thedrifter
04-16-03, 08:58 PM
Personal Notes and Experiences: My notes were mostly handwritten notes that I kept during the months of April - June 1972. I called them my "Vietnam Notes" and they were used by me to prepare and present numerous briefings to visitors after the battle. I became the briefing officer and would typically present an overview briefing of the battle with maps in a conference room at Camp Holloway. After the briefing, I often took the visitor(s) with me in an OH-58 helicopter and we would fly the battle area. I did this often enough and flew the terrain enough that I practically memorized much of the battle sequence. Many times, I landed my aircraft near destroyed tanks so that the visitors could get a chance to "walk the ground" and see the tanks. All the pictures I have used in this presentation came from my personal collection.
During May and June, I worked with Col. John Todd. Each night, we put together a message that he sent back to the 1st Aviation Brigade Headquarters that described the days' activities. It was essentially a daily operations report and I was his "scribe." I learned a great deal of details about the battle and what was being said by the command group from the many hours of putting together those daily action reports. I also flew the "Air Boss" mission, along with others, so I had an opportunity to stay current with the battle. Much of the information from that period, I put into the 17th Aviation Group Combat, Operations Report Lessons Learned (ORLL) - 1 MAY 72 - 31 OCT 72. Lt. Gary Swingle was preparing a history of that period and we exchanged notes. He was very helpful and provided much of the detail from the MACV advisors' perspective.
This was my second tour at Camp Holloway in Pleiku. On my first tour - Oct '67 thru Oct '68 - I had been an assault helicopter platoon commander and operations officer for the 119th AHC. I spent much of my time flying the Kontum area during the Battle of Dak To, TET of '68 and supporting the SOG mission out of FOB 2 that was located a few kilometers south of Kontum City on QL 14. I found that my familiarity with the terrain, the firebases and the environment were all very helpful to me during the Battle of Kontum. I had flown in and around all the FSBs, Polei Kleng, Ben Het, Dak To, Tan Canh and Kontum City many times. In the game of golf, we would say that I had "local knowledge."
In the summer of 1975, as a family, we became very involved with the Vietnamese refugees. We had two Vietnamese men live with us for a period of almost two years and we became friends with many of the Vietnamese living in our area. Some of them were prior Vietnamese military and one was a helicopter pilot, Nguyen Binh, who became a good friend over the years. This association provided interesting insights and has certainly influenced my view of the events of 1972. As a note, one of the refugees living with us, Giao Dau, married my sister-in-law and assisted me in digitizing some of the pictures used here.
http://www.thebattleofkontum.com/sources.html
Sempers,
Roger
During May and June, I worked with Col. John Todd. Each night, we put together a message that he sent back to the 1st Aviation Brigade Headquarters that described the days' activities. It was essentially a daily operations report and I was his "scribe." I learned a great deal of details about the battle and what was being said by the command group from the many hours of putting together those daily action reports. I also flew the "Air Boss" mission, along with others, so I had an opportunity to stay current with the battle. Much of the information from that period, I put into the 17th Aviation Group Combat, Operations Report Lessons Learned (ORLL) - 1 MAY 72 - 31 OCT 72. Lt. Gary Swingle was preparing a history of that period and we exchanged notes. He was very helpful and provided much of the detail from the MACV advisors' perspective.
This was my second tour at Camp Holloway in Pleiku. On my first tour - Oct '67 thru Oct '68 - I had been an assault helicopter platoon commander and operations officer for the 119th AHC. I spent much of my time flying the Kontum area during the Battle of Dak To, TET of '68 and supporting the SOG mission out of FOB 2 that was located a few kilometers south of Kontum City on QL 14. I found that my familiarity with the terrain, the firebases and the environment were all very helpful to me during the Battle of Kontum. I had flown in and around all the FSBs, Polei Kleng, Ben Het, Dak To, Tan Canh and Kontum City many times. In the game of golf, we would say that I had "local knowledge."
In the summer of 1975, as a family, we became very involved with the Vietnamese refugees. We had two Vietnamese men live with us for a period of almost two years and we became friends with many of the Vietnamese living in our area. Some of them were prior Vietnamese military and one was a helicopter pilot, Nguyen Binh, who became a good friend over the years. This association provided interesting insights and has certainly influenced my view of the events of 1972. As a note, one of the refugees living with us, Giao Dau, married my sister-in-law and assisted me in digitizing some of the pictures used here.
http://www.thebattleofkontum.com/sources.html
Sempers,
Roger