The red river was a rivulet of bloody water that happened to be running down the valley, back from the direction the company had to head up into. The major problem, as the Gunny pointed out, was not our movement, air support or even hauling Zippo and the bodies that had come falling down from the cliff. It was the Ontos. There was no way the company could tramp back through the same stretch of jungle again, and counter-attack on through, without taking near total casualties. The NVA might have fallen for the first frontal attack but there was no way they would be taken by surprise like that again.
“We can run the Ontos along the edge of the jungle,” the Gunny noted, “although it’ll be a close fit with the wall hugging the solid debris in some places, but the turret can’t be rotated more than about thirty degrees if that.”
Could you check and see if my email is on the list to notify us when the new chapters come out? I didn’t get a notice for the last 2.
Thanks,
Tim
Tim, I checked and the email TR2129@Comcast.net is not on the list.
Use this link to re-optin and be sure to look for Verify email and click on the link.
Opt-IN to Strauss List
Will do, thanks. I have been on it for a long time. Not sure what happened. Your story is excellent. I was there in 1966. You bring me back there on a regular basis. Sometimes good, sometimes not but thank you for the chance.
Hope your taking care of yourself,James—-Speaking for the here and now,I’d like to thank you for your back-to-back—–I view it as a gift during the season—-Hope this finds you well in all respects.
Thanks Mark, for the kind caring comment. Zippo was tougher to get through than I thought. I don’t normally have dreams from those old days but the writing
about that brought him back, which is okay, as I love the kid, but it also made me feel like I was violating his memory a bit, yet without anything to really
back that up. Best I can do at explaining my period of the doldrums.
Semper fi, and Happy New Year.
Jim
James I have to disagree with you on violating Zippos memory. I believe you honor it with what you’ve written about him. There has been a few heroes that have died along this terrible journey. Several I can remember there names and picture them because of your writing but Zippo sticks out the most so far. Because of your writing about him his memory will live forever.
Thanks Frank, that means a lot to me…a lot…
Semper fi,
Jim
Well James…another great read…and a much faster turn around with this segment. It has become my habit to read and re-read both your story and the comments. You gave statistics on war casualties…my friend that was the first Airborne Jumpmaster from WWII that I have mentioned before told me that of his battalion that went across the water only 212 were alive at the war’s end and of those 212 only 21 had not been wounded…bears out that real combat is a horrible thing no matter which era you are from…again, I anxiously await your next segment…and Happy New Year.
I wrote about Jimmy Stewart, the actor, and how he fought to get into bomber command to bomb the Germans. Later he could not continue because of PTSD and they transferred him
out (which they did not do for regular vets at the time…hence the movie Catch 22). There were 125,000 crew. Fully 80,000 were shot down, captured, wounded or killed. The killed
were just at 56,000. That’s out of 125,000!!! Just like the A Shau so many years later and God knows how many combat theaters in between. The public really does not understand.
John Wayne made it up Mount Suribachi to plant the flag…and so on….
Thanks for the meaningful comment and supporting what I’ve been writing about here.
Semper fi, and Happy New Year.
Jim
The .50 is a fearsome thing, I have had 4 pointed at me several times, but only tracking to force us to stop, if they had fired, I wouldn’t be writing this. The gun that shoots through trees…..
The .50 with armor piercing could penetrate one inch of solid steel at any distance under 500 meters. The Russian weapon (51 caliber) wasn’t quite as powerful.
Thanks for coming in on this one…
Semper fi,
Jim
Since your scout team modified the Ontos where would the blowback from the 106’s go? Not against the canyon wall I presume.
Thanks for the wise observation. I believe the issue was discussed but never became an issue.
Appreciate the analytical accuracy here…
with your help.
Semper fi,
Jim
I had never seen those figures before, 375000/362000. Eye opening. Great writing.
Yes, those statistics are from the government and available if you hunt online. It was shocking when I first read them.
I had no idea. I’d studied SLA Marshall and Sociology about war. I thought about one in four or five were in actual combat.
Not so, at all. Not in any of the modern wars. I don’t know about the old ones. Explains of lot about post war commentary and conduct too.
When I sit in the VA hallway waiting for something I am pretty much alone in my background. And nobody knows. Or might even believe if I told them.
