4. Vietnam II (7 page)

Staff Sergeant Gerald Zachary

Texas National Guard

Andersen AFB, Guam

We got the word out of the blue at lunchtime chow that our vacation is cut short.  It’s February, but its 78 degrees in Guam.  We were all getting comfortable here.

Too comfortable.

“The Air Force guys couldn’t get them to blink.  It’s our turn.”  The platoon sergeant said.

Everyone looked at each other like they have just been slapped in the face.  No one really thought it would get this far.

We were going in.  I mean we were really going in.

“Zach report to the OIC.”  The platoon sergeant told me afterwards.

“Am I in trouble?”  I asked.

“Get going!”

I had twisted my ankle playing volleyball the week prior.  A lot of guys were getting hurt, most with sports injuries.  My ankle hurt like hell and I went to the doctor, but then I realized I was putting myself in a position to miss the damn war.

When I reported in the captain was happy to see me so that calmed me down a little.

“You went to Ranger School right?”  Captain Slattery asked after making me wait a half hour.

“That’s right, sir.”

“An LT from division has an idea that he put through the boss.  You’re going to be part of it.”  He told me without really telling me anything.

There are no special forces in the National Guard.  There are however, GIs who have been to Ranger School. 

I was one of them.

Seems the boss was putting together some kind of super squad to compete with Big Green.  I did not know whether to be honored or frightened.

Lieutenant Colonel Carol Madison

U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer

We began ramping up ground war planning.  Air Land Battle was really going to be put to the test.  It was a kind of reheated blitzkrieg strategy that involved taking land fast with close air support working with ground forces.  It took the kind of coordination that we could not really have achieved before the joint initiative.

The first thing we did was pull up all the data on their ground forces.

PAV ARMY EQUIPMENT

TANKS

T-62 Main battle tank (70)

T-54/55 Main battle tank (850)

Type-59 Main battle tank (350)

Type 62 Light tank (200)

PT-76 Light tank (300)

PT-85 Light tank (50)

Type-63 Amphibious light tank (150)

SU-100 Tank destroyer (100)

SELF PROPELLED ARTILLERY

SU-100 Self-Propelled Artillery 100 mm (more than 20)

2S1 Gvozdika Self-Propelled Artillery 122 mm (100-150)

2S3 Akatsiya Self-Propelled Artillery (30)

IFV / APCs

M-113 Tracked armored personnel carrier (200)

Type 63 Tracked armored personnel carrier (100)

BMP-1 Infantry fighting vehicle (150)

BMP-2 Infantry fighting vehicle (150)

BTR-50 Tracked armored personnel carrier (400)

BTR-60 Wheeled armored personnel carrier (400)

BTR-70 Wheeled armored personnel carrier (150)

V-150 Wheeled armored personnel carrier (300)

BRDM-1 Reconnaissance vehicle (50)

BRDM-2 Reconnaissance vehicle (50)

RAM MkIII Armored Mine Protected Vehicle (200)

TRUCKS

ZIL-130 General purpose truck

ZIL-131 General purpose truck

ZIS-151 General purpose truck

UAZ-469 All-Terrain vehicle

UAZ-452 Van-type transport vehicle

UAZ452D Single cab pickup truck

UAZ-2206 Van-type transport vehicle

UAZ-3741 Van-type transport vehicle

UAZ-3909i Ambulance

UAZ 39625 Van-type transport vehicle

UAZ 39094 Crew cab pickup truck

Ural-375D General purpose truck

GAZ-66 General purpose truck

KrAZ-255 General purpose truck

MAZ-537 Tank transporter

SMALL ARMS/INFANTRY WEAPONS

PISTOLS

TT-33 Pistols Militia force

PMM Pistols Standard issue service pistol

APS Pistols Standard issue

Type-54 Pistols (Chinese copy of TT-33) Militia Forces

CZ-52 Pistols (used by Special Forces (a.k.a. Dac Cong))

RIFLES

AK-47 Assault rifle

Type-56 Assault rifle

AKM Assault rifles Standard issue

AK-74 Assault rifle

AKS-74U Compact Assault rifles (used by Special Forces (a.k.a. Dac Cong))

XM-177E2 Carbines Used by Special Forces

SKS-45 Carbines (Militia forces, Military police)

Type 56 Carbines (Militia forces, Military police)

IMI Tavor TAR-21 Assault rifle

SVD Sniper rifles Standard issue

SVU Sniper rifles (used by Special Forces (a.k.a. Dac Cong)

SUBMACHINE GUNS

PM-63 Submachine guns (used by Special Forces (a.k.a. Dac Cong)

MP-5A4 Submachine guns (used by the Police Force)

Uzi Submachine guns (used by Special Forces (a.k.a. Dac Cong)

Mini Uzi Submachine guns (used by Special Forces (a.k.a. Dac Cong)

Micro Uzi Submachine guns (used by Special Forces (a.k.a. Dac Cong)

HEAVY MACHINE GUNS

IMI Negev Light Machine Gun (Used by Naval Special Force)

