A
Anonymous
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200 rounds per man. PERIOD. Airmobile is considered light infantry, limited only by what you can carry, but when I was working with a rifle company that generally meant 125-150 lbs. Scouts are 'indirect' support, and part of Combat Support Co., along with mortars and anti-tank. [We weren't attached to any particular unit, just sent out where needed.] We were light infantry's 'lite infantry'.
For some stupid reason I brought along 2 boxes of .45 ACP [100 rds], besides my 4 magazines- yes I could have carried more 5.56 per weight than .45, but I trusted my .45 more than my B.B.GUN.
We spread out in an irregular column, 2 people on each flank 60 meters out, 2 people walking drag 75 meters back, and Alpha fire team[5] of first squad 400 meters out front. And we are moving at doubletime. Must have been 1.5 hours, but felt like 10 minutes, and all this time the radio traffic is non stop. We can hear a lot of action up ahead, and off in the distance a 3rd flight of Hueys & Chinooks.
They are headed for some auxiliary LZs further out from the initial LZ. But they are going to be in a world of hurt, because Charlie has every potential place surrounded. As they break into a 'Y', and split, The Rock makes a fist, and jerks his elbow toward the ground. STOP. And I am huffing & puffing.
He motions me & the LT over, and I'm down on one knee. He makes a hand sign like a 'phone', so I walk over, and BOOM, many times, off in the distance; the 3rd group had just gotten stepped on. Rock has the handset,[I wear a headset mic. also] and he trying to raise ANYBODY, to no avail. And all of a sudden from the east SCREAMS, 4 PHANTOMS; they are so low I can see the pilots, and they literally swoop up and split into 2 groups, before breaking off to the sides. These guys are making some Serious speed; you hear that speed kills, not all the time. We hear 8 really LOUD explosions, and that particular sound can only be
one thing: NAPALM. And all we can do is cross our fingers that Sgt Fitzgerald and alpha team are not too close. Man I mean these planes do a serios climb,
and we see a volley of SAMs fired. The secret to surviving a surface to air missle is to get altitude,
and then stand that plane on its head in a dive, because those missiles simply can't turn with you. But they gotta come down someplace, and all you can do[those on the ground] is not be THERE. Finally reached 'FITZ' on the small radio, and he had a 50 yd line seat, and it was't pretty. There were birds down all over creation. The grunts on the ground were pinned down, but not taking much fire. Charlie was saving it for the choppers. And everytime a chopper came in, it went down, HARD. Those must have been the bravest men that ever lived, because the pilots and aircrew knew just how bad it was, and went in with no hesitation.[and most of these were dust-offs, medevac
with no guns]
I make a cup of cold coffee, but I think I spilled more on the ground than I drank, because my hand was shaking so badly. Everbody was scared. Rock said "gather around, here's what we are going to do;
We are going to run at a dogtrot to the next hill, and drop our rucksacks, spread out in a line and assault Charlie, from his rear. [and he has not a clue we are out there.] Fitz had made contact with a unit, and had them use star-clusters to mark their position. The hardest thing is going to be to get them to STOP shooting once we start that assault, because believe me there is NO SUCH THING AS FRIENDLY FIRE. [Reminds me of a Confederate unit at Shiloh, Tenn. that was accidently fired upon by another Confederate unit: they knew the others were fellow Confeds., but turned and shot back. Some officer is screaming to them to stop, "it's our own soldiers you are shooting at." They reply, " we know that, but we always return fire when fired upon." {this really happened}]And Charlie is going to get caught between what the Army calls, "the Hammer and the Anvil", and
he has got no place to go.
We get to the hill top, go over, drop our rucksacks,
spread out in a line about 5 meters apart, and take off like hell was coming behind us[ behold a pale horse...]. We are running as fast as possible trying to stay in a line, all juiced up on adrenaline. And when we hit, we hit hard; course there I am lagging behind and bringing up the rear, as usual. That radio was HEAVY, but if I had a choice of losing it or an arm, I would have opted for KEEPING the radio. That was our lifeline to the WORLD.
For some stupid reason I brought along 2 boxes of .45 ACP [100 rds], besides my 4 magazines- yes I could have carried more 5.56 per weight than .45, but I trusted my .45 more than my B.B.GUN.
We spread out in an irregular column, 2 people on each flank 60 meters out, 2 people walking drag 75 meters back, and Alpha fire team[5] of first squad 400 meters out front. And we are moving at doubletime. Must have been 1.5 hours, but felt like 10 minutes, and all this time the radio traffic is non stop. We can hear a lot of action up ahead, and off in the distance a 3rd flight of Hueys & Chinooks.
They are headed for some auxiliary LZs further out from the initial LZ. But they are going to be in a world of hurt, because Charlie has every potential place surrounded. As they break into a 'Y', and split, The Rock makes a fist, and jerks his elbow toward the ground. STOP. And I am huffing & puffing.
He motions me & the LT over, and I'm down on one knee. He makes a hand sign like a 'phone', so I walk over, and BOOM, many times, off in the distance; the 3rd group had just gotten stepped on. Rock has the handset,[I wear a headset mic. also] and he trying to raise ANYBODY, to no avail. And all of a sudden from the east SCREAMS, 4 PHANTOMS; they are so low I can see the pilots, and they literally swoop up and split into 2 groups, before breaking off to the sides. These guys are making some Serious speed; you hear that speed kills, not all the time. We hear 8 really LOUD explosions, and that particular sound can only be
one thing: NAPALM. And all we can do is cross our fingers that Sgt Fitzgerald and alpha team are not too close. Man I mean these planes do a serios climb,
and we see a volley of SAMs fired. The secret to surviving a surface to air missle is to get altitude,
and then stand that plane on its head in a dive, because those missiles simply can't turn with you. But they gotta come down someplace, and all you can do[those on the ground] is not be THERE. Finally reached 'FITZ' on the small radio, and he had a 50 yd line seat, and it was't pretty. There were birds down all over creation. The grunts on the ground were pinned down, but not taking much fire. Charlie was saving it for the choppers. And everytime a chopper came in, it went down, HARD. Those must have been the bravest men that ever lived, because the pilots and aircrew knew just how bad it was, and went in with no hesitation.[and most of these were dust-offs, medevac
with no guns]
I make a cup of cold coffee, but I think I spilled more on the ground than I drank, because my hand was shaking so badly. Everbody was scared. Rock said "gather around, here's what we are going to do;
We are going to run at a dogtrot to the next hill, and drop our rucksacks, spread out in a line and assault Charlie, from his rear. [and he has not a clue we are out there.] Fitz had made contact with a unit, and had them use star-clusters to mark their position. The hardest thing is going to be to get them to STOP shooting once we start that assault, because believe me there is NO SUCH THING AS FRIENDLY FIRE. [Reminds me of a Confederate unit at Shiloh, Tenn. that was accidently fired upon by another Confederate unit: they knew the others were fellow Confeds., but turned and shot back. Some officer is screaming to them to stop, "it's our own soldiers you are shooting at." They reply, " we know that, but we always return fire when fired upon." {this really happened}]And Charlie is going to get caught between what the Army calls, "the Hammer and the Anvil", and
he has got no place to go.
We get to the hill top, go over, drop our rucksacks,
spread out in a line about 5 meters apart, and take off like hell was coming behind us[ behold a pale horse...]. We are running as fast as possible trying to stay in a line, all juiced up on adrenaline. And when we hit, we hit hard; course there I am lagging behind and bringing up the rear, as usual. That radio was HEAVY, but if I had a choice of losing it or an arm, I would have opted for KEEPING the radio. That was our lifeline to the WORLD.
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