Vietnam: February 2-4, 1970
by Garry Bruckner
After nearly twenty hours on the plane, with short stops in Alaska and Japan, I landed at Bien Hoa Air Base two days after my 20th birthday on January 22nd. While on the plane, even though it was late at night, it was easy to see where the water stopped and we were now over Vietnam. Looking out the window, I had seen flares that had been launched upward from some firebases to try to expose the enemy to see if any were approaching to attack. That made it clear that my hopes of surviving a one year tour were just that, some very thin hopes because this was the real thing.
When I stepped off the airplane, the heat, humidity and smell made it clear I was far from the cold white snow covered ground of Michigan. I was at the 90th Replacement Battalion for a few days waiting for orders to be assigned to a unit. With an infantry MOS, I knew what I would be doing.
A Vietnamese man had a crude stand where he sold flavored drinks with a large chunk of ice floating in the cup. A good cold drink was just what I needed. It was hard to believe but as I watched, the ice rapidly melted before it could cool the drink.
There was a poster on a wall showing all the unit patches and a description of the unit. The 1st Cavalry Division patch immediately caught my eye and I thought it looked better than most of the others. It was quite a surprise when my orders were to join the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).
From there I was sent to the 1st Cavalry rear area in Bien Hoa for a week of Cherry School which also gives the new guys (known as "cherries" (me) by anyone who had been in country for a while) time to get used to the very hot climate and more training. The sun was so intense that I had sunburn blisters on the back of my neck and where my sleeves had been rolled up on my upper arms.
I had just been assigned to D 2/8 with four other cherries. Next we were sent to what appeared to be D 2/8 headquarters and there was a big strange looking mountain rising up out of a flat plain. I was given an M16 that badly needed to be cleaned and was covered with a reddish dust. There seemed to me like a lot of scrounging around trying to find ruck sacks, canteens and other things we needed before being sent to the field. We were flown to Song Be only to get there to find out D 2/8 had just moved to Tay Ninh.
So we had to spend the night at Song Be and word was going around there was going to be a strip show. Evidently fate had dropped me in a very strange place. I didn't feel like going but everyone else wanted to go so it sure seemed better than being alone. We entered a building, formed a big circle and a Vietnamese guy, ARVN I would guess, since he was in uniform, come around collecting money. A thin small dark haired girl walked in to the center of our group and started dancing. I was saying something to my new friend beside me when he tapped my shoulder and pointed. The girl was right in front of me, turned around and wanted me to unfasten her bra. What the heck was I to do but honor her request. The bra was held together in back by a safety pin so it was easier to open than the hook and loop type arrangement we all had fun trying to undo with girls back home.
In the morning we were flown to FB Carolyn, and stayed overnight in a bunker. The artillery would get calls for fire missions during the night making it impossible to sleep with all the noise. On top of that, something kept running across my legs during the night which I know must have been rats.
We were told Delta company is operating with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment near Firebase Carolyn which is close to the Cambodian border. Even a new guy could tell that was not a good place to be. The NVA would come over the border and fight and then go back into Cambodia to resupply and take care of their wounded, where they knew we couldn't follow.
At Firebase Carolyn we then got on the log bird (supply helicopter) to join our company in the field. They were working with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. There was some heated debate about what platoons most needed replacements. Two of us went to Range 2 platoon, one went to Cat platoon and the other two went to Range 1 platoon. The M-16 I was given was very dirty and needed to be cleaned, but there was no time as I needed to get my pack ready with a bedroll, which is a poncho and poncho liner, 3 days supply of food, C-rations, and water. Also got a claymore mine, trip flare, smoke grenades, hand grenades, M-16 ammo and machine gun ammo to carry as I was going to be an ammo bearer with the gun team. I was given an empty M-60 machine gun ammo can in which to put my personal items, such as writing paper and letters from home. The ammo can is waterproof and fits inside my rucksack. The pack is so heavy that I can't swing it up on my back. I have to sit down with my back to it and put my arms in the straps and roll over and then stand up. We ride on top of the tracks (armored personnel carriers and tanks) which is much better than carrying my heavy pack and walking through thick, tangled jungle. The metal of the tracks is very hot from the sun and feels like sitting on a frying pan.
It was time to set up our night defensive position so the tracks formed a circle out in an open field, all facing outward. We dug foxholes for fighting positions between the tracks. In front of the tracks they placed two metal poles that hold heavy woven wire fence to stop RPG's (Rocket Propelled Grenades) that the NVA (North Vietnamese Army soldiers) fire at the armored personnel carriers and tanks to blow them up. I finally found someone with a bore brush and rod to clean my M-16. As I'm cleaning my weapon there was a "dupe, dupe, dupe" sound and someone yelled, "Incoming!" Everyone was scrambling for a foxhole or any cover, some were crawling under the APCs, while I was trying to get my M-16 put back together and then run for a foxhole. The foxholes were already filled with people so I just dropped flat on the ground. Eight mortars rounds were fired by NVA soldiers but none of them came very close. The tracks opened up with their .50 caliber machine guns and M-60 machine guns. If we had stayed in the same place the enemy would have been able to adjust their mortar fire, so we packed up everything and moved, leaving a platoon in the woodline for an ambush. They had starlight scopes and around 2000 (8:00 p.m.) they saw four NVA soldiers moving around in the open field from which we had just moved. One platoon of tanks and another of our platoons saddled up and rapidly headed back to the abandoned APC and started shooting when they saw the NVA. It was starting to get dark and you could see tracer rounds flying everywhere arching high into the sky. One NVA soldier had been killed during the firefight and two AK 47 assault rifles were captured. None of our guys had been wounded.
First day in the field, Welcome to Vietnam.
