Vietnam Trivia [Archive] - Marine Corps

MillRatUSMC

05-15-04, 09:00 AM

Now you got me on a roll...we did some trade with those same Air Force pogues in Danang.
Our trade was a bunch of AK-47 and a few captured NVA flags with a few Buddist flags.
Those Air Force pogues couldn't tell the difference.
In return we asked force a 6 X load of 2 x 4 and some screening
for our company use.
The gunny of the company had given me that gear beside a 6X because I had been stationed there for two months.
Sad to say a few months later we got send up north.
The Marines relieving us got the benefit of all that trade.
Not as funny as your sea story but that the way life was back than in 1967 just a little northwest of your pos

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

PS I keep think it's was the Red Dragon Squadron of the Air Force.
It was a construction unit of the Air Force.
That why, we chose to do trade.
You should have seen their eyes on eyeballing what we had to trade.

chembrad

05-15-04, 10:19 AM

Howdy Rines. I hope you don't mind a prior service Army E4 and Army-brat posting here.

Re the P-38. Check out this page: http://www.63rdinfdiv.com/fieldrationspage3.html

"The tool acquired its name from the 38 punctures required to open a C-ration can and from the boast that it performed with the speed of the WWII P-38 fighter plane."

Keep up the spirit guys!

thedrifter

05-15-04, 10:38 AM

Welcome Aboard to the Best Marine Site on the net.

I don't mind.....I was married to a Marine.....Anyhow I'm a Army/Navy Brat..........Now that is a combination......LOL...We did not forget the Air Force.....My uncle was a tail gunner in Korea....
Oh the stories.....I heard......

"AGAIN WELCOME ABOARD."

Ellie

albert torcini

05-15-04, 11:49 AM

THE DIFFERENT NAMES FOR THE P-38 THAT I REMEMBER WERE :

#1. THE JOHN WAYNE

#2. THE CHURCH KEY

THAT WAS IN "65".

DSchmitke

05-15-04, 12:34 PM

I still have my original one from bootcamp in 1976. Has come in real handy. And does more than open cans.

radio relay

05-15-04, 01:54 PM

Speaking of trivia... anybody still got their "ho chi mins"?

And stop callling us poges, you dumb Grunts! We were REMF's!

SF:cool: :marine: :cool:

ivalis

05-15-04, 08:12 PM

radio, been over 30 yrs, were the "ho chi mins" the sandals made of tire treads & strips of inner tubes?

Eaglestrikes

05-15-04, 09:00 PM

Ho Chi Mins were indeed the sandals. Many a Hmong or Yard could bee seen making them in the villes.
As to Poges and REMFs I believe the term Remington Raider got it's start in Nam as well. Anyone remember a PRC 6 also called a prick 6? Victor Charles was the name of every little Viet we met in every ville. Mostly cause we trusted them. To be Victor Charles.
How about Bow Coo (beaucoup) and Te Te. (petite) Aye Aye Dai Wee.

Toby M

05-15-04, 09:28 PM

How about Dogpatch?

Sparrowhawk

05-15-04, 10:03 PM

Originally posted by Toby M
How about Dogpatch?

OFF LIMITS

LOL

radio relay

05-16-04, 04:04 PM

Yeah, Those tire tread sandals were the best! Perfect for the lz's and firebases up country in the bush, when you wanted to air out your feet. You could step on a centipede, or scorpion with them and it couldn't get it's stinger through the sole. I wore mine for over twenty years. You couldhave walked through a lava field with them, and they never wore out. I just lost them, or the wife threw them out.

I still have a "john wayne" on my dog tag chain, too. Every now and then, you got a box of c-rats that didn't have one in it, or they just came in handy for opening cans of just about anything. In fact, I still use it now and then, when I need a can opener. Wasn't a "church key" a beer can opener? Man, that takes you back to the days before pop tops. You have to be at least forty years old to remember those, I think.

I always thought "Remington Raider" was either WWII, or Korea vintage.

Anyone who went to dogpatch for a good time, must have just liked deseased, vermine infested "boom boom". It was also off limits during my tour, anyway. (both dogpatch, and diseased boom boom) :D

The best places for that kind of entertainment were the "steam and creams". Massage parlors on Army bases, that were run and regulated by the Army. Nice girls, clean, and legal. The best one I knew of was the one just down the road from Marble Mountain, on route one. A much better time was had in a steam an' cream than from a leather faced, dogpatch mamasan, with a toothless, beetle juice grin, who would give you the black clap.

The Air Force poges were a great source for hard liquor. The Corps didn't issue ration cards that allowed you to buy hard booze, if you were below the rank of SSgt. Didn't matter how old you were. The Air Force didn't issue weapons to most of it's enlisted on the big air base at Da Nang (which always amazed me, considering we were in a war zone), but they were allowed to buy hard liquor. So, We would trade them grenades, or AK's, NVA flags and clothing, even M-16's and .45's, etc., for bottles of Jim Beam, and Crown Royal.

Speaking of trade with the zoomies, don't get me started on the black market with the locals, either....

SF:marine:

reddog4950

05-16-04, 04:32 PM

Originally posted by Sparrowhawk

OFF LIMITS

LOL

Did that stop you Sparroe it didn't me Nookie is good :)

Sparrowhawk

05-16-04, 06:41 PM

I can go on forever with what you posted. LOL

Originally posted by radio relay
Every now and then, you got a box of c-rats that didn't have one in it..

I always thought "Remington Raider" was either WWII, or Korea vintage.

SF:marine:

If I remember correctly a case of C-rats always had about a half dozen P-38's in them, I remember once a box only had one of them, and they were wrapped individually in brown paper?

As far as "Remington Raider"

Don't know where the term came from, that would be interesting to find out. But, lance Corporal Calderon in our platoon was send to the Engineer’s mine and demolition school in Da Nang in early 1967 and the dissociation between a grunt and pogues in the rear was very real, in the land of no postage stamps.

From, Dreams of Glory © 2004 (Calderon unedited)

Calderon was sent alone to the Engineer’s mine and demolition school in Da Nang. Not only did he have to find his own way there, but no one told him what to take or what to expect.

When Calderon, arrived he went straight to the mess hall and some "Remington Raiders" in clean utilities, and blocked covers, were standing in the chow line behind him. Calderon was the only one dirty, unshaven and carrying a loaded M-14 rifle.

A Marine asked him if he ever shot the M-14 in combat. Calderon, answered affirmative and they stood behind him amazed.

When he got to the chow line, there were no trays or mess kits. None of the "Remington Raiders" would lend him theirs and so he went to the back of the mess tent to see if they had a mess kit he could borrow.

They also wouldn’t lend him any, but the cook there gave him an empty #10 can, and as he always carried a spoon with him, Calderon went down the mess hall line and put everything into the can, it was after all the first hot meal he would have in three months.

He then sat outside the mess hall and ate it there, alone. He remembered they even had ice cream there, and while everything was mixed in the can, he wouldn’t put the ice cream in it.

When he finished eating, a lieutenant coming out of the mess hall asked him; “Where’s your motorcycle, Marine?”

Calderon, answered, “Motorcycle?”

“The motorcycle that goes with that long hair.”

Calderon answer; “Sir, if the lance Corporal had money to get a hair cut, he would get one and the Lieutenant gave him a buck to get his haircut and Calderon did so.

That evening he was taken to a wooden barrack to sleep in but there were no cots, in the building nothing but the bare plywood floor. He tried to sleep in it, but the floor was too hard, instead he went outside and slept on the ground.

True story.

radio relay

05-16-04, 07:16 PM

Ah yes, you dumb Grunts are just too much bad a$$es... LOL

Reminds me of the Recon dipsh!t that figured he'd kick my a$$ for talking to his Oki bar girl "girlfriend". Scumbag jumped me from behind in a dark alley... real brave! He had a real nice high and tight, but couldn't fight worth a crap.

Good to hear you had so many C-rats with lots and lots of john waynes, Sparrow, guess they were just afraid to send a "combat Marine" any without some. :D

I got several without p-38's. Deal with it...

