The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Easter Offensive - Vietnam Spring 1972 - May 25th, 2003

http://www.afa.org/magazine/Sept1998/0998easter.html ^ | September 1998 | Walter J. Boyne

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for sharing your story about An Loc and Col Crouch.

Thank you for your service.

[snippy_about_it]

*Testing out some new code tweaks in PE*

TANKS! It's always about TANKS....

It's lunch time here so I am going to read your history lesson now. I'll be back later. :)

[Light Speed]

Hello Nam Vet.

This is a very ...to the point critique by Baker;

I saved it to a folder : )

U.S. airpower chopped the NVA in logistical transit,...SOME ARVN units actually fought well...like Lam Son 719.

Yet as Baker points out...no cohesion..personal rivalry...units sitting and doing nothing.

I think the mental movement order that is nominal and easy to grasp by U.S. command structure...was too much for the South Vietnamese forces.

Seems like ARVN just DID'NT LIKE BEING IN THE FIELD...

The North may have got routed by U.S. Firepower...but they saw the ARVN in their form in the field;

I'm sure headquarters in Hanoi could smell blood..and knew it was only a matter of time.

[larryjohnson]

Sam,your link to the AFA does me proud. The Air Force Magazine has had great writers. The latest issue is the only way I learned of the air war over Iraq. Don't think there were embedded reporters. The Easter campaign came a year after I left Siagon. I must read up on our weather support for that period. I had no idea there were so many B52's around!

[snippy_about_it]

Related information.

The only U.S. Air Force pilot ace of the Vietnam War, Capt. Steve Ritchie destroyed five MiG 21s during Operation Linebacker in 1972.

[snippy_about_it]

oops. Just missed you. See post 25. :)

BTW - SAM does a wonderful job doesn't he!

[larryjohnson]

"let's get the weather cleared up," President Nixon told his aids shortly after North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam's Quang Tri Province in late March,1972. "The bastards have never been bombed like they'regoing to be bombed this time,but you've got to have weather."

[SAMWolf]

There's more in life than tanks?

[SAMWolf]

Yep. Air power just delayed the inevitable in 1972. Once the Americans pulled out of the war it was only a matter of time before South Vietnam fell.

[SAMWolf]

Yeah, the AFA has given me some great material. It's an excellent resource for some of the threads.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Snippy. I liked the Phantom, good looking plane.

[snippy_about_it]

Break time for tank boys - by order of the foxette!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Happy Sunday, everyone. Hope you're still there, Sam.

I guess you like the Matrix a lot, huh?

[snippy_about_it]

Hello Victoria, seems everyone is a bit busy today. How are you doing?

[Victoria Delsoul]

I'm doing, OK. Taking it easy and relaxing a bit.

[SAMWolf]

Break time? Tankers don't need no stinkin' break time

[SAMWolf]

Hi Victoria. Great graphic.

Liked the originalbetter but my son asked me to go with him

[snippy_about_it]

Apparently not. :)

[PhilDragoo]

PT-76

ZSU 57/2

SA-2

SA-7

Ignoring enemy fire, SSG Oscar C. Gallegos, Co B, 2nd Bn, 327th Inf, 101st Abn Div, takes careful aim with the M-72 LAW (light anti-tank weapon).

AC-119 on the East ramp at Cam Ranh Bay

AC-119K "Stinger" Gunship

The "K" model of the AC-119 gunship was modified from the "G" with the addition of two J-85 jet engines and two 20mm gatling guns, complementing the four 7.62 minis. It was named"Stinger"

In addition to the armament, and some radar equipment, the old four-bladed Aeroproduct propellers were replaced with the Hamilton Standard three-bladed props. The reason was for safety and reliability. No Stinger with the three-bladed propeller was ever lost due to propeller failure.

The "K" model was the final version of the AC-119 gunship. They were turned over to the Vietnamese in l973.

The last USAF AC-119 gunship unit was the 18th Special Operations Squadron. During "Vietnamization", about 40 USAF crewmembers were selected to train the VNAF on the Stinger gunship. The program was named "Project Enhance Plus". Training was abruptly ended in March 1973 and the USAF training crews were, for the most part, returned to the States.

B-57C, 53-3840 in SEA camo.

A-37

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. TANKS!