“The Convoy”

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Mithrandir
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 272
(4/24/02 6:19:48 pm)
“The Convoy”
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A few times, I was assigned to “Ride Shotgun” on a convoy.

These convoys were basically just supply runs up to DaNang to truck back PX and general supplies.

Sometimes… it was a Beer run!!

But the contents of the convoy are not the centerpiece of this story….

This story is one that should remind you that, as Patton once said paraphrasing some Civil war General…“War is Hell”.

It begins…

“OK.. everyone up….. it’s O Dark Thirty… fall out!!”… so sayth the First Shirt….

As I said, I have been assigned to go on this run as a security element…..that is… sitting high up on the Deuce to watch for “problems” that might occur during the run.

Each Deuce as two security elements on board.. one of the left and one of the right….the job is simple… if it looks like a threat… shoot first and ask questions never….(And no… I didn’t say that wrong)

O Dark Thirty gets us up, to breakfast and over to the Armory for ammo issue and sometimes you gets to pull 60 or 79 duty (work as a M60 MG gunner or a M79 “Blooper” shooter) …… then to the motor pool for assignments…..

By the time all this has been completed, it is about O nine-hundred (9AM to you civilians…. and the little hand is on the 9 and the big hand is on the 12 for you Marines out there….. LOL.. sorry… couldn’t help myself)…..

I pull right hand duty on the forth Deuce…..this one has no 60 or 79 on it, so It is just me and the left-guard (Yeah I know…. I’M the right-guard… that stuff wasn’t even invented yet so that joke won’t work in this story)..

We mount up and sit and wait….

and wait….

and wait……

and wait…..

Finally about 10AM we are “released” for travel…. and out of the gate we go…..

The day is hot….a normal nine-thousand degrees…....

dry…

dusty……..

your sweat just evaporates before you know that you are sweating…. we all have three canteens today… two to drink and one to keep our covers and neck rags wet….. doesn’t seem to help though…. Only while we are moving at a good clip does it feel better.. or at least…less hot…..If letting a hot blower run full speed in your face from six inches away is cooler than a normal day that is!!

Being on a Deuce behind the first one is ALWAYS dusty, dirty and sometimes smelly…. I pull my neck rag up over my nose to cut down on the dust….eye goggles and such were never issued in those days unless you were in armor….I have sun glasses so the sunlight & dust isn't too bad on the eyes…I can at least SEE the road ahead and most of what is out to the sides on my field of observation….

We rumble up highway one and just watch the humanity pass by… hundreds of SVN’s all over the place today…. you can tell just which ones are new refugees from some battle nearby…. the ones who live there are busy preying on the “outsiders”….a normal day in I Corp……

You have to look at each and every one of them because ONE of them is a threat and ALL of them are potentials…..even those who wave at you…. they might be the one to try to kill you ….

They seem to rush by as the Deuce rumbles past them…. You try to look as far out ahead as you can to try to “preempt” any possible problem that might arise…. Not easy to do at 40-45 MPH from the back of a truck in the wake of the dust storm from the trucks in front of you!!!

But you try…..

Sometimes, the convoy slows as it reaches some check point….

Sometimes the QC’s try to slow you down… just so they can show how “powerful” they are to the locals who are watching from the gutters and side streets…

And sometimes, the convoy gets stopped because of a mine found in the road ahead….the forward security element may stop to inspect some pothole or deep crack in the road that might hide such a device…

The forward security element is always accompanied by a QC element… they don’t like to stop… they keep telling our people that there is no threat so why stop??.. it is silly to waste time like this … keep moving…. Silly Americans…..

Luckily our people never listen to them…. after they determine that there is nothing to worry about.. we continue

After about a half and hour of travel… we are getting close to the port…..the convoy turns east and then suddenly stops…..

There is a jeep in the road…. Destroyed…. It hit a mine…

Hey… this is neat!!!… it was the QC detail that hit it!!!….

Ahhh Shit…. No one dead….. just the jeep…the two QC’s are busy trying to get some old man standing by the side of the road to admit that he put the mine in the pothole….he might have, indeed, done it….so could the six kids standing there also….

We just keep going….the QC element will lose much face today……and it doesn’t make them any happier when we drive by them smiling and laughing…..

QC’s suck…….but that’s another story…..

We still have about twenty miles of road to cover and the lead element is trying to make up time…..

Those of us guarding and now covered from head to toe in red dust…. Can’t see out uniforms for the dust… can’t see US for the dust…. Leaning against the side of the bed of the Deuce, we look like some fixture that was welded on…we don’t even look human….


Watch ahead….watch ahead…scan left and right…scan forward,,, scan backward….watch ahead……

And then as you get into the routine of scanning and seeing nothing…. you can see a crowd of small boys ahead at the next intersection…

Nothing unusual about that… there are crowds of kids at EVERY intersection…. and old people with dummy sticks… and vendors of all sorts and so forth…

But something is not right… they are not playing or fighting or languishing under some tree smoking whatever comes to hand or begging to us with their hands and arms up and out….

Me mind see it before I can react to it… the guard in the Deuce ahead of me sees it too… LOOK THERE ….he shouts only mouthing the words over the roar of the engines and tires.. but pointing at the group as he passes them…. one small boy walks out of the crowd….

And……

And…. Tosses a frag at my deuce!!!!!

OH SHIT… as I start to unlimber this big ass M14 from its protective place underneath my arm.. and start to bring it up to aim..

The frag hits the hood of the deuce and bounces really high over the cab…over me… over the bed of the deuce and..

OH **** …. On its downward arc I can see that it is going STRIAGHT INTO THE BED OF THE DUECE BEHIND ME!!!!

Everything is in slow motion…. I raise the rifle to shoot but the deuce is already too far ahead of the group to get a clear shot….and my damn safty is on…..