SF:marine:

Lock-n-Load

05-16-04, 07:20 PM

:marine: "Remington Raiders" {pogue term]...came out during WW2 years as the Remington typewriter was very popular model,and it carried over into the Korean War...another USMC jingle associated with the "in the rear with the gear pogues" was...Remington Raiders never retreated; just "back-spaced"...yes, 'Hawk...the p-38 was a most important little gizmo for the entire tour of duty...it kept you alive...I still have mine to this day....Semper Fi:marine:

radio relay

05-16-04, 07:24 PM

Figured you'd dip your wick in anything that moves reddog...

Guess dogpatch was the best you could do. :D

SF :marine:

MillRatUSMC

05-16-04, 07:34 PM

"Remington Raiders"...a sea story here;
One day I was send to 1st Marine Divison Headquarters to give them a report from my company.
I spied a "Remington Raider" all stressed out.
I asked "What he problem?"
They answered "He the clerk that handles all the KIA's record books."
No wonder he was stressed out, because he knew the real figures of our losses.
So we must not sound off on "Remington Raiders" unless you have walked in their boots...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

PS All this talk about "Remington Raiders" awoke that memory from a long time in my past, we try to forget, but they're always there...
"The Vietnamese knew that our bodies were leaving, but our minds would always be back in the time we served in Vietnam."

Sparrowhawk

05-16-04, 07:41 PM

Originally posted by radio relay
Ah yes, you dumb Grunts are just too much bad a$$es... LOL

I got several without p-38's. Deal with it...

SF:marine:

That's cause we took them out of the boxes you got and sold them to the pogues, in Da Nang.

LMAO

Sparrowhawk

05-16-04, 07:57 PM

Originally posted by MillRatUSMC
"So we must not sound off on "Remington Raiders" unless you have walked in their boots...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

We kidded with them then, and even today.

Anyone of us could have served in the rear and that would have been fine for me, if I would have had that opportunity.

Don't know which is worst. Shooting back at the enemy as they shot at us, or being trained to do so, as we all were, serving a full tour of duty and never getting the opportunity to shoot at the enemy.

I know I felt guilt, for being in the rear at times, doing something, while the company was out on an operation, or the platoon out on a patrol.

I can imagine what it might have been for some, then again who got my beer rations?

Semper Fi

Cook

Sgted

05-16-04, 08:42 PM

Yeah......beer rations.
In early (May) '66 when I arrived in Chu Lai there were ration cards for beer (and electronics, etc).
2 beers per day.
In my area (HqBn, Serv Co, Motor-T) our enlisted club was a tent with 2 large electric coolers that did not hold enough beer.
If you were late you drank warm San Miguel, Kirin, Ashai, Pabst or (if you were lucky) Bud.

I was in the rear for my entire 19 month tour in 'Nam. (I extended).
I only heard stories about the guys who were in the thick of it and concentrated on staying ready for my batism into combat which I thought would happen anytime. But that did not happen.
I fired my rifle once.
In Chu Lai.
At a sand dune on the beach.
At a target I could not see.
With no enemy killed.

In July '67, when the Da Nang airfield was hit I was sure we were going to be attacked.
But that did not happen.
Occasionally, a grunt unit would pass through 1st Mar Div Headquarters, stop at our EM club and give us blow by blow details of some of the horror they witnessed.
Friends they lost.
Situations and conditions that we in the rear could not identify with.
Where you wound up "in country" was a crap shoot I guess.
I was a 3531 (motor Vehicle Operator) but there were Marines in the boonies that drove a truck, patrolled the rice paddies, went out on S&D missions or Operations.
Above all, I knew I was an 0311 first and foremost and feared loosing my ability to use my rifle effectively. 99.9% of the time I was in Vietnam I just carried it around.

What invisible force kept me so safe while others just like me suffered unspeakable horror ?.
That thought has bothered me since I left Vietnam.

namgrunt

05-16-04, 09:41 PM

I met a LCpl motor T driver while in hospital at Great Lakes. He was one tough cookie. He was driving a fuel tanker on a convoy between bases, when he struck a mine. He was 3rd degree burned over most of his body. His finger nails were a permanent black where they hadn't burned off. Life for him consisted one long series of skin grafts where good skin still remained. I lost count of how many times he went downstairs to surgery.
He never gave up trying to get better. I used to sneak him pizzas from the Rathskeller EM club near the hospital. The nurses never caught me sneaking the pies, nor him scarfing them down. I wish I recalled his name. He was one gutsy S.O.B. He was still on ward when I was transferred to Marine Barracks to serve out the last four months of active duty.

radio relay

05-16-04, 10:50 PM

Serving anywhere wasn't an "opportunity". It was an order. If you joined (as opposed to being drafted in) the Marine Corps, it was a decision to put yourself on the line for your country. Once you were in, you did what you were told. If they said 0300 at the end of bootcamp, then you went Grunt. If they said something else, then you did that.

Don't try to "imagine" anything! If you think it's something to be ashamed of, to be any other mos than 0300, or that anybody runs around wishing they had been a Grunt "hero", or that somehow those us with different jobs and missions were less a Marine, then get a clue!

Trust me, it gets real damned old putting up with Grunts who think they were the only ones who had tough duty, or saw combat, and go parading around claiming to be the "real" Marines, etc etc. It ain't "teasing", Marine! It's disrespect pure and simple!

If you had ever tried to "sell" a john wayne to me, I'd have shove it up your a$$. Now that would have been funny :D

SF :marine:

namgrunt

05-17-04, 12:54 AM

Radio Relay

Who are you addressing with your generalities on 03's?
I was 0311. Have you read any comments by me denigrating other MOS groups? I worked as a radioman for a short while, but that didn't make me a comm expert, and I become an AR man when that assignment changed.

I have not made noise about your MOS. Why do you crap on mine? Respect is a two-way street, Marine.

Sparrowhawk

05-17-04, 06:14 AM

You got a problem, with grunts and recon?

I have nothing but respect for ALL Marines that served, in Nam or duty back state side. We all did our duties, regardless of our MOS. That's the way I see it.

If you think its all bad Ass Grunt stuff I have posted then you got a problem with my history and the platoon I served with.

We did our tour and it was not bad ass as you call it. Ah, we had some people that would think they were bad asses, but they didn't last long in the field.

It was pain and sorrow, fear and doing what needed to be done, or the Marine next to you wasn't going to make it home.

The worst fear in Nam had nothing to do with the enemy. It was the fear of not doing your job when it needed to be done and letting a fellow Marine down.

Yes some pogues or REMF's as you prefer to be called (never used 'REMF's" or knew what it meant in Nam) in the rear had hot showers, and beer rations that's the way it was. I would have gladly traded MOS, and would have done their job. But, I did the job I was suppose to do with the MOS I was given.

I was trained to fire an M60 and that's what I did. I did it in Combat against the NVA/VC that was trying to kill me or another Marine. We went on search and destroy missions, looking for enemy that was trying to drop rockets or mortar rounds on our compounds, where ever they were. That was my job, to find them and to destroy them.

I did my job and I had to rely on others to do their job, or I didn't get ammo or C-rats, or illumination rounds, or artillery or my pay check and yes when I got medevacked I and about 6 other grunts stood in line at 1st med hospital in Da Nang and we took turns flushing the water toilet for the longest time because we hadn't seen one in months.

Never went to Dog Patch, and each case of C-rats had about 1/2 dozen P-38's in them. If you didn't get a P-38 it’s because someone else didn't do their job.

Yesterday I gave a P-38 to a Marine that just got back from Iraq, he had never seen one.

He told me some unit members in Iraq are allowed to have cell phones to call home (excuse me, honey, I'm going to have to put you on hold, sorry about that, just had to shoot at a rag head. Now, where we we...).

They have email available to them. Is their war different from ours? Yes, but it’s still the same when it comes to doing what the Corps has trained them to do. In the rear or walking point.

To communicate with folks back home, we wrote "Free" up on the upper right hand corner of what ever was available to seal and send home a note. Someone in the rear made sure my letter got home and I got the letter from home.

Cook

Sparrowhawk

05-17-04, 07:04 AM

I guess that was one of the bennies of serving in the Republic of Viet Nam.

you wrote "FREE" and the letter was mailed home without cost to you.

