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LT,
Just joined the DAV with a lifetime membership. Still can not make up my mine with VFW. We have one here in town.
Hey Brothers,
The VFW is always looking for new members and particularly the little post I am associated with her in Grayslake, IL. I would like to offer any of you who might be interested a 1 year free membership in our post. Even if you geographically can’t come to meetings it helps us and after a year you can just discontinue or transfer your membership. The VFW has a lot of good programs for vets and is a good lobbyist for us all in DC. Please consider joining me!
i typed another post but know if it went thru..
thank you Rick… i for one appreciate the sentiment expressed..
Hey guys! My bet is that if you two characters started your tour in Bangkok that would be it with no trip to the AO. How about trying to find the now probably toothless grayhaired ladies you met in 1970. Now that would be a reunion. It would take a lot of Captain Jack and a couple of grocery bags I bet. LOL
Russ
I don’t think my body could take what I would put it thru but I sure would like to give it a shot. It would be cheaper also. All I would need is a one way ticket to get there and a prepaid Fedex box to send my ashes back.
Chuck,
I say we should do a reunion tour. Start with a few days in Bangkok…… go back to our old AO,…..and decompress back in Bangkok. A grunts life is the only life..! I’m sure Ben can help us with the RVN segment. We can find Ricky’s taxi company in Bangkok and we’re set. He and his cousins probably own half the country by now. No more Krong Tips, though…..
I tell everyone that will listen, that I would not want to change a thing about my time in the jungle. I love some of the descriptions, about what the Grunts went through, not to mention the getting shot at thing. As Bill said, I made it home, raised a family and, although I’m still not retired, I look forward to that day, all because Grunts helped take care of me.
Clean clothes are over rated. So is warm food. Who cares about REMFS. We were lucky enough to enjoy each other and the fresh air in the country side. The smell of C-4 heating WWII C rats. A little napalm in the morning, on a good day. Leeches on your scrotum and your buddy burning them off with a cigar. Funky water logged feet. Mosquito bites that make your eyes swell shut or make your lips look like Angelina Jolie’s. Taking a break on a hump and sitting on an ant hill or bumping a tree full of tree ants. Setting up your tent for the night in a cemetery on a grave site because it had a raised mound to protect you while you slept. Gentlemen, the field was where it was at. It was the place to be.
God bless Grunts……. And Captain Morris and Captain Morgan…..
All that is exactly why I’m not interested in camping out as a form of recreation. After having spent nearly a year on an extended camping trip, waking up with dew on your face and living like a yard dog sorta loses its fascination.
Terry,
Thanks. I went home DOS 11/23. If given a choice I would have chosen being a REMF. However the rumor is the Army is not a democracy. Was a grunt, made it home, raised a family, now retired thanks to my fellow grunts and the good REMF.
Tooch,
Trust me I am not protecting the true REMFs by any means nor am I attempting to put any type of disparaging comments towards the true soldier THE GRUNT! It is interesting to note that it took anywhere from 7 to 10 of those folks to support one Grunt. Kind of makes us real important doesn’t it. There still were a lot of good remfs who did do a good job of providing for us even though there were also a lot of those guys who did take advantage of being in the rear such as the guys at the major depots who sucked up all the good beer so we could get the wonderful Falstaff and Carlings when the opportunity arose. I don’t love them but in general they were useful.
My experiences at two 196LIB get togethers in Buffalo and Seattle were great. I didn’t feel that any one group received any more attention than others. I have had support guys who had boots on the ground apologize to me for not being grunts but my answer to them has always been don’t feel that way, without them I wouldn’t have eaten(albiet shitty at times), I wouldn’t haven’t gotten paid all that money, I wouldn’t have clothes and boots to wear(albiet pretty raggy), I wouldn’t have had a weapon and ammo(albiet didn’t work right all the time and shortages), I wouldn’t have received all those wonderful awards(albiet not always deserved). Bottom line is we were a team and all could have died over there at the hands of a very clever foe. I love diversity!
LT. Screw diversity. I spent my last 2 months in the rear. They were a bunch of spoiled jerks. Oh, there is a lump in my mattress, the shower didn’t have enough hot water, the steak wasn’t cooked right, the grunts didn’t burn the shit completely, a gook ripped me off when I bought some weed. etc,etc,etc!!! When I first got to the company supply room, I was given an M16 that was rusty, about a third of the time I was in the field, I had no air mattress, heat tabs; yea right [ c4 to cook those wonderful c rats] .The REMF’S had it easy. There is nothing that compares to being INFANTRY. Tooch
Bill, I was in ‘nam from july 69 to july 70. The first part of my tour started with the 82nd ABN, however that bgde was sent home. Several of us ended up in C comp in November of 69 including Short Round. It’s strange I have no contact with that first group, but that’s okay, I have C ompany and that’s a good thing.
Terry,
What where your tour dates. I knew Grandpa and Sabo. We were in the same squad in 2nd platoon together. If I remember right Sabo came to the rear first. Carried the 60 and thought for a short guy how strong he was. Remember Grandpa walking point when we were looking for a down chopper. Remember losing my poncho & other gear at Hiep Duc & how fast the guys replaced it when we got into HH.
