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VIETNAM REMEMBERED • by • Thomas W

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VIETNAM REMEMBERED • by • Thomas W • • • • • • • VIETNAM REMEMBERED • By • Thomas W. Stewart l •e Lieutenant Colonel • United States Army (Retired) • • • • This Memoir is dedicated to all those men and women who served honorably in the Armed Forces ofthe United States and our allies during the Vietnam War era. May God bless them all for their service and sacrifices. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Chapter 1 :Tank Troop Advisor 1 Chapter 2: Cavalry Troop Advisor 15 Chapter 3: Interlude 35 Chapter 4: Brigade Assistant Operations Officer 41 Chapter 5: Squadron Operations Officer 47 Chapter 6: Armored Cavalry Troop Commander 55 Epilogue 77 Appendix A: Maps Appendix B: Photographs Appendix C: Documents Appendix D: Recommended Reading Appendix E: Names on the Wall PREFACE I first thought about writing of my Vietnam War experiences when I returned after my first tour there in 1968. I believed that the experiences I had would make interesting reading about how Armor Advisors lived, fought and sometimes died. At that time, the bi-monthly Armor Magazine, published by the U.S. Anny Armor Association, carried numerous I was there, this is how we did it type articles. As I recall now, I decided against writing anything because so many of the articles that I saw published were self-aggrandizing, which was never my style. Later, after my second tour in Vietnam and after assignment to Fort Knox, I attended the Command and General Staff College in 1973-74. While there, the Armor School sent a team of writers throughout the Anny to collect narratives of individuals' armor experiences, as a prelude to the writing and publication of armor's official history of that conflict. I put my name on the list and was duly interviewed. By 1979 I had totally forgotten about that interview when I encountered Major George Crocker, a friend from both my language school and Armor Advanced Course, who at that time was an Aide to General Donn A. Starry. GEN Starry had just published the official history, "Mounted Combat in Vietnam". George told me that my name was mentioned in it, so I asked him to get me a copy, which he did (in fact he sent me two copies, 1 one of which was autographed by GEN Starry). I was quoted in that book about my experiences ' during the Dewey Canyon II/Lam Son 719 Operation. In 1984 as I retired from the Anny and was settling down in Washington State, I read an ad requesting information from participants in Lam Son 719. (I never knewthat operation by any other name - what the hell is Dewey Canyon II?) I responded to the request and was ·soon contacted by Keith William Nolan, a young historian, who asked me to describe my relationship to that operation. I sent him about five pages of thoughts, he called me and asked some specific questions, and then sent me copies of the pages in his work that quoted me. A short time later, Nolan's book, "Into Laos" was published. I bought it and read it and agreed with much but not all of what he wrote. In 1987 I read about an initial reunion of people who had served in 3rd Squadron 5th Cavalry in Vietnam. I was able to attend the Saturday afternoon and evening events at .that reunion in Fredericksburg, Virginia in June 1987. While there I met Colonel (retired) Michael D. Mahler, who had written a book titled "Ringed in Steel", about his Vietnam experiences, mainly with an unnamed armored cavalry squadron. I was really impressed with that book and could easily identify that his unit was the same 3/5 CAV. I also understood that since his book was written for publication, he did not name names in order to protect the people about whom he said some not very flattering things. Over the years since that reunion I have attended many more, to include the one at Louisville/Fort Knox Kentucky in 2003, after I started writing this document In the autumn of 2002 I read a book about a soldier's experience in Vietnam that was markedly different than my own experiences. It was very disconcerting because of the differences, so much so that I could not get it off of my mind. After days of pondering this, I decided to write down my experiences to rebut the impression that all was bad with the US involvement there and with the Vietnamese people. Hopefully, at some time in the future when one of my children or their children wonder about what Vietnam was like and what it meant to me, they will have this narrative as a counter to the negative images left by others. There are a few factors that must be understood when reading about Vietnam. The first is where, when and what unit the individual served in. Every area of VN was different from every other area in terms of geography, vegetation, population, and the presence and type of both friendly and enemy forces. The time period changed the face of battle significantly, from the early advisor effort to the big buildup prior to Tet 1968 to the reduction of forces period after that (the "Vietnamization" period). Likewise, different units of the same type ·- infantry, cavalry. artillery, support units - could be operating next to each other and their experiences could be totally different based upon the quality of leadership provided by the commanders. In effect, VN was a bunch of small, different battles, that when put together equaled the whole. Secondly is the impact of the individual's place on the flagpole - or. rank and position. · The individual rifleman normally only saw the other riflemen on his right or left, or front or back, did not know where he· was geographically on a map and did not know what the surroundings held beyond his own vision - what could be seen through the brush and trees at eye level while standing or at ground level when prone. His hearing was also limited to. the immediate vicinity, so he had no contact to the outside world. Compare that with a Captain company commander (in my case with armored units) where much more could be seen from the top of an armored vehicle, where the current location was or should have been known to .within 10 meters on a map that. also described the terrain and vegetation, and communication was maintained with subordinate elements as much as 3 kilometers away and with higher headquarters even further away or in many cases in a helicopter circling overhead, and with supporting artillery, helicopter gunships, aircraft, and· other ground tactical units. Although the "fog of war" (the term used to explain the uncertainties and unknowns on the battlefield, including the physical presence of smoke and explosions) was always present and impacted upon a leader's decision making and reporting,. it was certainly less terrifying than knowing nothing like the rifleman. The third factor was the individual' s mindset or background when sent to VN. Was he draftee or volunteer, did he have a family background of service in war or peace, how educated was he and what preparation was made, both in professional training and personal studying of the war? The draftee who went to VN one step ahead of the law, or who used or abused illegal drugs before going, or who's planned life activities were interrupted by the war;·etc. all presented a different frame of reference than a professional, educated and well prepared soldier, Consequently, every story about VN is different. ii CHAPTER 1: TANK TROOP ADVISOR Preparation My first knowledge ofVN came when I was a senior at the University of Wyoming in the autumn of 1962. I was in the fourth year of Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and at the start of the school year I met a new Captain on the cadre~ CPT Pressley, who had just returned from a tour in VN. I do not remember ever discussing VN with him but I was aware that the US then ·had an advisor effort there. Nine months later during the first session of summer school, I took a survey class on the History of the Far East. In that class we spent not more than a day or two discussing the French acquisition of its Indo-China empire and the resulting withdrawal there as a result of the battle of Dien Bien Phu. That school year included the Cuban · Missile Crisis in which patriotism ran high among those of us who would soon be commissioned Army officers and, after graduation and commissioning in August, the September 1963 overthrow and assassination of the VN leader, Ngo Dinh Diem. My overall impression was such that, when I submitted my initial Officer Preference Statement ("Dream Sheet"), I entered VN as my first choice for an overseas short tour. When I received my initial active duty assignment l after Officer Basic Course; I was assigned to my real first choice - Germany -,- to the 2nd r Squadron 4th Cavalry. In Germany in 1964 I learned of the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Congressional Resolution that resulted in large increases to the military presence in VN. My main sources of information on VN after that were the Stars and Stripes daily newspaper (published for the armed forces by the armed forces), Armed Forces Network (AFN) radio news, Time magazine, and the weekly Army Times, a non-official newspaper dedicated to Army affairs. In the summer of 1965, Sue Ellen and I decided to have a child. I don't think VN was uppermost in our minds, but if it was, we faced the familiar problem encountered by Americans before every war in the Twentieth Century - have a child (or get married) before going off to war or not.
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