I arrived in Vietnam in 1970 after graduating from the Defense Information School having been trained to be a Public Information Officer and expecting to be assigned to a staff job handling media coverage of the war; Vietnam was winding down under President Nixon’s decision to get the Vietnamese to take an even larger role in the war effort and reduce American involvement. But war has little respect for planning and timelines, and even stalemates can be deadly.
Any thoughts of staff a staff job were shelved when I found myself bound for the southern most part of Vietnam and the 21st ARVN (Army of Vietnam) Division battling Viet Cong forces in the U Minh Forest, a dense, sparsely populated piece of real estate that’d been fiercely fought over for years.
My assignment was to advise an ARVN battalion as a small unit adviser. As an Infantry Officer and Captain, I reasoned the change just came with the territory and I determined to make the best of it.
Well into my last patrol with my Vietnamese unit and after we settled into a sandbagged and booby trapped outpost, the VC launched early morning/night attack, and at that point I fell madly in love with my PRC, Portable Radio Component, which was fortunately at hand. Actually the PRC had a rival that crazy night, Puff The Magic Dragon, a specially rigged helicopter gun ship sporting twin Gatling Guns.
The gun ship was on target blazing away at the attacking VC, minutes after my radio call for air cover, lighting up the night sky like an in-your-face Fourth of July. The pilot told me to fire tracers to where the bad guys were as directed by my ARVN colleagues, who in turn launched a counterattack that, along with Puff, convinced the VC to retreat.
Dawn broke with bodies of attackers strewn about the perimeter and hanging from the booby trapped sandbags. I followed Vietnamese buddies (at that point, you’d better believe they were!) to get a KIA count and scout for further VC activity.
Late in the day, after the recon patrol returned to our outpost, I was choppered out of the U Minh and flown to the 7th ARVN Division stationed south of Saigon to fill an information advisor slot for Division staff that had just opened. My time with the 21st Division had already instilled in me a genuine respect for the Vietnamese, so my new role as an advisor with the 7th was far easier than it might have otherwise been.
Working with my ARVN counterparts, I helped produce a newspaper, organized English classes, and managed VIP visits. Yet, learning about that country, its history and the character of its people was a rare opportunity for which I’m most grateful.