Another vet who doesn't think johnny boy was in cambodia.

[dude1394]

another vet against kerry

Christmas in Cambodia

Ralph Roberts

Christmas and Cambodia, 1968, the memory is searing, unforgettable, and easily provable—mine, not (as his statements before his fellow senators and others would have it) John F. Kerry’s.

This morning, while shaving, I suddenly realized I possessed firsthand knowledge of what is fast becoming a major political controversy. That is unusual for me; I am normally still asleep while shaving.

The Democratic candidate for President of these United States makes a big thing of touting his four months of service in a long ago jungle war few people today remember or respect or even, if born after 1968, know about. The logic of such service as the centerpiece-justification of a political campaign some 35 years later escapes me. Far more appropriate would be discussion of his senatorial record. What’s he done in the last 10 years, perhaps?

Senator Kerry and I entered Vietnam the same time, November of 1968. He came home four months later; I completed the standard 12-month tour and even extended for some extra time, returning to “the world” as we called it (that being everywhere but Vietnam, which was simply “in country” in our more politer moments). This was in 1970.

While the future Senator Kerry was throwing his (or someone’s) medals and/or ribbons across the fence of the White House (isn’t that littering?), I spoke before a number of local groups such as civic clubs in support of our troops in the field (those Lions sure did come up with nice steaks!) and showed my eight-millimeter home movies of the war. The footage I took did not include staged scenes of my “exploits” but rather events happening around me. At least those I was not too busy staying alive to preclude filming. Hard to handle a camera and an M-16 rifle at the same time; I kept my priorities straight. Combat tends to help one hone their priorities.

Also, I did not come within, so far as I know, hundreds of miles of “Hanoi Jane” Fonda, nor speak ill of my comrades still serving in Vietnam, doing the duty their country had asked of them.

My rank, while in country, was an army specialist 5th class (pay grade E-5). I ended my military career at the august rank of staff sergeant (pay grade E-6).

I served, proudly, with the 3rd Brigade, First Air Cavalry Division. My position the first eleven months was the Order of Battle Specialist in 3rd Brigade S-2 (intelligence). I won some of the same medals John did—the Bronze Star, for example—and one he did not, the Combat Infantry Badge. The CIB can only be won in one way, you have to be in ground combat as an Infantryman for 90 days or more. I was.

The remainder of my time in Vietnam, I was placed in charge of MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System) station AB8AAR in Quan Loi, Republic of South Vietnam. We provided free phone calls home for the soldiers by contacting amateur radio operators in the U.S., who then patched the calls into the regular phone system. This was pretty high tech stuff in 1969. When I returned to the world, as an amateur radio operator myself (WA4NUO now for over 40 years), I did the same thing from my home station, handling hundreds of calls for guys still in Vietnam.

AB8AAR was an independent unit and, while I just had three men, I was in command. I’m not sure how many men are in a swift boat’s crew, but it’s not too many more than four. So, like John I, too, commanded men in time of war. And take this not as a joke, we did have to crouch behind sandbags and return fire more than once. Unlike the Navy’s river boat folk (and I do respect them a lot) we did not get to go home every evening after combat, we lived right in the middle of it… 24/7.

Speaking of command, sometime, and it’s a good story, I’ll have to write up that cold winter’s night in Germany when I, as a private E-2, was in charge of the entire 3rd Armored Division. John never ran a unit that big. But, Germany does not count for president, only Vietnam, so back to the jungle.

The small town of Quan Loi—in, about, and around there being where I spent most of my Vietnam service time—lies amid old French colonial rubber plantations interspersing the jungle fifty some miles due north of Saigon (now called “Ho Chi Minh City”). Landing Zone Andy, our base, lies a mere twelve dusty (or sloppy, depending on the season) but always hot and sweltering miles from the Cambodian border.

But, back to Christmas in Cambodia: As an Order of Battle Specialist, part of my job was reviewing intelligence reports that came in from units all over Vietnam, logging them, providing synopses for my boss (Major Wilson was the S-2), and generally knowing what was going on countrywide. I loved this part of it! Unlike most of my fellows in the Cav, I had the privilege of and ability to follow the “big picture” through my access to classified intelligence reports and my reading of what the media “said” was going on. That let me piece together the real state of the war.

One thing, which fascinated me, us being so close to Cambodia, was the question of incursions, that being when American forces inadvertently (or deliberately sometimes in hot pursuit) entered Cambodia from Vietnam. At this time, the Cambodian government took such few incursions as happened quite seriously; they were literally international incidents. The most common type of incursion, both within our division and other units, was helicopters straying over the border. In a way, it was almost funny (okay, actually it was funny). Some warrant officer gets a bit sloppy in his navigation, his chopper floats over the line, the Cambodian air force scrambles one of their old WWII-vintage prop fighters which chases the chopper back into Vietnam, then our Air Force fighters (F4s or whatever) arrive and make sure the Cambodian aircraft stays inside Cambodia itself. Kind of an aerial version of the kid’s game “Red Rover Come On Over.”

But there were few such incidents during my time in Vietnam, because those incursions were taken so seriously (later, having grown tired of these games, Nixon sent our forces officially into Vietnam, but I had already come home). The only incidence of a river incursion that I know about (or can find in current research) was an army (not naval) landing craft that took a wrong turn on the Mekong and wound up in Cambodia, where the Cambodians promptly impounded it and the crew made prisoners. I know General Abrams (our commander in Vietnam) was not pleased (pity whatever soldier was in command of that boat!). We did get the men back, I don’t know about the boat, but it was a major international incident.

The point being, if John Kerry had spent Christmas in Cambodia in 1968; I would have read about it first in intelligence reports and everyone would have soon have read about it in the press as we negotiated to get Kerry and his crew back from the Cambodian government. Of course, various recent published reports seem to bring out that John, in truth and his “searing” memory aside, actually spent Christmas eve over fifty miles from Cambodia. I can tell you for a fact, I was only twelve miles from Cambodia that Christmas of 1968, in the jungle and a lot less comfortable than Kerry on his swift boat.

Since John bases a good part of his candidacy on his Vietnam service, I am more than entitled to compare mine to his.

Hmm. We won some of the same medals. Good, we both did our jobs.

We both commanded small units in combat. Umm. Good, but so did hundreds of thousands of other Vietnam vets—a good many with much greater success and/or hardship than either John or I.

Kerry, so I’ve read, was against the war before he went and certainly after he came back. I supported the war before, during, and after. But I still respect those who, through the force of their convictions, did not go. Wishy-washy only works in detergent commercials. Take a stand, one way or the other, do not flop about like some Mekong River fish out of water.

In Christmas of 1968, I was at least 20-30 miles closer to Cambodia than John. Moreover, it can be proved by my unit’s Morning Reports, a record of “attendance” the army kept on its personnel.

Finally, I served about four times longer in Vietnam than John Kerry.

By the precepts just elucidated, I am more qualified for the presidency than John (feel free to write me in on your ballot, thank you very much).

However, I would not vote even for me (and I likes me, a lot) just on the basis of my service in Vietnam. So many, many others did more, sacrificed more, deserve respect more than John or even I.

Voting for president just because of brief service in a war thirty-five years ago?

If you think that’s a good idea, I could sure use the job. Thank you, my fellow Americans.

—end—


Ralph Roberts, a Vietnam veteran, is the author of over 90 books for national publishers and CEO of Alexander Books / Creativity, Inc., the area’s largest locally-owned book publisher