Delta Troop 3rd Squadron 17th Air Cavalry
Letters to Home #2

Dear Folks,

Cobra spots enemy dug in. Squad size or more. We are called to alert. All the weapons have been cleared and inspected. We scramble to the slicks. When you go up you know you are going into a hot LZ.

As you are flying, you sit and look at each other and wonder. Which one of us won't be coming back this time. We were all close but you really never called each other by first name. By the end of your tour most of your close friends you trained with are gone. The ground below looked peaceful and had a certain beauty about it. Then you feel the chopper dropping and getting ready for the low and fast drop into the LZ.

Hot LZ, the door gunner opens up with the M60. Your eyes are moving swiftly from left to right trying to spot where the fire is coming from. Only to see nothing. All you see is the metal ripping into the side of the chopper. You start looking at the ground for a place to jump. Only all you see is black muddy water and rice. It's time to jump. We all go try to jump at the same time. As you are falling to the ground, you realize the slick was too high off the ground. You're going to hit hard.

As you hit you see water splashing up all around you. The only words in your mind is "shit". The enemy don't give you a chance to get to the ground and they are trying to blow your ass away.

You hit and sink up to your waist in mud. You're stuck. Ducking under the water to dodge the bullets and at the same time trying to free yourself. The slicks are gone and you are there for good now!

You have to fight to stay alive. Then you hear the ships again. Only this time it is the gunships. They spotted the VC. Mini guns are roaring above you head. 2000 rounds per minute.

You break lose and start your advancement forward. We advance about 20 yards under heavy fire only to hear screaming to our rear. Where is our radio operator? He is still stuck and can't get lose. We couldn't go anywhere with out the radio. The Infantry squad spotted him and pulled him out. We slowly crawled to the hill. In the black muddy rice field along with the leeches. The gunships were continuously above our head clearing the way.

We reached the base of the hill and find our first dead VC. He had been caught off guard. Because he was naked lying on the ground with bath items lying beside him. He had been shot by the gunships. One hell of a hole.

Don't freeze up now. You have to keep moving! Move and roll. Don't let them get a fix on you. Rockets, automatic weapons and explosions everywhere. We make it half way up the hill. They you hear the command "Assault Line". I'm thinking to myself, I didn't join the Infantry. So what the hell am I doing this for. We all move up to make the final assault line. Then you hear, CHARGE!

We took the hill. Now we must set up our defense in case of a counter attack.

If it had not been for the gunships we would have never taken this hill. It was heavily fortified and we were way out numbered. It turned out to be a company size unit dug in.

After securing the area we started checking out the weapons, bodies and any paper documents, maps etc. They had M16s, Russian made sniper rifles and crates of weapons still in wax. We found pictures of their family and girlfriends. They had awards given to them for heroism and North Viet Nam money. One had an award for blowing up items in Chu Chi. It was dated May of '68. One VC had paper work showing how the Tet attack was going to take place. This was still in his wallet. There was an NVA flag along with many other items from the north. As we searched the bunkers we found Mary Jane (weed or pot). We set it on fire as we destroyed the bunkers.

Curry saved my life just after that. Everyone was still on edge. I was checking out another bunker and as I started to come out, one of the new squad members drew down on me and pulled the trigger Curry jumped him just in time. It was enough that the rounds went to the side of me. I gave the kid the look of death. I thanked Curry for being there.

After this short conflict, we were told of another hot area. This was just a few miles away. Here we go again! Medivac came in and picked up the dead and wounded and the rest of us reloaded and flew out to our next Hot LZ. We were given more ammo on the slicks as we flew off. We were dropped again. Only this time there was no return fire. We deployed fast. At least we were on a dry LZ this time. Regrouped and started the search. It was my turn to walk point. We had to cross a large open field to get to the hedgerow. You step lightly and look at everything that could possibly be your death trap. It is one hell of a feeling to walk on top of an enemy bunker and you don't know it until you get on the other side. We found no one home. You could tell they had been in the area just a short time before we arrived. The area looked like it had been sprayed with some kind of weed killer. Everything looked dead. As we found the bunkers, we would blow them up. Boy did we pull a boner. Cullen and I were throwing grenades in the bunkers as we passed by them. But for some reason we both missed the door and the grenades bounced back at us! Our reaction time was great. We both dived at the same time for the mucky slimy mud hole beside us. Don't let anyone tell you taking a mud bath is fun.