Snubby in Vietnam

[LoboGunLeather]

These two physicians were part of our home unit in Kansas, the one on the right, a neurosurgeon, the one on the left, an orthopedist. Note the field jacket, it was still chilly at night. And still wearing our M17 masks. Something I learned is that just about every sort of injury or wound has an ortho problem. No matter where or what, patients needed orthopedic care. Another common wounded part of one's body is their buttocks. Kinda not funny for a soldier to later tell others he was shot in the "derrière", like Lee Marvin was on Saipan. But one's rear end is a large part of the body, so is commonly wounded with gun shot or shrapnel.

We could take care of just about every sort of casualty, but neuro-trauma and burns were immediately evacuated Stateside as fast as possible after being stabilized for transport.

Endless hours without rest for our surgeons and OR teams and nursing and support staff.

By the hundreds and hundreds they came. Our teams gave all comers triage based on how serious their wounds. Sometimes I wonder if any of the Iraqi POW's or non-combatant patients remember what we did for them.

We had a POW who had acute appendicitis, but refused a lifesaving operation, before he perforated and got peritonitis. Again and again he refused, until one of our Interpreters said "...let me talk to him." A few minutes he came back and said "... you can operate on him now.

We asked what he told the POW, and the SA interpreter said he told the POW "...if you don't let the Americans operate on you, they will take you out into the desert and leave you, and the Desert Dogs will eat you alive." Worked, and soon he was transferred post-op to a nearby POW compound, and more about that later.

All the best, and stay safe... SF VET

Amen on the buttocks wounds! Amazing how much shrapnel even my skinny little hiney was capable of catching, back in the days! I don't know if it was bad form or poor technique on my part, but about every other time I was wounded it involved the buttocks. Upper leg, hip, buttocks. Back, legs, buttocks. Head, buttocks.

I remember one time we were recovering from several passes of close air support, fleschette rockets and 20mm HE cannon fire all around us. Sure, you take all the cover you can, but someone has to watch the results and direct Peter Pilot on the radio. Time to di-di (make tracks as fast as we could) somewhere else. "Hey bud, did you know your (buttocks) is bleeding?"

Common enough that I would think the Army would have a special field dressing for that.

Gets a little tiresome answering questions from the grandkids. I'm sure they find it amusing.

Got a good chuckle out of Forrest Gump's line, when the Prez asked him where he had been hit. "In the buttocks". Welcome to the club, Forrest!

 

[Llance]

My late lady friend(miss her so much)was an Army nurse for 22 years, retired as a Colonel. They were a special breed. She once held the hand of a GI who was run over by an Abrams tank for some hours before he died. She said it was a blessing. Training accident. So sad. They are true angels for our guys. May GOD bless them all.

It's been my experience there are no words which fully cover this so I can only share, I too have known such loss. It is a pity there is not more but don't take this the wrong way brother, here's a heartfelt hug for you.

Llance

 

[fordson]

My late lady friend(miss her so much)was an Army nurse for 22 years, retired as a Colonel. They were a special breed. She once held the hand of a GI who was run over by an Abrams tank for some hours before he died. She said it was a blessing. Training accident. So sad. They are true angels for our guys. May GOD bless them all.

Unfortunately, we’re all involuntary members of the same “club”; not a term used in jest. The wound gets better but never heals. You have my deepest sympathy, Shipmate.

 

[fordson]

To SF VET - yours are fantastic stories, many of which I can relate too. Keep them coming.

 

[SF VET]

Our EVAC had two entrances, on front, and one rear, so to speak. We could not risk having trucks and vehicles just drive in and drive around our compound, too dangerous. So if absolutely necessary, we would ground guide them in, otherwise visitors had to park outside. Pretty windy and dusty now.

Our medical staff was of course briefed before we left Kansas on some of the specific illness we were likely to encounter. And the Saw Scale Viper, for which we had antivenom. About that time, we heard that in another hospital, a MaJ had suddenly collapsed and died, and there was concern it was a case of Hemorraghic Fever from an insect, but later we head it was likely an MI. We did encounter in the POW's and non-combatants Leishmaniasis, a larva which burrows under the skin. Not something found in KS.

We were a smoothly running hospital by now. Our ER and OR staff had no problems with "mass casualty" arrivals of 20+ at a time. It wasn't even necessary to summon all of our staff to take care of them.

