Snubby in Vietnam

[SF VET]

Weapons from smaller to larger

Thought I would work our way up thru some of the common weapons of the Vietnam war. At least for us Advisors, who tended to be far away from any interested Command rules and regs, we had access to a vast variety of weapons. No body cared about us, or what we did for engagement or just "fun". But I suspect now days in Combat Zones, the danger makes "playing" with unfamiliar foreign weapons a prohibited activity. Just too much risk of a solder's injury from some sort of a firearm malfunction or from careless firearm handling.

One of the iconic weapons of that war, esp from its use by SF, was the Carl Gustav 45/m, known colloquially as the Swedish K. A 9mm, stick mag SMG, like all such weapons, operating as a blow-back weapon. Meaning the recoil of the bolt returned it to the rear of the chamber, where a spring then slammed the bolt forward, picking up another round from the mag, and chambering it. A US weapon similar is the M3 "Grease Gun", which I had also.

Here, down by the river, just "horsing" around for something to do, with a K with a suppressor, usually called a silencer. For this SMG, the only sound was the clatter of the bolt in operation. So not "silent', but in an action, not likely to be heard with all the commotion and other sounds happening.

I never carried any weapon but my issue M16, and more commonly, my .45 issued 1911 pistol. I started shooting back in about the 4th grade, and have always enjoyed that interest and hobby, buying my first surplus weapons in the 7th grade. I reload and shoot them all. I recently had a new barrel put on a NoI/MK3 Enfield in 303, which I bought for ten bucks back in 1960.

Just had a more comfortable trigger installed in a sweet compact CZ SP01 9mm. I will drop by my local range and shoot this afternoon, with my own made 9mm 124 grain bullets.

Like I said, I like to shoot, and am a little bit better than the average bear with my weapons. So, here is my Silenced Swedish K.

All the best,,, SF VET

 

[geokeg]

Grooming in the boonies?

Fine looking haircut and shave for a SF in the boonies. How'd you pull that off?
(I was at Tan Son Nhut in 69 and never felt comfortable when the VN barber pulled out the straight razor, wondering what his or her allegiance was when the sun went down.)

 

[SF VET]

I completed the SF Officers's course and earned my beret with full "flash" when I came back to Bragg from Vietnam. So I wasn't SF "in-country", just another MACV run of the mill Advisor. I shaved every day, partly for something to do, and it never occurred to me to try to grow a beard, esp since I hadn't even needed to shave at all until I was in my early '20's. Used a new Wilkinson Sword Blade out of our 100 troop PSP package every morning. Maybe then too I didn't want to be hassled by any VIP's that would occasionally visit out of their own boredom. Not like what our Special OP's guys do now-a-days in the MidEast. Got my locks trimmed when necessary down in the village, some guy with a hand clippers. Probably cost me about a nickel.

This is a fairly early time in my year in RVN, in the mid-delta. Fatigues not very faded or torn yet. I was and am 6 foot 2, so was taller than the much smaller Vietnamese. Maybe 180 # then. Those days are long gone for me now.

This is the launcher for one of the most effective weapons a single soldier can employ, the infamous RPG. If you read up on how a shaped charge, invented by the Germans in WWII, can penetrate so many inches of armor with such a small explosive force it will be clear how these things work. And work well! It really is a "shaped" charge in the warhead, collapsing the explosion into a small jet of energy, with devastating effect inside a closed space, like a tank. The principle of the 2.75 and later 3.5 inch Bazooka, the name of which was an adoption of a Big Band Trumpet player's modification of his instrument in the late 30;s.

Our army had the M72 LAW, Light Antitank Weapon, a single use shoulder fired 60 mm shaped charge. Yank back on the rear, extend the launcher tube, the site pops up, and press the switch on top. I don't have a pic of what the sight picture aiming is for a side or frontal view of a tank. There was later a SF CPT in my Battalion who had knocked out several NVA tanks with Law's. Earned a DSC for that success.

But the RPG is a timeless and effective weapon. A trooper can just carry the light wt launcher and a sack of rockets, and be a truly formidable opponent. Our army always has to have very complicated armaments. Sometimes, simpler really is better. Like the Panzerfaust of the Nazi's.

