I’m an o331 USMC from nam…Tet offensive ,PH recipient now 74 and doing well…Married 50 years next month…I’ve been riding a Motorcycle since 1971 when I got out…I was a state rep for the CVMA motorcycle association…Today there are around 15,000 countrywide… A great org. and not an MC …Everyone in our group is a combat veteran from all theaters…Nam, Korea , Afghanistan at one time we had WWII vets in our group…I started riding for all that never made it back…It was and is my therapy…Even my Vet shrink thinks so…So this fiasco that just cost 13 military lives makes me sick…Leave the NCO’s in charge and get civilians and politicians out of it …That was the case in Nam and it’s the same now…History does repeat…This ,in my opinion is the worst high command we have ever had…God bless our troops and they’re families….
Amen to that, brother. I was o311 (same time frame, TET ’68, etc.), and remember helping to “break-in” a new 2nd lieutenant. He, to his credit, listened to not only his experienced NCOs, but wasn’t above taking sound advice from us lower-ranked peons. His decision to lean the ropes probably saved our platoon many lives. He and I both came back to the world on our backs, but I’ll always be glad he had the good sense to listen and learn the ropes.
Semper Fidelis,
Michael Helms (E/2/4; 1967-68)
I am a Mustang Officer and was a SSGT before my commission. The stories of USMC Boot 2nd Lt.s are filled with what the enlisted Marine doesn’t know. I graduated Boot camp, Parris Island, NCO School Camp Hansen and SNCO academy EL Toro. I thought I had been through enough training commands that OCS would be just more PT and drill. I was very wrong in my thinking. It is the hardest training commands I have ever attended. The class I was in was 134 and we had 46 candidates in D CO 4th Plt and graduated 15. The Next part of Basic officer training is TBS and it is 26 weeks of BOOT CAMP phase 2 with responsibilities on your own , no one to tell you or shows you “how to do it correctly” all enlisted training before we enlisted always had an instructor show you the correct way first. This is the part that gets you to be a leader and it keeps building. After 9 Months of Marine Corps training commands you then go to Infantry combat school for another 10 weeks to be and 0302 Platoon Commander. This takes us to over a yr of USMC training before a 2nd LT gets orders to the FMF. Many of the graduates who will be selected for Plt Cmdr also attend Army Ranger school, or Army Jump school , Amphibious warfare training and this takes us to 1.5 yrs before the 2nd Lt get to the FMF. In closing I would also tell you that most of my Plt Cmdrs. and senior Officers who had command all had earned a GCM as enlisted Marine before commission.
I was also 0331, earlier, Semper Fi!
0331 also hill 55 69 -70
I was a 1833 the same time you were there , do not remember you individually but do remember our famous battle we were involved in with 2/4.
Semper Fi
Mike Graf
I agree 100% I myself was in jam during the get offensive 67-68 people in DC had no idea what was going on then either EF(skeet white) USMC hill 55 1st LAAM Btn
Nam vet 68-69 is right on target. I was in Vietnam at the same time. In my reading and discussions I summize that the interference in combat situations by politicians ( get rid of all of them) and other civilians intensified during Korea and has progressed since.
I doubt the world will ever be without aggression and conflict so get the milk toasts out of the picture.
You are so right the politicians are as useless as tits on a frog, their in it for the money and whatever else they can steals was in nam 68-69,when I came home I hatted every politician there was and even more now.
Remember: improvise, adapt, overcome!! If that lieutenant was willing to listen and learn he saved lots of lives…. But the politicians (and Generals in some cases) seem to think they know how to “win”. Unfortunately once the first round is fired most plans go right down the drain (or the slit trench if you prefer)!! Those who have combat experience can keep you from making a stupid decision.
So very true, seems like history repeats itself, but no one ever learns from it. I served in Nam from July 68,-August 69.
Artillery, Kilo battery 4/13.
Semper Fi
I left December 8,1966 was deployed to 1st Anti tanks 1st marine division out of Danang 19 yrs 3 months old
I remember everything ! Can’t forget ! Seen so much shit was in the middle of everything, like most of us.
Made it back to the world as we called it ! And knew I wasn’t !
It made me appreciate so much more here in America, and never thought about how great we all have it here. You don’t know what you’ve had until it’s gone !
I was recruited to speak in the hi school and did that for over 10 years.
When I first started to talk my talk ,, the principal said I couldn’t say the things I was talking about.
I told him , he was part of the problem.!
Anyway after convincing him ( he sat in my school circle ) the young kids loved the stories !
From “ kill or be killed”~ to “ no such thing as the word can’t “ if some one did it before you,,, so can you !
Anybody remember these words ?
I said those words didn’t necessarily have to be linked to a war.. !
I told them I used that in my business to grow when I came home,, or as they can use that to get better grades, college, business.
Those talks we had, was more than they learned in school out of any book.
Needless to say the principal liked that, and my school circle grew to a small audience.
These kids today want to here what it was like and the letters from them, says volumes.