I would hear an incoming helicopter, perhaps a CH47, and in a few minutes get a ring on a field phone, and when I would ask if they needed help, our ER staff would often reply "..., nah, it's only 20 wounded POW's, we can handle it no problem."

All the best... and stay safe... SF VET

 

[SF VET]

Our wards, pre-op and post-op could be pretty crowded. Patients were on litters, which were on collapsable metal "sawhorses", with metal poles for IV's and the like clamped onto the litters. When the litters were too bloody, our litter teams would wash and scrub them, although it was not easy to then get them to dry somehow. Our big generators provided power, and we had some capability to heat our hospital. But that meant big power cords laying about, something to trip over. One thing that made it easier for our hospital way out in the desert to function, compared to a Stateside hospital, is that our staff lived just a moments walk from their residence. It was a self-contained small city.

Just about every person, in their civilian life back home, was employed and skilled in their medical tasks and duties. So it wasn't necessary to train anybody, they just wore their uniform, and did what they did every day in the US.

But it wasn't just our ward/OR/ER medical staff that was working hard. Our motor pool had constant work to keep our generators running and safe. The risk of electrocution was real, and later one of our supply staff indeed died of electrocution after our return.

One of our big 5 ton trucks has "down" awaiting a replacement engine, so it was our gate barrier. Remembering the Lebanon Marine barracks bombing with 247 dead Marines, we used it to drive a few feet back and forth to lessen the risk of a suicide bomber driving in and detonating. And our guards were locked and loaded. Our water and wash team was now washing our hospital linen, and eventually, when things became less busy, did our personal laundry. Each of us had a plastic wash basin for doing our own laundry.

Life was much more complicated for our women staff, with personal hygiene needs, and their attempts to try to maintain some sort of female "prettiness." Most of the men just had our hair zipped off.

We had an issue Army barber kit, and it seemed to me that women have a latent desire to style hair. So us guys would sit and let them take turns trimming and styling our hair, before just zipping it all off. It was nice to sit with the ladies in their home tent for a few minutes. Us guys just lined up our cots side by side, but the women tended to hang blankets and other barriers between their cots, sort of like little cubicles. A female privacy thing I suppose.

Next up, "FIRE!"

Stay safe, and all the best.... SF VET

 

[SF VET]

here, a general surgeon on the right, a younger orthopedist on the left. Like I said, just about every wounded patient had some sort of ortho injury too.

SF VET

 

[Sistema1927]

Even though I wore that woodland camo (after trading in my OD fatigues), it just looks strange now after 20+ years of nothing but desert camo.

Of course, my "enemies" were in Europe and north Asia where the woodland would make more sense.

 

[walkinghorse]

You have noted all of the medical specialities in the unit and facility! Just like a civilian facility, though security was upgraded!
I believe I read that your medical speciality was pediatrics? Given your military experiences before becoming a doctor I am curious how that entered into your choice?

 

[SF VET]

FIRE!

When our little Advance Party began to lay out our Line at our desert site, we noted another small party doing the same thing nearby. We walked over and found a similar Advance Party from the 148th EVAC out of Arkansas had been given the same mission as us, to co-locate adjacent to our own hospital. They too worked in the mud and the rain, and we talked with them a little, but we were separated by some hundreds of yards, and were too busy to have much interaction with them, or they with us.

To higher command, I am sure it seemed like a good idea, putting our hospitals together inside our berm, so we could share resources, and work together as a big "med center" or something like that. Share staff, supplies, support one another's needs and capacities and capabilities. As our two hospitals began to rise out of the desert, I did attend some of their staff meetings, but soon we had little if any interaction. I guess we were too busy coordinating our present and future efforts, other than loaning them our big road compactor, as they had really rutted up their area. In the latter months of our mission, I never saw the need to visit their site, and had no need or interest in seeing now they lived and worked.

Besides, our hospital's moral was very high, and I think we felt we are better than the 128th anyway. There was nothing we wanted from them, and I am sure their personnel felt the same way about my own 410 EVAC. We were superior to them in every way. At least, we thought so. I suspect they too accomplished their mission in a proud and masterful way. They were closed down and returned Stateside later sooner than we were. We just didn't need anything from anyone else.