A Taliban youth with an RPG blasted a Seal Operation Chinook out of the Sky in Afganistan in Operation Red Wing, killing the whole plane load of Special Op's fighters. This awful incident is related in the movie LONE SURVIVOR.

I have fired LAW's but never an RPG.

This is an Extachrome slide, and has a purplish hue, so I changed it to more of a B&W pic.

Next up, the same crew-served MG I have on the pedestal of my '52 army M37 Weapons Carrier.

All the best... SF VET

 

[ron_c]

Fine looking haircut and shave for a SF in the boonies. How'd you pull that off?
(I was at Tan Son Nhut in 69 and never felt comfortable when the VN barber pulled out the straight razor, wondering what his or her allegiance was when the sun went down.)

and when they were done, they would crack your neck. The first time this happened to me and I thought I was a goner. Of course, everyone else would be laughing.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I never saw an enemy tank during my time in Vietnam, but we routinely carried the M72 LAW (light anti-tank weapon) as an additional weapon. Very handy for initiating an ambush. Nice to have when facing a bunker or other dug-in position.

Lighter in weight than a rifle, easily carried. Pop the end caps and extend the fiberglass tube launcher, line up the sights and let it go. Single-shot, fire and forget, drop the expended launcher and walk away (or run, always an option).

Probably not much effectiveness against a modern main battle tank at the frontal mode. 66mm (about 2.3" diameter) rocket-propelled shape-charge intended to punch holes in armor or defensive fortifications. Actual terminal effects were probably less than a standard fragmentation grenade, but inside a vehicle or fortified position that could be significant beyond anything a hand grenade might provide.

Reasonably accurate at bad breath range, a real challenge at more than 100 yards or so (I have fired several in training exercises, and it is more about a hope and a prayer than any inherent accuracy of the weapon, especially when adrenaline is pumping and incoming fire is involved).

Billed as an "anti-tank weapon", our training dictated using the M72 LAW against vehicles as a means to disable the vehicle (break a track or drive wheel, etc) so it could be overcome by infantry action. No expectations of blowing the tops off of tanks or anything like that.

When lying in ambush and waiting for an opposing force to enter the kill zone, the M72 provided just the right signal for everyone to fire off the Claymore mines (directional anti-personnel devices) and open up with rifle and machinegun fire.

When confronted by fortifications such as bunkers the M72 was good for suppressing concealed and shielded machinegun positions or deploying against snipers.

For those old enough to remember the "Dirty Harry" movie in which a M72 was used, the launching rocket did not sound like a hissing snake, it was a loud "bang" noise as the rocket fired in the tube. The rocket exhaust was ugly to breath. Zero recoil, the rocket simply fired and departed the launch tube without restriction. I think the entire fuel load of the rocket was consumed in the blink of an eye, propelling the shape-charge rocket at whatever point the shooter's eyes and chest-heaving breathing dictated.

Not a precision device. Handy when used with discretion.

 

[mtgianni]

OK, am going to put my Central American slides aside, and begin to look over my Vietnam and DS and other mission slides. I have been all over the world, and if children are not ill, or injured, or hungry, or in some danger, they universally just want to play. Unlike us adults, who fret about all sorts of issues, or wish we had this or that, and are often just not happy with our lot in life, kids the world over just want to play.

So here is just the cutest, happiest little lady, next to one of our nurses. This preteen is wearing some American hand-me-down dress, likely the very best she has. For her, a day filled with excitement and adventure,

Made up about a hundred rounds of 270 today for my Winchester 70, will get back to the range to do the final tweaks to sight in my Vortex scope.

All the best... SF VET

For me the Disney Mouse above the young lady makes the whole picture. Great shot, Thanks.

 

[SF VET]

Yeah, the Mouse is cute. We are down to Disney several times a year; one of my daughters is a marathoner, and runs in their fun runs. I really love the place, esp when we take our 4 and 7 year old grandkids.

Here are two stalwart guards at my second compound, way south in the Delta. This is a corner bunker, with slots below and more of the same, and these two are soaking up some rays up top. John Browning was surely one of the greatest firearm designers of all time, this being one of his enduring designs. A 1919 30 cal, with a bipod. Cyclic at about 500+ or so a min. Really reliable gun, and used in armored vehicles like the bow gun of our WWII tanks, and aircraft, and on tripods and pedestals, like the de-milled one I have in the bed of my 1952 M37 Weapon's carrier. I have made up a belt of dummy rounds, and my mount has the 250 round ammo can holder on the side. I only put it on for shows and the like; no need theses days for panic out on the road. I have a T&E for when I put in my tripod.