Mike Strianese USMC 1st anti tanks 1st marines Danang Vietnam 66~68
Sgt R C Parker I served with 2/4 Magnificent Bastards 68,69,70. Love the comments, right on the money, Lets Never forget come Voting time…
In counry 68- 69, 3531 7 th. mtbn Quang-tri. You Sir are exatly correct. If our country is going to send our troops into harms way, send them to win, Don’t pull out before the job is done. Korea, Vietnam and now afganistan, what message does this send to our potential enemys? GOD Bless all who served!!! SEMPER-FI
Sgt Parker, I was in 2/4 67/68. H&S Company. Medeveaced May ’68.
A corporal in Vietnam in ’66, and a sergeant in ’68 with Task Force XRay in Hue. Easy to complain. For example, from the major on down, no one could find the battalion on the 101st Airborne east of Hue. While they discussed what was happening at the highest level, l as comm chief snuck down to the last radio in the hq comm bunker and dialed up an old freq that was “not to be used” and called them up. Guess what! No one told them thecfreq’s had been changed! Which was what l expected. They were getting hit by large NVA units unexpectedly. No one coordinated with them or informed them of our movements that would allow them to prepare. So, as l always say, it’s easy to complain. Harder to come up with a solution. Even when you almost get office hours with the major for potentially saving lives.
Correct is so called President makes me so mad only a Coward would do it like this I’m seeing it like Benghazi all over again they elected a communist and this is what you got the more empathetic to the Taliban than they are to veterans
Brother, I couldn’t have said it better myself. Nam from 68 to 70 and would do it all over again if we could leave the political people at home. Let the Generals do the jobs they have been trained to do, and keep the political crap out of any Military Operation if you want it done Right.
Semper Fi to all.
Hello fellow Marines. I was in Vietnam for about 7 months. I was wounded Sept. 66, Quang Tri Province and is a Silver Star recipient for my action.
Marines, I would hope that this board doesn’t become a political venture. Personally, I wasn’t pleased of the situation that allowed the slaughter of our fellow Marines in Beirut. But I don’t recall bashing anyone decision, I wasn’t presence!!!
I agree, Rambo Trump would never had ended it this way. Hey, wait a minute, isn’t he the Draft Dodging Pussy that negotiated the Afghanistan surrender to begin with? If only Chesty was still here!
The fiasco committed by the hastily withdraw of the military from Afghanistan prior to the evacuation of civilians and our allies, is a repeat of Saigon, resulting several civilians left behind and now are hostages. Which results in a repeat of another dark moment in our history, the Iran Hostage Crisis, resulting in 444 days of American civilians and military personnel being held by the Iranian Revolution, only now goes by the name Taliban/ISIS/Al-Qaeda.
I suggest that everyone assess the evacuation from Afghanistan. Weren’t the ones who wanted to leave, were told in May? Many civilians wanted to remain for that almighty $$$$$>
Two stories here smacked me up the head one made by Nam Vet 68-69.
My father was a USAF First Sergeant serving his first (and last) on the ground tour at Pleiku in 68-69 (previously he had been with SAC and flew in, out and around Viet Nam which had been unknown to my mother.) My own tour was 69-70 at Chu Lai (wing wiper on F4s). Later I swapped MOS with that of 0431 (Embark). My next assignment was with one of the largest aircraft squadrons on the East coast. From there I got assigned as a Combat Cargo Assistant (CCA) on a Navy Phibron Staff. My Mustang boss, a Marine Captain had me read (multiple times) the OpOrd Eagle Pull. When Eagle Pull went down, I was safe in San Diego – but not for long. We were recalled and headed west and partook of what came to be known as Operation Frequent Wind. While I can not speak to the organization of Eagle Pull, Frequent Wind, with all its glaring problems, anywhere from a reluctant Ambassador who was to give the word to execute the withdrawal (that leaves a sour taste in my mouth) we did do a pretty good job of it considering our capacity. The movie “The Green Dragon” documents the processing of Vietnamese refugees at Cam Pendleton. A Gunnery Sergeant was instrumental is taking some of the group’s leaders out into Oceanside to enjoy what they never thought existed.
In 1980, the United States took in Cuban refugees. A politically correct Army General would not allow ammunition for the Army sentries, with the result of escaped (un-veted) storming out of their compound and the rape of one of the female sentries. Soon a similar “Town Tour” was instituted to show the refugees what it was like in the United States.
Now, the Afghanistan operation looks like a soup sandwich in execution leaving behind American Citizens, Afghan allies, billions of dollars of state of the art equipment to include anything from M1-16 to Apache helicopters and swishy politically sensitive brass more worried about introduction of Critical Race Theory.
In San Diego, I worked for a high level government entity. The idiocy exhibited by both the DOD civilians and the upper civilian echelon not to mention the upper military brass was confounding to say the least. They had their own internet where they hosted groups like Handgun Control – but heaven forbid should they host elements of the NRA. They swooned at Diversity Groups while disbarring anything “white”.
