When I was working Air Cav. Pink Teams West & Northwest of Kontum the trees were commonly 150-200' tall.  Most were teak and mahogany hard woods.  Firing rockets into those were just noisemakers and very little of the rocket's burst shrapnel was going to do any damage at ground level.  The delayed fuse 17 lb. 2.75" rocket were the answer.  They also worked well as bunker busters.

The triple canopy was so thick in many places that it could catch and support the weight of a crashing helicopter.

I Noticed that the pics I posted over the years with PhotoBucket have been blocked , so will be reposting them for everyone ... the following pics are from one of 22 combat air assualt misssions that I went on in the Mekong Delta with the 82nd AB ..

this was the door gunner on this Huey , setting around waiting for orders , sound familiar to any one

this is me still waiting along the side of an old cemetery, in a rifle squad ..
 
my squad leader on the right , Sgt. Weister ..

Our Medic , Doc. Tucker ..


Finally on our way ..




last 4 pics are from a differant misssion
will keep posting till I get them all back on again , enjoy ...

Looks pretty wet Ken.

Wet does not begin to describe the Delta , walking on rice paddy dikes designed by 90lb mama and papa sans was a joke , this place was also filled with komodo dragons , snakes out the wazzu, Cobra's to mention just one, leeches of all sizes , Malaria packing Mosquitoes big enough to carry small bombs, Scorpions that could kill you from being stung by them , and not to mention all the bad guys shooting at you trying to kill you , and Booby Traps everywhere you went , I couldnt have been happier when the 82nd AB was redeployed back to Ft. Bragg and I was transferred to the 2/11ACR , which were further north in the Michelin Rubber Plantation where you could stand on solid ground , and leaving behind alot of these critters that we put up with in the Delta  
       

I was in a much nicer area up north myself.

I have no idea how you fine men endured that misery. Much respect.

People would ask what it was like.

I would tell go ten to fourty days without a shower. Be hot and sweaty, walk all day, eat out of a can, get little sleep and that was good day, a bad day was some NVA shooting at you

How long before your uniforms and other soft gear rotted and came apart?

With the PBS special on Vietnam, my dads Captain posted this:

Thursday's Vietnam episode featured accounts by two Marines who were in my 9th Marine Regiment. The one shot in the chest on July 2, 1967 was in Bravo Company. My company, India, was inserted by helicopter into an LZ blanketed by NVA artillery that same afternoon to aid Bravo. We spent the next 14 days battling the NVA in what became Operation Buffalo. Finding our Marine's bodies, who had obviously been wounded and then executed, was difficult to see. Many had also been mutilated in ways hard to imagine. We never did this to the body of an NVA soldier! War, especially war that is all day, every day, makes one hate their enemy. And I really hated them! But I, nor my Marines, ever mutilated a body!
-----
My dad was India during this time also with them. 

Also from him:

Those 14 days in July are recounted in one of the most accurate books written about war in Vietnam. Operation Buffalo by Keith William Nolan, recounts one particular instance that was very difficult for us to witness. One of our jets was making a bombing run onto the enemy positions. Sadly, the pilot lined up on Marines instead of the NVA. We were all yelling as we saw the bomb falling onto the company to our east, as if yelling could stop the bomb in mid air! Many Marines were killed! I doubt the pilot ever got over that.

More:

The Wednesday night Vietnam episode had an Army Vet using the term "BAIT"! We Marines have been telling people for years that we were simply bait trying to lure the enemy into a fight. The young soldier's Gold Star family, being interviewed in each episode, learned that he had been killed as the point- man in an ambush. The soldiers were sent onto a hill occupied with a known enemy force. Had the concept of "Artillery Reconnaissance By Fire" been employed when it was highly likely that NVA were present, many lives would have been saved! Many of my friends would not have been killed! There was a reluctance by battalion level command to allow the use of ARBF. Then again, battalion command were "in the rear with the gear," and not out in the bush with us Grunts!

Thanks for sharing his posts. Please bring more if and when he keeps it coming. Are you able to comment where he is posting? If so, thank him and ask him to continue.

