Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
Earlier versions of Robin Sage were called Water Moccasin, Cherokee Trail, and Gobblers Woods.
Richard
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Actually, as I remember it and as was reported by a later (non-vetted) poster, I remember my version was called "Gobbler (no s) Woods".
Memories ... the year was 1970 ....
Having just completed the Airborne course right after OCS, I reported in to Hardy Hall at Fort Bragg. I would soon see ...
E-7 and E-8s doing police call outside the Center (IMA at that time). MG Flanagan was in charge of the Center.
In 1970, while going through SFOC we wore 'candy stripes' representing the colors of our future assigned Groups ... I didn't wear the beret until I got to Fort Bragg, i.e. during airborne training, even though I had assignment orders to 8th Special Forces Group. In hindsight, it probably saved me a lot of extra pushups; a Ranger from the Ranger school cadre went through the airborne course in my class and the cadre delighted in adding to his training experience. Later on, when I went through the Ranger course while assigned to 10th SFGA, one of the cadre in the "city phase" (Harmony Church) spent extra time focusing on SF personnel because "they wore the wrong color beret."
My classes were conducted in the center, but we spent some time in the wooden WWII-era buildings. I remember a crusty, old Major who was our class adviser. To this day I remember him saying that you don't have to be on top of a target to be able to surveil it. I also remember the NOFORN classes that were a part of the course ....
When it was time for Gobbler Woods, I remember drawing an M-14 with another LT and driving from the arms room back to Hardy Hall to pick up our rucks with the top down on my convertible and both M-14s wedged behind our seats in an upright position like we were going on safari.
I hated the ANGRC-109. Not because the radio was heavy. It was because I was assigned to carry the hand crank generator frame. The legs were no problem, it was the blasted seat (I'm thinking of a few choicer words) that was a literal pain in the ass. It didn't fit at all well in the style rucksacks (that was before the Alice rucks) of the time. It was a pain to jump and it was a pain to lug on the ground. I would have gladly traded it for the generator, receiver or the transmitter.
We used the MC-1 to insert into the problem, the increased maneuverability coming from removing the forks that kept the risers even and which allowed better, but not great, steering of the canopy. The increased maneuverability wasn't enough to keep the entire student ODA from missing the postage stamp DZ and landing in the trees. The officer who was filling the medic slot on my training detachment (and who was, incidentally, one of my TAC officers while I was going through OCS) landed in the top of a tree, but only long enough to allow his chute to deflate before breaking free and sending him falling fifty feet to the ground, breaking one of his legs.
Later on, during the exercise after going into town in a vehicle one of the Gs had produced to set up an intel net, we (me, the asst ops/intel and another officer filling the light weapons slot) as well as a couple of Gs ran into a CI patrol of 82d Abn troopers. Long story short, we were 'apprehended' and removed to a POW site. Even though I was going to DLIWC after SFOC I still was pretty fluent in Spanish. I stuck to a story I developed on the spot and spoke only Spanish during my 'encounters' with interrogators (luckily they didn't have anyone at the detention site that spoke Spanish) and refused to understand any statements made in English. They basically gave up on me after only one day and I was re-inserted into the problem, only to find that the G (who was probably an ops/intel sgt instructor) had been given a bunch of grief from the G chief who was pissed off that we went by vehicle in the first place.
I also remember the demonstration put on by, if I remember correctly, reps from Frankfort Arsenal, specifically a demonstration by a national champion marksman. He fired an M-16 using the iron sights and hit a man-sized target center mass 1600 yards or meters (I can't remember which) away, off-hand. Yes, I said, off-hand. I later learned the secret to his trick; he used the bayonet lug, as well as the front sight, as the means to range the target, so it was only good for that distance.
Anyway, that my recollection of events more than forty years ago ... and I'm sticking to it!!!!
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