With the battalion trained and the enemy located, all that was left was fortify the outpost. We dug a trench around the whole outpost and village and filled it with razor wire. I managed to get Trautman to fork that over after I revisited the tunnel complex with a spy camera and photographed all the important documents. I was quickly becoming a minor celebrity in the war. Anyway, between the village and the trench, we built palisade out of live bamboo, which grows fast and tall. And behind that, we built a few guard towers. I thought about adding Claymore mines but was worried someone would set them off by accident. Mines and grenades are often more dangerous to the people who are trying to use them than the enemy. And tracer bullets work both ways. That is, it tells you where you’re shooting at and the enemy where you’re shooting from. And…well, I’m getting ahead of myself.
A direct attack wouldn’t work as we were greatly outnumbered. It would be a slow fight via attrition, also called Fabian tactics after a Roman general. When Hannibal invaded Rome, his troops were far from home and had to forage. Fabius concluded that if he could lead Hannibal and his army on a long, wild goose chase, they would weaken enough that the Romans could rally and defeat the invaders. In boxing, the same strategy is called rope-a-dope. Let your opponent wear himself out, then you can win with one punch. Hell, wear anybody out enough and you can knock them over with a feather. The general US approach at the time was called Search and Destroy. It seemed foolish to me, but I saw no point in arguing about it. The idea was that relatively small units would march or fly out somewhere, wander around for a few hours or days and hope they encountered the enemy. It was very wasteful in terms of fuel, ammo, and lives in addition to being free propaganda for the VC. Almost all the mid and senior US officers at the time were WW2 veterans who had been promoted quickly to fill slots left empty by guys who had been killed, wounded, or captured. As a result, few had much experience fighting on the level of a squad or a platoon which is the norm in guerilla warfare. In fact, the word guerilla itself is Spanish for little war. It was coined when the Spanish army was defeated by Napoleon and small bands of Spanish soldiers and civilians continued to resist.
The men in the battalion were hungry for battle and to get some notches on their rifles, so to say. Morale is the most important factor in war, so I needed to find a way to keep their spirits up. Since I had already gotten everything useful out of the tunnel complex, I decided it was time to let the men use it as a punching bag. By this time, I more less knew when the tunnel complex was occupied by VC, how many came in and when, etc. After talking things over with Binh, we decided to let every squad in the battalion search the tunnel complex one at a time. We’d also brief each squad beforehand and imply that they were an elite group chosen for a secret mission. Their only other instruction would be they would be allowed to take only one item from the tunnel complex as a souvenir. All warfare is based on deception, as Sun Tzu wrote.
I was surprised with how smoothly it went. one by one, each squad quietly sneaked through the jungle with all their combat gear (battle rattle is what I call it), boldly infiltrated an empty enemy position, and got a memento for bragging rights. I felt a little bad for the last few squads because by the time they went through, the whole place had been picked clean and it happened all in three nights. It was fun to imagine what went through the VC commander’s head upon discovering everything had been stolen. I never saw any more smoke coming out of that place and was sure they’d never come back.
Things had been going well so far but I was anxious to do more damage to the enemy. The problem was they were embedded in all the towns and villages around me, and I couldn’t just call in airstrikes on them because of the civilian casualties that would cause. So, I decided to borrow a strategy the British used to stamp out the murderous Thugee cult in India in the 19th century. Basically, we’d kidnap lower echelon VC officers and tell them we’d spare their lives if they told us everything they knew, including the names of at least two other VC and where to find them. Over the next few months, we basically neutralized the VC in our area. Those who didn’t get with the program, we just disappeared them and let the jungle take care of the evidence disposal.
This sort of work is extremely stressful, and it was around this time that I started smoking marijuana and opium which was commonly consumed there. Yeah, I know nobody wants to hear that soldiers did drugs. I had plenty of company. Truth is, towards the end of the war, when it was very unpopular and the Army was full of draftees, there were many soldiers getting high all the time. I drank some beer in college, but since it was hard to find good beer where I was, I decided to go native. A lot of GIs over there had sex with whores too. I never did that. The last thing I needed to worry about over there was getting the clap or taking care of some pregnant woman I knocked up. Young men who think they might die soon often adopt a work hard, play hard, smoke ’em if you got ’em attitude. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. There is a certain logic to that when you see death every day and you can almost feel it like the wind blowing through your hair.
Circa 1971
7th ARVN Div Advisory Team
3 groups, officers, NCOs, junior EM
After evening chow the officers (mostly captains) played volleyball, the NCOs retired to their quarters and drank beer. There was only 4-5 junior EM, clerks, etc.