Don't remember if we had to pay for any packages we would want to send home, guess I never sent one home.

radio relay

05-17-04, 08:55 AM

Yeah, I admit it. I have a chip on my shoulder for Grunts and Recon. Especially, when they start throwing the "poge" reference around, and joking about how they did this or that to someone who wasn't of the same mos.

I'm not right, and I know it. I appologize for getting a little pi$$y.

BTW, I "prefer", Marine. Just like you.

I'll crawl back into my hole for awhile

SF:marine:

Sgted

05-17-04, 09:15 AM

I have a great deal of respect for the the guys who were in the thick of it. Those men are truely a special "Band of Brothers".
On the surface, I can be part of that segment of Vietnam Vets. But, down deep inside at a certain point I am unable to connect.
I've seen the film footage and I've talked to many men who witnessed the real meaning of war but you have to live it to honestly understand it.
There are times when I know I must stand aside.
However, we were all part of a team of Marines that made the system work.
I am not ashamed of my role in Vietnam.
Like so many other Marines who lived to tell, I have survivor guilt.
But I am still part of that Band of Brothers.

Sgted

05-17-04, 09:34 AM

DaNang Vietnam.
May 1967.
Freedom Hill.

Who is onstage ???

Toby M

05-17-04, 10:02 AM

Sgted; Thank you for putting it so eloquently. I have had the same feelings for years! I served proudly for both my country and Corps but didn't feel like I had contributed equally because I wasn't in a combat related role. I feel better now, knowing that there are others who have felt the same way. As you said, we are all brothers...

Sgted

05-17-04, 10:11 AM

Welcome Home !!
AND
Semper Fi

MillRatUSMC

05-17-04, 11:01 AM

http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=74572

Could it be Martha Rye and some musicans?
Hard to tell at this distant.

May of 1967, I was part of Golf 2/1 out in the bush patroling the rocket belt.
Sad to say in July of 1967, they hit several areas with rockets.
That when my buddy Laamie got injured and treated, but he doesn't remember much about how he got injured and who treat the injury to the head.
He made a lot of process in clearing it up...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

Sgted

05-17-04, 11:43 AM

Hey Ricardo,
No, not Martha Raye & her troop.

However, in 1967 I drove Martha Raye in the front seat of my PC when she appeared at Freedom Hill.
She was there with Ms. Tall California & some other entertainers. I forget who the others were but I think one was an opera singer.

I was able to get her autograph on the back of a movie stub for "The Greatest Story Ever Told" which I saw in California while I was in Staging.

Sparrowhawk

05-17-04, 08:12 PM

Was it the dong or the piasters?

http://www.annamcollection.com/ebaystore/fic/011004/m145a.jpg

Sgted

05-17-04, 08:42 PM

Dong.

Sparrowhawk

05-17-04, 09:26 PM

And the exchange rate?

Sgted

05-17-04, 10:00 PM

Piasters was the official money of the Armed Forces personnel in Vietnam I believe. And I'm not even sure if piasters were only used in 'Nam.
I'm not 100% sure.
Funny money.

I totally foget the exchange rate.

Sparrowhawk

05-18-04, 08:53 AM

Funny money, MPC

Here's question Christmas truce 1967; What was the time line?

I recall that by 16:00 hours on Christmas Day we were out and about searching for the enemy that we had seen during the truce re-supplying themselves.

don't know if we moved in after them before the truce ended or we observed the time line?

montana

05-18-04, 10:59 AM

we had some true gook $$$$ we got off a KIA from an ambush we sprung.....tried to buy french bread...banana popcicles ...& wisky...(any kinde you could think of from momason in the bush)
with the money....seems some before my time ..69/70 used monopaly money...in place of funny money...o momason wouldnt take the real think(gook money)...only wanted funy money...we was all broke sept for the gook stuff....realy wanted a popcicl that day

SF

Sgted

05-18-04, 11:26 AM

Sparrowhawk

(MPC)
Military Payment Certificates.

So.....Piasters ??? Samey same as MPC ??

Demanding minds want to know !!!!

By Christmas 1967 I was in CONUS.

Sgted

05-18-04, 11:32 AM

Montana.

I do remember eating really good french bread in (of all places) Dogpatch. Actually, it was good stuff.
I also remember eating a sugary bean filled dessert kind of pastry in Dogpatch that I bought from a stand in an unauthorized stop in town.
I forget the name of the bean thing.

One other thing I did in Dogpatch (no.....not that).
I picked bananas off a tree.

Sparrowhawk

05-18-04, 12:01 PM

Originally posted by Sgted

I picked bananas off a tree.

Round bananas, first time I had ever seen round chubby bananas. Remember that day, in the middle of a fire fight and what did I find strange?

Round bananas, hanging from the trees. LMAO

Sgted

05-18-04, 12:31 PM

Sparrowhawk.

Right.
They were little round chubby bananas unlike the ones we see here in the state.
Heres a picture of the very banana tree in Dogpatch I picked from that day.

MillRatUSMC

05-18-04, 01:01 PM

Piaster swapping was also among the activities of the black market, utilized to make a few extra dollars for personal expenses. The street vendors were often the contacts for these clandestine transactions that involved buying piasters on base with MPC and exchanging the piasters with the Vietnamese for MPC they had taken as payment for goods or services. The piaster was the unit of money in Vietnam and the official exchange rate was between 80 and 90 per US dollar.

http://home.att.net/~vietnam67/200pia.jpg

However, the US Government in an effort to bolster the local economy gave GI's around 120 piasters per dollar, which if traded to the Vietnamese, even at the official rate, netted a 33% profit. However, shrewd haggling normally resulted in exchanges of 50 piasters per dollar, which was a whopping 140% profit and to some soldiers worth the minimal risk of being caught.

http://home.att.net/~vietnam67/100pia.gif

The source of that information is;
http://home.att.net/~vietnam67/jmbook06.html

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

PS I too want to remember the exchange rate back than!

reddog4950

05-18-04, 02:47 PM

Radio at 18 years old you are right there, In the Nam I was in the bush most of the time , but then I was wounded I went to Danang hopital there. Before returning to my unit yes I visited dogpatch just like almost every other Marine did. What did you do in the Nam? Why do you dislike Recon Marines, remember I was an 0311 first? We are all brothers in my eyes anyway. I still remember what Semper Fi really means, do you? Don't matter your MOS Marines work as a team no one is more important then another.

MillRatUSMC

05-18-04, 03:23 PM

Just like I don't drive, I never wore a set of Dress Blues, because I saw myself as an ordinary Marine.
One who's duties did not require the wearing of Dress Blues.
But I did see that we all a mission to forefill in what MOS we were assigned.
Is one MOS better than other MOS?
Without one MOS supporting other MOS, many wouldn't be here to tell about.
It's always been the "TEAM" concept that carried the Marine Corps through all the missions assigned.
I was once proud to carry the title of a Recon Marine.
My best memories of the Corps was serving with those men.
The one Marine that I really looked up was 1st Lt.Frank S. Reasoner USMC, not because the actions that made him a recipent of the Medal of Honor.
It was his qualities as a leader of my platoon.
I knew what he did that day in August of 1965 was what he would have done regardless of the danger.
So we shouldn't look at each other as a grunt or winger or anything else because we're all Marines...

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

Sparrowhawk

05-18-04, 08:25 PM

What was the tour of duty for an officer in the field and why?

ivalis

05-18-04, 08:44 PM

6 months, cause they were officers

Toby M

05-18-04, 09:43 PM

They weren't different-they were "special"...

MillRatUSMC

05-18-04, 11:26 PM

Six months...because the was too many Officers for the few combat infantry billets.
Some wanted their ticket punched, it was bad because by than they had learned what they it took to lead in combat.
So we were left to teach other Officer.
Some Officers got killed that too required that we teach other Officer the hard lessons that we had learned.
Many left to become staff Officers.
Dang SparrowHawk, you're bring back some difficult memories...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

montana

05-19-04, 07:52 AM

think 4 months??? least wase i remember haveing three plt. Lt's.in my one year there........3x4=13??? lol

Sparrowhawk

05-19-04, 08:44 AM

Why did some Marines only serve 12 months instead of 13 months?