Troop moral is dependent on many factors, but prime among them is good chow and mail from home. After some time, our mess team working hard got our "kitchen" up and running, and as soon as possible we had a hot breakfast, and a hot dinner; it was always MRE's for lunch. We had great cooks, who worked day and night to do the best they could out in the desert.

One early day, we looked over towards the 148th's side of the compound, and saw black smoke billowing up. They were on fire!!

So some of us grabbed some fire extinguishers, and threw them into a truck and raced over to help. Of course, feeling like they were dummies for letting a fire start, we pulled up to their burning mess/kitchen tent making all sorts of fire engine sounds, hollering out sirens and bells and alarms. Sounds mean and ill-spirited , but such was the competition between our hospitals. Of course, in reflection, we were fortunate that we did not experience the great risk of a fire too. Just an accident.

So we hopped out and helped put out their fire, and offered condolences, and drove "home'. But now they had no kitchen for their staff and patients, so our cooks gave them all the equipment we could spare, so in a few says their mess section was again up and running. As far as I know, helping rebuild their kitchen was the only time the two hospitals supported one-another.

I am sure the Arkansas folks would have done everything possible for us, if necessary. But deep down, all of us knew we were the best medical unit in the War. I think our males also thought we had the best looking female troopers too.

Here, what a burned out kitchen looks like. We were lucky it wasn't ours.

All the best, and stay safe.... SF VET

 

[SF VET]

the Ground War officially lasted something like 90 hours. So we were really busy during this time and for awhile afterwards. But our US casualty patient load decreased significantly, although there were always accidents and injuries to US troops. But we were still busy with Iraqi POW and non-combatant wounded and injured.

For instance, the Iraqi army surrendered by the thousands, and were penned up not far away in an open air compound. I and several other physicians went over to run a sort of sick call for the POWs. We ran into an Iraqi physician, who lived in the US, but had been back to his homeland for a visit when Saddam caused the ruckus, and had been drafted into the Iraqi army. So he became an interpreter for us, and we gave him some med equipment, and worked along side us. He was one of those people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and had been caught up in the swirl of war.

Tbe POW's were a pathetic, bedraggled bunch, but when the SA guards began to feed them with MRE's tossed over the wire, the POW's were incensed to find some had pork in them, and would throw them back at the guards. Who were ticked off about it, and started shooting them. So now our hospital began to get shot POWs, so we had to teach the guards how to sort the pork MRE's from the rest of the meals. More wounded for us to care for.

But our workload slowly began to slow down, giving us some "off" time, and after awhile, the requirement for us to keep our M17 protective masks on our sides was recinded. And we could stop our Pyridostigmine oral anti-nerve agent prophylactis. I wasn't at our EVAC when that word came down, so took mine for some days longer, which I think had something to do with my many year (but now much resolved) peripheral nerve trouble.

We began to scourge wood for residence and "porch". furniture from the pallets our supplies arrived on. By now our residence tents had plywood floors, so we could sweep them out.

The summer heat and sand storms were cranking up; more about that later.

General Schwarzkopf did not allow VIP's not part of his war command to visit the theater. He did not want the distraction of curious generals interfering with his mission. One of our RN's husband was a three star General in NATO; he was not allowed to visit, but his wife Candy was able to talk with him via satellite phone, when other generals in-country would visit their wounded. At that level of officers, they all know each other. There was some benefit for us from that line of communication.

I was not able to save a wounded Iraqi toddler, and when the little lad died, a sense of sadness was apparent in our troops. But later that day an Iraqi woman arrived and needed an immediate C-section and our surgeons delivered a heathy wailing baby boy. Our spirits were raised with a new life beginning in our hospital. I considered posting here a pic of the baby being delivered, but decided such a pic, even thou a joyous event for us, would be just too much for a firearms forum.

I am about done readying my 1952 Army M37 3/4 ton Weapons carrier for the 200 mile trip down to Charleston. I won't put my M1919 30 cal air-cooled machine gun on the pedestal in the bed until I join a Cars and Coffee there. People just love to handle a machine gun.

Here, our orthopedic physicians demonstrate that they indeed know how to use a hammer.