They moved to a log barrier about 150 yards from the volleyball court and smoked.
There were several VN laborers, KPs, hooch maids, etc, that commuted, I’m guessing they were the couriers of any contraband.
I guess this is as good a place as any to tell a true story about my overseas adventures. This happened in the spring of 2009 or so at a school near the village of Kibosho. I was in the Peace Corps and taught math at a local high school. One day, there was a soccer match between my school and its rival. Our team lost and didn’t take it well. At night, some students from my school went to the other school to vandalize it. They were caught, a brawl broke out, and one student from my school was killed. The next day, I heard the news, and when I was walking around the school compound, hundreds of students were brandishing clubs and other weapons and getting psyched up to take revenge.
The school administration panicked and called FFU (Field Force Unit), the infamous riot police. The joke over there is that in Swahili, FFU stands for “fanya fujo, uone” which I will loosely translate as “fuck around and find out”. In the evening, a jeep and a truck entered the school, and a bunch of mean looking guys with AKs and berets dismounted. The commander grabbed a megaphone and barked “listen up, you dumb shits, I’m allowed to shoot three of you, no questions asked. So get back to your bunks. Now!”
I had been watching the spectacle for most of the day and attempted to calm things, but when I heard that, I decided it was time to retreat to my little house. Fortunately, there was no further violence, though a handful of riot police stayed around the school for a few more days. One of them sat right behind me at a nearby bar where I spent most evenings. He was cocked, locked, and ready to rock. It was a relief when he and his pals left. I didn’t tell Peace Corps about any of this because I had less than a year to go and didn’t want to get yanked from my site.
Whenever I see TV reports about angry protests and riots in the US, all I can think is “wow, you guys have no idea of how easy you have it.” In many other countries, the response to riots is to kill a few people and leave the bodies to rot in the streets as a warning to other troublemakers.
Something else to set the mood for this installment and the next:
https://youtu.be/V355OG77SQM?si=D_P8AXjrEkqWYnhB&t=6375
***
They’re the world’s last soldiers of fortune; outdated relics of the past. They’re outcasts from the modern world, which expelled them, or from which they fled. On the lam from an infamous past; pursuing a restless present; a burnt-out adventurer; a dead faith. They’re all ex-something: ex-anti-guerilla fighters from French Algeria, British Malaysia, Borneo, or Kenya. Ex-SS officers from Germany; Ex-CIA pilots from Cuba; Ex-farmers from Kenya. Ex-residents of the Sudan, Egypt, Tanganyika. Ex-students from South Africa and South Rhodesia. Some follow a macabre ideal of glory and adventure. Some believe they’re fighting a final last-ditch battle against communism. Some are known as “les affreux”, the horrors, who just love war.
***
If you have a problem, and you can find them- maybe you can hire the A Team
I could only get the B-Team. I hope the problem wasn’t that serious.
Bad credit ?
Apparently the stoic fat man doesn’t garner as much sympathy as a pretty woman with a sob story.
That would be one tough old SS officer to still be a merc. The war ended almost 80 years ago so he should be around the century mark at least.
***
Siegfried Friedrich Heinrich Müller (26 October 1920 – 17 April 1983), referred to as “Congo Müller” (Kongo-Müller), was a German-born mercenary who served as an officer with 5 Commando during the Congo Crisis. A former officer-candidate in Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht who continued to wear his Iron Cross, Müller acquired particular notoriety in West and East Germany in the mid-1960s amid extensive press coverage of his involvement in war crimes in the Congo and overt nostalgia for the Nazi era.
***
As for tough old bastards:
***
Samuel Whittemore Jr. (July 27, 1696 – February 2, 1793)[1][2] was an American farmer and soldier. He was 78 years old[3] when he became the oldest known colonial combatant in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783).[4]
…
Whittemore was in his fields when he spotted an approaching British relief brigade under Earl Percy, sent to assist the retreat. Whittemore loaded his musket and ambushed the British grenadiers of the 47th Regiment of Foot from behind a nearby stone wall, killing one soldier. He then drew his dueling pistols, killed a second grenadier and mortally wounded a third. By the time Whittemore had fired his third shot, a British detachment had reached his position; Whittemore drew his sword and attacked.[7] He was subsequently shot in the face, bayoneted numerous times, and left for dead in a pool of blood. He was found by colonial forces, trying to load his musket to resume the fight. He was taken to Dr. Cotton Tufts of Medford, who perceived no hope for his survival. However, Whittemore recovered and lived another 18 years until dying of natural causes at the age of 96.[2][9]
***
Some guys just have Ozzy Osbourne stamina, I guess.