Been away for awhile, found much interesting on here. Want to make a couple of comments about here, about reunions and remf’s. I attended the 196th reunion here in Seatte July 2011 and found those in charge to be very respectful and gracious to the extreme. I had the pleasure of meeting several people from different groups from 17th Cav to 3/21st and others. I feel priveledged to have been with you all, as well as them. Asto remf’s, well I became one. Maybe I was different, but you can believe I did all I could do for “my guys” in the field after I was removed. So did the others I was with, notably Grampa, Graves, Sabo and others. When the guys got hit we were loading bandoliers with ammo so you did’nt have to, we traded constantly with other outfits fo boots socks extra c-rats, ponco liners, cases of steaks with the seabees, hell, we went up to Da Nang with Top and traded for extra beer for standown. Got 40 extra cases ‘cuz Top confused the marine supply guy by miscounting. The company was going out of Hawk Hill in support of somebody, and the dinks were using gas so it was said. Larry Harper asked if I knew if we had masks and 15 minutes later I had everything I could find, over 60 masks. I will agree some did’nt care so much, especially the drugee mess cooks, the transportatin guys and so on. But in MY time there we cared.
Chuck,
You and that damn tropical chocolate. all the wax in it probably preserved you for all these years. I hope you and Captain Jack are planning on joining us in DC in July!!
Boy….. I’ve got a taste for a Tropical Bar……
Gary,
A bullet is a bullet. It does not discriminate. Got mine on a routine patrol out of LZ Ross from a sniper in a tree line. Guessing VC as we never got him. We were in the open in rice patties.
Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t a bullet. It was two rockets. Fortunately for me, they both missed. 🙂
Damn, Larry. You didn’t get much of a “breaking in” period, did you? It was sorta like, “Welcome to the war, son!” 🙂
At least I went nearly a week before anybody shot at me. Unfortunately, it was a Cobra gunship!
Larry,
When I think of Hiep Duc I think of how you got your CIB. That was really the hard way. Think we got little press because of 4/31heavy losses.
Hiep Duc was my introduction to Charlie Company. Myself and Tate Hayes just got to LZ West as you guys were on your way down the hill to rescue 4/31 (I think all companies of 4/31 were down there) who had 39 guys killed down there. As soon as you got to the French hootch, they sent Tate and me on a resupply chopper. Lucky us, we got in on the only chopper that was able get in there because they opened up on our chopper with a 51 caliber machine gun and they would not bring in any more choppers. After being with the company about 2 hours the shit really hit the fan. I think the only mention of C 2/1 in Nolan’s book mentioned Captain Yap. Captain Yap and I have had many, many discussions on this battle.
tooch –i`ve read several of nolan`s books and years back was in touch with him. part of the reason for little mention was lack of grunts wanting to talk or write to him. yes–grunts that wouldn`t write–hard to bekieve huh.
rudy yap was the C.O. back then. rudy still lives in hawaii, has had some health problems over the years. age 73 now and still bitches like a true grunt.
Shortround, I find it hard to believe that nobody from our company would speak to Nolan. But forgetting that, when you do reseaech, you don’t leave out an entire segment of the story. Considering the number of casualties we had, it’s sad that our story wasn’t told. Tooch
LT,
Remember it well. I read the book also a long time ago.
Guys.
I made my reservations for the reunions today. The Cliff House in CO for 11 and 12 June and the DC reunion for nites of 25,26 and 27 July.
Guy’s, I just finished reading “Death Valley” [the summer offensive I Corps,August 1969, by Keith Nolan. It is the story of the fighting in and around Hiep Duc. It seems, that he forgot that we were there. There is almost no mention of C2/1 in his book. For those of us who were there, I am sure we remember it well. Tooch
thnx for the feedback///the one reason i hope to make it to dc is go to the WALL and what better way to see than to see it with someone else that was there…the moving wall was a hard step but the real deal i believe is something that i need…….getting chocked up just thinking about it…two of the names on it are a couple of guys that came in the same time i did,. same town-same boot camp and ait…
Check this out. It’s not your father’s armed forces anymore, is it?
http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/21083919/robot-helicopters-help-out-in-war-zones#axzz2KJXn1XRL
Lawrance: ME? ME?
Oh…hell no! Heck, I don’t even belong anymore. Our 70-71 group did one reunion with the 196th and that was enough for me.
But, thanks for the thought.
Oh, hell no, hell no for me. I attended ore of their reunions also. There remains a huge divide in REMF’s and grunts. The 196th is run by REMF’s. If this reunion was not in DC, I would not attend. I just want to go to the Wall with some of my brothers. I made the mistake of paying for a life time membership, so I cannot say that I don’t belong anymore.
just got my letter from WARREN NEIL/// among other things -price of DC reunion–and his stepping down as President of org [196th assoc] ,if you all got any one to nominate u have plenty of time to think on it…G. CAP would be mine,,,L. Harper u interested in the position????
Larry,
Love it. I assume Hawk Hill. What month & year did that happen.