Sorry for reviving an older thread (I guess a week or so is okay, isn't it?).

This Paco dude has written some other stuff that is just flat unbelievable. I think whoever he is, he is full of something but that something does not equate with experience.

I was there. No swords, no body armor, and I never saw any SAAs. And no screaming NVAs or VCs ever came running into the camp like "SURPRISE!". They'd have to get by the sentry(ies), the claymores, the wire, the flares, etc.

I think he was trying to say he was at a Special Forces A-Team's camp. If so, there would have been ARVNs, Montanyards and/or Nungs to contend with. I simply can't imagine anyone simply waltzing in but, if they did, I would expect better armament than a sword.

Most handguns I saw there were the GI 45s and the 38 Smiths, but many brought their own in '65/early 66. One guy carried a Colt Cobra, others had various revolvers.

Never saw anyone with a privately purchased hand gun that wasn't a revolver or a Colt 45 of some type.

I had an issued 45 at one time, but was so hot for a 38 Smith since, in my misspent youth, I thought they were somehow "better."

Bob