This one is going to require someone in the know...

Didn't find the answer to this one, until a month ago.

LOL

Namvet67

05-19-04, 10:46 AM

Originally posted by Sparrowhawk
Why did some Marines only serve 12 months instead of 13 months?

This one is going to require someone in the know...

Didn't find the answer to this one, until a month ago.

LOL

Namvet67

05-19-04, 10:48 AM

I think the 12 month marines were reserves...however I spent 12 months on my 1st tour and got to go home for 30 days because I extended my tour. gbudd

ivalis

05-19-04, 12:02 PM

hawk, i think it had something to do w/ non citizens serving outside of the US for more than a year and how it affected their permanent non resident status.

ivalis

05-19-04, 12:09 PM

DOH, meant, "premanent resident status". I recall it was a INS issue affecting green card holders that spent more than a year out of the country.

Namvet67

05-19-04, 12:39 PM

THAT WAS THE SUPPLY NUMBER...GBUDD

Sparrowhawk

05-21-04, 11:40 AM

Don't know who they are.

Someone send me the pics, probably Hill 55?

Freedom Hill?

probably late 1967

http://vietnamdiary.bizland.com/64446_24.GIF

Sparrowhawk

05-21-04, 11:43 AM

Don't know where abouts it was. I know it was somewhere near Da Nang?

Gosh darn, I was skinny..

http://vietnamdiary.bizland.com/MineDemo1.gif

Sparrowhawk

05-23-04, 08:22 AM

Were they different all the time/ It seemes like they changed sometime in early 1968?

I enjoyed beans and franks, perhaps because they seemed to be more filling.

I remember the day I discovered I could put the powedered creme in the coco mixture we sometimes received. Coco was my favorite drink after that.

montana

05-24-04, 07:50 AM

the spaghetti ...i liked mixing the cremer with the coco....then pouring it over the pound cake...mmmmmmm good

Sgted

05-24-04, 09:52 AM

The peanut butter !!!! (and crackers).
The little 5 cigarette packs that were a nice touch for the smokers.

Trepidation on eating food out of cans that was packed 20 years prior to being consumed. (there were packing dates on the outside cases of C-rats). In Vietnam, I saw cases of C-rats that were packed in the 1940's

It was all good.

ivalis

05-24-04, 12:25 PM

remember the cigs being so old there was no surgeon general warning.

peaches & pound cake, that's the ticket.

MillRatUSMC

05-24-04, 12:40 PM

http://www.mreinfo.com/images/c_rat1.jpg

http://www.mreinfo.com/mcis.html
History of C-Rations...Meal, Combat Individual
This what most of us ate in Vietnam.
My favorite was "Ham and Mudders"...
Strange you might say...
It had liquid, that why I ate them
Another reason, pound cake came with "Ham and Mudders"...
With peaches, you were in heaven...

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

Clem

05-24-04, 01:15 PM

OMG LMAO seeing that site MillRat posted takes me back. When me and my ex-husband were newly married we were soooooooooo broke, I swear we lived on MRE's. We had one a day (well I did, he got to eat at the chow hall). We had MRE Christmas and MRE Birthdays and so on and so on. If that wasnt pathetic enough we'd have cooking contests with the damn things and boy o boy when we were bored wed play tap the ass with the hot FRH ouch! Those were the good old days :)

DSchmitke

05-24-04, 01:37 PM

Yes I remember that one Good Eats. The spaghetti could be hell if you did poke holes in it. Just blow up all over the place.

eddief

05-24-04, 06:26 PM

Just came onto this thread to pay my respects to all the Vietnam era Marines here. Semper Fi guys.

Sparrowhawk

05-25-04, 06:15 PM

LMAO

Sparrowhawk

05-25-04, 06:18 PM

We got in a new lieutenant that was a mustang who wanted the men in his platoon to be clean shaven and have trimmed haircuts.

He went into Da Nang, and brought a trimmer and barber's scissors and started to cut everyone's hair.

When someone complaint, the CO called the lt. on the net and told him he needed to stop doing that as he did not have a Barber's MOS

Is there or was there such a thing?

Namvet67

05-26-04, 10:38 AM

Haircuts in Vietnam...that brings back some memories. The local that cut my hair was in the 11th Marine compound outside of Danang. Didn't get too many haircuts and I don't remember anyone asking us to cut our hair. However, the barber that cut my hair apparently had a M.O.S. It was TET 1968 and we got penatration inside the wire. After the fight was over the next morning I found my barber in a pile of dead VC and NVA with a map he had drawn of the compound with the target being the 11th Marine FDC. The papers found on his body indicated he was a VC Colonel. True story. gbudd

Namvet67

05-26-04, 10:50 AM

After thought....I did leave Vietnam without getting a haircut. However when I got to Camp Hansen in Oki that was not the case. I just finished my 3rd tour and was heading for the States to get my...

Sparrowhawk

05-26-04, 11:24 AM

Originally posted by gbudd
Haircuts in Vietnam...that brings back some memories. The local that cut my hair was in the 11th Marine compound outside of Danang. Didn't get too many haircuts and I don't remember anyone asking us to cut our hair. However, the barber that cut my hair apparently had a M.O.S. It was TET 1968 and we got penatration inside the wire. After the fight was over the next morning I found my barber in a pile of dead VC and NVA with a map he had drawn of the compound with the target being the 11th Marine FDC. The papers found on his body indicated he was a VC Colonel. True story. gbudd

Does this Kidney shaped hill look familiar to you?

http://vietnamdiary.bizland.com/Hill65a.gif

Namvet67

05-26-04, 11:30 AM

Sure does...I take it you were there? gbudd

Sparrowhawk

05-26-04, 12:25 PM

do u remember the Hill number?

What months were you there?

Namvet67

05-26-04, 12:38 PM

I can not say for sure what the hill number is by looking at that picture from the air. I was on a lot of hills between August 1967 and July 1970. I need to pull out my pictures to jog my memory. Maybe that I don't want to remember(that's what I did for a lot of years). Like I said it does look very familar.

cjwright90

05-26-04, 01:32 PM

I am not old enough to have been in country, or evenin the Marines. I was born June 18th 1967 (in Camp LeJuene). I did not serve there, and got out right before Desert Storm. I am glad that Sparrowhawk, Namgrunt, and all the rest here that served there are here for me to talk to. I am thankful to God that you are here to tell your stories. My father was a helicopter mechanic in Vietnam. Some accounts say he was in country, others say he was on a ship off coast. Not sure which is the actual truth. My point of this post is to say thank you all for what you did, radioman or rifleman or clerk typist. The way I was taught in MCRD PISC, we are all Brothers, big, small, dark green, light green, 0311, or what. I thank all vets from all services.

Sparrowhawk

05-26-04, 05:25 PM

The hill is hard to recognize from the air.

It's Nui Dai, or what we called Hill 65, where 11th Marines battery I, 3/11, Battery K, 4/11, battery W, 3/11 and platoon A, 3rd 155 gun battery was located.

My (m60) "guns" bunker was dead center on the reverse side of the hill and just below a small path from the big guns, 105' maybe 155' who were directly behind us, near where you see that dark patch in the middle of the top of the hill.

The barber you mentioned was killed on Hill 37, 3/7 headquarters was located to the bottom right of the picture east on route 4. Pass Dia Loc Bridge then north.

I kept a diary of my tour of duty there and have most of the major firefights mentioned.

During Tet India company was at An Hoa, Lima Company on Hill 65, further west (to the left of the picture) was Hill 52, where Mike Company was located. Don't know where Kilo Company was at that time.

You can see the base of Charlie's Ridge where the majority of the artillery missions were fired at during Tet 1968.

When I was there all I knew was that the sun rose behind us, and settled over Charlie's Ridge, and if I wanted to see what time it was when on watch at night at Liberty bridge and didn't have a watch with an illuminated hand, well I would just call in for an illumination round from Hill 65.

On some night, we would call for the rounds to pop overhead and then practice single shot shooting with the M60 at the illumination rd as it floated down, it was a contest we had when we were bored. But, we had to be careful and shoot every 5 round into the water, so no one would know what we were doing.

