Originally posted by: dingpatch
On having been told that you are "expendable" !!!!
Combat Arms
In December 1972 I was drafted and sent to Fort Knox for Basic Training, then on to "school" to learn how to be a "company clerk". I was trained and then sent to Fort Hood in April 1973 to join Company A, 1st Battalion of the 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division. The 5th Cavalry was an Airmobile unit that was called "Alpha Rangers", it was not an actual Ranger unit. It was "Alpha Rangers" due to the fact that when The Cav stood down in Vietnam and redeployed to Ft, Hood in 1971, Company A, 1/5, was reconstituted as a special unit wherein all of the Officers and senior NCOs were Rangers or Green Berets who had served many tours in Vietnam (many had "maxed" the 4 tour limit). Many of the enlisted personnel had served with A Company in Viet Nam at various times. Within Third Corps/FORSCOM standing orders were that Company A Had Already Volunteered! Company A was the direct ancestor of the Army's first, original, Cavalry unit so, and as such, it had Very High Visibility. For a Hippy Surfer from Satellite Beach it was a real TRIP (although my father had been a Marine DI so I certainly "knew the drill").
Anyway, to get to the point, , , , of being told point blank that you probably would be sacrificed, , , ,!!!
Our Brigade of three Battalions (1/5, 2/7, 1/8) was President Nixon's "Ready Reaction Force" and, as such, we were ready to deploy at a moments notice. So, , , , ,
In the very early morning hours of October 6th, 1973, the "Call" came in. The Arabs had attacked Israel! The Ready Reaction Force had been called up and we were to immediately proceed to battle. We were woke up about 2AM and were not told anything other than to grab our "ready bags", draw our weapons and get to the Brigade LZ. I was designated as the XO's RTO (radio) that night. So, we have not been told much of anything other than the phones had been cut and that we would not try to contact any of out family or friends. Lots of guys pretty much thought that it was a drill and that we would stand at attention, get inspected, and then march off to the chow hall for breakfast. NOPE! Word began to spread that this looked like the Real Thing and that people had heard about the attack on Israel! There actually were more than a few "Bros" who verbally objected to going over there to kill their Muslim brothers! Anyway, things got really, really, Bone Fooking Real when our armorer showed up with a truck full of live ammo! 5.56, belted 7.62, 45, LAWS rockets, grenades, Claymore mines, etc., , , , the Whole Fooking Three Rings of the Circus. What really got the XO's attention was the fact that the Armorer told him that everybody was to draw ammo and "load up" with all of their normal "combat load out". WHAT!? WTF are you saying. Sir, all of the Troopers are to draw their ammo and load their magazines. Everybody that should will get grenades and LAWS rockets, etc. WTF??!!??!!??. The XO dragged me behind him with the radio's hand set while he rushed over to were all of the Commanders were talking (the Commander of the Third Corps down to all of the Company Commanders). When we got to them they all were pretty much in a ROAR! The Troopers were to get onto aircraft with loaded magazines, live grenades, LAWS, etc. . . . on their fooking persons!!?? WTF??!!?? But, Sir you do not give troops live ammo on a C-5!! The Commanding General of the Third Cops summed it all up for them (to paraphrase, , , ,): "Yes live ammo, the situation in Israel (at that time) is DIRE and we have been ordered to join the battle. We will have air cover but, we probably will be going in "HOT". We will do everything in our power to help Israel until more of our forces can get there." "Sir, where are we going to land?" "Don't know and that is not important at this time. We will do our duty and comply with the Orders of the President" "If the situation is so bad, how do they expect us to sneak up on anybody and land hot in C-5s?" "That may be the case but we will perform our Duty to the End!" It was so very unpleasant to see the looks on the faces of all of the combat hardened Rangers and Green Berets. As we were loading up into "deuce and a halfs" to head to the airfield it was Called OFF! The Israelis had finally begun to Kick Total Ass on the Arabs. We were to stand by on Highest Alert but no exciting C-5 rides that day.
Ding, what war were these sailors fighting on that ship that they so desperately needed to be staying out there full of covid-19?
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04/06/2020 05:09 PM