It's on FB, Jack is one of my dads oldest friends from Vietnam, and Jack and I are friends.  Jim posts from time to time, who was my dads Sergeant.  But I'm friends with a few of the guys my dad served with and go to reunions with them. 

a few more pics for your viewing pleasure  ...

I was 20 when this was taken , stationed at a place called East Bridge ..
..
This was our 82mm Mortar emplacements in our camp ..
..
this was the East end of the bridge , It was guarded by ARVN's ..
..
This was the West end of the Bridge that we guarded , compound close to the road was were the ARVN's stayed , our CO and HQ stayed in the big tent , while we manned bunkers around the perimeter ..
..
Inspection day every once in a while the brass would come around to see how the fighting men lived ..
..
Aluminum John boats we patrolled up and down the river in , this was one of the worst things we did while stationed here ..

PFC Ken Golden on Guard duty , in the relaxed mode , M60 was just in front of where I was sitting ..

All for now , more to come ..

about the only thing that had to be replaced over time was the ammo bandoleers we kept or 20rd mags in , the mags would start poking out at the corners and soon after we just replace them with new ones , we carried 21 , 20rd mags as our basic combat load and one extra bandoleer of just ammo , you could carry more if you wanted it , because it rained all the time clean uniforms lasted until we got clean or new fatigues , socks were the hardest things to get as well as OD T shirts , it was better to keep what you had an wash it yourself , we also had OD boxer shorts out the wazzu , these were good to where when the sun came back out so your jungle fatigues could dry , Poncho liners were also in high demand , I had to have my jungle boots replaced only once during my tour , the leather on the outer sides finally cracked and gave way from being wet all the time , and all our nylon web gear held up fine ...

Great insight, Ken. I know a lot of those Ricky Recon types didn't bother with underwear or socks even. 

Any hairy stories about patrolling in those aluminum jonboats? That sounds incredibly sketchy.

More:

The Vietnam series managed to quickly move to the years of protest. It did not bother to cover what it was really like at Con Thien. Con Thien means Hill of the Angles! It was our northernmost position in Vietnam. A company of Marines was rotated into and out of Con Thien each month. During that month, Con Thien was bombarded with many thousands of rounds of NVA artillery. Marines called their tour at Con Thien "Time in the Barrel" from the constant shelling. In May 1967, I went to Con Thien to visit my former drill instructor who was now the company Gunny for D/1/4. He had previously stopped by Camp Carroll to see me, but I was out in the bush. When I arrived at Con Thien, I ran to the CO's bunker expecting to find him. I was informed by their CO that Gunny Elliott had been killed on May 8th during an all out NVA assault on their position. When I returned home from Vietnam, I received a letter informing me that one of my squad members, Ron Pene and 3 other I/3/9 Marines had died at Con Thien. Fighting face to face is easy! Ducking in a trench listening to incoming artillery scream into your position, is the most frightening experience I had in Vietnam.The interview of the man who claimed he was a coward for not refusing to go to Vietnam, was pathetic! If you ran to Canada, you are a coward! I don't care what Jimmy Carter said! You are still a coward!Gunny Elliott was from Philly. He was a Dark Green Marine! Gunny Elliott taught us there are no black or white Marines! We are green Marines, dark green and light green. Above all, our blood is the same. God gave us different shades of skin, but He made us in His image. RIP Gunny!

@ RTUtah   , those john boats were full of patched bullet holes from the former company that had been there and ambushed farther down the river , we heard that one guy that had been setting on the edge of the boat had fell backwards off one of them and was never seen again from all the weight he had strapped on him , our Lt had us carry our gear onto the boats and distribute it evenly to keep both sides even in the water , they sat very low in the water when filled up with GI's and all our gear ,and we sat as low as we could when he were in those damn things , we were never ambushed in them while we were there , and we were all business going down the river in them , sometimes we would get a ride with some of the brown water navy guys on their gunboats , to where we needed to go , also moved on the large ATC without the overhead armor , when our company moved to a different location in the Delta , we were always happy to see the navy when we had to move ...      

Outstanding. RIP, Gunny.

@M10KEN, thanks for the tales. 

