COLLINS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
P.O. BOX 435
COMMERCE CITY, COLORADO 80037-0435
Link to the 1st Cavalry Division Association
NATIONAL ARCHIVES CASUALTY DATA BASE FOR KOREA AND VIETNAM
Search for casualties by Home of Record at the National Archives and Records Administration
"As a company commander in combat...crawling around in the mud with an enemy machine gun hammering over my head...the crotch ripped out of my uniform..constipated...hungry...huge bug bites under my eyes...exhausted with days of intermittent sleep....I could always comfort myself by saying..."it could be worse....I could be back in Ranger School". General Barry McCaffrey
Army Ranger Vs. Marine Force Recon
A Marine Force Recon platoon was on patrol when the LT noticed a Ranger standing on a hill top in their area. The LT told two of his men to go take out that man.
They promptly ran as fast as they could toward the Ranger. Just before they got to the top, the Ranger ran over the other side of the hill. The two marines followed. For the next few minutes there were bloody screams and dust flying in the air. Then as quick as it had started, it stopped and the Ranger came up on the hill top. He brushed off his bdu's, straightened his beret, crossed his arms and stood there looking at the Marines.
The LT, pissed, called for a squad to go get that Ranger. They promptly ran as fast as they could toward the Ranger. Just before they got to the top, the Ranger ran over the other side of the hill. The marine squad followed. For the next few minutes there were bloody screams and dust flying in the air. Then as quick as it had started, it stopped and the Ranger came up on the hill top. He brushed off his bdu's, straightened his beret, crossed his arms and stood there looking at the marines.
The LT was really hot now. He ordered the rest of his platoon to attack the Ranger. Determined that Force Recon was far superior to the one Ranger they had blood in their eyes as they ran up the hill. Just before they got to the top, the Ranger ran over the other side of the hill. The Marine's followed.
For many minutes there were bloody screams and dust flying in the air. It continued and continued. Finally there was one lone Marine crawling back to the LT, all bloody and beat about the head and shoulders. His bdu's were torn, cuts were all over his body. The LT asked for a sitrep.
The lone marine, bloody and beaten replied in a forceful and fearful voice "Sir, run, its a trick. There are TWO of them!!"
I was raised in a small town west of Atlanta, Georgia, a place called Austell, population 2000. There were six young men from Austell that lost their lives in Vietnam and Cambodia. The first one was Jimmy Crook, he died on my 16th birthday, June 3, 1967. Jimmy was a Marine Corps draftee, all six of the Austell men were either 0311 or 11B Infantryman. I did some calculating and divided the number that were killed from Austell by the population and came up with the figure of .003. After this I multiplied that figure by 250,000,000 the approximate population of the United States at the time and came up with the figure of 750,000. Pretty sobering statistics for Austell, Georgia. If you are inclined to do the math I will save you the trouble, the national rate was .000232. My VA counselors have tried to educated me on how to cope with certain 30 year old bad habits, the worst of these habits is a preoccupation with the past, especially the Vietnam War. I don't think a day has gone by in the last 30 years that the Vietnam experience has not been a daily thought.
When I got my first computer and an internet connection the first word I typed into the search engine was "Vietnam". I was overwhelmed with the amount of information available. I was also overwhelmed at how many people out there were just like me and especially the number of people seeking closure or information about lost relatives or childhood friends. My trip to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on the internet brought me to the Guest Book, where my tears fell like rain. Unbelievable outpouring of emotion from sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, wives, lovers, brothers and sisters, you name it, looking for someone that might have shared a moment with someone that died in Vietnam. My last CO, LTC Hugh Foster, started getting Bravo Company back in touch with each other the hard way, one telephone call at a time. It is not hard for me to imagine how much time and effort he has expended, not to mention the amount of money this endeavor has most probably cost him in long distant phone calls and postage. I am sure that his efforts will not be in vain. I suppose you could say that Bravo Company has a place on the world wide web.
Most of the survivors of any war, experience readjustment problems, but never in the history of American conflicts have there been such misunderstandings about the warrior or the lack of support necessary to the healing process. The VA system was absolutely over run treating the wounded from our war along with a huge population of WWII and Korean War veterans. Anyone reading this should definitely read the James Webb article on the "Patriotism" page to get the Marine perspective and perhaps one that applies to the Army just as well. The erroneous opinion that the officers and NCO's of Vietnam were in any way inferior is just pure slander and in truth, never has the US Army EVER fielded a better trained Army. I have actively sought out employers that had the same leadership qualities demonstrated by just three of my company commanders and I have been bitterly disappointed. Ask any man that was with us in the mountains of Cambodia if he thought we would have made it out of there without the superior leadership and courage of LT Carlson. There is no doubt in my mind that God and LT Carlson were watching over us. Wherever you are LT Carlson, thank you.
So, where's the beef Mike? What's the problem? I guess it is the National Hog Trough (Washington, D.C.) but it really isn't fair for DC to get all the blame, after all we live in a time where NO ONE is responsible for ANYTHING. I love my flag and I am trying to love my country, but both are abstract concepts, I love the flag because of what it represents to me. Two scenes from the movie "Saving Private Ryan" can probably sum this up fairly well. The old Private Ryan is standing in the Normandy Cemetery and the camera focuses on the waving flag and then it fades to another flag waving above the Higgins boat. In that few seconds of film I find my definition of what the flag means to me. If you don't get it or you didn't see the movie, let's try one more time. The famous monument in DC, I think it is the Marine Corps Memorial where the five or six Marines are raising the flag on the highest point of Iwo Jima, three of the them were killed later that day and it is ALMOST inconceivable to me the hell they went through just getting on the beach. Just about every man that was still alive on the island including the Japanese could give you a better definition of God and Country than some flag waving Olympic fanatic screaming USA until his tonsils bleed.
To be continued.