Sgt Grit Marine Forums

My son, the G-Man, always gives me good stuff to read. We are kind of like a book swap club. Last night, he gave me the book Dispatches by Michael Herr. Anybody read it? I don't normally read books about Viet Nam, but he told me it was a good read.

Read it when it first came out (in the late '70's?)  From what I remember it was OK.  Kinda like "Generation Kill" or whatever the title of that book about Iraq was.  It's the same sort of "reporting".

I read it also when it first came out.  The only thing that I recall about it was the fact that he went out to some of the fire bases that the Marines  built on top of mountains along the DMZ.  I was mesmerized that this sort of action was going on while I snooped and pooped in my tank out in Leatherneck Square.  It was like a totally diffenent war for those Marines in the mountains.  I never knew it was happenig from my vantage point.  Heck!  I never knew that Vandergirft Vandegrift out in the west and supposedly as big as Dong Ha!!!

I was in Vandergrift for a night, and half of a day, as I recall. It was a very large base. I think I remember them having 175's there too. Those freakin things could hit Europe from there.

JimmyMac, 2/11 at An Hoa had a battery each of SP 175's, SP 155's, 105's, 4.2's and 8 inch. 

BTW Marines, the General's name is Vandegrift without the R in the middle.

jburke:

JimmyMac, 2/11 at An Hoa had a battery each of SP 175's, SP 155's, 105's, 4.2's and 8 inch. 

BTW Marines, the General's name is Vandegrift without the R in the middle.

I believe that it was named "LZ Stud" long before they built it up into Vandegrift Combat Base.

Affirmative Jim. I even remember two of the 175's names. One was El Cid and the other was In Cold Blood. However, I do believe the 175's up north were US Army, if memory serves.

I think all the 175's the Corps used in bigfoot country came over from the army

It still amazes me to this day the resources the Army had compared to us. I remember the first time I had long rats in Phu Bai, after they took us out.  I thought, "Damn, where have you been my last two months?" Even at the big PX at Freedom Hill, they could buy anything. We were the poor cousins. I guess the Marine Corps just wanted to keep us Spartan. I guess they knew what they were doing. 

JimMc:

I guess the Marine Corps just wanted to keep us Spartan. I guess they knew what they were doing. 

There it is brothers and sisters.  There it is!!!

John Wear:

JimMc:

I guess the Marine Corps just wanted to keep us Spartan. I guess they knew what they were doing. 

There it is brothers and sisters.  There it is!!!

I think the Corps knows what it is doing, especially in light of what little monetary resources it has to work with.  But it was a little frustrating to have to wait on available helicopters for medevac priority or resupply way up the Que Son valley, when my brother, an Army Warrant helo pilot, used to tell stories about taking a Huey up to maximum non-HOGE (hover out of ground effect) altitude for twenty minutes or so to chill a few cases of beer at Tay Ninh.

Same old story - fighting the Navy for scraps left over in the budget.  You'd think it would be the reverse, like in the old WWII Russian army - the "Guards Divisions," composed of more selected troops, received double pay and the newest equipment, because they were the ace-in-the-hole shock troops for the rest of them. 

Kinda like "First To Fight?"