Immersion foot, ring worm, amoebic dysentery, 105mm rounds strung up in trees, red ants, black ants, two foot long centipedes with barbed venomous tails

Human shit filled water or 17ft tides exposing three feet of heart sucking mud to waddle through with 80lb packs

Never getting dry during the wet season ...yeah the Mekong Delta 2/39th 6/31st

My best buddy was there Whiskey Battery four deuce in 67 ...it was more like WW1 then Vietnam for those guys...

He once said they strung wire around Con Tien not to keep the NVA out but to keep us in....

IMO those guys there at that time had it worse than anyone else in VN

They took fire from big guns + at least one attack by soviet jets

wasn't RR but no one wore socks or underwear you wouldn't have any skin left if you did

... dang, I cannot even imagine. Thank you for your service to the country

My dad was pretty much in and around Con Tien his entire 9 months there in 67', he was wounded out with shrapnel in his head and back from a mortar round hitting behind him while ducked in a fox hole.

As mentioned above, he was apart of Operation Buffalo.  The stories the guys tell me about my dad and how he was a great Marine.  Sitting and talking with them has changed my perception on things.

Your buddy and my dad probably crossed paths a time or 2.

Roger that.

More:

The PBS Vietnam series is now more like the Vietnam protestors series. Those in the Army and Marines who were draftees are depicted as trouble makers squabbling over the length of their haircuts! Problems were identified as being in the rear! When they went to the field on operations, those petty issues disappeared.In the field, one's life is dependent on his squad/team members doing their very best for each other. Success in the field is determined by following orders. In the Marine Corps, that is a given! We follow orders! Why? Because our collective lives depended on it.It is not easy to become an NCO in the war time Marine Corps. NCO's have demonstrated the ability to make good tactical decisions and motivate their men to follow orders, no matter how difficult or dangerous. New boot officers, and we had quite a few, who were wise, would seek the input of their squad leaders. The squad leaders wished for nothing but the best platoon leaders, and it was our job to help them achieve that status. It was the PL's job to implement the company commander's operational plans. During my tour, that is how it worked, and it did work! I never had a Marine refuse an order in battle, NEVER! Four of my brave Marines were killed at Getlin's Corner in our attempt to rescue our former platoon leader, Lt. John Bobo. We did reach John and dropped off my Corpsman, Doc Ken Braun, who put a tourniquet on John's severed leg. Doc was dragging John over the crest of the hill when they were both shot by an NVA soldier hiding in the tall grass. John was killed and Doc was shot three times but survived. John's actions earlier in the battle had prevented my squad being out flanked by NVA forces. John was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. You see, John Bobo, even with his leg blown off by an NVA mortar round, knew that my entire squad's survival was dependent on him, all alone with just a shotgun, being able to hold off the attacking force. He was willing to sacrifice himself for us! Too bad this series has not chosen to tell the Lt. John Bobo stories of the Vietnam war!

More:

At Con Thien, it was much safer to be on patrol, out in the bush, than manning fighting positions on the perimeter. Khe Sanh got most of the publicity, but Con Thien received far more incoming! I don't think an enemy jet ever made it that far south of Hanoi without being blown away by our jets. Many nights along the DMZ, we watched our jets attacking the NVA artillery positions in the mouth of mountain caves. Often times the NVA would try shooting them down with their SAM missiles. When our jets flew away, the NVA artillery rolled out and started pounding our positions again! Every night was a light show with Puff the Magic Dragon, a C-47 aircraft firing 6,000 rpm Gatling Guns, firing onto enemy movement. The guns fired so fast, they just hummed!

More:

The Vietnam Protest series continued with John Kerry throwing his medals away. Oh wait, I forgot, he later said he threw someone else's medals away!

I am not going to comment on combat veterans protesting other than to say, they looked more like homeless people who hadn't bathed in weeks. Some claiming to be on active duty, had not seen a barber in months! For those who were legit, I felt then, and still feel today, they were dishonoring our brothers who gave their lives for us.The producers, to my surprise, blew right through Agent Orange. They could have shown so much more about AO and the lifelong consequences of its use. I remember being told that the chemicals, we didn't know what AO was at that time, being used to kill the jungle canopy were harmless to us. It was a common site to see formations of three C-123 aircraft spraying the mountains we patrolled.

