When reading this, think of platoon to company-size infantry patrols.

I've heard, seen, and read some US GIs say that their team leader was smart because he made the platoon walk in the grass clearing far away from the treelines to avoid a close ambush, not to mention the leader can see his entire formation and control it. Sure the GIs are exposed, but they can also see where the enemy fire is coming from the trees and then call in napalm strikes into the treelines without risk of getting fratricide because the planes can see them and drop all around them as the GIs pop smoke. They can (hopefully) see booby traps coming and avoid all those tree traps, not to mention helicopters can land and extract them ASAP. These GIs may get ambushed, but they won't "walk" into am ambush and if lucky, can bring every gun and artillery to bear into the trees, not to mention their radios are free of canopy interference. If they get fired on, they hit the dirt.

And THEN I also read books where the US GIs say that their team leader is smart for making them hack their way and walk in the bush! These GIs say that it's stupid walking out in the clearing where everyone can see you and get mortared and MGed and chewed up by a well-entreched enemy. The trees provide the GIs cover and hide them from the enemy. They say it's best to walk slow and walking in the bush allows them to hear the enemy approaching. They may walk into ambushes, but they can also fire and run into the ambush to break it since the distances are so short. Or they can hide in the treelines and ambush any NVA or VC in the open. And yet there's always booby traps to worry about and the dense foilage prevents air support, artillery, and bringing every gun to bear since the enemy is so close.

So, has history come up with a verdict as to which is the proper way to walk in the jungles of NAM? Which team leader is "right" and "smart?" Or is there no real correct answer?

I'm not a vet or anything even close, but I do believe that the safest place would be to travel just inside the tree line. You get your cover from not being in the open and you have cover if you come under attack.

As I sit here tonight in a hotel lobby checking my E-mail and surfing the WEB, I think back to the words of SSG Juan Jiminez, my US Army Drill Instructor back in April of 1978...

" The MORE SWEAT you lose in training, the LESS BLODD you will lose in Combat ".

At the time, I didn't really understand what that saying meant. I had no idea then that those 15 words would forever change my life.

Speaking on behalf of my own combat experience, it DOESN'T really matter WHERE you are once you make contact with the enemy, if you are on the incoming end of the stick, there is no hole that is deep enough, or a shelter thick enough to protect you once the shooting starts.

So to answer your question, there is no RIGHT OR WRONG WAY.

You will FIGHT THE WAY YOU HAVE TRAINED. You either TRUST the man on your right or left or you do not. That is the true lesson of life. You TRUST or YOU DIE.

Those exact words came back to my mind when on 26 OCT 83, the patrol I was a member of received " both intense rifle and machinegun fire from a well-concealed enemy gun position 75 meters foward of the lead element " as it reads from my award citation.

On that particular October morning, we couldn't see the gun position because it was dug-in too deep and hidden too well. They let us walk right up to it before they opened fire on us. In the time span of 10 minutes it was all over. We all TRUSTED each other. Still, a very close friend of mine was dead.

Today there will be no bands, no parades, no medals, no shopping trips for me.


I will be standing in Arlington Cemetery at 11:00 am.


Thanks As Usual,

Gary

The big issue was to stay off the beaten path. They booby trapped the trails and near them . They loved to hit you crossing streams. Like anywhere else, terrain varied so you might be in an open area one minute and a triple canopy jungle then minutes later. like the man says. how well you were trained as an individual and as a team was in direxct relationship to your survivability