Green Beret John Smith's Excellent Adventure - Page 2

**PRB** · 10-21-2015, 22:16

So Rambo was a one man OP...10 miles from whatever (who ever used miles btw) and no comms?
What was his SOP for alerting his higher? Screaming?

I'm not much on Las Vegas but if they had a 'poser' convention I might check out the participants just to hear the terrible war stories.....I'd probably get PTSD.

B36reconman · 10-22-2015, 05:34

He had two soup cans but only 8 miles of string..Jeez..There I was

Richard · 10-22-2015, 07:15

Well, the name sounds familiar - I think I heard of him when I manned the outpost 10 miles out from the next A Camp down the ridgeline - he was either at Ben Phuct or Phuc Mi.

Richard

DIYPatriot · 10-22-2015, 08:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brush Okie

I asked a 2lt fresh out of OCS about this. After looking at his map and compass he said in Asia the sun rises in the north and sets in the east to the story is very plausible.

You may be onto something...

TrapperFrank · 10-22-2015, 09:00

Maybe he forgot what rank he was. Lost for a couple of months, wandering around the jungle, sounds like most 2LTs I knew.

RomanCandle · 10-22-2015, 09:28

"The observation post where he started was roughly 10 miles from his base. But Smith’s journeys through the jungle would take him in different directions, as he went from village to village, and to Army compounds he knew would be resupplied."

I read that the big army took a while to warm up to SF but this is just ridiculous. I suppose they just gave him some C rats and sent him back out into the jungle saying: "Sorry brother but the phones are off-limits at this time".

BuckiBill · 10-22-2015, 09:41

No compass, no map, no comms?
Maybe back in the day they still used smoke signals for comms.

I'd imagine if he was SF, he'd have a Rolex or Seiko dive watch, a Sapphire ring and a Baht necklace.

If he had a watch, he had a compass. Maybe he missed the class on using your watch as a compass.

**Team Sergeant** · 10-22-2015, 09:59

Smith had been dropped off to man a solitary observation post, but dense fog prevented him not only from doing the job he was supposed to do, but also meant that the helicopter that was to rescue him wasn’t coming.

Dropped off at the LP OP by helo, check.

Fog stops you from doing your job, check.

In need of "rescue"? How did we go from being at an observation post to rescue?

And how long did that fog last? Weeks?

Poor John Smith was bounced from camp to camp with no help in sight. A baseless green beret that no one loved. I wonder if he stood at the trails edge with a sign,

"Baseless, please help. Vietnam Veteran."

Old Dog New Trick · 10-22-2015, 11:44

Of course I wasn't there in the height of the Vietnam war, but all my 12+ years in the rest of SE Asia, the only fog I remember was in my head after consuming too much fermentation in the Ale the night before.

Musta been one of those LP/OPs at high altitude where the clouds envelope the mountains for a few hours to, well, a few more hours.

Yep, I woulda done just what he did under them conditions. Left my post and wandered around for three months in the jungle. I can'ts really talk too much about it though as it was a highly classified mission and we weren't really there. There's just something about being on the wrong side of an imaginary line the government says we wasn't over. Insomuchasfact, when I came upon them's Army compounds, I used my special forces super secret stealth techniques learned in the SERE school to keeps me from being detected by them's U.S. Army soldiers, while ins I resupplied my butt pack and canteen with potible (sic) water. Also's cants talk about what's I ate for them's three months in the bush, justs sometings (sic) you just gots to keep private. Can't talk about that's!

o

MR2 · 10-22-2015, 12:14

We need to co-author a book: Tales from the Poser side.

Guymullins · 10-22-2015, 13:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by MR2

We need to co-author a book: Tales from the Poser side.

I'll write a review!

UWOA (RIP) · 10-22-2015, 15:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Dog New Trick

Of course I wasn't there in the height of the Vietnam war, but all my 12+ years in the rest of SE Asia, the only fog I remember was in my head after consuming too much fermentation in the Ale the night before.

Musta been one of those LP/OPs at high altitude where the clouds envelope the mountains for a few hours to, well, a few more hours.

Yep, I woulda done just what he did under them conditions. Left my post and wandered around for three months in the jungle. I can'ts really talk too much about it though as it was a highly classified mission and we weren't really there. There's just something about being on the wrong side of an imaginary line the government says we wasn't over. Insomuchasfact, when I came upon them's Army compounds, I used my special forces super secret stealth techniques learned in the SERE school to keeps me from being detected by them's U.S. Army soldiers, while ins I resupplied my butt pack and canteen with potible (sic) water. Also's cants talk about what's I ate for them's three months in the bush, justs sometings (sic) you just gots to keep private. Can't talk about that's!

o

Whose privates did he eat? Must have cost him plenty of dong!

.

**Team Sergeant** · 10-22-2015, 15:55

“I was out there three months and they had given me up” he said. “I was 60 miles away by the time I finally made it back to the road and got a ride back to base.”
His first thought was to call his parents. Not an easy task. During this period in the Vietnam War, there was no regular overseas phone service on base and the military’s phones were off limits. He had to use a two-way radio to call the American Red Cross who got him a ride to Saigon to call his mom and dad, he said.

"Who wants to use the phone to call home?"

"Smith Sir"

"Who the hell is Smith?"

"Smith's been MIA for 90 days Sir, he's a green beret/sniper that got lost in the jungle. Had to eat those things we don not discuss. He'd like to call home Sir."

"I thought we wrote off Smith months ago?"

"We did Sir, figured he pulled a Bergdahl on us."

"Screw Smith, tell him to call the Red Cross via two-way radio and have them pick him up and drive him to Saigon for his phone call."

"Roger Sir. Sir, what's the freq for the American Red Cross?"

x SF med · 10-23-2015, 08:50

TS, you need to remove "Bergdahl" and replace with Benedict Arnold.... Bergdahl wasn't even born until almost 20 years after VN.... Unless...... the officer was Doc Brown, who had been to the future with Sergeant McFly and they knew things they shouldn't.

Streck-Fu · 10-23-2015, 09:04

Clearly he had to eat the messenger pigeons that he was going to use to communicate his observations....