The "Phantom"
 

We had a Lurp in B-36 named Harrahan who couldn't stand the fact that a leg LTC was assigned as the CO of the unit. This LTC showed up one day at 1600 hours and declared that he was going on the next recon mission.

Harrahan's team was going out at last light that night and Harrahan refused to take the LTC. The LTC demanded that Harrahan take him and said that he would relieve Harrahan if he didn't allow him to go. Harrahan told the LTC that if he was to go, that he would have to go as a rifleman because it was too late to allow the LTC to command the mission.

The mission was to go to an area west of Song Be and do a 5 day recon of the area. The jungle was too thick to land helicopters in, so the team would have to rappel in. The LTC, besides being a leg, had never rappelled before. As the team started their rappel, they started to take .51 caliber machinegun fire from the ground. All of the team started to tie off their rappel ropes except the LTC.
Because heb had never rappelled before, he went all the way to the jungle floor. The helicopter returned to Song Be and the fog came into the area where the LTC was located.

The only radio that the LTC had with him was an URC10 that a chopper dropped to him.

The LTC demanded that someone get him out. He was almost crying because he was so scared.

At midnight a voice came over the radio saying, " How does it feel to be all alone on the ground knowing that you aren't going to be rescued"?

The LTC asked, "Who is this"?

Harrahan would just answer, "It the PHANTOM"! and then laugh.

B-36 had a hotel in Vung Tau where they held after mission parties. It was traditional within the unit to offer a toast to whomever it was that had distinguished himself on mission. Harrahan got up and offered the following toast, "To the best damned soldier this unit has ever had... The LTC started to puff himself up...the PHANTOM".

The LTC transferred out within two days.

Harrahan was forever the PHANTOM.

Well, there was "Gas Mask", "Pelican Head", "Hoopie", "Egg Beater", "Bubba", "Buford", "Little Tommy"...of course, there was also "Snort", "Roger Ramjet" and "Mother Superior" among the Os...

Team leader, last name Rising. Every time he came into the team house, the TS played CCR's "Bad Moon Rising." He became known as "Bad Moon."

You wouldn't happen to be talking about the Sorry Gulch Saloon would you?

I think I killed the brain cells that would remember the name lonnng ago. If it was the very popular biker bar on the main drag back about 1976... that would be the one!

I knew a Johnny Bravo coming out of 1/10th, didn't know anything but looking cool!

Haa, the old adage, It's not how good you're doing it....but how cool you look doing it....or something to that effect:D:munchin

Let's see.....

"BT" - This one was for a particular CSM. The "B" was a reference for "boof", which is the sound that a .45 round would make when entering his chest cavity. The "T" stood for his name. I think "The Reaper" also has another nickname for him.

"Butthead" - He was a young kid that tried really hard but just did not seem to be all there. Previously he was SOCOM commander's driver an if the grapevine was correct his GT score was just a tick above SGM BT's, which was somewhere below that of a mentally defficient onion. While down range one time we had a team meeting and at the end of the meeting a new guy brought up the fact that we should not be calling this guy "Butthead", especially in public. The rest of the team seemed to be coming around to this line of thinking until "Butthead" piped in with, "But I like being called Butthead. It makes me feel like part of the team." There was no changing our mind after that.

"Spanky" - Tm Ldr. Overall good guy, I guess he looked a little too much like the character from "The Little Rascals."

"Wally the Wong" - (10th Group guys might remember this.) His genitalia was supposed to be so big that every time that he became excited all of the blood would rush from the rest of his body to his private area and because his member was so big, there was a decided lack of blood for the rest of his body, his brain in particular, and he would pass out. The whole thing was of course, just a joke. The truth behind this is that after drinking hard he would just pass out without any warning. The young ladies present would ask what had happened to him and the "Wally the Wong" story is what they were told. Oh, the fun that "Wally" and I had at DLI.