RPD-44 Light Machine Guns Standard issue

RPK Light Machine Guns Standard issue

PKM General Purpose machine Guns Standard issue

DShK-38/DShKM Heavy machine guns Standard issue

NSV Heavy Machine Guns Standard issue

EXPLOSIVES

GP-25 under barrel grenade launchers (used by Special Forces (a.k.a. Dac Cong)

M203 under barrel grenade launchers (used by naval infantry)

AGS-17 Automatic grenade launchers Standard issue

M-79 Grenade Launchers Standard issue (locally self-produced)

MGL Mk-1 40 mm Grenade Launcher

M-72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon, improved for more durable launchers and rockets, used sometimes as flame throwers

Type 69 RPG rocket propelled grenade system

RPG-7 rocket propelled grenade system Standard Issue

RPG-29 rocket-propelled grenade system

9K111 Fagot (AT-4 Spigot) Anti-tank missile system

9K11 Malyutka (AT-3 Sagger) Anti-tank missile system

9M113 Konkurs (AT-5 Spandrel) Anti-tank missile system

MD-82 mine Anti-personnel blast mine

ARTILLERY

B-10 82 mm Recoilless gun (700)

SPG-9 73 mm Recoilless gun (900)

82-PM-41 82mm infantry mortar (200)

M1938 107mm infantry mortar (200)

120-PM-43 mortar 120 mm infantry mortar (200)

M-160 mortar 160 mm infantry mortar (100)

2S1 122 mm Self-propelled artillery gun (300)

2S3 152 mm Self-propelled artillery gun (200)

D-20 152 mm howitzer gun (700)

D-30 122 mm howitzer gun (900)

M-46 130 mm towed field gun (500)

BM-14 16tubes 140 mm multiple rocket launchers (400)

BM-21 40tubes 122 mm multiple-launch rocket system (700)

SS-1 Scud B/C/D Tactical ballistic missiles (two brigades, 24 launchers)

M-114 155 mm howitzer gun (100)

9K720 Iskander Tactical ballistic missiles (10 systems orders in 2012, will deliver in 2015)

While some V1 era American equipment, like the M-113 armored personnel carrier, was in the PAV active inventory, there was also a large number of American equipment that’s condition was largely unknown.

American Weapons sold to ARVN and captured by North Vietnam:

TANKS

In storage

M48 Patton Medium tank (100)

M-41 Light tank (100)

SELF PROPELLED ARTILLERY

In storage

M107 Self-Propelled Artillery 175 mm (5)

CARGO VEHICLES

In storage

M-35 cargo truck

M-151 Jeep

SMALL ARMS

Phased out/In storage due to lack of parts or ammo

M16 Assault rifles (In storage)

M16A1 Assault rifles (In storage)

Kbkg wz. 1960 Carbine-grenade launcher (status unknown)

M14 Battle Rifle (In storage)

AMD 65 Assault rifle (In storage)

M1919 Medium machine gun (In storage)

M2HB Heavy Machine Guns (In storage)

M-60 Machine Guns (In storage)

ARTILLERY

Phased out/In storage

B-11 107 mm Recoilless gun (900)

BM-13 16tubes 132 mm multiple rocket launchers (200)

M-40 106 mm Recoilless gun (100)

M-107 175 mm howitzer self-propelled gun (100)

So there it all was in a nutshell.  It sure looked more manageable on paper.  It was going to be a slog in real life.

There was another issue as well.

The PAV Dac Cong were getting a lot of press and not the good kind.

As the spiritual successors to the Vietcong, the Dac Cong scared the shit out of the civilians and politicians.  They were jungle fighters and after years of Vietnam War movies they, and an extended war of attrition in the Central Highlands, were what the American people feared the most.  In a survey over the holidays most Americans answered that we had lost V1 because there were too many trees in Vietnam.  That is why popular support was turning to a war in the Middle East.  The argument was that there was no place to hide in a desert and our troops would be safe.

The PAV sappers were going to be a both a real and imagined threat.  They were the Vietnamese army’s elite commando/special forces unit.  The Dac Cong also provided specialized commando training to foreign forces at the PAVN Sapper Training School in Vietnam as well as by Vietnamese sapper advisors assigned to the Cuban Army’s Sapper School in Cuba, and, in the last decade, by Vietnamese sapper training teams stationed in Nicaragua.  The Dac Cong were responsible for training super sappers among El Salvador, Cambodian, Laotian, Soviet and Cuban militaries.  The Vietnamese had been on the ground in Afghanistan helping Soviets root out guerilla forces there.  It reminded me of how the US Army had used Indian scouts against their own in the Indian Wars.  It took a guerilla fighter to battle a guerilla fighter on their own turf.  They were experts in sapper tactics including bomb-making, sniping and commando hunting.

We would have to deal with them along with the conventional forces one way or another.

All the pieces were in place.  The weapon was assembled.  All that was needed was for the trigger to be pulled.

I could only imagine how scared those men must be who would have to storm those beaches.  What kind of people could possibly want to do a job like that?

Corporal Mason Lee

United States Marine Corps

Marine Landing Force

This Marine is ready to eat his own guts to get his countrymen back home.