Oh, the stories... the stuff we did to stay awake and sane...

LOl

SF

Cook

Namvet67

05-27-04, 08:54 AM

Hawk...wow..talk about paying attn to detail. Thanks for the info. I am surprised that you heard about the barber. I was defending the FDC that night. Wave after wave just kept coming. Lost a lot of friends that night. We had a lot of new Marines there and we did run out of ammo...Had to pick up the AK47s that were laying around and return fire. I remember the 11th marine batteries.
we had control of 05, 55, 55sp, 8inch and the long 175 guns. Most of those fire missions had to be cleared by me via division. Hey my memory is coming back now. In addition to clearing the fire missions we had control of the rocket program (remember the 40 & the 122). We would start out on pre-programed sites when the first rocket flash was observed from one of our 3 ops and when we got all the reports and had the triangle we turned all the batteries on to the target. Worked pretty good. gbudd

Sparrowhawk

05-28-04, 05:50 PM

Originally posted by gbudd
I was defending the FDC that night. Wave after wave just kept coming. Lost a lot of friends that night. We had a lot of new Marines there and we did run out of ammo...Had to pick up the AK47s that were laying around and return fire. I remember the 11th marine batteries.
we had control of 05, 55, 55sp, 8inch and the long 175 guns. Most of those fire missions had to be cleared by me via division. Hey my memory is coming back now. In addition to clearing the fire missions we had control of the rocket program (remember the 40 & the 122). We would start out on pre-programed sites when the first rocket flash was observed from one of our 3 ops and when we got all the reports and had the triangle we turned all the batteries on to the target. Worked pretty good. gbudd

What night was that? Gbudd?

Was wondering where the 11th Marines FDC, was located?

Cook

Sparrowhawk

05-28-04, 05:52 PM

distinct sound the AK47 makes?

MillRatUSMC

05-28-04, 09:17 PM

Talking about sounds...all I remember was a loud crack as the round went past my head,
I got down as fast as a human can get down.
I than returned fire in the direction I thought that round came from.
Later I ask about the round that went past me.
They said "Hell it was more like 6 to 7 rounds.
All I heard was one.
Guess it wasn't my time...that was when I was a member of India 3/4.
Incoming rockets had the sound like a box car coming in.
Mortars had a sound of their own, lucky that they did not have the correct dope on the weapon.
I remember the sounds of AK-47, when the ambush the rear platoon of Hotel 2/1 resulting in 19 KIA's and 14 WIA's.
That happen during Operation Medina...
Dang SparrowHawk there you go again bringing back memories that I thought were long forgotten...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

ivalis

05-28-04, 11:28 PM

when i was on hill 52 w/ 3rd 8", most of our missions were to the the west. that was in '70. we direct fired them big dogs against charlie ridge on occasion

Sparrowhawk

05-29-04, 01:39 PM

When we were on Operation Rock, on March 7, 1968, we were in the middle of the enemy's spider's nest and the gooks kept popping out of the holes firing at us then disappering again.

We had one of those backpack flame throwers Marine with us that day and he was hit by a sniper that day.

I have always wondered who he was attached to?

I mean did we have a flame thrower platoon, were they part of tanks, engineers?

Sparrowhawk

06-02-04, 09:33 AM

One of my major battles occurred at the base of Hill 52 in May 1968, in a place we called "No Name Village."

SF

Cook

Sparrowhawk

06-02-04, 09:35 AM

of the dirt roads that were once in awhile paved over with that brownish colored oil?

Wonder what that was? Can still see it and liek the smell of the heat tab have those smelled in the back of my mind but have enver smelled them again.

LOL

Cook

ivalis

06-02-04, 01:15 PM

the fumes from the forking heat tab going up your nose, like a GD ice pick, uf da.

we left hill 52 august of '70 for an hoa. finally had it fixed up w/ bunkers instead of tents. just after we left the jets came in and blew up our bunkers.

was there w/ a plt of 8" howitzers, there was also a rotating plt from 3/5 there. couldn't drive to the hill, everything was resupplied by air. wasn't a very pleasant place.

Sparrowhawk

06-02-04, 01:34 PM

On Hill 65 we went on patrol squad size to Hill 52 up and down that Route 4, six months later it was by platoon size, a couple of months after that company size.

Sparrowhawk

06-06-04, 12:08 PM

going to Da Nang for supplies was there a place we went to there in 68 like an air force or a Px at Mable mountain where air wingers went?

Seems like I remember something like that?

Close to the MARS station?

Sparrowhawk

06-06-04, 11:26 PM

http://www.marinecorpsmars.com/BarrysSite/USMC%20MARS%20Operations%20in%20Vietnam.htm

Sgted

06-06-04, 11:35 PM

"Hello, MA ?........It's Eddie calling from Vietnam........Over" !!

"...Hi Eddie, I'm calling the President.......I don't want you there in the war.....I worry about you..........Over" !!!

If I remember correctly, it took a minute or 2 for the "overs" to traverse the oceans and the U.S. so the 2 parties on each end could be switched to transmit by all the Hamm radio operators who made these calls possiple.

My hat is off to them !!!

ivalis

06-07-04, 05:45 PM

thought bout using the "mars" system, never did, figured i'd give ma a heart attack if she got a call from me.

not like the cell phone/e-mail the troops have now. don't know if that's good or bad, just different.

Sparrowhawk

06-22-04, 12:13 PM

When we arrived in Okinawa, were we issued new seabags that were stored there with our other military uniforms, until we completed our tour of duty.

It seems something like that happened?

Anyone remember?

jinelson

06-22-04, 01:08 PM

Sparrowhawk, I remember it being that way. I never understood why we had to pass a full junk on the bunk in staging at MCB Camp Pendleton just to store everything for a year on Oki. On my second tour when I got back to Camp Hanson Okinawa I was told that my bag and gear was destroyed by a typhoon and they gave me a chit for a full reissue at my next duty station. I like to travel light and the chit was very light. I never wore my horse blanket and chucked it before going staging so guess what I had to replace for the junk on the bunk? I used MARS once in Danang at 1st MAW HQ Special Services to call home, the radio transmission was received by Senator Barry Goldwater at his home in Arizone and some how he got it transferred to a telephone line to my folks house. I remember my Dad *****ing about the phone bill to Arizona from California.

MASS - 3 MACG-18 Motor T. FMFPAC WESTPAC
Semper Fi - Jim

Toby M

06-22-04, 02:31 PM

All our civies went into boxes in Okinawa. Most of it was mildewed 13 months later so we all got new issue. Some of the guys didn't so they went home smelling of mildew. I was a perfect size 30 waist w/ a 36 (huge) chest so there was no problem outfitting me. I remember the sound of those 122's coming over most nights though. Usually at the most inconvenient times. You know, after a long hard day at work and relaxing in the shower before an ice cold Black Lable...

dogman68

07-06-04, 09:54 AM

Dogpatch was also a good source of intel on local vc movements and ops.

Sparrowhawk

07-06-04, 09:32 PM

What was the cost of a 12 oz bottle of coke from mamasan? 
 
was there a difference between the price for a cold bottle or a warm coke? 
 
and what about the deposit? 
 
remember them requiring a...

Sparrowhawk

07-19-04, 02:50 PM

What type of beer was available there?

I seem to remember one that started with a "B" blitz? ballentine?

long tiime ago....

Sgted

07-19-04, 03:11 PM

Ballentine
Ashai (from Japan)
Kirin (from Okinawa)
Schulitz
Bud

My memory of beers available in 'Nam.

2091351

07-19-04, 04:56 PM

33
Tiger
Bud
Carling
Others, but I have to look them up to remember how to spell them.

Steve '65-66

Sparrowhawk

07-19-04, 05:18 PM

Since you spent some time on Hill 327,was there a PX there?

It seems like I got to go there once, very vague in my mind. Anybody have any pictures of the place or can describe it?

Just one of those things, been wondering about lately.

SF

Cook

Fred Pfeiffer

07-19-04, 05:25 PM

Occasionally you could come across a 'San Miguel'. I seem to remember that you had to be careful about the brewery it came from, Manila or Hong Kong. I can't remember which one would get you sick (the two-step), but it was one of them.