So all the best, and stay safe... SF VET

 

[SF VET]

One of the less glamorous sections of our EVAC was our mess team. But surely no group of men and women contributed more to our Moral and health than these few soldiers. They were up very early, and worked long into the night, tirelessly providing our personnel, our patients, and often others who happened to be in the area and wanted a hot meal. Breakfast was eggs, hashbrowns, maybe French Toast, bacon, and of course coffee was ready 24 hours a day. Dinner was even more varied, sizzling on their griddles, and they were masters at baking cookies. Bread was a locally procured item.

When our care load lessened, all of us looked forward to a sit down dinner with our comrades. A time for conversation, talk of the day's work, what was to come, and of course our families back home. For many of us, it was the end of our work day, but for others, the beginning of their night shift.

Something about hot chow has always been vital to a unit's cohesiveness and moral. it was for us. God Bless the Cooks.

Here, we line up for dinner, no one is in a hurry, no one cuts in line, and our officers respected tradition, and waited until our EM had been thru the line. All of us waved our hands over or with our food to reduce the flies we swallowed.

When our food supply source brought in local lettuce, our Commander had it washed and then examined under a microscope, and it was so full of bacteria and debris, did nor allow it to be served.

All the best, and stay safe.... SF VET

 

[SF VET]

I have fond memories of our evening meals with friends and companions. I am the chap with the mustache, right, holding a dinner roll in my hand.

Our Head Nurse with the glasses, and two long time physician friends to her left. Joined by several of our nurses. The older chap on the end was a general surgeon and a long time part of our Reserve Hospital.

Just sitting here seeing friends from 30 years ago, drinking my morning coffee, brings back fond memories of that time in my life. All of us knew we were accomplishing something really important.

There are people now who owe their lives to our staff. And I got to be part of it all.

All the best, and stay safe. SF VET

 

[SF VET]

Early afternoon, getting hot, and sunglasses were often worn. The army did eye exams before we deployed, and issued us sturdy clear Rx glasses, and sunglasses, too, mine are both Bifocals. For those who did not need RX sunglasses, the army bought and issued expensive civilian sun glasses, in addition to our goggles. Here, still wearing our protective masks on our sides, and helmets at the ready.

For lunch, we walked in a line and pulled an MRE out of boxes, with the MRE's packed so we couldn't search thru for our favorites. Lots of trading for what was popular and not popular. I actually liked all the menu MRE's, although most soldiers didn't like the ham and lima beans, referred to by another name, not mentionable here. No cigarets like in past wars, but came with Skittles, and a tiny bottle of Tobacco.

Real friendships were formed, and some between our men and women continued to marriage, and perhaps sadly, divorces.

as always, stay safe... SF VET

 

[SF VET]

when I look over my pictures, I am struck how there is no color in the desert, just the green of our tents, and everything else is a light sand color. So different than in Vietnam, where the color was so lush and varied. Might as well shoot in Black & White in the desert. It wasn't easy to properly set my trusty Pentax for the high contrast of the desert, with the narrow ASA range of my Kodachrome.

SF VET

 

[fordson]

When I was first stationed in country in early Jan of ‘91, I was in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Since my quarters were in the city (a very fine European cosmopolitan city) I had to drive to the international airport, where my duty station was, some twenty miles away. I drove along the E11 motorway, a flat four lane ribbon of asphalt with lush green vegetation on either side. Trees, plants of all kind and colors, just lovely. That is, until you hit an overpass. At the top, you could see for miles there was nothing but brown grey desert with this ribbon of green vegetation and black asphalt winding its way to the airport in the far distance. I was told that there was a person responsible for maintaining one side of each half-mile or so of this lush green motorway. That was their sole job. I believed it.

 

[mdf9183]

My wife was in the Texas Nat. Guard assigned to the 217th Evac Hosp. in San Antonio as an RN and a 45yo grandmother. The unit was called up when the Gulf War started and was sent to Riyadh Saudi Arabia. They were assigned to the King Faisal Hospital in Riyadh but due to a conflict with the Saudis they were never utilized. They hung around until the war ended then came back to San Antonio and were disbanded.

 

[SF VET]

We are a hospital, tasked with the mission of saving lives. But that doesn't mean we didn't have an obligation to protect ourselves. Outside our perimeter, infantry troops and armor protected us, but at our berm, the responsibility became ours. All of our troops had refresher training on our M16's at Ft. Riley before we deployed, and some range time. I was issued a 1911 when I left on the Advance Party, and turned it back to our arms room as soon as I could as I just was too tired sometimes to wipe it down, it rusted every night.