Those guys would show up pretty frequently in the 60s/70s merc stuff – “Dogs of War” (novel specifically), “Dark of the Sun“, etc, etc.
The general US approach at the time was called Search and Destroy
Movement to Contact is pretty much the same with a different name.
Search and destroy.
Video games from the 90s often had great industrial/techno songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGuuOdD6iY4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKm_zkrukr4
Also, I was expecting the Iggy Pop song.
Not from me.
OK, I’ll do it. It fits with the story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKYALsp-sIg
This is what I expected. 👍
Here he comes and the crowd cannot wait….
BRO-CHETTA-WARD
Arabic dance/techno music: it’s a thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHckZJNq2Vc
Not Vietnamese, but a lovely musical fusion nonetheless:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3coSlNZX_nI
STEVE SMITH makes a political ad about Joe Biden:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPrGu0WZB-A
I wouldn’t vote for a Dem but the ad was amusing and on point about biden.
Myles Garrett winning DPOY over TJ Watt and a couple of others is a fucking abomination.
Man, this weekend was one of my worst travel ones so far. A number of issues with reservations made on an old gov’t travel card – new expiration date/replacement messed with reservations. Delays on the first flight – no water in the hotel in Houston for the entire first night. (didn’t check in till 11 PM so not worth trying to get it changed with the DoD travel system).
Was really hoping to visit an old HS buddy in the area (whole point of choosing a class in Houston) – esp since he’s dealing with a resurging brain tumor – but I just wasn’t going to make it out to his place after just a couple hours of sleep the night before.
More delays last night but made my connection by a hair and made it home by 0130. One nice thing about working eves is not having to go to work till after 2.
SATO couldn’t clear all that up for you? Or do you have to do it through E2 (or whatever the system you use)?
I’m so glad the unpricipled Nikki fans have crawled out of the woodwork. You can practically hear the sighs of relief, “Finally a Republican we can vote for!”
No, she’s a RINO because she raises funds from Democrats and other RINOS, she fell hook line and sinker for the BLM fraud, she’s a supported on banning anonymous shitposting, and she is a MIC creature.
She’s the worst.
Hillary Clinton in drag
Good morning Glibs!
🌄😃☕
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lYHA_7vxrgc
🎶🎶
Good morning, Sean and rhy!
Mornin’ all!
Good morning, Beau! It’s 34 degrees and raining here in SW OH. How nasty is it outside in your neck of the woods?
32 degrees and snow, today’s going to be tricksy, mixed rain & snow, ice and snow accumulation, temps bouncing around freezing. Then we get a warm up, or so they say. 40 later this week, 41 a week from Thursday. MI weather is psych 😉
Mornin’, reprobates!
Youngest Patzer is back at school. One less mouth to feed for the time being.
It took 3-4 months for me to cut down my cooking portions going from four mouths down to one when I was just out here alone and now back to two mouths. 1/2 lb of turkey meat is plenty enough for two people which is really stretching our food stocks.
Good morning, ‘patzie! Unfortunately, also one less pair of hands to help out. Hope both you and Mrs. P are both less in need of assistance.
Well, I actually drove yesterday, first time in four months. Things are looking up.
Fantastic! You’ll be playing tennis in no time.
Never mind that you didn’t play tennis before.
I see Hawaii is trying to go a different route; pass legislation that will bar Trump from the 2024 ballot..
Much democracy there. More pressure on SCOTUS.
Remember when we pointed fingers at evil commies for pulling this kind of shit? Pepperidge Farms remembers.
Sun will shine, rain will fall, wind will blow. The world will continue on. Imma focus on these software builds I have to get done.
Whit kind of chickenshit state uses a different state court as the excuse to do what they want (but are unwilling to publicly do?)
It’s not about democracy, it’s about Power, the only god they recognize. Then again, Hawaii’s a hopeless case for the right anyway.
Interestingly, they will fast track this bill but most likely won’t impact the primaries in the state which are in March. However once they pass it and Trump wins the primary, they will bar people from a possible preferred choice on a Federal election ballot.
Good morning all. We’re getting a rain/freezing rain mix this morning. About to hit the road. Hopefully the roads are just wet.
Luckily our freezing rain didn’t materialize and it was just wet going into work.
My trip was just wet and a bit sloppy. No ice.👍
Morning, all.
Mornin’, U.
How goes it? Other than re-emptying the nest
Pretty good, thanks. I think I’m beginning to comprehend the ins and outs of cloud databases, scrambling what is left of my brain. It’s a jungle out there.
Morning UCS, everyone.
Good morning, U and JI!
Morning!!
A lot of people are around this morning.
Its the rain.
Blame it on the rain?
But it’s not raining.