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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 16th, 2014, 12:17am |
| Kham Duc seems to be the biggest story never told. That was an interesting read, but as far as accuracy I couldn't say. Also ten men can witness an event and you'll get ten versions of what happened. You guys were real lucky to not have casualties. Besides getting shot at, you had stuff falling out of the sky. Still wishing the stuff in that post was more complete as far as names of everyone in the OPs-not just the casualties. It seems 2 men got out of OP1 with a radio and did some note worthy things themselves. I asked about the injuries to the man from OP3 that you guys helped because my uncle never got any serious injuries. When I was a child he told me that he got hit on the head one night and they gave him a medal for it. Don't know th... Click here to read more ... |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 12th, 2014, 2:30am |
| Yeah my info may not be totally accurate. I was looking at a diagram that's on another site, it might have been accurate for a few minutes! Check the link that I put in post 33 above and you'll see a fairly good timeline of the battle if you're interested. Quite a few pictures and some diagrams also. You might see some one you know. That's all I had to go by, you probably know if its really accurate or not. What kind of injuries did the man from the OP have? Do you recall? Looks like he came from OP3. Good job on the crawling...You gotta avoid the .50. You guys were some of the last ones out? Sam |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 11th, 2014, 8:59pm |
| Carl, I see one diagram showing C & D 2/1 on the east side of the runway toward the southern end and it looks like A 1/46 was on the west side directly opposite of where you were with A2/1 and B2/1 at the NW and NE section of the runway. With you facing east, your right flank tied into A1/46 at the southern tip of the runway...Does the sound right? Most of the damaged aircraft ended up at the northern end of the runway. I think. As for the dud bomb, did you guys deal with many of those, I mean was it a common job? I've got more questions about the training you guys got when you first got in country, before you went into the field the first time but I'll save those for later. If I ask something you guys don't want to answer, just i... Click here to read more ... |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 11th, 2014, 8:33pm |
| Hey Bob, nice to meet you. I'm not sure of date of manufacture for my weapon, but most of ours were colts. I understood other companies were licensed to manufacture M16s and was really surprised to have the weirdo in my unit. We had a few different makes but I only remember mine. It had the closed flash suppressor on it and I never had a problem with live 5.56 rounds. Blanks w/ the blank adapter were iffy sometimes tho. Now let me tell you something you might not know. I was in a local guard unit for over 10 years and we usually went to Camp Shelby Ms. to qualify. One year all the ranges were booked or something and we HAD to qualify. They booked the local police range for us and it wasn't rated for rifles- only pistols. They gave us a funk... Click here to read more ... |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 11th, 2014, 3:50am |
| Carl I didn't realize that you were in 2/1. I read "Through The Valley" (yes I have that book, bought after I found out my uncle was in the 196th) and thought you were in another unit...My mistake. What part of Kham Duc were you put into? I've read about the fight there and seen quite a few pics of the place and would like to know. I know that was a pretty rough fight for everyone involved. I'm glad you made it through. That place should have been evac'd as soon as Ngok Tavak was over run. As far as the dud bomb, I'm assuming you used the charge to set it off? I know the VC/NVA would salvage it if they could to use against us. I know nothing about unexploded bombs and other duds. I bet you hurried up that rope. |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 10th, 2014, 10:47pm |
| Another question from my curious little mind. I had a M16A1 assigned to me and carried it often. Mine was manufactured by the Hydrastatic division of GM. I think they made automatic transmissions. Did any one else have a weirdo weapon like this or did you frontline guys have mainly Colts? |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 10th, 2014, 10:19pm |
| That dude was lucky he only lost his gear. I was in a local guard unit and we went to Korea 3 times total. On my first trip we made a "river" crossing. It was really just a large stream but the bridge wasnt rated for our deuce and a half so we drove slowly through the stream. Turns out that about a hundred yards downstream it was washday and the mama sans got mad at us for stirring up all the mud. We didn't know they were there until they started yelling at us. I felt sorry for them because I knew we were messing up their hard work. Thats the closest to a river crossing I ever had. I spent one trip on a ROK radar site and one trip on a ROK AA site and one trip at Camp Humphries. |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 10th, 2014, 7:50pm |