I also remember hearing the VC barber story at Marble Mountain Air Facility just after I arrived in country in 1967, in that case the story went that the incident occurred at Marble Mountain during a sapper attack on the helicopter flight line.

Could the same thing have happened in more than one place? I suppose the VC would try to get onto every base if possible.

Sparrowhawk

07-19-04, 06:44 PM

Originally posted by Fred Pfeiffer
I also remember hearing the VC barber story at Marble Mountain Air Facility just after I arrived in country in 1967, in that case the story went that the incident occurred at Marble Mountain during a sapper attack on the helicopter flight line.

Could the same thing have happened in more than one place? I suppose the VC would try to get onto every base if possible.

The barber on hill 37 only had one leg. He was a cripple, but there was others that also worked there at the barber shop. There were very few instances when both Marble Mountain and Hill 37 were assaulted as has been described it happen where the barber was killed.

I have found no real reference to anyone of them in the official Marine Corps records, if it happened on Hill 37 it would have occurred in 1968 as some of the Marines I served with recall that story.

I have some emails out to verify the story from those that worked S3 at 3/7 but still no reply.

SF

Cook

2091351

07-21-04, 06:05 PM

There was a PX built at the bottom of Hill 327 about the time I left there and went over to Marble Mountain. Seems like the Red Cross had a building near there also (females). Our Control, we were not with LAAM, when I was on 327 was on the west side of the DaNang air field and we would send someone down to get mail about every other day. Not a bad trip down the Hill, through Dog Patch, but getting someone to give you a lift up was sometimes a tougher chore. Then our Staff NCO's found out that we would acquire the left over Adult Beverages from the E Club on top of the Hill everynight and put them in our Refers, remember we had power to run the radios, and we could get a PC (M-37) lift up the Hill every afternoon.

Beers: Turborg, San Migel (painted label), PBR, Schlitz, and of course Bud and Carling.

Been a long time ago (38 Years)

Steve

S/f

Sparrowhawk

08-04-04, 12:45 PM

I know we used them in Nam, that is, I remember the name anyways for some reason.

Anyone have any data on them and if we used them, in Nam?

If I remember correctly the round buried itself in the dirt then shot out a whole bunch of mini-bomlets/ that exploded on contact?

Anyone?

radio relay

08-04-04, 02:32 PM

I probably shouldn't even open my yap about ordinance, because I only really don't know anything, "authoritatively", with the exception of radio gear used in Nam (speciifically microwave radio gear), but I remember the word, "beehive", was used to describe just about any round, or bomb, that contained several projectiles, or bombs. Wasn't there a "beehive" round for bloopers (M-79)? I think it contained flechettes? I think there were bigger arty rounds that had the little bomblets, that also was known as a beehive round.

I just heard the term thrown around alot. Particularly by Grunts BS'ing about action they'd been involved with, or seen. Never had any direct experience with it myself, though.

Sparrowhawk

08-04-04, 02:53 PM

I forgot about the M-79, yes they had some type of round that did that... I think... But I know they had different type of rounds, one being a willy peter round for the blooper?

But remember seeing those droplets explode after the arty round had hit the ground, several times near Liberty Bridge.

Can't find anything on it, so far...

jinelson

08-04-04, 03:05 PM

The rounds that we called beehive's contained ball bearings about the size of .00 buck shoot. Cant remember how many were in each round but they sure blew stuff up. I also heard that they had rounds with the flechettes but never got my hands on any. As a 3531 the blooper was my weapon of choice since it took too long to get my M-16A1 off the wind shield wing nut and wrestle it around the steering wheel, good old blooper was right next to my seat.

Semper Fi
Jim

jinelson

08-04-04, 03:44 PM

I just did a google search and our memories are not as bad as we think they are sometimes. The flechette round was replaced by the M-576 buckshot round containing 27 .00 buckshot which was carried down the barrel by a 40MM plastic sabot. The website for this information is www.diddybop.demon.co.uk/blooper.htm - 7k or just conduct a search for M-79 grenade launcher 40MM rounds.

Semper Fi
Jim

Sparrowhawk

08-04-04, 04:31 PM

I remember, since when I first got there I didn't know how to call in arty, they gave us code words for different areas.

They were usually a name of a baseball team, a city, a movie star, etc.

So Charlie wouldn't catch on, but the code for an illumination round over Liberty Bridge was always changing, because we used it so often.

Radio, or any one what would an arty fire mission call like that sound like?

Its been so long.

Our Company's radio call sign was Beechnut, I remember that.

SF

Cook

jinelson

08-04-04, 05:15 PM

Mine was carstairs35bravo, carstairs stood for MASS-3, 35 meant Motor - T and bravo was senior NCO, the CO was carstairs6. I also remember that MACG-18 was whiskeytown. We were instructed in ITR that we needed a six digit grid coordinate which worked fine if you were in a Marine arty sector but the army worked off an 8 digit grid coordinate which was generally the case when we were on HWY 1 above Hue. The results were significantly different, I wonder if the Marine Corps and army are on the same page today?

radio relay

08-04-04, 07:14 PM

I wasn't a humper. I didn't do fire control. I never called in airstrikes, or arty, or any of that stuff.

My radios were of the stationary, tactical microwave variety. We provided secure, command and control communications from the large unit (Battalion, and Regimental) headquarters in the field to the Division, and Corps commanders in the rear. We also provided comm between Division HQ and Saigon, or Division HQ and Wing HQ. That was all primarily with the big TRC-97.

The TRC-27, and AN/GRC-10 would fill the same roll for the smaller units (i.e. Company to Batallion, and Battalion to Regiment). Most of that kind of communications is done by satellite today.

You may have seen my radios on LZ's and remote forebases, or just out in the middle of nowhere. The TRC-97, was identifiable by it's big, eight foot diameter, parabolic dish antenna. The TRC-27 was smaller, with a three foot, parabolic dish, and the ANGRC-10, was jeep mounted sometimes, with a directional yaggi antenna, or a whip.

When you were in country, Sparrowhawk, you may have also seen a lot of MRC-30's, which were replaced by the TRC-97. If you were ever at 1st Mar Div HQ, you may have noticed a bunch of radio relay radios on hill 244, which was part of Charlie Ridge, just down from hill 10 (Freedom Hill). Those were various units' radio relay shots. 5th Comm had a tropo shot to Chu Lai, for 1st Mar Div, and one to Saigon, for 3rd MAF HQ, from hill 244.

Anyway, we radio relay types didn't need to know all the fire control lingo. We just needed to make sure our radios were on the air 24/7.

Most don't realize that alot of the fire control communications, between the combat units engaging the enemy in the bush, and the arty units, or aircraft coming in to drop some napalm, was routed over my kind of radios. Usually the PRC operator on the ground would think he was talking directly to a plane, or artillary unit, or even his CO back at his base, but his signal many times was being picked up by a transponder, and then routed over one of my microwave radios.

We radio relay pukes were an invisible, seemless link in the communications network that save many lives.

I actually did carry an M-79 around with me for a couple months. I got it from a Grunt who was going home. I kept it during the time I was on hill 950, but just left it, when I was reasigned back to Da Nang. Never used it, because I never needed to, but it was nice to know I had it. I don't think I had any beehive rounds :)

ivalis

08-04-04, 10:18 PM

9 months as a radio operator w/ an 8" plt, don't recall any area names. just the grid coordinates.

our call signs changed regularily.

we used prc 77s (a prc 25 w/ krypto capabilities).

Sparrowhawk

08-04-04, 11:18 PM

Thanks, thanks for being there so many years ago.

Semper Fi
Cook

MillRatUSMC

08-05-04, 12:44 AM

Got one for you SparrowHawk...
What was a Shu or Shoe mine?
It place fear in many that saw the results of someone stepping on that mine...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

PS I went through the same mine warfare school in Danang that you went through

TracGunny

08-05-04, 12:54 AM

MillRatUSMC: is it the same as WWII toe-poppers?

Sparrowhawk

08-08-04, 08:24 PM

The Maggot posting on the other tread, brough back some memories.