But as I look backward….

I hear 14’s from the deuces behind me open up….

I can see some of the guys literally diving out of the back of the deuce……

I see the flash…..…..and hear the frag go off…

I can see the bodies fly out of the bed as like dolls….

I can see the deuce swerve to the right and crash into a house by the side of the road….

I get a tug on my sleeve….I was falling out of the deuce when the other guard pulled me back in…I never did know his name….

All vehicles just keep going…..SOP you know…..

We leave the scene behind… not knowing just exactly WHAT was going on…..

We are much more alert now…

But our turn off point is right up ahead.. so we are now in a American Navy compound….

Safe…..

But my gut is churning… what about those guys!!??….bile wells up in my throat….

I get out a canteen and try to quench my dry mouth…there is mud on my lips now… but I don’t care….

What about those guys…..I pour the canteen over my head and propmptly turn into a mud creature…..…. and dry heave…

I COULDN’T REACT IN TIME…..God forgive me I couldn’t react in time……..

SHIT…

SHIT….

SHIT…..

I never use to cuss about anything of ever….until I came to this place…..

One of the guys in our deuce is busily throwing up… another has to go pee and runs off to do it….

The driver and assistant driver are shaking like leaves…..but otherwise OK….

The OIC comes by to gather us together and see if anyone else was hurt…

No… everyone here is OK… but shaken….

The next three hours goes by with no one saying a word…

The deuces have been loaded up and we are about to go back…..

We mount up……

This time….THIS TIME….. EVERYONE is watching……we are not going to let it happen again…

So help us God……



Epilogue…….

Two dead…. they never saw what hit them… the frag blew right inbetween them… three others wounded… but not too badly….the drivers that crashed the vehicle were not seriously hurt..just shaken….the guards on the deuces behind them sprayed the crowd with small arms as they passed by …

Eight dead…..twelve wounded..

The nasty little SOB that threw the frag and most of his buddies….

One old man selling fruit and a QC..both innocent bystanders… if you can call ANYBODY in this country innocent….

including us….






out...
Esse Quam Videri

Tac401
Administrator
Posts: 1954
(4/24/02 8:18:10 pm)

Re: “The Convoy”
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What a freak out!
TFF VMBB Email Tac

high2fly
*Senior Chief Of Staff*
Posts: 908
(4/25/02 6:52:12 am)
Re: ?The Convoy?
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BRAVO---BRAVO!!!! That's what the Spaniards yell when the bull and the torredor are doing their things out there in the dirt---even the Okinawans screamed BRAVO, BRAVO with a Japanese accent at their bullring in Naha when the fighter was strutting his style. I suppose, comparison to someone's works you enjoy and admire could be appropriate in this case. Mith, you string the words together in the style of Stephen Coonts and you do it exceedingly well---just let it be said that comparison, in this case, is the sincerest form of flattery. Wilborn

Edited by: high2fly at: 4/25/02 8:18:13 am

Mithrandir
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 274
(4/25/02 7:54:28 am)
Re: ?The Convoy?
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High2fly...

I am at a disadvantage sir... I know not who "Stephen Coonts" is...could you please enlighten me so that I might read his stuff??

I think I could then learn something more...

Also, I am pleased that those of you who read my memories enjoy them... but please remember that some of these are still sharp thorns to me....things I have held hidden in the basement of my mind for many years....these beasts sometimes try to overwhelm me and break out...but by exposing them to you for viewing... it seems to remove their fangs & venom....


thanks...


out..
Esse Quam Videri

Winter11
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 761
(4/25/02 10:32:10 am)
Re: ?The Convoy?
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Mith... honestly, I'm really glad you feel comfortable enough to relay these stories to us.... it's truly no small thing! It takes a lot from you and it means a lot to me... to all of us.

This particular memory must be really hard.... I don't even try to imagine, only to read, to "listen", to let you know that your telling these stories is so important.

Thanks....

Always Faithful

Mithrandir
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 275
(4/25/02 11:25:24 am)
Re: ?The Convoy?
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many thanks for your kind comments winter....

out...



Esse Quam Videri

high2fly
*Senior Chief Of Staff*
Posts: 910
(4/25/02 12:07:43 pm)
Re: ?The Convoy?
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Yes I will--please permit me to introduce you to Stephen Coonts---best way to do that is to drop down the page to google and plug in his name. I met Stephen back in the 80's with his FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER---later become a movie with Danny Glover--later, I was to read most of his books who had Jake Grafton as the hero--much like Tom Clancy has Ryan as his fictional hero. Please note the books by Stephen C., UNDER SIEGE and also MINITOUR (sp). Enjoy your journey---one time I was compared to Louis LeMoure (sp)---never wrote a western in my life, but the comment was that it was the style thing---made me feel good. wilborn

sherry748
Member
Posts: 6
(4/25/02 2:14:46 pm)
Re: ?The Convoy?
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Mith, I agree with Winter we can only listen but never really know what it must have been like.
Thank you for sharing your memories with us,



Sherry

106RR196LIB
V.I.P. Member
Posts: 225
(4/26/02 2:21:08 am)
Re: ?The Convoy?
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Mith;
You're a pretty good writer. That post brought back memories of the dust and misery of convoy security duty. Most poignant was the inevitable guilt when you can't make the shot. Sometimes I was too slow, to naive or just plain missed. It always hurt. I think it was the guilt that made me practice incessantly with my weapons. I didn't miss much after awhile.
I know Charlie did everything possible to get civilians in the way or use them as a shield. In my heart, I know that Charlie was responsible for the lives of any "innocents" we hit. Of course I never knew which ones were innocent if any at all.
Thanks,
Mike

BTW you said "up to Danang" -- where were you? I was south of Chu Lai.