Unlike the lazy drunken South Vietnamese up in Kien Phong Province, where I was a MAT for my first six months, these guys were as good as any soldiers anywhere. Absolutely ruthless and fearless. They liked to go out on nite ambushes, and bring back the "cranial containers" of the local VC they encountered. When pictures of native troops are taken in other parts of the world, it would be naive and dangerous to think just because they might be dressed in sandals or shorts, or tennis shoes, and not American war-fighting gear, that they are not immensely competent and a dedicated formidable foe to engage. Underestimate an enemy just because he looks poorly dressed or equipped at one's peril.

Also, a pic of my Winchester 70, Pre'64 in 270 I acquired recently; was out at a National Forest range this AM finishing zeroing my custom 130 grain Hornady loads. Really consistent accuracy.

All the best of course, SF VET

 

[Greyman50]

Swedish K is IMHO the best subgun, having shot just about every one the K is just sweet. My forum pic is me firing one few years ago.

 

[SF VET]

M24 Chaffee

Fixed defensive emplacements have been used for thousands of years. I have enjoyed touring European castles and their different ways to offer resistance to an invader. Sometimes I have looked at a castle, with its moats and imposing impregnable great walls, and their "defense in depth", and thought they would have been impossible to take. And then read that peasants or invading armies sacked them time and time again. Or read about the seige of Acre, or the great fortresses of the Crusaders, which now are just rubble.

There are still near buried tank turrets in Eastern Europe, silently continuing their wary vigilance. Having a mobile defense fortification is even better than one stolid and immobile. Perhaps even used in a counter attack, or for a pursuit of a retreating enemy.

When I was a scholarship Army ROTC Sr at Nebraska in '69, with at least a four year commitment, I submitted a request to graduate with an assignment to Armor. The year before, at Ft. Riley, KS, at my "6 week summer camp" I had attempted to flee across a bumpy field in a M151 Jeep, and was promptly chased down by an M60 tank, which churned up right alongside my jeep, and swiveled its big gun around to point at my head from about ten feet away. I thought "this is what I want to do", be a tanker.

But in its unfathomable wisdom, I was given crossed Infantry Rifles, and was on way to Benning in GA within hours of my graduation as a 2nd LT. I have always admired Tanks and some of the really classy Armored Cars, like the M8 6 wheel Greyhound.

When I was a kid growing up, son of a Naval Aviator, my dad would take me to Army parades and events, and I just loved climbing around and in the tanks. I remember once when I was a kid in the mid' 50's, all of us kids were clamoring all over an M24, and some kid grabbed the electric turret control, and spun the turret around while us kids leaped off the top of the tank.

Here, outside some South Vietnamese post, a really handsome M24 Chaffee with its 75 mm gun. These came into service just before the end of WWII, and had extensive use in Korea, and many found their way to our allies. Having seen what kind of maintenance the SV army was capable of, I greatly doubt this one could have moved two feet under its own power. But it sure looked handsome to me. I imagine whomever manned the 50 on the rear of the turret was in a pretty vulnerable position. In this pic, it looks like the 50's barrel is propped up by a distant tree trunk.

So, here is one my favorite American Tanks.

Stay safe, SF VET

 

[Sistema1927]

Tanks are fun....

....until somebody breaks their back.


Ask me how I know.

 

[Triggernosis]

Tanks are fun....

....until somebody breaks their back.


Ask me how I know.

Well go ahead, tell us that story.

 

[SF VET]

Rats, Vermin, & the Occasional Snake

This is early in my tour, in the Delta, Kien Phong Province, out in the Plane of Reeds, which extended into Cambodia. I was a MAT leader, trying to teach the very uninterested local troops how to call in and adjust US helicopter support. All they wanted to do was to sleep, eat, drink rice wine, and if lucky, spend some time with one of the local girls from the adjacent very small hamlet. The only way for them to get to this run down compound and village was by water, on one of the old canals.

