Snubby in Vietnam

[Ole Joe Clark]

May God bless our troops, support teams and every one that defends the USA. Nurses are the front line troops in any hospital, be it yours or any small town or metropolis any where.

Thanks for sharing the best part of your journal, we probably couldn't handle the bad.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[Tanners Owner]

SF Vet- thanks for sharing your memories. Many ring true w/ my experiences, though I served later than you(84-04) - somethings just don’t change.

Some of my memories while in Thailand include being in a flea market of sorts along the Thailand/ Cambodia border where I saw locals hawking dog tags- a little eerie.

While In Saudi, I recall visiting a meat market in Tabuk ( where their Armor center is- there Ft Knox if you will) - a nasty, dirty place, no refrigeration smelly. The memory that remains is what they used as a door stop- a camels head......

Overall I enjoyed my time in the service- was blessed with a wonderful wife who also served one tour- we met in ROTC. As such she understood the demands and was very supportive. Both my daughters were born in Germany- 89 and 90.

I too experienced great and less than great leadership. I recall after the Cold War was won, the Army seemed to struggle with its focus or mission, and we seemed to devolve into a zero defect Army who focused on not screwing up versus learning from our mistakes.

I had a reputation as a practical joker- some of the jokes I did would probably got me fired. One I’ll share is this. I was leading a logistical task force supporting 8ID at Graf and Hoenfels and had a female LT who while not overweight, had to watch her weight. Every day, I was able to snip a 1/8- 1/4 inch off her belt. During this time, I was only able to eat 1 meal reliably a day, so I ate breakfast heartily. She initially did too, as my mess sergeant was superb. Then her breakfast got smaller and smaller, finally ending with just a cup of coffee. One breakfast I noticed she undid her belt to sit down. I figured we needed to take one more step; I had another female soldier keep her occupied elsewhere and was able to get ahold of her pants. I moved the top button of her pants over, tightening the pants. She had no idea of what we did.

The day we returned to home station we had a Hail and Farewell where she wore a dress that looked like Omar the Tent Maker made it and she confronted me and my partner in Crime Warrant Officer and our wives. Our wives were not happy, but later the LT thanked us .......

Happy Memorial Day- keep in mind those who served & their families - in peacetime or conflict - I always do and give a prayer for all those who sacrificed for our country

 

[llowry61]

On this memorial day, I would like to once again thank all that served and remember all that gave the full measure so that we can enjoy the freedoms we are blessed to have.

Thank you for your service and may god bless America.

 

[SF VET]

Field Expedients

In military terms, a field expedient is a solution to some sort of problem which occurs and is resolved at the unit level, and not something out of a TM or doctrine. Americans are surly one of the best at coming up with something to make a task better, or more often, easier.

With the rainy season ending, one of our troops had the idea of asking a unit with a back hoe to dig several slooping trenches, so that trucks could be backed down into the trenches, then they could be offloaded by merely walking onto them, and not having thus to climb up and down.

Here, a 5 ton is being off loaded with civilian wounded. The MAJ directing this is the chap who co-drove with me the 300 mile trip out to our site a month+ prior. He was active duty, and assigned permanently to our EVAC back in Topeka.

I am not sure in the end if we took care of more Allied or civilians when it was all said and done.

Being a pediatrician, I took care of most of the children, outside of their surgical needs. When children and infants died in our hospital, the army mortuary service, or the old graves registration units, would not accept deceased non-US. We were able to take their bodies to a Saudi hospital in a small city down the road and they would perform the appropriate rites and care.

On particularly sad case was a severely wounded young woman who was brought to our hospital. Virtually all of our wounded civilians were from Iraqi Republican Guard reprisals, and not from US actions.

A day or so after this woman arrived, her husband found us, and pleaded for information on their two young sons who had been with her. All we could tell him was that his sons were somewhere out in the desert, as she had come in without them.

About this time, we heard that in another US hospital a physician had picked up a shiny cluster bomblet, and was handling it in his tent, and dropped it, killing him and several others.

Memorial Day as dawn is breaking here in UpState SC. A time for me to remember especial my MIA friend lost 50 years ago in Vietnam, CPT Gregg H.

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

 

[SF VET]

Wait, this is a CH47, not a truck. SF VET

 

[Sistema1927]

This Memorial Day I am reminded that the advances in military/combat medicine over the past century have resulted in less brothers in the ground, and more who have come home to loved ones, and, hopefully, a thankful nation.

God bless our troops, and may His light shine upon the medics, doctors, nurses, and other technicians who look after them.

 

[SF VET]

What EPA??