From my book; Dreams of Glory; R.M. Cook Barela
<hr>

FIRST BLOOD
Operation Patriot
An Hoa Basin, South Viet Nam
0700 Hours, September 24th, 1967

Aaaarrrrghhhh!! The morning of the 24th began with a blood-curdling cry that echoed down from the top of the hill into the valley below. The cry was followed by a frantic call for “Corpsman Up!”

An uninvited guest that was attached to his groin had awakened Glen Prescott--a skinny, blond-haired, thin-faced Marine from Pleaserville, California. He had felt something soft in between his legs, then a stinging, heavy sensation, when he reached into his trousers he felt something soft and moist that was moving.

When he pulled out his hand, it was covered with blood. Prescott at first believed he had been shot during the night or had cut himself on a punji stake and was dying. He stood up quickly, dropped his trousers to see where the blood was coming from, and saw a large black leech fall out.*

Then he saw a second one attached to his left thigh and yet another leech further down, he let out the scream that awakened the entire company of Marines on the hill. We all thought we were getting hit and reached for our weapons.

*The Asian tropical black leech is a slimy, slow-moving, carnivorous, bloodsucking worm that can grow up to eighteen inches in length. They’re parasites that suck blood through a front or a rear sucking disk, and they can grow to about three times their weight and length in just one feeding. Once swollen with all the blood they can consume, they fall off by themselves. If you try to pull them off, the sucking head stays embedded under the skin and the area becomes infected. Burning or bug spray were the best ways to remove them safely.

MillRatUSMC

08-08-04, 08:48 PM

TracGunny it might have been but the ones we faced were real big. 
 
I believe this one is a soviet made shu-mine. 
The Vietnamese placed a block of TNT and then they poured a melted higher...

Eaglestrikes

08-08-04, 08:48 PM

What was a Shu or Shoe mine?
We called it Shoe. (Shu was I believe the Russian version) Reason being it looked like a shoe box.
One of the Marines in Dodge City hit one. Took his leg off at the knee. The other leg wasn't touched. Go figure. He survived.
He is in Calif doing wheel chair racing.
Trac Gunny. This was 1st Tracs AOR above the Cua Viet. OceanView was our northernmost post.
1/2 klick south of the DMZ's Southern Border.
Five and 1/2 Klicks north of Camp Kistler.
We had Dodge City and some other areas including Camp Caroll and Con Thein to support.
Dong Ha as well as Quang Tri City. Fun, Fun, Fun. Yeah Right. Hckory I and II. Anvil. Thor's Hammer, Steele City. Others that have faded into obscurity. Lot's of County Fairs. And Golden Harvest.:marine: :D

Eaglestrikes

08-08-04, 08:53 PM

I remember, since when I first got there I didn't know how to call in arty, they gave us code words for different areas.
In order to make it easier for some Non Arty types we used Thrust Points. In the DMZ area especially near Lancaster (Ghio Linh, Cam Lo, A1, C1, Con Thein.) They were Thrust point Caddillac, Jay Hawk, Needle, Mercury, and others like that. We had about 30 in the area.
As to present day. All Branches are on the same sheet of ARTY Music as well as Slow and Fast movers. In many cases they GPS, and eliminate grids. Also they can get it down to ten digits. Accurate with a Capital A.

Sparrowhawk

08-08-04, 10:42 PM

Originally posted by MillRatUSMC
Got one for you SparrowHawk...
What was a Shu or Shoe mine?
It place fear in many that saw the results of someone stepping on that mine...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

PS I went through the same mine warfare school in Danang that you went through

Don't remember the shu-mines

But I do remember the "Rock Mines"

Gooks melted down the explosives from the unexploded ordinance they found, and poured it into forms that looked like rocks... similiar to the shu-mine you described but of all sizes and shapes.

Eaglestrikes

08-09-04, 09:03 PM

Call signs. 12 Mar Arty was Jungle Cat. FDC was Tiger Stripe.
A Btry was Night Stalker. B Btry was Bobcat.
B Btry Scout Sgt was Night Cat.
Whiskey Batry 4.2 Mortars was Wildfire. That was appropiate.
Typical for a 4.Deuce. Give them a grid square, then get out of it.
Usually radio relay sounded like this. "Shot over"....."Shot Out'
.."Short Round Over"...Damn...
B Co 1st Tracs was Murphy Bravo. 2nd Plt was Bravo, and the Track number. Mine was 24. Some unit in our AOR was called Phantom Ranger. I heard them come on a couple of times. We figured they were "spooks". Working for the "Company". Never did find out who they were.;)

sgt.r.n.davis

05-11-05, 06:40 PM

:marine: WELL, I STILL CARRY MINE WITH ME AND IT HAS COME IN HANDY QUITE A FEW TIMES. SOME PEOPLE SAY WOW WHERE DID YOU GET THAT? THEN I CAN START OFF WITH A COUPLE OF GOOD OLD DAYS, STORIES. OVER 30 YEARS NOW!
IT HAS NOT EVEN LOST ITS EDGE. I KEEP IT WITH ME ON MY KEY RING.
ALSO I DID ALWAYS CALL IT A JOHN WAYNE...BUT DID ONLY KNOW THAT THE BOXES OF SEA-RATS HAD ABOUT ONE FOR EVERY SMALL BOX WITH IN THE LARGE BOXES.
AS FAR AS WHY ITS TRUE NAME AND I.D. IS P-38 IS BEYOND ME???

ITS GOOD FOR THE SHIP TO BE IN THE SEA,BUT ITS BAD FOR THE SEA TO BE IN THE SHIP! BLUE

paquick

05-21-05, 09:14 AM

I SHACKLE
C-RATS,P-38'S
+++
PEACHES,PEARS,FRUIT COCTAIL,APRICOTS WERE ALWAYS IN THE OUTSIDE CORNERS OF THE CASE
+++
GORILLA COOKIE CANS: CUT SLITS IN BOTTOM WITH P-38 GIVE IT A SLIGHT BEND DROP IN A HEAT TAB,LIGHT.WHO NEEDS A SQUAD STOVE?
+++
SEMPER FI TO ALL

Joseph P Carey

05-21-05, 11:16 AM

Originally posted by radio relay
Figured you'd dip your wick in anything that moves reddog...

Guess dogpatch was the best you could do. :D
Ah yes, you dumb Grunts are just too much bad a$$es... LOL

Reminds me of the Recon dipsh!t that figured he'd kick my a$$ for talking to his Oki bar girl "girlfriend". Scumbag jumped me from behind in a dark alley... real brave! He had a real nice high and tight, but couldn't fight worth a crap.

SF :marine:

Radio,

I have been reading your remarks all through this thread; you sound like a pretty tough guy (in your own words). I can really image that you had it tough in the rear.

As I remember those days, you guys had the best of food served hot each day; we had C-rats and all the cane we could cut. You had a warm dry comfortable cot to sleep on each night; we slept under the stars or under a stretched out pancho (more holes than the holiest of Navy Padres, it was usually ripped to smithereens by every plant and sawgrass in Vietnam, all the vegetation there designed to tear your skin open for infection from jungle rot).

The water we drank was from the rice paddies, with broken halizone tablets thrown in. We were diseased with hook worm, jungle rot, trench foot, and many things that there was no known discription for. We had dysentary, and untold intestinal diseases, and on an average, we each lost about 30 pounds walking in the 100% humidity of the 100 degree days carrying the mortar rounds for the 60s, and batteries for the radioman, and C-Rats, and Ammo cans (Both Belt and rifle round boxes) through rice paddy after rice paddy that the villagers used as a cesspool. In the under-manned lines compaies, it was guard duty each night, in some cases, every two hours, and others no sleep at all. We were up against the enemy each day, and we never lost a foot of ground.

...In the end, I am sure that the well feed REMF that had the supposed fight with the supposed Recon had the advantage; he could probably beat up an under weight, tired, and drunk Marine, but, if we put you two in the jungle, you armed with a rifle, and he armed only with only a knife, I would put ten to one odds on the Field Marine any day of the week.