This is my accompanying SGT, the Pistol-Packin' trooper, the body builder with the great Eagle tattoo on his chest. He wasn't much of a talker, or perhaps, just didn't have much to say to me. Every evening, he would take off his blouse (the army term for one's shirt), and flex his considerable muscles as the locals would ooh an ahh. Note the run down entrance to our exceptionally humble abode. It was the dry season, so we ha no concern for the ragged and sagging reed roof over us. In Vietnam, it seemed it either rained all the time, or not at all. With the poor sanitation, or in army terms, the "Police" of their compound, it was over-run with rats, and vermin, and the occasional pencil thin bamboo viper, also looking for a tasty mouse for dinner.

We were there I think about a week, before a chopper came out and picked us up and take us back to our home US compound in Cau Lanh, which had made Playboy magazine a year before, when the Centerfold had related how her chopper had "taken fire" when coming in to land at Cau Lanh.

This small compound was supposedly there to protect the adjacent small hamlet, where one evening the little girl was brought in, shot thru her chest. And where when I could not motivate anyone to put her in a sampan and take her to Camau, and she died, I had to sit down and resolve all this. I came to accept that I could only do what I could, and I was not God, and and find peace with that deep and very personal understanding of my role in this life. Which turned out to be pretty important for me in my later 40 year career in medicine.

Finished up reloading about 450 rounds of 223 for my Browning X bolt rifle. Now to make up more 8mm for my 1943 German KAR 98, which kicks like a mule.

I enjoy making ammo about as much as I like to actually shoot it.

I am very happy with how my flat bed scanner is able to reproduce some of my now 50 year old slides. Shot with my Asahi Pentax with a 55 mm lens, this on Kodachrome II, asa of 25.

So, all the best.. SF VET
\

 

[SF VET]

Probably a State Health grade of B-

My second six months was way south, south of Camau, in a District HQ compound, with one or sometimes two Sargents. Across the small compound was the local Pub, where they had Beer 33, poured over river ice, and Ramen, ie, boiling river water poured over noodles and spices, with what was most likely pork and hot peppers. As long it was boiling, no problems with microbes and parasites in the steaming bowls of noodles. I ate a lot of meals there, probably paid about 25 cents for a lunch bowl. The compound kids helped out; the floor was always muddy, and whatever fell off a table was soon pecked up by the ducks afoot.

Looking at the lady doing the cooking and bar-keeping, wiping the glasses and bowls with a filthy rag, makes me recall how normal it all seemed to me. Now days, if I were traveling in some undeveloped country, I would't think of having a drink or meal at switch a place. But I never, not once, go "sick" eating and drinking at my local fine dining establishment. Drank a lot of Vietnamese "espresso' there too. Shot glass with a very thick layer of cream in a glass, with coffee poured over it, then stirred to suit one's preference.

I still like Ramen; my wife is away for a few days, so I picked up some heat and eat noodle bowls, and had them for lunch.

So all the best, SF VET

 

[geokeg]

Reminds me of a fun story. I had a good friend who flew around in country as a flight mechanic on the C-123K.
One morning they were at a flight line snack bar at one of the bases. Local female cooks of course. He asked the cook, "mamasan are those chicken eggs"? She told him, "GI , hava ham en eggs, hava bacon eggs, no hava chickeneggs".
The girls cooking at the flight line snack bar at Tan Son Nhut used to sing along with the American music on the AFVN radio station. They loved to sing along with the song, "These Eyes", and "Are you going to San Francisco".
Darn near waters mine just reflecting on it..

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

OK, am going to put my Central American slides aside, and begin to look over my Vietnam and DS and other mission slides. I have been all over the world, and if children are not ill, or injured, or hungry, or in some danger, they universally just want to play. Unlike us adults, who fret about all sorts of issues, or wish we had this or that, and are often just not happy with our lot in life, kids the world over just want to play.

So here is just the cutest, happiest little lady, next to one of our nurses. This preteen is wearing some American hand-me-down dress, likely the very best she has. For her, a day filled with excitement and adventure,

Made up about a hundred rounds of 270 today for my Winchester 70, will get back to the range to do the final tweaks to sight in my Vortex scope.