I don’t wear the ‘VA Uniform.’ I have a Purple Heart license plate, but that’s about it. I don’t go to vets events, Memorial Day, Veterans Day or any of that
and I will never ever march in one of those things. I will not go to schools and be ‘honored.’ I am proud to have served and I have no hope that the general public
will ever have a real clue about that service unless they read my books and believe them…which isn’t likely.
Semper fi,
Jim
I wasi was in high school from 70-74. This certainly coincides with the bits & peices vets have shared with me. I always intended to join the war during my high school years, Vets would always tell me once I got there I would change my mind. After reading thirty days has September I can for the time see & understand why they would say such a thing. Thank you for being there & thank for sharing it.
Much appreciate the sharing of part of your own life and the compliment you gave me on here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Welcome back Jim. This comment sure hit home with me. “I don’t wear the ‘VA Uniform.’” I set up my appointments for the first one of the day so I don’t have to talk with anyone and I find the other men there are doing the same thing. As always looking for the next segment. Mike
I did not mean to say shit about the guys who do go to the VA and wear the ‘uniform.’ Damage from the wars comes in all types and maybe that’s what they need
as a palliative or curative. I don’t know. I just know me…and now you…
Semper fi,
Jim
I bet heltzer just got respect from gunny after his knowledge about the ontos. Also seems he and piper make a good team. You never know who will have the solution to a challenge.
Yes, Project 100,000 was a disaster in general, but not necessarily in specific.
I’m not sure every other unit that had members from that project were teamed up like we did in our company.
Some were probably simply left to die. Hard times.
Semper fi,
Jim
The day, 53 years ago when I enlisted. Then in the shit. Years later 4 months in the hospital and sent home. I have done and still do a great job of forgetting but once in a while at night, but I keep that to myself. I would not if I could recall and do what you are doing. I have never read any of the books about Nam except this. Never saw the Hollywood version of it either. I will be purchasing the 1st 2 today and look forward to #3. I want my grandsons to read them, not sure when as I don’t want any questions, I want to stay in ‘forget mode’. At times it is hard as a 100% DAV as when a person at the VA asks if I saw combat instead of ‘yes’, it would be easier to say ‘how the fuck you think I got this shit’.
Keep them coming as I know how hard it must be!
May 2019 be your best year yet!
I was with Dr. Bair from the VA last night for dinner. Coincidentally to this comment. He has about the best take on real combat, as opposed to being close to it or not in it at all, of any
VA counselor I’ve ever met. He never served and never saw combat but he’s been through about ten thousand for PTSD counseling. A great man and one of those few.
My first counselor prescribed seven drugs. My second wanted to go through ‘intake’ and when I refused called the authorities. My third thought that I wanted the money and he was going
to make sure I didn’t get it. If you get a Dr.Bair gift then the Lord has blessed you. You are one of those rare ones JRW and to be that is also to be pretty lonely and not understood.
Hence the books. Thanks for the cogent heartfelt comment, and the depth of the compliment to me in your writing it here.
Semper fi,
Jim
Wish we could forget. I try also, but occasionally, something surfaces. Proud to have served. Lived thru the seige of RIPCORD, by Gods grace alone.69-70. 2/501, 101. And folks wonder, why we don’t want to talk about it. Smh.
I heard all about Ripcord and that siege was not covered in the media but it was a costly bastard.
Thanks for being one of us J.S.
And so glad you are here writing these comments!
Semper fi,
Jim
Lost my Uncle Donald Ragsdale call sign Ragbag on 4/1/1970 on Ripcord. He was a Pathfinder 101st. Miss this man everyday. Recently connected with a man who served with him and was WIA right alongside Don and 3 others. It was a privilege and an honor to meet him and his family and find out what really happened that day. We have made new friends and are enjoying getting to know his family. From the bottom of hearts we thank you for your service and pray that the more people learn of Vietnam as stories are shared that their eyes will be opened and they will figure out who the real heroes are. Welcome home and may you continue to heal.
Thanks for that part of your own life and Ragbag’s too. Means a lot for those of us who came through.
There are really not that many.
Semper fi,
Jim
The response you made to Monty this morning means a lot to ease the guilt. Thanks Sir! Shpuld we ever meet the first few rounds are on me. Your choice of beverage.