You must remember that the REMF out-numbered us Field Marines by a count of Seventeen to One, but they never wrote stories of the glorious efforts of the well-feed and comfortable REMF in the Brothels of Da Nang, and no awards were rendered for the beating up of a tired under-weight Marine that probably just came in from the field after a seventeen day patrol with no resupply and hardly any sleep, fighting the enemy each day, or avoiding the enemy to get information.

I am sure you felt proud of yourself, all things considered. You are real American Hero REMF.

Joseph P Carey

05-21-05, 11:58 AM

Originally posted by Sgted
Piasters was the official money of the Armed Forces personnel in Vietnam I believe. And I'm not even sure if piasters were only used in 'Nam.
I'm not 100% sure.
Funny money.

I totally foget the exchange rate.

Sgt Ed,

If I remember corectly, the Piasters was the RVN money, and we were paid in MPC (Military Pay Certificates; it changed colors from time to time to insure that we were not hording money or exchanging it on the Black Market), and the Dong was the Chinese money.

Wyoming

05-21-05, 12:26 PM

radio relay

The type that wears the hat and boots but wouldn't know how to ride a horse in the Wally World parking lot.

I agree with Joe Carey. You never hear about the REMF exploits. Never got their **** dirty. They'd have been the 1st to have ****ed a brick after finding out what I Corps what like first hand.

Wannabees and REMF's - all be the same.

Regal the masses with stories. Maybe they ought to read 'Stolen Valor'. See if it gives them any new material.

On occasion, I wear some sort of RVN or USMC recognition. The others? Just about all the time.

Ruh Roh! Wait a minute. They probably already did.

Joseph P Carey

05-21-05, 01:29 PM

Originally posted by bigalholmes165
radio relay

The type that wears the hat and boots but wouldn't know how to ride a horse in the Wally World parking lot.

I agree with Joe Carey. You never hear about the REMF exploits. Never got their **** dirty. They'd have been the 1st to have ****ed a brick after finding out what I Corps what like first hand.

Wannabees and REMF's - all be the same.

Regal the masses with stories. Maybe they ought to read 'Stolen Valor'. See if it gives them any new material.

On occasion, I wear some sort of RVN or USMC recognition. The others? Just about all the time.

Ruh Roh! Wait a minute. They probably already did.

Actually Big Al, We needed each and every one of them, but we did not need the Brothel Marine to beat up on Tired, Drunk, underweight Field Marines on R&R, and then to go brag about his great battle in Vietnam against such a Marine. According everyone in the rear, everyone they beat up was a Marine Recon, Hell, I don't think we had that many. More than likely, it was a wounded Marine recovering in Da Nang. Radio is one hell of hero!

If I ever offer him a p-38, I would very much like to see him shove it up my rear end! That would be his last great battle!

Eaglestrikes

05-21-05, 04:44 PM

The Troops used MPC. Sometimes they used real Green Backs (forbidden) the RVN money was Piaster. A bucketfull of Piaster equaled MPC. Two bucketfulls equaled greenbacks.
MPC was changed out on an ad hoc basis. Viets would line up the day before, and try to get it exchanged through Marine or GI intermediaries.
We called in Monoploy Money, no one cared about it. I have seen a Poker table filled with funny money, and everyone in the bunker due to incoming. When they got back it was still there. No one cared.
RVN was fun for some people. Like Radio Relay, who got to play in the Ville, and beat up fellow Marines, and be, as Barrty Sadler described him, a 'Garrett Trooper'.
Too bad he didn't know who the enemy was. We probably could have used him to help in the War effort. You know the one against the Viet Cong, and the NVA. Ah but what the heck. We did Ok without him.
We had a Radioman in our unit that went everywhere, and did everything we did, Never shirked or shy'ed away from the job. Good Man. I know him well. He is not Radio Relay. Just a Marine doing his job. He did it well.
Semper Fi.

d c taveapont

05-21-05, 09:42 PM

Who is this Radio....

Joseph P Carey

05-21-05, 11:37 PM

Originally posted by d c taveapont
Who is this Radio....

Actually D C Taveapont, the person is under the name of Radio Relay, or maybe Sgt Rock, it does not matter. He wrote some things I found offensive as a member of the Brotherhood of Marines. Perhaps, I am just too sensitive to people that speak through their rear end to make themselves look bigger than what they really are.

If I have offended anyone with what I wrote, please excuse me. It is just that I have never been the quiet type; I have always been a person of actions and conscience; and, I have never been afraid to speak my mind. This has gotten me into more trouble than I can speak of, but in the true tradition of the Corps, I have never backed down or away from any of them. That is the most likely reason that I use my real name as my log-on name instread of a pseudonym, if blame falls on me, I am there to field it all the way.

d c taveapont

05-22-05, 12:24 AM

yep. d c taveapont IS my real name....no need to hide who i am...right....after i went back thru the posts i thought dogpatch..hmmm who had time to go there..shait i spend my whole time around hill 55. then north to namo bridge. O. P. reno..then we took over india companys compound until i rotated home...i also carried the prc-25. even tho my mos was 0351...hell i even took my turn at point...:marine:

Joseph P Carey

05-22-05, 12:32 AM

Originally posted by d c taveapont
yep. d c taveapont IS my real name....no need to hide who i am...right....after i went back thru the posts i thought dogpatch..hmmm who had time to go there..shait i spend my whole time around hill 55. then north to namo bridge. O. P. reno..i also carried the prc-25. even tho my mos was 0351...

D C,

Welcome Home Marine! It has been a long time, and you did a great job!

d c taveapont

05-22-05, 12:35 AM

sometimes i wonder IF i really am home...then i look at my granddaughter and I say YEP...i'm home...by the way same to you....

Joseph P Carey

05-22-05, 12:44 AM

Originally posted by d c taveapont
sometimes i wonder IF i really am home...then i look at my granddaughter and I say YEP...i'm home...by the way same to you....

D C, Thanks Bro!

Wyoming

05-22-05, 06:23 AM

dc & joe - Welcome Home Brothers.

I can't hear those words enough.

Sweet music to the ears.

Its cool when you meet someone you never knew, find out about them, say 'Welcome Home', then probably hug them. Folks freak out.

Matters not one wit to me.

Joseph P Carey

05-22-05, 12:52 PM

Originally posted by bigalholmes165
dc & joe - Welcome Home Brothers.

I can't hear those words enough.

Sweet music to the ears.

Its cool when you meet someone you never knew, find out about them, say 'Welcome Home', then probably hug them. Folks freak out.

Matters not one wit to me.

Thanks Big Al,

Welcome home Bro! It has not been said often enough. We did the best job that no one else could have done better under the most trying of circumstances. We won every fight, our morale was always high, and our Congress gave it all away, and they imprisoned 45 million people behind the Bamboo Curtain. They sold out our President in negotiations for a peaceful solution, and they sold out our troops, and they sold out our dignity, and they made things more difficult for so many years to come.

Gy7ras

06-16-05, 12:40 PM

On that P-38, that was the part number designation for the C-rat Opener. It also had the company name of Shelby or Schaffer on it.

It was called a John Wayne when I went in in 69, though I remember when I was a DI in 1976 some of the recruits then were calling it a "Clint Eastwoods". A few years later MRE's came out and the old P-38 became a part of our history. Come to think of it, I also became part of that history. It's sad to think that the P-38 still gets mentioned, well at least my family knows who I am LOL.

Gy7ras :banana:

Joseph P Carey

06-16-05, 01:38 PM

Originally posted by Gy7ras
On that P-38, that was the part number designation for the C-rat Opener. It also had the company name of Shelby or Schaffer on it.

It was called a John Wayne when I went in in 69, though I remember when I was a DI in 1976 some of the recruits then were calling it a "Clint Eastwoods". A few years later MRE's came out and the old P-38 became a part of our history. Come to think of it, I also became part of that history. It's sad to think that the P-38 still gets mentioned, well at least my family knows who I am LOL.

Gy7ras :banana:

Gunny,

I am sure you have always stood tall, and though I know not whom it is you are personally, I am sure that you were always the epitome of what a Marine should be to the young men and women that served under you. I know when things got tough for me, I would look over at the First Shirt, or the Gunny, and I saw that they were always in control of the situation. That helped more than you could know. Thanks Gunnery Sergeant!