Tall know the drill The Navy sent me (a Marine) to a Navy “Human Relations” session of like 4.5 days. I was the ONLY Marine in that “class” which was moderated by a black male and a white female. Unlike the Marine Corps version of al of the same or peer groups of enlisted, NCOs or Staff NCOs, this was a mix of LtCmdr down to Seaman Recruits. Aside from getting a little chaffed around the edges for being the minority’s bad guy, I kept my mouth shut – until the morning of the final day, I guess I was the final straw. The female (moderator and only female in the session) asked me what I thought.
I told her that had she not noticed “my mother dressed me funny” and that while we all had our own personal convictions, we all worked in close proximity and that I was no more welcome in “Officer Country ” than I was in Chief’s Quarters (I was a SSgt at the time) and was pretty much left alone by other ranks save for when I was specifically needed or we were somehow interfacing. We were guided by the Uniform Code of Military Justice and riffs between 2 individuals would rapidly be seen to be counter productive to “good order and discipline”. I told her I carried my own (Marine Corps) training and heritage versus only the Navy’s. I asked them how much sea time did either of them have? I stated that we were sealed into a rather large metal container for months on end, with no slop chute to go to or a warm welcoming family to see at the end of our work day which may or may not be longer or shorter than the standard 8-hour work day of others.
The polarization and political advancement in whatever rank or service is beyond comprehension. A Black Marine I worked with was by MC standards overweight. This was a promotion killer. Yet he was promoted by HQMC. Back in the 70s, for a white male to get consideration to OCS, he (notice I said “he”) had to be within six months or 1 semester of graduating with a 4-year degree. ANY minority to include females of ANY race, needed only a GED! If one didn’t have that, they would help you get it!
When I retired I was asked why. I stated after being a Gunny for 10 plus years it was time for me to vacate (this was right before the 22 year rule). I was promised I would make the next promotion list (Ya- right!) Current promotion list, along with a disgruntled OIC, killed the promotion chances of 5 Marine Captains, gave a career MGySgt a FitRep with AA across the board. When this (highly respected) MGySgt saw my fitrep, I had 3 AA and the Master Guns stated my OIC “fing Loved me”. Best FitRep this Zero had handed to anyone! Two Captains went into the Reserves and were promoted, while 3 stayed on active duty and were passed over (all were in the promotion zone). However, a Nordic type “white girl” with a Hispanic surname (by marriage) was deep selected by 500 names! No promotions came to the west coast where I was at for anyone in my MOS for E-6 to E-8.
So, the Race Card, the Alcohol Card and many more “cards” plus serious political posturing is deep seated and rooted in the military just like any place else. The sad thing is, competence has been largely over looked by the self-agrandizing Civilians. This goes back even before my day – at least as far back as the American Revolution, certainly the Mexican War. Sad to say, it is now obvious we no longer have military commanders willing to do their part other than for the ticket to Command & whatever school so they can punch their ticket to get to the flag ranks.
Sorry for the rant.
Gunny (for Life) and a Yankee born Southerner
RV Neely – You are truly a figment of your own imagination. Semper Fi!!! Top Pro
Truth spoken to power my friend. You NCO’s that were there coulda fixed it in days! Same deal with Afghanistan.
Thanks for serving and Semper Fi!
What got me in the later period of VN (I was out of my reserve unit) was Henry Kissinger….he sounded just like “Herman da’ German” that me and my fellow heroes would boo at the Saturday movies in the 50’s….that and holding up the negotiations for the shape of the table…that showed such a lack of understanding of what was happening to an ordinary grunt…And then “WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION”….20 years of dealing with people that Alexander the Great had to leave alone….What has happened to thinking before acting….Next time we send the POUS/VPOUS, Congress, the Joint Chiefs, and the Cabinets (both of them… and the WH staff)….let them check it out to see if their plans and policies actually have any use in the “real world… not the one they live in….?
MARINES. EACH AND EVERY COMMENT STATED IN YOUR COMMENTS MADE ME FEEL BETTER. I ALSO FEEL THE SAME ESPECILLY WITH REGARDS TO THE GENERALS WHO WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR ANOTHER STAR. JUST TODAY A MEMBER OF THE J.C’ OF STAFF GENERAL COMMITED TREASON BY NOTIFYING THE CHINEESE LEADER OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN THE US AND KEEP HIM UPDATED.
BET YOU HE GETS A MEDAL.
AS TO WOMEN IN THE SERVICE. WHO NEW 4 WOMEN DIED IN COMBAT IN VIETNAM. 55’215 MEN DIED. THE POLITICIANS STATE THIS BULLSHIT IN THEIR RALECTION SPEACHS. WHO SAW A COMBAT WOMAN IN VIETIAM??? NOT ME IN MY 20 MONTH TOUR AND I WAS STATIONED AT DANANG AIRSTRIP. I DID SEE A COUPLE OF ROUND EYE WOMAN AT CHINA BEACH ONCE. NEEDLESS TO SAY THEY WERE NOT CARRYING RIFLES JUST BREASTS AND BUTTS. ONE OF THE MANY BINFITS OF DANANG.
WHERE IS DONALD WHEN YOU NEED HIM???? GOLFING????