The fine mist stung the many cuts that were ever present on our skin. We literally ate, drank, and breathed AO out in the bush. Some of our Marines were in a constant state of painful skin infections. Doc would paint their arms with an antiseptic we called Monkey Blood and then wrapped their arms with medicated dressings.When I rotated from Vietnam, I was stationed at Camp LeJeune, NC. After a few months, Jennie Lou and I found out she was pregnant with our first child.

We ultimately lost our child mid-term. We would, in the years to come, lose two more children. God did bless us with two sons, but years later we found out each had a condition associated with my exposure to AO. Among the many diseases of AO exposure is it attacks the lining of one's lungs. One of my former Point Marines was stricken with that horrific condition. He used a whole case of inhalers each week. Knowing that his days were few, he asked if I would conduct his funeral service. I said, "Jim, I am not a preacher!" He said, "I know but I want you to do this for me." Jim and I had done some Bible study together and he was also my Christian brother.

How could I refuse his last request. Jim is buried at the St. Louis, MO Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery on a hill under a large oak tree. RIP Slick.

Thirsty?

Attached File

My buddy has great pic of a 105 round stuck in the base plate of their motor...did not detonate....US made round lend lease WW2...given to the Chi-coms...fired
back at our guys...years later.

Just like today, who we are fighting is those we armed a decade ago.

Some more discussions on the issues:

This was Larry:
I too had orders for Camp Lejeune after I rotated out of KILO 3/9 December 1967.   I was there prior to shipping out for Vietnam so my 2nd time there was not going to be fun.  I asked to get transfered out but was refused.  Fast forward to around 2010, I think, when a letter from HQMC, Washington DC. arrived informing me of the water contamination on the base.  The letter was informing Marines who served on that base from 1953 through 1987 of chemicals that flowed into the water supply.  Several more letters later would disclose the investigation and the subsequent list of diseases caused by the contamination.   So I said to my self, you were wounded in combat, sprayed on with Agent Orange, now you discover the Marines were also making you sick.   The VA has been notified of the issue to cover the treatment of all Marines affected.  If you were not notified you should google the Camp Lejeune water contamination issue.

Then Jack replied:
Larry you are correct! My wife and I are each on the roster for the for the Camp LeJeune contaminated water program. Then again, the water that you and I drank out of mortar, artillery, and bomb craters, couldn't have been any better! On the third day of Prairie 3, we were completely out of water. Just before moving to Hill 70, we crossed a very small stream. We set up security and sent one man per fire team to fill his team's canteens with the normal one halazone tablet. We then moved north along the stream and found a dead NVA soldier lying in the stream. No one poured their water out! We just added another halazone tablet. The battle at Getlin's Corner started shortly thereafter!

More:

The PBS series has finally ended. The war ended but for many, their feelings, friendships, and even families have yet to recover.When I went to Vietnam, I was a replacement Marine. I was replacing another Marine who had either been wounded or killed. I joined a company as an individual and quickly found a family. We had a saying in Vietnam. If you were close to someone, you were 'tight!' My company was tight! We cared for and about each other. Race mattered not! But, when one of our brotherhood was killed, we never talked about it again. That is how we coped.

The next day was the next mission and we could not allow ourselves to mourn for a lost brother. For me personally, I continued that practice for over thirty years. I never told my wife anything about the horrors we experienced in Vietnam. My first Vietnam reunion changed all of that. She overheard my buddies talking about some of the battles we were in. I had to, at long last, tell her what had happened. It helped me to talk to my buddies again.

Since we never discussed our losses while we were in Vietnam, many of them had assumed the worst of certain situations. One had to do with decisions made by an officer during one of our most horrific battles. I just assumed they knew the facts but they did not. They had blamed this officer all those years for a bad decision that was actually made at the battalion level. They were all glad to learn the truth about an officer who was postumously awarded the Navy Cross.