| I agree that there SHOULD be a movie about Kham Duc. For lots of reasons. I bet if people were told it was true, they'd never believe it. So much stuff there. If you haven't read this, you might want to. Its a thread at armchair general forums that go into some real detail about the Kham Duc actions including some events leading up to it. The poster did a great deal of research before he posted. Some of the stuff is in the wiki also, but more detail and pictures. Hope this link works for you. http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117587&highlight=kham Some of the people there are vets and really know what they are talking about. In fact, I'm signed up here because of Jack Krohn (a 196er). ... Click here to read more ... |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 10th, 2014, 5:59pm |
| Hey Frenchie, I took your advice and posted on the guestbook. I'd looked at those posts often and hesitated to join in for some reason. Your asking questions thread gave me an excuse to jump in here, so thank you. I thought everyone did the burn barrel thing. Never thought people would volunteer to do it. Guess it makes sense if you don't want hump all that weight. Something you didn't say you carried was rope. Wasn't there some terrain that you guys had to go through that was so steep that someone had to have rope? Or was this a rare thing? Watching movies you only see rice paddies and jungle, but looking at pictures says there are LOTS of mountains. Carlfryman: If my uncle was at Kham Duc...Wow. While I don't know for sure, t... Click here to read more ... |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 9th, 2014, 11:09pm |
| Carlfryman Thanks for that info on the snoopy. I'm going to explore the 2/1 angle and maybe find his old unit. Werent most E companies Reconn? Frenchie: Didn't mean to hijack this thread. Thanks for the essays you posted . I would never think to have some of those items and really liked you telling about the average day. I was thinking if I was the new guy on night guard, my eyes would be so big you wouldn't be able to see my face! Yeah I'd be nervous. As far as people asking you questions, for you it's your son asking. I think it should be easier to talk to him than a stranger. Your son probably cares for you a lot and I doubt anything you tell him will change the way he feels about you. Ease into it. Tell about the burn barre... Click here to read more ... |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 7th, 2014, 8:07pm |
| Frenchy- Thanks for posting these here. I was a signal soldier myself (peacetime) so our routine and bring along stuff was different. My equipment was mounted on a deuce and a half. Your posts were both very interesting to me. Carlfryman- My uncles name was Bobby Vickers. He may have been known as Vick. The things I know are that he was a lrrp in the 196th. I don't know if he was in a line company or recon platoon or even which regiment he was in. I understand lrrps may have answered to brigade but I don't know for sure. He went to Ft Benning and was possibly a shake and bake E-5. Arrived in country Nov 67 and came home Nov 68. I have been trying to get his pictures from VN from a relative that has them, but they arent a... Click here to read more ... |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: March 6th, 2014, 7:08pm |
| I'm one of those guys that wants to ask questions. I hesitate to do so because I know that not all VN Vets WANT to talk about their real experiences. My family made me think that this was a taboo topic to bring up because my uncle served with the 196th for all of 1968 and didn't want to talk about it and that idea has stayed with me most of my life, so I never asked questions out of consideration for his feelings.. Now I'm very interested in history and in particular, the experiences of the average infantry soldier in VN, but its difficult to know if its ok to broach the subject with a vet. Most of us younger guys (I'm 49) know the politics of what got us into VN, and we don't judge you by your experiences. You may think some of us were nev... Click here to read more ... |
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Posted by: Sam Weatherspoon
Date Posted: January 16th, 2013, 9:41pm |
| Looking for any one who may remember my uncle Bobby Vickers. Basic/AIT Ft. Benning, then VN 11/67-11/68. Served w/ the 196th but I do not know which unit. I understand he did LRP so he may have been in a reconn. platoon. Would like to know which unit in the brigade he was in and any memories of him that someone may have. He passed away in 2003 probably from AO exposure. If anyone remembers him, please sound off. Thanks, Sam Weatherspoon. |
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Showing 1 - 30 (13 results found)
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