All the best... SF VET

This is the most beautiful young lady, dressed in her very best, as we called them, "hand me downs".
We grew up poor in rural Alabama, but everybody was poor, so we didn't know that we were. "Hand me downs" were a way of life for us. We wore them until they were completely worn out or we out grew them and passed them on to a younger sibling or neighbor.
Flour sacks were used to make shirts, blouses and anything else my Mother, or the kids needed.
Every time I look in my closet today, I realize what a blessed man I am.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[SF VET]

Armored Cars

I have always had a "thing" for armored cars. Even in my early years, I thought the WWII M8 "Greyhound" six wheeled armored car was just so cool. Back in the mid '60's, when I was at Nebraska, out on a country road was a well drilling company, and parked in their weedy back lot was an M8, with some sort of derrick welded onto the back. There was no way I could have acquired it. I am sure it was scrapped long sgo.

The vintage army truck repair shop a 100 miles north of me, in very rural NC, recently completed a perfect restoration of one of them. He told me it took parts of four of them to come up with enough to make one complete M8. There were different versions, one version in WWII had a small turret with a 37 MM antitank gun; a pre-war pipsqueak of a cannon. Often seen towed behind jeeps and the like. But one in Germany, hiding in the woods, watched a Tiger rumble by, and then raced out onto the road, and fired a round right into the rear fuel and engine compartment, and the Tiger went up in flames. I don't think many of us would have had the courage to take on a Tiger like that commander did.

Wheeled tactical vehicles are not capable of keeping up with tracked vehicles when traveling overland, and are better suited for fast reconnaissance missions.

But in my eye, an armored car has to "look" the part, as many I have seen are just ugly, ungainly monstrosities. And look as if they would give a false sense of security against even small arms.

Here is one parked outside a semi-abandoned plantation. To me, I would be too embarrassed to be seen driving or riding in it. I don't know who made it, but most likely it was French. Sort of the Citroen of armored cars. This one would be feeble when used for crowd control.

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

 

[SF VET]

A Proper Armored Car!

I saw this one in Dhahran, the port city of Saudi Arabia at the PX, before our little advance party for the Desert Storm war moved out into the desert. I think it is a British Ferret, and belonged to the Royal Saudi Air Force. From the looks of the two MG mounts on the turret, I don't think the MG's were actually mounted at the time.

Now this is an Armored Car I would be proud to be seen in, looks quite off road capable, short stubby overhangs, fully sealed up with the turret and driver's hatch. Just the perfect vehicle for a quick run out for donuts, or a Latte.

Being (I believe) British, one would have to be pretty competent at tracking down electrical issues, of course, speaking as one whose first two cars were a TR4 and an MGB.

It is interesting how our army has gone away from the traditional 3 axle trucks, the 5 ton, and the now longer used "deuce & a half" we are all so familiar with. The European military has long used singe wheel axle trucks, and when I see our army's modern trucks, they looks much like the ones used by our NATO allies. Besides, here in SC is a big company who makes a variety of military vehicles, so they are often on transports on their way to Charleston for shipping overseas.

Then too, we now have our own multi-axle Strryker "armored cars', with serious up-gunned capability and even more important, crew survivability, and some protections against lethal gas.

But for simple, every day use, this stubby littler Ferret is just the thing.

All the best... SF

 

[SF VET]

Fast Cars and Old Trucks

When I was a kid, I was very interested in anything automotive, using my lawn mowing money to buy car mags. While my dad had some nice cars, he was not what I would call a real "car guy." His purchasing plan was to wait until my mom was in the hospital for her periodic heart problem, and then go and buy his new car, without any input from her. I think his favorite was his 1957 Chrysler Imperial, with a 392 ci Hemi. Which I once had up to 105 mph.

But for me, my interest was in sports cars. My first was a TR4, then an MGB, and when I was about to graduate as a newly minted 2nd LT via ROTC at Nebraska, in June of '69, I bought my first new car, a '69 Charger R/T, with a 440 ci motor, green with white stripes across the trunk. Put "mags" and bigger tires on first thing, and in Dec of that year, the army shipped it to Germany for us. Germany was still rebuilding from the war, and whole sections of cities, mine being Schwienfurt, were still rubble. My big hairy Dodge was a real beast in Germany; often in the small towns, I couldn't get thru the midieval city gates. Once, had to back all the way out of Rotenburg au Tauber, when I couldn't leave thru a gate.

