Swampyankee
03-14-09, 10:48 AM
I know there is at least one here who was there in Oct.- Nov. Just thought we could swap some memories, doesn't matter if you were a member of the invasion force or barracks. (After all, it's said we trashed their e-club.)
One memory that has stuck with me was the pre-landing briefing/acclimination. The CO took the company into the bilge of the Nassua where it was steamy and started to tell us what they were expecting, which they really didn't know much about. But this guy tells us we're going ashore with no ammo, not even a bayonet, and he's going to have naval fire zeroed in on his CP in case the Russians and the Cubans come across the wire. Not to worry though, they had figured only 20% casualties before they got the ammo off the ships and to us. He figured that he'd call in a fire mission on his head if they got to him before they got the ammo off the boats. A few years later, when I heard my buddy was in the barracks in Beriut this briefing was the first thing I'd think of.
That coupled with the Cuba "spy" plane (or so we were told) that passed over the fleet during abandon ship drill before we landed left me with one doozy of a nightmare the eve of the landing.
One memory that has stuck with me was the pre-landing briefing/acclimination. The CO took the company into the bilge of the Nassua where it was steamy and started to tell us what they were expecting, which they really didn't know much about. But this guy tells us we're going ashore with no ammo, not even a bayonet, and he's going to have naval fire zeroed in on his CP in case the Russians and the Cubans come across the wire. Not to worry though, they had figured only 20% casualties before they got the ammo off the ships and to us. He figured that he'd call in a fire mission on his head if they got to him before they got the ammo off the boats. A few years later, when I heard my buddy was in the barracks in Beriut this briefing was the first thing I'd think of.
That coupled with the Cuba "spy" plane (or so we were told) that passed over the fleet during abandon ship drill before we landed left me with one doozy of a nightmare the eve of the landing.