Sempre Fi!
“Thanks so much Monty. I am glad that you did not go. I am glad that you are here writing what you wrote. I am so happy to meet guys that feel like
they missed something in their manly development by not going. The only ones I don’t like are the blustering ones who believe that those of us who went
were stupid to go. Those with regret are my kind of men and women. The others not. To have gone means there were those of us who cared enough to risk it
all. That you wanted to go but life came at you differently is nothing to be ashamed of at all. And the result is that you are alive and well and that’s what a lot of men died to make sure that this benefit is your very own. Live it with a smile.
Semper fi,”
Thanks Tomas, and I meant every word of it, of course. I recently met a learned man who did not go. We have been friends for some time. He’s a noted historian known for his work on the study of our war.
He stopped me after coffee and took me aside to ask me this question: “Don’t you really believe, as the intelligent man I know you to be, that those who actually went to fight in that war were the more ignorant
and dumber of those available to go?” He knows I am a wounded Vietnam Veteran with a pretty distinguished track record. I know because he also checked with the authorities to make sure. What did I respond to
my friend? I told him that he was right, that those of us who went were indeed the dumber and the less intelligent. he left the coffee shop smiling. I smiled at his departing car. This learned professor has no
clue but needs to constantly be reinforced that his ruse to avoid service back in the day was the correct decision. He left feeling better, not knowing that I answered to make him feel so. Was there a price for me in
answering the question in that way? Maybe a bit. But paying the price for others is something that becomes a habit, if you are real Marine. Since that first day of OCS, then reinforced when my gold bars were pinned on, and then even when I came
home finally from that war I have been and will always be a United States Marine, and I will try to conduct myself the way I think best befits that. That professor got a small example he will never know about of how a real
Marine conducts himself. I took care of him, as he needed caring for. I can handle it. All the way up the hill….
Semper fi,
Jim
And my deep thanks for the comment and your compliment
By all that is Holy, James… how on earth does a brother react and respond to such a brilliant and heart-felt response about such a small piece of our reality? I sincerely hope that you totally reap the rewards and satisfaction of your monumental efforts and associations here in a way that lifts your meaning and enjoyment of life to the highest possible expression. May we share the remainder of our lives knowing we did our very best and We know it! Semper Fi, Marine! May God be with you and your family always… Hero on deck!
I can only respond to that comment with great thanks Herb. Yes, I am laying it down and paying money and taking the time and pain to do it. But there are a lot of guys who needed it I think,
or came to think because of what people like you have written on here. Without words like your own I don’t think I could go on. Thanks for that…
Semper fi,
Jim
Only got to fly my CH-46 into the valley twice early in 1970 carrying recon…I really respect all those Marines who had to battle in that beautiful hellhole…your writing skill is amazing…eagerly awaiting future chapters and the full book…Semper Fidelis….
Those recon missions were quite something. Once again, recon missions where the guys going in had no clue about what they were about
to embark on. Or in. Thanks for commenting and supporting this effort.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thanks for coming back on the net with two in a row, Jim. We missed you.
Yes, and I thank you for that comment. I had a tough time for a bit. This is a lot more emotional, especially near the end, than I thought it would be or
it started out to be…I appreciate everyone’s patience…
Semper fi,
Jim
Regardless of those people pointing out errors in your narrative. I don’t notice any, I’m focused on the story. It’s hard enough to write about your journey through the valley of death, than to be correct in your spelling. Keep on keepin on Lt. and thank you👍🇺🇸👏
The analytical part is important as the ‘truth’ is in the details. I added an extra number to the grid coordinates in the last segment and I can’t believe I got that wrong,
even after all these years. So glad I have you guys to help me get it just right…
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, check your information.
Maybe one too many digits in your fire mission coordinates.
Yes, there were, should have been single six. You are right on top of things.
Semper fi, and many thanks…
Jim
Eight digits were often used to tighten up the coordinates of a target
Agreed on that Plc.
Semepr fi, and thanks for chiming in….
Semper fi,
Jim
…didn’t need the captain (wigging) out, just yet, anyway.
Well, our wants and needs seldom got together in the valley back then. I have to write it as it believe it went down.
Some areas are a little gray but Carruthers is not one of them. Zippo either. I just wish I had better tools to see if some of the
guys, who made it at least as far as me, are still alive.