For some reason I just can't recall now, I sold that fabulous R/T and my then wife and I bought a 71 VW Type III Squareback. Went from about 400 HP to 52. By the way, my Dodge would not make one compete stop from 100 mph due to brake fade, and I ran both of them on army Quartermaster gas (18 cents a gal) with Esso coupons.

Came back from Vietnam, now single, having left my VW at my mom and dad's nome in Lincoln, and the next 18 months was at Bragg. While there, I rebuilt the engine and suspension, Koni, sway bars, full instrumentation, Porsche Rims, and much more, all at the post Auto Craft shop.

When I was first in Vietnam, inprocessing at the MACV HQ, I just had to take this pic of a VW identical to my own, even the same tan color. Never saw another one there, and I have no idea who owned or drove it.

But it is parked next to an M37 3/4 ton Army truck, which I have myself now. About five years ago, bought one just like it, and spent a year near full time restoring it. Now, mine is perfect, winch, with everything on my truck functioning, and I have a demilled M1919 30 cal air cooled MG on a pedestal in the bed, complete with side ammo can, and a belt of dummy rounds. Its is a big hit at car shows.

I drove that trustily VW over a quarter million miles and sold it running about five years later, moving into my first of two TR8's. Later, my race-prepped TR8 caught fire, and burned to the ground. Lucas....

I never could have imagined that nearly 50 years after I saw "my" VW parked next to an army truck, that someday I would own and drive it too.

I have been blessed with having had sports cars of one sort of another my whole life.

All the best. SF VET

 

[SF VET]

Pacification vs Putrifaction

When an army conquers another country, there are several ways to continue to control it. One, just kill every last one of the prior inhabitants, then send your own people to settle in the newly taken land. In our own country this is what our policy seemed to be towards the Indian tribes in our own west.

Or, the winning team can subjugate or even enslave the conquered people, as the Nazi's attempted to do in their quest for domination of Europe. Or Japan in much of their "Co-Prosperity Sphere" at the same time.

I suspect for as long as one people has overcome another, one sort of "pacification" or another has been attempted with greater or lesser success.

In the Mekong Delta, it seemed to me that the American and Vietnamese effort was to "push" out the friendly boundary as far as possible, mostly to deny the enemy sanctuary and resources for their use. There is a large part of the central Delta, the Plane of Reeds, which was largely uninhabited, extending into Cambodia. Various waterways coursed this way and that thru it, the largest of course being the Mekong River. There were tiny fishing villages here and there, built up on poles, for seasonal fishing. Of course, it was also a pathway for infiltration of war making for the VC and later the NVA.

So, the US and Vietnamese approach was to extend their control, if one could call it that, by building more permanent hamlets way out into the Plane of Reeds. In the wet season, this was an endless swath of water and reeds, without any topography, often the water being ten feet deep or more. The only way to get to and from these outposts was by water. Earlier, the US tried using propeller air boats to roam over the reeds. At one of these places, there was a big pile of bent and twisted and holed aluminum air boat skiff hulls. Probably seemed like a good idea at the time, which was before I was there.

Here, a pic of one of the larger outposts, with mud dug and piled up, ringed with wire, and as usual, the local troops had their families with them. I don't know of any night time patrolling done by these posts, so it is unlikely that these posts served as any hinderance to the nocturnal travels of the VC as they went about their business. There were no crops or rice there, just weir traps for fish.

Did this effort of resettlement, of extending the area of ostensibly friendly controlled area accomplish anything. Perhaps if the effort expended had been used to actively patrol and hunting the enemy of instead of squatting and doing nothing might have been more successful.

Much of this area was in the Special Tactical Zone 44, ie, a Free-Fire zone. Which means, see it, shoot it.

Once, I was in an OH6 loach, and the pilot hovered over a sampan one night and illuminated two men in a sampan way out in the Plane. Were they just local fishermen, or VC on their way for some task? I don't know, but I leaned over them from about 20 feet, and when the pilot asked me if I wanted to shoot them with my M16, I told him no. So the pilot pulled pitch and we continued on.

Personally, I believe the way to beat an insurgency is to take the battle to the enemy, and not just wait for one's foe to decide when and where to act. Like the way the British took the battle to the Mau Mau.

If you want to beat an insurgency, then fight them like an insurgency.

All the best... SF VET

 

[Sistema1927]

I took my Texas driver's license test in a '68 VW Squareback on my 16th birthday.