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War Stories: Ambushing a Viet Cong Ambush

"Nothing about war is glorious or cool."
"War, even a little bit of it, changes a man. A lot of war invariably changes a man a lot."

Very true statements by the author. The first engagement in which I participated was a shocker. It wasn't anything like Vic Morrow's "Combat" that I watched when I was a kid. It was sudden, loud and violent beyond my wildest imagination. Training kicks in and you do what you have to do. Afterwards, you look at what you've done and know it had to be done. Then, you spend the rest of your life trying to justify it.
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I took those photos in 1969 and 1970 when I was with the First Infantry Division. I still have some bad dreams but not like before.

Mike
 
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Mike,

I was stateside from 1973 on. The War dragged on until May 30th, 1975. I was prepared to go 'in country' when I enlisted.
We need to remember what happened to everyone. I'll be damned if the freaking hippies didn't treat us all as if we were violent killers. It was kill or be killed. Those ****oles had no idea of what you faced. They couldn't get their lives together without mommy wet-nursing them.

Feckless idiots.
 
Captain O said:
Mike,

I was stateside from 1973 on. The War dragged on until May 30th, 1975. I was prepared to go 'in country' when I enlisted.
We need to remember what happened to everyone. I'll be damned if the freaking hippies didn't treat us all as if we were violent killers. It was kill or be killed. Those ****oles had no idea of what you faced. They couldn't get their lives together without mommy wet-nursing them.

Feckless idiots.
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I returned from RVN in November of '70 and we landed at Travis AFB. They put us on busses and, when we left the front gate on the way to Oakland, people threw stuff at us. In Oakland, we got new uniforms fitted and our transportation pay. I teamed up with a couple of guys, and we grabbed a taxi for San Francisco International Airport. I hustled over to the Eastern Airlines counter and the young lady said, "If you run, you might be able to catch the midnight red-eye to Atlanta. Now, my AWOL bag was fairly full as was my duffle bag so, after a running a ways, my tongue was hanging out but I was gonna make that flight. Near my gate, as I ran past some of those friggin' hippies, one said, "Get out of the baby killer's way. Make way for the baby killer." Gosh, that made me angry! I got to my gate, boarded the plane and the flight attendant told me to sit anywhere. I stowed my gear and took a seat where military stand-by passengers were supposed to sit . . . . the cheap seats. I had only been sitting there a minute or two when the flight attendant approached and said, "Sergeant, are you returning from Vietnam." As politely as possible, I replied, "Yes, ma'am." She said, "Get your things and come with me." "Oh, no," I thought, "I've been bumped." Quite the contrary! That lady took me to the first-class cabin and asked what I wanted to drink. Once airborne, I drank a beer and promptly fell asleep. Since I had been up well over 24 hours, I was whupped! Sometime during the night, I woke up and discovered a pillow under my head and a blanket covering me. God bless those Eastern Airlines flight attendants.

Mike
 
mikegc said:
"Nothing about war is glorious or cool."
"War, even a little bit of it, changes a man. A lot of war invariably changes a man a lot."

Very true statements by the author. The first engagement in which I participated was a shocker. It wasn't anything like Vic Morrow's "Combat" that I watched when I was a kid. It was sudden, loud and violent beyond my wildest imagination. Training kicks in and you do what you have to do. Afterwards, you look at what you've done and know it had to be done. Then, you spend the rest of your life trying to justify it.
View attachment 116778

View attachment 116780
I took those photos in 1969 and 1970 when I was with the First Infantry Division. I still have some bad dreams but not like before.

Mike
Click to expand...
A simple "thumbs-up" emoji doesn't even convey the depth of how this makes me feel. Thank you. Blessings and peace to you and yours 🙏🏻
 
To the moderators in reference to the photo that was deleted: Please accept my apology for posting it. As it has been published in a book, I didn't give it a second thought. I was wrong. Thank you for "cleaning up" my mess.

Mike
 
Doc Dabbs has a fine touch at making his articles personal, this one especially.
Had the pleasure of seeing a brandy-new, transferrable M16A1 at a gunshow in the 'burgh. I served, but never had to run through the jungle with one.
A huge God love you, to those who spent time in country, and for the way you were treated when you came home.
Moon
 
Dad is a Nam vet and if I ask him were he was and all that he will tell me.
But he rattles it out so damned fast that I have never been able to remember.
Like he is trying to get threw it as fast as he can. Thank You all for your service.
 
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