Our patients arrived night and day, and our hospital worked around the clock. No day or night shifts, just all of us doing what was necessary, not even knowing what day of the week it was. By vehicle and BlackHawk, by CH 47, wounded came by the hundreds. But it was immediately apparent that if we didn't do something about our helipad, we were going to have a helicopter be unable to land and offload, or perhaps spin into our hospital. Can't have this....

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

 

[SF VET]

For Every Problem, There Is a Solution

It wasn't my idea, but our hospital commander ordered an effective solution for our helipad's sand and dust problem. Diesel was free from the SA government, and we had tankers full of the stuff. So.....in a few hours our helipad was the envy of other hospitals. I suspect even 30 years later, one could find this spot of oily sand way out in the desert.

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

 

[SF VET]

Business as Usual

And they came....

Not only wounded Allied, POW's and non-combatants but also commanders coming to visit their wounded. A time-honored military tradition, commanders seeing their wounded troops. Our hospital staff felt honored to receive praise and thanks from battle hardened, dusty field leaders. So many choppers were coming in with wounded, and leaving immediately for more, that aviation units established a refuel station at our helipad.

As I have said before, our EVAC saw more patients than any other hospital in Desert Storm. Somewhere later in this thread, how we cared for over 35,000 patients will be explained.

And still they came....

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

 

[SF VET]

Almost need an ATC unit here!

Here, just how busy our helipad could be.

All the best, and stay safe. SF VET

 

[fordson]

Helicopter Takeoffs and landing in desert conditions resulted in “brown outs” force you to go IFR immediately. Desert sands played havoc with turbine engines and the leading edge of whirling rotors blades and propellers. Even on prepared helo pads if you got too close the the edge, you’d creat a mini sandstorm. We had at least one UH-1N that loss it’s skids on landing in brown out conditions - too high forward speed, IFR, and an unseen sand raise.

 

[Sistema1927]

Post #369: What's the story on the trooper on the mountain bike?

 

[SF VET]

As for the trooper on the bike, it looks like he has a rifle on his back. I don't know who he is, he was't part of our unit. When I walked out to our helipad with my trusty Pentax, I saw him pedaling from the right, so waited until he was in full view in front of the MediVac helicopters to snap my shutter. I thought a pic with the contrast of aviation and a bike would be a nice shot.

Here is a pic of our residence row. Our Advance Party along with the later small influx of troops had put them up. We had bought in Dhahran lots of "tools" before we traveled up to our desert site, fortunately, lots of wooden sledge mallets for pounding tent pegs. Because we pounded hundreds and hundreds of them, and if one missed the peg, it would snap off the wooden mallet head.

Starting to be hot and dusty, and we didn't spend much time in our tents, it was unbearably hot soon. Later, when a tent caught fire, (more on that later), I realized we should have had firebreaks in between the tents, because we could have lost all of them and our gear with a fire on a windy day. Later, I put that in our After Action Report.

Up early now, with gourmet coffee and some of my wife's brownies for breakfast.

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

 

[SF VET]

Home Sweet Home!

Here, my cot, with my field desk and gear. From my prior Airborne Army experience, I brought along a parachute bag, the large grey bag. These are used after a jump, for stuffing one's parachute and harness into on the drop zone. Holds a lot of gear.

All of us made "furniture" out of boxes,
All the best, and stay safe.... SF VET

 

[SF VET]

Probably just about everybody is familiar with the move/TV show of several decades ago, MASH, about a army hospital during the Korean War. So...

Of course, our troops had to emulate one of the signs of that show's set. Units with low moral don't do things like this sign. It is another indication of the high moral and focus and dedication of our hospital. After 30 years, I just so proud to have been part of the 410 EVAC.

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

 

[F4phantom]

Here's ours from '67 Chu Lai. The sign was at the base E-club. The E-club was a thatched roof pavilion with picnic tables. It only served warm Hamms beer.

 

[Rudi]

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.

 

[SF VET]

Rudi, it seems like clicking on the "like" tab just isn't appropriate when one relates a sad experience or observation, like yours. Sort of wish there was a "tab" for something such as "...agree", or "...understand." None the less, my wife too is a nurse, and for decades gave her all to ill and injured people. The vast majority of people in health care are just different, and have a "caring streak" deep down in their hearts. No doubt your lady friend was just such a person.

So no "like" for your post, but I hope this message can suffice.

SF VET

 

[Greyman50]

My Daughter is a Med. Surg. RN. The things she tells is remarkable, can imagine what she doesn’t say. Her husband is a surgeon, crazy guy but takes care of her.

 

[SF VET]

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