all this story is if that brother is on here or someone knows who I might be talking about PM me as I would like to get back in touch with him.

Oh yeah. That reminds me... One last RFI.. Anyone know a SFC Bell (slim bald headed guy) from 20th SFG (A)? He was our student platoon SGT at Fort Benning, GA for the US Army Sniper School in '92. I owe him $50 for bailing me outa jail in time to make formation and PT the night before graduation for a DUI (didn't end your career back then yet or get you kicked outa school... I graduated). No shit.. No joke.. I need to square that old debt up.

Last edited by OldNCranky; 01-24-2013 at 01:33.
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Old 01-31-2013, 03:14   #30
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Bump... I owe money : )

Quote:
Originally Posted by OldNCranky View Post
I was surfing the site a bit and came across this thread. It made me think of I guy I can see clear as day (blond hair) but can't remember his name to save my life.. I'm hoping if I tell this story maybe he's on here. Dude was hard as woodpecker lips even in his late 50s (even for his age he ran most of us young pups ragged).

He was one of a very small handful of 19th SFG (A) brothers attached to A/2/5 SFG (A) around '95-96'' that had been MACV-SOG guys that were still running with us youngsters for a couple of CONUS trips and a OCONUS demining mission to Eritrea.

Anyway, I was on 543 at the time and this brother (18B I think) came along for a proof of concept doing Joint Theatre Missile Defense (JTDM) out in New Mexico. One day while were planning in Los Alamos, we were out back behind our team room cleaning.50 cals. An old civilian (GS employee) that had access to our area came limping up and said hey to us. During the conversation he made the comment that those guns would "take a big chunk out you". We agreed. He pulled up his pants leg to show us that he was missing much of one of his thighs. He began to explain that he had been a Loach pilot and had been flying low trying to smoke out ADA guns for the AH1s to kill and got a bit too close with a camouflaged DSHKA before he realized it. This SF brother that was attached to us and this guy start talking about call signs, locations and dates. Parrots Beak came up, and it turns out this Loach pilot is the dude that had pulled this SF brother out the shit one bad day. Things got a bit emotional and us youngsters just listened in silence and awe. So this pilot leaves and goes back and grabs an old photo albulm and comes back to show us that OH6 he was flying the day he pulled this SF brother outa Parrots Beak. I remember it was the OH6 in a museum at Fort Rucker, same tail numbers and everything in the pictures both in Viet Nam and Rucker.

Anyway, the point of all this story is if that brother is on here or someone knows who I might be talking about PM me as I would like to get back in touch with him.

Oh yeah. That reminds me... One last RFI.. Anyone know a SFC Bell (slim bald headed guy) from 20th SFG (A)? He was our student platoon SGT at Fort Benning, GA for the US Army Sniper School in '92. I owe him $50 for bailing me outa jail in time to make formation and PT the night before graduation for a DUI (didn't end your career back then yet or get you kicked outa school... I graduated). No shit.. No joke.. I need to square that old debt up.
I owe money
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