Semper fi,
Jim
Again, LT, very well written. You have a talent for drawing the reader into your work that is simply marvelous.
I think most of feel as though we are there with you, in the mind’s eye. We are dreading the contact that we know is coming.
USNA instills some really good smarts for most of their graduates. My Dad graduated there in 1944.
Can’t thank you enough for the compliment. Keeps me going on cold nights.
The academy guys I knew were mostly great guys, although they had the same disconnect from
reality all of us had when entering the valley for the first (and last, according to the Gunny) time.
Semper fi,
Jim
I wrote before about how much I liked this work. And that I was too young to go, only old enough to see it on TV and think that was normal and my fate. Anyway, I write myself and know the right answer is “I loved every fucking word.” But you seem to appreciate typo suggestions. . .so, in “Piper knew how damaged he was, and was depending on the Hultzer and the rest of us to get him through” isn’t the “the” before Hultzer superfluous? Or did I miss a point?
Thanks for the help, which I badly need and much appreciate! The compliment and time in commenting too.
Semper fi,
Jim
I noticed that is corrected. You are busy Lt.
Intense.
Riveting.
Unable to really fathom.
Heartfelt support for you as you move toward completion.
Hard to believe some of this writing, I know. Hard to believe it all really happened. Movies can’t or won’t do this kind of combat justice.
I just read about Jimmy Stewart and it was a grand flowing description of his heroism in combat and his willingness to go into the thick of it.
And then the small detail at the end where ehe had to be pulled out of the bomber flights because of PTSD. That he could be pulled out lat all
before serving his required tour says something too and that must have eaten at him following the war too. That part is not well illustrated.
Most don’t get to be pulled out. You serve it and you die on the outside or the on the inside. Just the way it was and probably remains.
Semper fi,
Jim
PS Loved Jimmy Stewart then and to this day, though….and saw PTSD written all over him in Its a Wonderful Life…
Don’t know who I despise more- the gooks or the brass.
That was easy back then. It was the brass. Now, I am not so sure I despise either one.
War is an absolute disorganized mess that is portrayed as anything but.
Semper fi,
Jim
LT, I’m sure this is getting tough for you, thank you for each line, as I’m sure they are not easy to write.
Tough patches and then easier…for reasons as hard to understand as they are to discuss…
Thanks for the observation and making it on here.
Semper fi,
jim
I have read “30 Days Has September” up to here and really enjoy it. I was in the Navy working on airplanes while many of you were dragging rifles in the jungle. I was over here training the fleet and enjoying the good life. I know that it was a different world over there. Thanks to you and all your brothers that lived through all this. I know many that were there and very few talk about it.
Without you guys doing what you were doing we could not have been doing what we were doing.
Whether it was all worth it can be argued forever, and certainly will be. Thanks for coming on here to comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
“I think you will be very pleased,” says it all………..
Thanks for that, and making it public…
Semper fi,
Jim
Does one “wing-out” or “wig-out”? I’d say the latter when I’m going all looney tunes but not sure about the vernacular herein.
Thanks for consideration as well as the 1st rate writing.
Thanks for the help and the compliment and making it a public thing…
Semper fi,
Jim
Riveting as always. I cannot begin to fathom the discipline and focus exhibited by you, Gunny and your Marines with a very terminal learning curve if you are wrong. Gravid,glacis?Thanks for helping me improve my vocabulary
Quite possibly the use of the word ‘gravid’ was a little misplaced there! Thanks for the compliment and the
comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
Your use of the word “gravid” was perfect in this context.
Thanks Floyd, much appreciate the compliment…
Semper fi,
Jim
check fire, check fire, check fire. After reading this interaction between you and junior I just shook my head and thought, now that’s one crazy S.O B. yea, crazy like a fox. thanks LT, loving what you’re writing.
I wish back then I had had better rational capability, but I’d lost it at that point. The fact that I would not have
ordered a check fire if Sugar Daddy had not radically come around bothers me to this day. I was not a racist back then and am
not now, but I was certainly mad as hell that the blacks in my unit had banded together for their own survival. I understand
better today. We were all trying anything we could to get through and not all of it was right, ethical or even human.
