Viet Nam Research Site

[BMT (RIP)]

http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fac/Thomas.Pilsch/Vietnam.html

Wheh you are through reading everything, I'll see what else I can find.





BMT

[BMT (RIP)]

The link I posted work's on my 'puter.

Maybe someone can figure out the problem.

BMT

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by BMT

The link I posted work's on my 'puter.

Maybe someone can figure out the problem.

BMT

There is a space(blank) in the address, between PILSC and H/Viet..

Jim

PS: Thanks for the link,,

[Richard]

Saw it, too, link repaired.

Richard

[Buffalobob]

That was an interesting link. I never understood the "free fire zone" policy even though I always operated in such zones. We never ever shot a single civilian because we tried to behave somewhat decently. The weirdest thing was we hit a village one morning that the NVA used as a way station and killed a couple of armed guys and there was supposed to be no civilians in the area so they brought in a hook and lifted the civilians out to to DaNang and a week later everyone of them were back tending their rice paddies. I guess it was their home and they were not going to give up their home, war or no war. In later years I often thought about them and was happy none of them had gotten hurt in the shoot out.

Ineffective efforts to rein in the GIs’ propensity to create free fire zones in Vietnam resulted in a sense among many Vietnamese as well as Americans that U.S. forces were undisciplined. More important, perhaps, the widely touted grand plan to capture the “hearts and minds” of the Vietnamese was immeasurably diminished by the perception—let alone the outbreaks of reality—that Americans did not value Vietnamese lives.

[Utah Bob]

Originally Posted by Buffalobob

We never ever shot a single civilian because we tried to behave somewhat decently. .

Most of us behaved that way. The units that didn't were seriously lacking in leadership and discipline.

[JJ_BPK]

I spent the 1st 5 months running PL size ambushes along the Cambodian boarder, North & East of the Black Virgin.

No civies, no villages, we set up four automatic ambushes nightly, usually had a hit on one or two every night. All were North Viet regulars, squad size support units.

That ended in May 1st 1970, we were returning from a three day stand down in Bien Hoa, When we got to the chopper pad, the Bn XO took my old maps and gave me a new set,, Cambodia. They plan to set my PL into a rice paddy 300 yds from a village and said they needed a sweep and recon. I about shit.

After the yelling and screaming slowed down, I managed to get the XO to move the dz out 2K, so I could brief the troops,, BEFORE THE SHTF...

As we had ZERO experience with villagers,, and 100% experience with spray-n-pray,, I was somewhat concerned..

Ended up being a nice little village with no problems,, the troops acted very well, no one got nasty,, we were very lucky,, my PL was 100% draftees but with 5 mos+ under their belt,, they were settled in to a good routine...