Very interesting story thanks for sharing.
It’s interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look , such as this one, as to what can happen on a training mission.
My Terry and the Pirates saga occurred on a barrier island off the coast of Quang Tin, then in I Corps, Viet Nam. Ferried to the island by two of the meanest looking Nungs, we tried to determine if the contingent of strange ethnicities needed medical supplies. We were unable to meet with their commander, reportedly a handsome older woman and known in the capital, Tam Ky, as the Dragon Lady. Her cohort had held the barrier island for years. After a pow-wow we were escorted back of the island to the mainland by four unblinking Asians. The unit was being paid by the CIA, and I have wondered whatever happened to them when I Corps fell to the Communists. If arrangements were not made for their exfiltration I feel sure they were slaughtered up to the Dragon Lady herself.
Great Sea Story!
Semper Fidelis
Gunny G@PlanetWTF?
TRUMP.45!FOREVER!
*****
USMC 1952~1972!
++++++++++++++++
Nice read. Well done.
Thanks for writing this and posting it — great stories. My nephew served five years in the Marines and did deployments to the Philippines from Okinawa. It sounds like his assignment was very much like yours. He’s been unable to tell us about anything he did there.
I always enjoy your stories. Great stuff.
Another one of the stories I written up for my kids - enjoy!
I call BS Chainmail. Nobody in their right mind wants a 77 set lol.
Chainmail,
Thank you for sharing your sea story. I think my Army ping list folks will like it.
Grey Friar
What ever happened to. Buzz Sawyer?
Great story.
You are a talented writer.
Great story! Thanks.
I especially liked the trip back to my "pricks", though I don't remember the 77, I do remember the 19.
I was a radio teletype operator in my own hooch in Korea so it was a tad didderent.
ANYone out on FTX can relate to your account ... especially me in Korea ..... except we were able to sneak off and tryst with lovely local girls for a bar of soap.
My wife is Filipina and though I am not familiar with Mindoro, I DO know a bit about provincial (boonies) Mindanao, where Mama lives ... just visited last April as a matter of fact.
I got re-assigned while in Korea ('65 - '66) to an Engineer outfit (76th? ... I forget) and our job was to bridge the Han River.
After the FTX, we broke the floating bridge down and part was on our camp side and the other side close to North Korea (if I remember correctly) and I was the only one stationed to guard all that alluminum on that far side.
18 years young and still stupid about a LOT and the "slicky boys" were good.
I was live armed, but I had no real fear because Army was still sort of a game to me ... RTT op. is an elite kind of job (work 8, off 16) and a lot of "yobo" {lover} time in the village.
With no other guard, I was left on my own and I wasn't very good at making "combat decisions"..... I think I was Spec 4 at the time
They got away with a pretty large aluminum span ... about 20 ft by maybe 18" that I never saw disappear and got an Article 15 for it. Turns out they had buried it in the sand and I never saw it happen .... MY defense was the parts were too far spread out and it was true, that's why only the Article 15.
I enlisted at 17 and after three, never looked back .... God had kept me from "country" which I didn't digest until I got back in the world in "68.
By then I was full blown sex, drugs and rock and roll.
Thanx for your account and your service
Thanks for sharing!
Good story. Thanks.
As a sailor myself, we never stole anything. Thief is such an ugly word, equipment was re-purposed and re-appropriated, of course, for the good of the Navy.
I was in Okinawa from Sept 77 to Sept 78 assigned to 3rd FSSG, although it was 3rd FSR when I arrived. It became 3rd FSSG sometime during my time there. Semper Fi.
Great talent!!
You manage to translate military ‘lingo’ into language that I can understand, but it still maintains a powerful punch.