phantom blooper

[d c taveapont]

p.b. did any one ever tell you that the nam also had a phantom blooper. who was susposed to have been a Marine. stories yet to be told. :marine:

[MillRatUSMC]

http://www.short-timers.com/phantom.jpg

http://www.short-timers.com/phantom.html

Gustav Hasford wrote Phantom Blooper and the Short Timers.
Some might not recognize the Short Timers but by another name it is known as "Full Metal Jacket".
http://www.short-timers.com/home.htm
Gustav Hasford Home page...
Gustav Hasford 1947-1993 May he Rest In Peace...

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

[Phantom Blooper]

I was asked to post this on another site in regards to qualifications of pitting one conflict against the other. It goes into depth as much as possible. I took the liberty to delete parts of the post. This tells how I came up with the screen name "Phantomblooper" This was also used to give a breifing with other veterans(Korea,Vietnam,and Beirut) here in the CLNC area,to veteran organizations.It also gives a little insight into my involvement in Beirut,Lebanon....I had my first experience in the arena of death on Sunday, September 4th 1983. Fifty caliber rounds were being shot at my feet as myself, (1st platoon guide) and the corpsman were the last ones to advance to the line of fire and take our positions in the bunkers. The whistle of RPG rounds was in the air all around a round and me impacted on the bunker that we dove in to take cover before moving to the platoons main position. I was already viligent, knowing that the situation was changing daily in Lebanon. When the harassing fire stopped we moved to the main line with rest of the platoon. Incoming rounds were coming in to our platoons perimeter. Due to the rules of engagement that we were to adhere to we had to call in everything and get the okay before we could return fire and take out sniper positions. The okay from higher command was finally given from another higher command and another…. and the snipers were squashed. This is what I refer to as my baptism under fire. The whole episode lasted about four hours, but henceforth we were on full alert 24-7. I realized that day that I was not firing in a live fire exercise or firing down range at a dog target. I have seen death in my life before this day, not war related and I also have helped comfort the dying. I saw on that day wounds that my corpsman treated from my platoon and we were lucky we had no KIA’s and when I called in the report all was walking wounded from RPG shrapnel, non life threatening we were able to treat on the line and called in no medavacs. I saw the advancing snipers being taken out by a M-60 machinegun, a life destroyed in a matter of minutes. I also came to the realization that it could have been one of my men that’s life was taken in those few minutes that seemed like so many hours
A few days after this our company’s positions were moved and were split up by platoons to guard the Beirut International airport. Our battalion as a whole had been taking harassing fire resulting in more WIA’s and KIA’s. Casulties or wounded did not occur on a daily basis, however we were taking sniper fire and RPG rounds almost daily. As in all situations nighttime was very vigilant. We were still maintaining our patrols and our presence,” Showing the Flag”. The situation in Beirut, Lebanon was of a political in nature. We were still doing our normal activities and we still had the rules of engagement to adhere to. Trying to re-enforce bunkers and fill sand bags was a constant job. We were sending troops out to the Navy ships offshore for a few days R&R a few from each platoon and the ships would sometimes leave the area to go to Greece or another port of call to restock and hence the men on board would go with the Navy and take liberty call, while the Navy was refueling and restocking. We were contending with the “Dog and Pony Shows” on a daily basis. Congressmen and dignitaries were coming in by the chopper full. The media was embedded for the long haul and posting for national and local papers. They were good in their own right and a pain in ours.
Around the 1st or 2nd week of October 1983 I sent a few men out to the USS Iwo Jima for a few days R&R the ship was sent somewhere and made a port call. While they were gone we were getting hit at our position by allot of sporadic sniper fire and more RPG rounds. My Plt. Sgt. used a LAW to take out one position; this quelled the situation for a few hours. Our LAW was equivalent to the RPG so we were allowed to return fire with it according to the rules of engagement. The firing continued off and on sporadically, and we were getting allot of attention from another sniper. His position would be plotted and we would try to take him out. This went on for a couple more hours. One of the men who went out on the ship for R&R was an M203 grenadier and his weapon was left in my custody. Since I was the platoon guide I had all the C-Rats, ammo, weapons and the corpsman in my bunker. I went in and got a M203 that was left behind and a bandolier of HE rounds. I had the FO plot where the sniper was, got permission from my Lt. To fire and fired a succession of approximately 20 HE rounds into the position. I guess you can say that we no longer heard from that a sniper or any sniper anymore that day or for about a week. (As a side note this is how I came up with my screen name Phantomblooper, their were only three of us in my platoon at the time Vietnam era and my SSGT gave me that name, although none of us ever served in the RVN.There are many myths and books out pertaining to the Phantombloopers story. My story is they did not see it coming and were definitly shocked when the "whistle and impact of the "Rifle Rockets" exploded in the area ) We were still on high alert. We were sending out squad size