"Horse dick" - (Another 10th Group one) His member was that big and was damned proud of it. I could not count the number of times that he would show it off. Funniest guy in the world though. I spent a week with him in a spider hole during a StratRecon exercise and he kept me laughing continuously for that entire week.

"McWeeWee" - Tm Ldr whose member was that small and seemingly so was the amount of gray matter between his ears.

I almost left SF because that idiot wore a Green Beret. He grabbed my arm one time, and I told him I'd kill him if he ever did it again.

He had one peer. Billy Lee.

......BT......
 

During a barracks inspection, with BT, the Bn Exec and myself (I was the senior NCO in the barracks), Bt tried to bitch me out about the number of books that I had in my room and the fact that they were a fire hazzard. I reminded him of the amount of paperwork in Bn HQ and when he got rid of all of the paperwork I would get rid of my books. The Exo just stood there and grinned.

Then the Bn CO ame into my room with books under his arm, excused himself, placed the books back on the shelves, took some other books off of other shelves and then did some scribbling on a 3 X 5 index card on my desk. BT looked really confused. He had no idea what had just happened. The Exo looked at me and said, "Did that just happen?" I told him, "Yes, the Col. has his own library card." The Exo asked and was issued his own library card two minutes later.

BT was an abomination. CSM Pete G. always referred to BT as one of "McNamara's 40,000." A reference to alleged sub-standards that were allowed in the military to fill the ranks during Vietnam. Luckily I did not have to deal with Billy Lee much. He did always seem to stare at me whenever he saw me. That is until I made a reference to him, in front of a bunch of guys from his company, about him being gay and then he never even looked in my direction again.

LTC George Brown?

SGM Pete Garner was one of the finest NCOs I ever served with.

I was quite happy not to be asssigned to The Plantation.

TR

Captain Lend Me Light
 

Captain Lend Me Light

Took a couple of FTX's to figure him out. Never carried food or smokes to the field.

Back when we were on foot in the desert we would stop for the day under an individual bush about 20 meters between guys. He would go around "checking" on us while we were eating and smoking. By the time he had made the rounds with his mess kit spoon he was well fed and had smoked a few.

He was one hungry dude the FTX we caught on. We stopped, flopped and chilled. He was waiting to start his rounds until we started cooking but we all waited until full daylight. Then we ate well before sunset. He was one hungry Captain by the time that FTX was over.

Yes that would be him.... Bald head and all. I had staff duty one evening and he saw what I brought for reading material. He made a comment about not having yet read the book and I told him he could borrow it after I was done. Whow was I to say "no." It eventually morphed into him and Maj. Bennet both using the library in my barracks room.

Allowing him to use my books did have its advantages, though. He made an erroneous and incorrect comment about my communications to my team during a trip to LA. When we jumped back into Bragg he was on the DZ and when he came up to me I picked him up and made it look like I was going to body-slam him into the DZ. Scared the shit out of him.

There was also a Major (the new Co. Comm.) on the DZ that I had never seen before. He was talking to my Tm Ldr and asked after he saw me rough up Ltc Brown, "Who is signed for that asshole?" My Tm Ldr laughed and said, "You are sir!" Major Seitz (Spike) told me later that he saw his military career flash before his eyes as I lifted Brown over my head.

SGM Pete Garner was one of the best I had ever known. He never ceased to amaze me. Just when you thought that you had him figured out he would surprise the hell out of you. I was so sorry to have heard of his death. I wish that I had know for I surely would have been there for his funeral.

From tress..
"Horse dick" - (Another 10th Group one) His member was that big and was damned proud of it. I could not count the number of times that he would show it off. Funniest guy in the world though. I spent a week with him in a spider hole during a StratRecon exercise and he kept me laughing continuously for that entire week.

Puuleeeze don't tell me you spent a week lookin' at a wankaa:eek:


Pete...I know you remember the "Elf"...Cpt D...A/3/5 CO...