Semper fi,
Jim
Such a great follow up to the last and very quickly. Happy “The Cat” project is helping. Superlatives escape me at the moment, but they are there and deserved. Your new Captn does seem to be a distracting event in your long lonely slog through the loss of your Marines. Hope the letter is finished soon. Poppa J
The next Cat chapter is almost ready to come on here. The cat and Island in the Sand are my relief valves, if you will, for the main
act. But I am back in the groove on Thirty Days and the Cat and Island have helped get me centered.
I know you know, of all people.
Semper fi,
Jim
Instead of dodgeball this is dodgebullet! Gotta keep moving…… what a mindfuck!
I’m still wondering what happened to the recon teams up on the slide hill… guess that’s the point…. we never know…
There was so much we never got to know. Keep moving and the ground under us turned, the rain poured down, the river ran wild and we lived for the minute, the hour and the day and night…until the next…only caring later about what happened to anybody we might have brushed up next to along the way. My dead stay with me but those living along the way are like in stasis out there somewhere…although maybe not.
Semper fi, and thanks for the depth of your comment.
Jim
Great read … one glitch perhaps:
It seems in the “Would the NVA have minded the clefts?” should perhaps be “Would the NVA have mined the clefts?”
Great catch, Verl.
Noted and corrected
Semper fi,
Jim
Awesome writing ,Sir¡
PTSD. The only thing that works is redemption. How do you find redemption? Now that’s the next adventure following the combat…
and how to come to that conclusion at all because no shrink is going to recommend that. There is no forgiveness. There is only redemption.
These novels are not written and published for reasons most would suspect…
Semper fi,
Jim
Hey Lt. Just finished reading 25th 2nd Part and it still confounds me to realize that I was in country roughly the same time period as you. But our experiences are so far removed from one another it is hard to fathom. Different job and different outfits I understand but such great separation in responsibility and purpose is difficult to grasp. To say nothing of attitude and reason. Will have to absorb this chapter for a while and see where it leads me in my attempt to understand. Currently, I hope you have a great New Year and take care.
2.7 million landed in country. 375,000 saw ground combat. Of the 375,000, 362,000 were killed or wounded. There’s the math.
Real combat is one very dangerous place to be. All those other guys and gals came home and all have stories about their experiences.
The chances of meeting and talking to a cogent and aware survivor of actual combat is uncommon, to say the least. Hence, the books.
Wanna go into combat? Read these books. Still wanna go? Use them as a primer so you might have at least a shot at surviving.
Semper fi,
Jim
James,
these numbers are crazy, true but they create a sorrow that is deep. I was a Huey crew chief/ door gunner in the Army, 66-67. Our crew would do anything to support those in ground combat. We gave air support with close suppressing fire, we brought supply’s, we evacuated wounded, we carried out the dead. We were sympathetic to the situation the ground combat soldiers were in. We would do anythig day or night.
Of 12,000 helicopters used in VietNam 5,086 were destroyed, most of the others were shot up/ patched up and continued to fight. Helicopter crews accounted for 10 percent of the US casualties with 5,000 killed and untold numbers wounded. This we did to support those that fought the ground war, we honor you.
Thank you for writing your story! Thank you for your service! Welcome home! See you at the house!
Loved you guys then and now.
You even got abused by your own Marines on the ground a few times,as I write about.
We were so nuts after awhile down below, but many times sanity flew in with the sound of your blades.
I am here because of those machines and men like you.
Thank you!!!
Semper fi,
Jim
Another great one James.
One correction I see needed;
There was only remaining low, moving as much and as fast as possible, and finally, avoiding being killed by the enemy or my ow(n) men
Thank you, Don.
Noted and corrected.
Semper fi,
Jim
As usual another good installment LT. Although I never served, i did have the opportunity to go to the PLC program while in college but didn’t take up the sword. Hind sight can be 20 20 sometimes. I have several cousins, an Uncle friends and my Father in law that were in Vietnam. Two of my sons have served with the Marienes the oldest is retired CWO the youngest a disabled vet.
I had many a long conversation with my uncle who did two and a half tours in country, unfortunately I no longer have him. I have started to comment here several times but felt like an outsider looking in, but with your way of writing I can get a feel for what it may have been like.
Keep up the good work,I hang on every word you write and always look forward to the next installment. You have my upmost respect and i thank you for your service.
