RIVER BOAT SAILORS

[Oldtown2]

ANY RIVER RATS ON HERE 68,69

[rooter]

Welcome Old Town....That's an unusual handle so perhaps you'd have the time and opportunity to tell us the whys and whats...Welcome on here and keep coming back to visit...Chief

[199er]

ANY RIVER RATS ON HERE 68,69

Welcome to the forum Oldtown, I'm new here as well........... I was in the Army but I did participate in Riverine operations for about two and a half months in mid 1969. I was a platoon sergeant in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade's 5/12 infantry and we operated south of Saigon in the 'Rung Sat Special Zone', the 'Pinneaple Region' as well as other parts of the northern delta below Nhe Be (Ben Luc, Can Giuoc, French Fort etc).

From your post I take it you were in the 'Brown Water Navy'. If so, what type of
boat were you on?..............RAG boat? PBR? our another specialized type of craft?

Operating in the canals I know you've 'swapped' tracers with the VC and were no stranger to seeing RPGs flying towards your boat (and hopefully past it).

We were usually inserted and extracted by RAG boats from the attached 1099th Medium Boat company. It was actually an Army unit but I never knew the Army had that type of unit until I went on my first Riverine operation.

What I remember most about those operations were...........how difficult it was to operate in that water logged terrain with constant mosquitoes and mud (6" to 3 feet deep). Heat exhaustion always seemed only a few foot steps further away. Also, the constant threat of booby traps (especially if we traversed an easy route) and the ever present threat of mortar or RPG attack because of the very open terrain we operated in.

In late June 69 the 199th began moving it's operations to the jungle in northern Long Khanh province and War Zone 'D'. My battalion moved in early August but the 1099th boat company stayed in the Nhe Be area.

On BTW, it's a small world isn't it?.........we've probably both left 'foot prints' and 'spent shell cases' in a couple of the same grid squares in Nam!!................welcome home Oldtown.

[rooter]

Naw 199'r.....I'm the Old Navy Seabee Chief...Senior Chief actually, and I spent 20 active with the Forces. I've been here on the Viet board since it's beginning boasting, lying, conjoling, and telling tales of by-gone days...Both times to Vietnam, I was further up north....Last time over we sent a Seabee construction detail down to An Thoi to build a boat facility for the Vietnamese Navy...It was called DETAIL HOTEL from NAVAL MOBILE CONSTRCTION BATTALION FIVE stationed then in DaNang....The only ships I was ever on 199'r were troop transports or LST's transporting our construction equipment...Again, welcome on board...Chief

PS...Thank you for your service to our country....

[Old Grump]

Originally Posted by Oldtown2

ANY RIVER RATS ON HERE 68,69

Brother in law was on the Swift boats in 68,69. At the same time I was on the Canberra and then the Truxtun so my water was a little bluer. Welcome to the site and don't forget to bookmark us. We would hate for you not to be able to find your way back.

[Oldtown2]

199R I was boat CAPTAIN OF A RIVER BOAT 68 69 IN AND AROUND THE MEKONG RIVER , I CREW OF 12 AND CARRIED 1MK19 ,TWO 20MM CANNONS,
TWO 50 CAL FOUR 7.62MG AND A TRACKED FLAME WITH 900 GALLONS OF NAPALM PLUS SMALL ARMS.I HAD THREE Army crew who manned the flame
an E5 and two spec 4s. It got real interesting when we got ambushed.

[Oldtown2]

Rooter,Oldtown Maryland is where I was born so I use it as some of the user names.I to was in the Navy for 30 years was a BMCM then had my last ttwo sea tours as Command Master Chief. Retired on 1 Jan 1989.

[rooter]

Now I have the 2 names sorted out....199'r and Old Town... Those are very impressive cred's Master Chief...congradualtions and thank you for your service to our country...We usually had either BM's or GM's serving with our Seabee Battalions along with other 'Black Shoe' ratings like cooks, bakers, ship servicemen and later even the electronic people like ET's. When I read my NAVY FRA booklets now, there are many designators I can't identify.. Please share some stories with us Old Town...like old Jimmy Durante used to claim, "I gott'a million of them"..... Chief

[Crpdeth]

OldTown and 199er

Welcome to the forum!

Crpdeth

[Oldtown2]

Just had a visit from one of my 20mm gunners , first time we seen each other in 41 years he got shot on my boat and said you guys are crazy , got out of the Navy and joined the Army as a mechanic this was before the days of the computer so once his paper record caught up with the Army they made him a door gunner on a helo and got shot two more times but he stayed in for 22 years....

[rooter]

Yeah, it was very warm yesterday...Here in the Valley of the Sun I think it was officially at SKY HARBOR AIRPORT 104 degrees...the relative humidity was about 6 percent so for sure, the 'DRY HEAT' description. In the afternoon was looking for something to distract from the oil spill or President Obama fussing with Senator KYL from Arizona about immigration...Last I heard they were calling each other liars....Looked over my old videos and selected one starring STEVE McQUEEN...from back in the 70's and aboutr River Boat sailors titled SAND PEEBLES....Oh sure, I'd viewed it many times before, but I watched it again and enjoyed it...It's a long movie and historically, forever timely. Are you familar with the movie...? Technically, pretty accurate also...the boiler operation and the 'main steam stop valve'....boiler operation and pertinent terms...Yup, 100 plus outdoors, but cool in the house..The evaporative cooler walked the temp down to 75 degrees and it was that moist feeling from the 'wet blanket concept' of evaporative cooling....Chief

[Riverrat1969]

Hi guys...........especially 199er. I just joined this group yesterday (12-04-2010), looking for information about an old muzzle loading rifle. Today I started looking at the rest of the site, and found this. I just finished posting several photographs of US Army waterborne operations. 199er, check the photos in my album........about 2/3 of them are with 199LIB guys in them.......you might see some guys you know.

Best regards, Jim in VA
Skipper of Boat 34 1969-70
US Army 1099th Medium Boat Company

[199er]

I enjoyed the pics Riverrat1969, it was a trip down memory lane. I was a platoon sgt in B/5/12 inf, 199th LIB. Got there in May 69 and about 2 1/2 months later we moved out of that area and went north to War Zone 'D'. I remember LTC Malone (our BN Cdr) but he went to Bde S-3 shortly after I got there. Also remember all the water, mud filth, bobbytraps, & RPGs too. I know Dave Murray too but I didn't meet him until 2001 at a 199th LIB reunion in DC. Col (ret) Malone resides in the Ft Benning area and attends our yearly reunions. I was there when you were so I probably was inserted and extracted on river assaults on your RAG boat.

Welcome to the forum, no RPGs here!!

[Riverrat1969]

I'm glad that you enjoyed them Sir! I inherited Dave's boat (34) after he left RVN on emergency leave. When he returned from CONUS, he got the 23. Doesn't seem that long ago, does it?