Crazier high than combat?

I concur there was no front lines. When I just arrived in-country I was asking when do I get a rifle ? The first or second night at the Dan Nang Air Base in the early morning hours the base was hit by rockets and VC were in the wire. I had no rifle but I saw airmen from the east side of the base running across the runway to man Marine crew served weapons to defend the base.

The west side of Da Nang was Marine and the east side was Air Force with all of the hootches with AC and soft ice cream machines When the (*)(*)(*)(*) hit the fan you had Air Force A/C mechanics and ground crews, etc. becoming grunts. During Tet of 68 you had airmen manning the .50 cal M-2's on Marine M-48 tanks.

Helicopters being used in combat didn't start during the Vietnam War. It was the U,S, Marine Corps who came up with using helicopters in combat during the Korean War. It was called vertical envelopment, the Army would call it air assault during the early days of the Vietnam War. The Army took it a little further using horse cavalry tactics, Air Cav.

But the Marines use them differently than the Army. Just like Marines use artillery and CAS differently than the Army.

I only peak of my own personal experiences and observation while serving in l Corps. I can only speak of my observations of the Army's Americal Div, and the 101st Air Born who were in l Corps during 69 and 70.

The Army's air assault and airborn units got around while the Army's regular infantry like the Americal Div. basically kept to their assigned TAOR's.

 

No drug like adrenaline straight in your jugular

 

Yes. If the war in Afghanistan hasn't ended for is Brits I would still like to be there. I wouldn't ever leave. I enjoyed it that much.

 

The adrenaline surge is CRAZY. Especially after your first contact. Seriously by second and third contact I felt like I was just doing an ordinary job and I was enjoying it. However, the stuff that's not fun is IEDs mixed with surprise RPGs. Haha one thing people never seem to understand too is how loud a firefight is. I always have so much respect for our lead navigation points. Those guys memorize every inch of an entire country and can spit out coordinates for a backup plan by memory.

 

Ha ha. Yes. Ive always found it great fun. That's why I'm still a soldier in the reserves. Beats working for a living.

 

Sure does! Loved the reserves. I was in for 7 years while having a civilian job. I loved the balance

 

I'm just curious. Are we talking about people who are going to actually be fired at or rear echelon types? Or both? I know there are combat 'junkies' out there, I just can't imagine it for myself. Mighty grateful to the junkies.

 

Yeah, the Marine squad leader in combat in Afghanistan talked alot about that. It's 120 degrees plus in the sun - and wearing full body armor complete with gloves and helmet. They'd probably have been cooler wearing an antartic snow suit in that weather.

 

Yes exactly. It means you can often go on ops without having the daily bs of the regular army. Let someone else paint green boxes green and go on endless pointless exercises.

 

There are thousands of junkies. But alot of young people get sick of it too. Especially with back to back to tours.

The trouble is. Back to back tours are most effective in getting to know the places and people.

Read a book called "losing small wars".

 

I've talked to many enlisted Marines who served in Iraq and in Afghanistan. I've noticed something about these enlisted Marines who have served in Afghanistan during the past seven years. They all have the this same strange laugh. And in my entire lifetime I have never heard a WW ll combat vet or Korean War vet or a Vietnam vet ever laugh bout combat. Not once.

Why is that ?

 

Being fired at aka; the start of contact.

 

Combat is a young man's game. They have a sense of invincibility and it doesn't always dawn on them their lives might end violently or that they might be crippled.

As Ernest Hemingway once said, paraphrasing here...getting older does not make one more wise, only more careful.


 

It's the fubar laugh.

 

It's passed my mind.

I think it's the first sign of filing a VA PTSD claim.