patrols a few times a day. The battalion was still taking WIA’s and KIA’s from harassing sniper fire, RPG’s and fire fights. Then the most devastating day came when the BLT 1/8,24th MAU headquarters barracks was bombed at approximately 6:20 on Sunday October 23rd 1983. We knew something bad had happened! The ground shook in shockwaves. My platoons position was approximately a mile and a half away from the BLT headquarters positioned right off the BIA runway and tarmac. We knew exactly which building was the headquarters and now it was gone in a matter of minutes. The after effects of that explosion were enough to knock over all the C-Rat’s, ammo crates and weapons in my concrete bunker. We were wiped out of our headquarters element and most of our attachments were killed or wounded. I had just sent men over to the BLT on Saturday to replace the men we had on mess duty. Our Dragon section was sent over to the BLT and I was to receive replacements the next day. My CO, his HQ element and the platoon commanders went to the BLT with the all the companies’ corpsman and a security team from the line platoons for recovery and aid. I did not go to the BLT right away on that day. I was now acting Plt. Sgt. and the Plt. Sgt. was now acting Plt. Cmdr. We were in chaos and everyone was holding what was left of the battalion together. Around 1200 or so I had to take supplies to the BLT headquarters and stayed for approximately an hour and a half and helped with which was now almost considered a recovery operation. Then I came back to my platoons position, and resumed the duties assigned. On that day 241 men perished from a cowardly attack. Collectively 270 men KIA and approximately 151 WIA from 1982-1984.We were likened to sitting ducks at a carnival shooting gallery.
My unit, what was left, continued to take sniper fire and RPG rounds until we re-embarked onboard the ships in mid-November. We had no more casualties to my knowledge. Our mission was still to keep the BIA open and “Show the Flag”.
I stayed in the Marine Corps on active duty and was still what I like to call a Marines, Marine.I wanted revenge for our fallen comrades, hoping to go back one day. Keeping up the role waiting for my twenty, so I could retire.
Then it hit me like a ton of bricks packed with an explosive charge! Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, something I never heard of before! This happened approximately two and a half years after my 7-month tour in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983.Something now I live with 24-7,365/366. Sometime everyday my mind is in Beirut, Lebanon 1983. From September to November is a very short time. I did not fight everyday. Actually, I only fought twice. Life threatening experiences of rounds impacting close to my body and shrapnel flying all around me I lived with just about daily for a couple months. The carnage and destruction I saw in an hour and a half is enough to stay with me for the rest of my life. I stayed awake most nights and had to fight myself to sleep when I could because of the alert status we were on and my responsibilities for my men and our mission. No different than any other war or conflict.
Facts and figures never tell the whole story of human suffering. Two hundred forty-one is only a number, but to me it represents the lives lost of so many more. The 132,000 pounds of medical supplies, emergency equipment and body bags flown from the ships offshore was astronomical; but that single shot of morphine needed to ease the pain and suffering of one Marine, sailor or soldier has more impact. The rumble from the BLT HQ’s stretching for hundreds of meters along the runway was very impressive; but a friend dying while trying to help is unforgettable. A crater forty feet across and ten feet deep created by 12,000 pounds of explosives is grotesquely shocking; but a vacant hole left by a husband, son, father, brother or comrade who isn’t coming home can never be filled.
Suffering and death in monumental proportions, unless you are there strike no nerve. A fleeting wave of sympathy may come to pass, but then a new thought and a new day dawns.
That unforgettable day in October 1983 gave the definition of devastation and despair a meaning that I never experienced before. The mission was one of peacekeeping. “They Came In Peace” Rest my brothers for we will remember and never let your memory die. Everyone has a story and this one is mine. It is accurate to the best of my knowledge. It is not in the entirety or I could be here another two and a half months. Semper-Fi! “Never Forget” Chuck Hall
:marine:

[d c taveapont]

you know it brother, the sound of war, combat face to face with the devil himself and you survived to live another day, but that day of war will always be with you, same here in nam 1970 namo bridge, i medevaced a Marine out at night, to this day I don't know if he lived or died, fire fights where i was lasted about 15-45 sec, bro it hurts every day, but learn to make" friends with the ghosts of your past"..........bless you all

[MillRatUSMC]

The madness of war will be with us till the closuer comes to us.
What words of comfort can we give you?
Many would or don't want to understand the horrors that visit us when we least want them to.
They sneek into our memories.
We shed a tear, write poems or story to ease our pain of those memories...a young L/Cpl sceaming in pain as he was dying...carrying the wounded of a deadly ambush, some dying on us as we took them to LZ for medvac...another Marine on operation Chocise dying when he step on a bouncing betty and then us finding ourselves in a minefield...
Many say to us; "Put that war behind you!" but we would like to ask;
HOW?
We pray for all our war dead and those that died in missions of mercy or Peace Keeping.
May they Rest In Peace...


Semper Fidelis
Ricardo