Thanks so much Monty. I am glad that you did not go. I am glad that you are here writing what you wrote. I am so happy to meet guys that feel like
they missed something in their manly development by not going. The only ones I don’t like are the blustering ones who believe that those of us who went
were stupid to go. Those with regret are my kind of men and women. The others not. To have gone means there were those of us who cared enough to risk it
all. That you wanted to go but life came at you differently is nothing to be ashamed of at all. And the result is that you are alive and well and that’s what a lot of men died to make sure that this benefit is your very own. Live it with a smile.
Semper fi,
Jim
I agree whole heartily with your comments. What most people who have never served forget that even those of us who served during what is called peace time were willing to put our lives on the line if the need to arose. Most of us so called peace time servers were actually involved in a war that isn’t called a war because there was very little fight involved. I’m referencing the so called Cold War. The threat was ever present and we were willing to go. I to now with 20/20 hindsight am glad I did not go.
May you be forever blessed with the peace you now have and may your memories of those you fought with be of the good they possessed.
Thanks Steve, your comments hit pay dirt with me. Thanks for sharing some of your own life and thoughts on here and the compliment you pay me in doing so…
Semper fi,
Jim
Knowing how to call arty is a great skill.
I helped in this case, ~~smile.
Thanks for your input, Walt.
Semper fi,
Jim
Two Chapters is a week! Thank you. I sounds as though it takes a lot personally to get it all out, and I know I am not the only one to appreciate it. Have a Happy New Year.
The work is easier than the emotional attention I must concentrate to get past certain parts that are surprisingly hard for me.
It’s been a long time. I cannot believe that some parts of the story can stop me cold and then I use every bit of displacement activity
to put stuff in the way of continuing. I had a hard time getting past Zippo and I guess I never really will. But here I am, back at it…
Semper fi,
Jim
Tough one ?
Yes, Roger.
For sure.
Semper fi,
Jim
Your have been busy..?We are getting to the tough parts
S/F
I think your analysis is spot on, Jim
Semper fi,
Jim
You sure figured out how to handle Sugar Daddy in the short time you were in country, Lt Strauss. I read that exchange between you two a couple of times and bet he was pretty shocked at how it didn’t go his way about Captain Carruthers. Almost like a poker game and he folded. Nicely written.
I played ‘ball’ with some pretty tough ball players. They’d come through the mill at that point
and there was little they would not do to survive. Lord of the Flies was more accurate in describing this than
any war novel I ever read. Catch 22, maybe, came close. Of course, the real thing was not that funny.
Semper fi,
Jim
Typo Edit: “There was only remaining low, moving as much and as fast as possible, and finally, avoiding being killed by the enemy or my ow men.”
“…own men.”
Respect,
Thank you Neuko.
Noted and corrected.
Semper fi,
Jim
I feel the Captain’s pain as the unspoken thought circulates in his head, “No one told me it would be this bad, and I’ve only been here a few hours. If Satan has an equal to the Garden of Eden, it must be the Garden of the A Shau.” And there you are, trying to keep him focused and centered and moving forward, just as the Gunny did for you. Hard Times!!
Yes, to live in the A Shau was to become very dead or a teacher. You had to teach fast, effectively and then apply near instant punishments that would prove
to be self-punishments if you lived long enough to have to recall them. I live in my own little world day to day without almost anyone having a clue that inside
I am still Junior. I’m not still Junior but he’s still very much inside me…waiting…in case he’s needed again.
Semper fi,
Jim
Referencing how you were picked up and delivered in the middle of the night to take over command of your Company, did you ever wonder who the Captain pissed off to be sent to work with you guys? After all, the officers/men they sent to interact with you earlier didn’t fare so well with reference to longevity.
Really enjoy your writings. Thanks so much.
Yes, I always wondered how officers and senior NCO personnel ended up dumped in the A Shau, like me.
But I never asked and never found out if their stories were similar to my own. But then, I thought I was
a fluke back then….only the real deal guys here have made me feel like I was not alone at all…
Semper fi,
Jim
Lt. I can feel the pain and emotion as you are writing this , and wish to salute you for facing the demons again .OooRaa Sir !!
Thank you for your heartfelt support, Don
Semper fi,
Jim