When the conflict was officially over, we still posted guards for some time, as POW's were just wandering around when the SA prisoner compound was opened up. Even until the time of our EVAC's return Stateside, we had several dedicated armed soldiers on duty constantly patrolling our compound, "just in case."

One of my old friends, a Family Practice MD from a small KS community had been a former enlisted Marine, and he drew an M16 instead of pistol (we did not have the then new Beretta 9 mm's). So he drove tent pegs with his M16 slung over his shoulder. Once a Marine, always a Marine is really true.

In this pic, the Major in the sun glasses towards the right rear was one of the full time Reserve officers, assigned to our KS unit, and was largely in charge of our original small Advance Party. And he signed for our hospital's equipment at the Port. I learned long ago, to avoid actually signing for anything in the Military.

Late in our time in the desert, an Australian unit was going home, and pulled a Russian twin 30 mm Anti-aircraft ground mount into our compound, and asked our mechanics to weld up some part so they could take it back to Australia. It was a gun designed to be place on the ground and extend the legs out, with the gunner in a seat behind it.

When our Commander heard about it, he sped over to the motor pool and demanded for it to be removed from our hospital immediately. But when the mechanics were about done with the repair, it was pulled out before there was "big trouble".

Long years before, in Germany as a naive 2nd LT at Graff in a winter exercise, I had let one of our Battalion's jeep ambulances tow an ammunition trailer back to the post. I learned then that when a unit has a Red Cross on it's location and vehicles, it is a big NO-NO to have any unauthorized weapons around.

Me, I have enjoyed shooting since I was in elementary school. Loads up 200 rounds of 38 special yesterday for my N frame S&W 28-2.

All the best, and stay safe.... SF VET

 

[Greyman50]

You mean they have lima and ham MRE’s?? As the L.N’s in Vietnam would say, “ numba 10”.

 

[kobsw]

We are a hospital, tasked with the mission of saving lives. But that doesn't mean we didn't have an obligation to protect ourselves. Outside our perimeter, infantry troops and armor protected us, but at our berm, the responsibility became ours. All of our troops had refresher training on our M16's at Ft. Riley before we deployed, and some range time. I was issued a 1911 when I left on the Advance Party, and turned it back to our arms room as soon as I could as I just was too tired sometimes to wipe it down, it rusted every night.

When the conflict was officially over, we still posted guards for some time, as POW's were just wandering around when the SA prisoner compound was opened up. Even until the time of our EVAC's return Stateside, we had several dedicated armed soldiers on duty constantly patrolling our compound, "just in case."

One of my old friends, a Family Practice MD from a small KS community had been a former enlisted Marine, and he drew an M16 instead of pistol (we did not have the then new Beretta 9 mm's). So he drove tent pegs with his M16 slung over his shoulder. Once a Marine, always a Marine is really true.

In this pic, the Major in the sun glasses towards the right rear was one of the full time Reserve officers, assigned to our KS unit, and was largely in charge of our original small Advance Party. And he signed for our hospital's equipment at the Port. I learned long ago, to avoid actually signing for anything in the Military.

Late in our time in the desert, an Australian unit was going home, and pulled a Russian twin 30 mm Anti-aircraft ground mount into our compound, and asked our mechanics to weld up some part so they could take it back to Australia. It was a gun designed to be place on the ground and extend the legs out, with the gunner in a seat behind it.

When our Commander heard about it, he sped over to the motor pool and demanded for it to be removed from our hospital immediately. But when the mechanics were about done with the repair, it was pulled out before there was "big trouble".

Long years before, in Germany as a naive 2nd LT at Graff in a winter exercise, I had let one of our Battalion's jeep ambulances tow an ammunition trailer back to the post. I learned then that when a unit has a Red Cross on it's location and vehicles, it is a big NO-NO to have any unauthorized weapons around.

Me, I have enjoyed shooting since I was in elementary school. Loads up 200 rounds of 38 special yesterday for my N frame S&W 28-2.

All the best, and stay safe.... SF VET

Nice, Brand new out of the box(or at least the armory) M16's with caps over the flash suppressors and all.

By the way the taller of the three soldiers/docs has an M16 with some older furniture, that's for sure.

Love following this thread, you are a gentleman and a scholar for sharing this with us all.

Best Regards,

Kobsw