He was my CO, Capt. Mike Getlin and he should have received the Medal of Honor.I left Vietnam 13 months and 13 days after arriving. I left just like I arrived, alone. It was jubilation mixed with a feeling that I was letting brothers down. I was not alone in that regard. Many of my brothers told me that they felt the same. I had a buddy named Bill Brogan who rotated home. A little over a month later I see him walking down the road coming back into our base camp. He couldn't stand garrison duty so he volunteered to come right back to rejoin us. I was shocked to see him.

Bill is one of the finest Marines to have ever served in the Corps! He is now a retired Policeman in Baton Rouge, LA.I flew from Vietnam to our 9th Marines home base at Camp Hansen Okinawa. After getting a new uniform for travel, I flew to our base at El Toro, CA, then onto Atlanta, GA. It was there that I encountered my first, let me say, not so nice person in the head (bathroom). It did not end well for that man. One does not mess with someone who was just four days removed from the bush of Vietnam. My flight on Southern Airways to Gadsden, AL was interesting.

I did not expect the general public to have such a negative view of us returning Marines. There were only three passengers on the flight. A mother with her 10-12 years old daughter and me. The little girl smiled and said hello. If looks could kill, I had just been cut up in little pieces. The mother scolded the little girl and gave me another shot of dagger eyes.

Fortunately, the flight was very short. I did not tell Jennie Lou when I was arriving since I wanted to surprise her. I gathered my seabag and gear and proceeded to the cab stand there at the Gadsden Municipal Airport. A very friendly cabby helped me load my gear and we headed to Jennie Lou's parents home. The cabby asked if I was returning from Vietnam and I answered yes.

He told me that he too had returned home from World War 2 and knew how it felt. He also thanked me for serving our country. As we approached the house, I asked if he didn't mind parking the next house up so I could surprise my wife. He did and I walked down to the house surprising everyone.  I walked back outside to get my gear and settle up with the cabby. He had placed everything on the patio glider and was about to drive off when I caught up with him.

I tried to pay him but he would have none of that. He told me he remembered what it was like to come home to family. Veterans understand feelings like that!Vietnam Veterans made sure returning Gulf War Veterans were never faced with the ridicule so many Vietnam Veterans experienced.

any idea on what vehicle this is?  someone was looking for info and not found much yet.   think it might be a dynatrac after a bit of searching but not sure

Almost looks like a shortened M29 Weasel.

DynaTrac XM-571.  "Articulated Cargo Carrier".

That very one came up for auction last year...

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/266691-canadair-xm571/

So damn cool! They kinda resemble those self-propelled arty pieces the Krauts fielded in WWII like in that scene in Saving Private Ryan where they tossed those molotav cocktails into.

Many Thanks to all my RVN Brothers here , we have made it another year

@ Snake_driver, can you explain auto rotate for me ? Please and thanks.

Happy Veterans Day, gents. And welcome home!

grabbed a phone pic of a dad pic recently...  @ July, 1965  Thailand

I'll take a swing at it!

losing engine/power to the rotor you bottom out the collective (and look for an emergency landing zone) to maintain as much inertial RPM as possible while you descend like a rock.  descending with collective bottomed out might also force some air through the blades maintaining some rpm?  You pull pitch at the last second to use remaining rotor RPMs to soften your crash.  the 540 rotor system had good inertia...I read you could cut power, pick it up to a hover for a bit and then set it back down?

Dont forget to go in on right pedal watch your rotor speed remember where the wind is and have a nice place to crash

Found some more over Christmas and scanned them in.  This ones been posted a couple times.  My dad, looking pro

This was towards the very end of his tour.  I have that watch--you can stuff you iPhone!


Very early in his tour (3/70-11/70). Would have been Bien Hoa or west of there.






Song Be


Orphans General Pershing and Pigpen


One of @Snake_driver guys.  Sorry my scanner sucks at correcting all green.

And again, my scanner drives things off into stupidly saturated.




If you can name those locations, please do so.  Seems whenever I get around to asking the old man, a whiskey front blows in and I lose them before dawn.

Thanks guys. Sounds painful.

And pound cake...I still treat myself to that once a year...just because.