Rick Greenberg - Silent Heroes: A Recon Marines Vietnam War Experience

Silent Heroes

A Recon Marines Vietnam War Experience

Rick Greenberg

Copyright 2016 Rick Greenberg

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1522742808

ISBN 13: 9781522742807

Library of Congress Control Number: XXXXX (If applicable)

LCCN Imprint Name: City and State (If applicable)

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the servicemen who fought and died in the Vietnam War. Its dedicated to my brothers who gave their all for their fellow Marine, Ooh Rah! A special dedication to all who came home to a country filled with hate in their hearts, but through it all, stayed the course. We never lost our comradery for one another. We remained always faithful to the Corps, and to all those who served. Semper Fi Brother Marine.

Acknowledgement

I am extremely thankful to so many people who helped in the completion of my story , Silent Heroes. A special thanks to all my fellow brothers who served with me in First Reconnaissance Battalion. To all Marines now serving, and to those still to serve, Semper Fi. These two words are what I have strived to live by. If I have failed, then let God judge me when my time comes and I see the streets of heaven guarded by United States Marines.

A special thank you to my wife Kim who was the one person who shared the hours, days, months and years it took to write this book. She helped me with encouragement and support. When some of the memories brought tears to my eyes, she was there for comfort. Thank you so much Kim, for your help, your patience, but most of all, for your love.

To my editors, Claudette Parmente, Ann Heathmen, and Gayle Smith. Without you all, there is no book.

Another thanks to a special group of writers here in The Villages Florida who call themselves Wannabe Writers. Without them, I am no writer. Their amazing comments and critiques shaped me, and they helped shape this book. Countless times, I was ready to give up, but with their reinforcement, I kept going. So thank you guys for all your help, your faith in me, and for your love. You all have a special place in my heart.

A Note to the Reader

When I first started writing Silent Heroes , the original intention to be for family changed over the weeks, months and years it took to write. After receiving encouragement from fellow authors to proceed on this route, the book was no longer a memoir, but rather historical fiction based on actual events.

My intentions for writing Silent Heroes are to show the fundamental reality of war through personal experience. Though mine lie in the Vietnam War, it could have been Desert Storm, where I also served, or Iraqi Freedom.

Whether it is in the jungle, the desert, or the mountains of Afghanistan, the book reveals how a young man, sent to war is transformed into a veteran combat warrior, ready and willing to kill, not for God and Country, but more for his fellow marine, soldier. His brothers in arms.

Silent Heroes represents everything that happened to me during that year in Vietnam. In most of the chapters, they are accurate to the best of my memory, Im directly involved. In some, not many, Im indirectly involved, but with enough on hand knowledge to write what took place. The book is as close to authenticity as I could remember.

The names have been changed to protect individual identities.

Author used a literary license.

A glossary has been included at the end of the book for your convenience.

Silent Heroes

A Story Forty Years in the Making

Chapter 1

Making it Through another Day

Charlie Ridge, Vietnam, 1970

What the hell happened!

Im on all fours, my head down, stunned and confused. I try to regain my senses but to no avail. My eyes ache from an orange glow that flickers in the darkness surrounding me. I pick up my hand in an attempt to shield my face from both the light and the heat being emitted. I smell the odor of burning fuel and something else. Its bad. What is it? The sound of men screaming forces my eyes upward until I see the horror. A CH 46 helicopter is on the ground, engulfed in flames.

As I study the chopper, I see something else. Is that a man? I say aloud. Is that one of the crew? I watch as a guy tries to escape the burning chopper through a porthole. I yell at myself, Get up, Greeny! Help the guy! I repeat this over and over, but my body wont respond. Halfway out, he stops, and I shout, No! as his body slumps out the window and burns. The screams from the crew still inside have my eyes glued to the burning wreck. Now, I know what that something else odor is. Its the smell of the 46 crew, burning alive.

My mind returns to when the chopper was landing, and I remember. An RPG took the bird down. The sound of explosions and rifle fire bring me back to the present. I look nearby and see my team is in a world of shit. I try to get into the fight, to join them, but my dazed head still wont allow it. All I can think about is, Wheres Black? Where the hell is my team leader?

I use my rifle as a cane, struggling until Im on my feet. Through still hazy eyes, I see one of my Marines curled in a ball, his M-16 laying next to him, too afraid to move. I watch as Hippie crawls over to him, picks up the mans weapon, puts it back in his hands, and gets him back in the fight. Another Marine yells at me, but I cant understand him through the ringing in my ears. He runs up to me and puts his face in mine. Its Bunyan.

He frantically yells, Greeny, what should we do? What should we do?

Im the APL, and the team is looking to me for answers. My head clears, and I yell out orders. Form a one eighty in front of the bird. Keep the chopper to your backs. I see Surfer talking on the radio. Surfer, tell the cobras to lay down fire east of the bird, twenty yards out!

Surfer acknowledges. Mini gun and rocket fire drive the enemy back. I need the seventy-nine grenade launcher laying down a pattern. Olive, put rounds down range fifty to seventy-five yards, left to right, and keep them going!

Olive Oil confirms my orders. Alpha Ace is fighting back.

I hear an A.O. (Arial Observer) overhead and know thats who Surfers talking to. Surfer, I need illumination one hundred yards east of the bird. Show me whos out there.

In just minutes, the A.O. has illumination popping over the enemies head. Oh, shit! I see over a hundred V.C. approaching from the east. Surfer, you know what to do. Get snake and nape on that area! Toast em.

The A.O. directs his own weapons on the approaching force, strafing the enemy in the open.

Arty coming in danger close. Keep your heads down, Surfer yells out. The enemys advance slows, and my attention turns to finding my team leader.

***

Camp Pendleton California, 1972

Its been two years since Charlie Ridge. One question still weighs on my mind-- why am I still alive?

My name is Sergeant Green, and Im a United States Marine. I live and work on the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. My wife, Peg, and our two-year-old daughter, Kimberly, are here with me. We live in enlisted housing, Unit 2022. The apartments are dirty, and bugs are all over. The smell of insecticide fills the air, and the requests for window air conditioners fall on deaf ears. In July, the California heat grows as the dog days of summer continue. Ive tried to move my family into town, but the problem is, so has everyone else. Every day more Marines return from Vietnam. The base is swelling so much that some units are living in tents. Theres just no place to go.

I returned from Vietnam and after thirty days leave, Im assigned to Ninth Communication Battalion. After serving with First Recon in Vietnam, I find the unit boring. I want to be back with the best of the best, back with recon marines, but the Marine Corps wont change my MOS unless I reenlist. Maybe if Im back with recon, the dreams will go away. Maybe I can finally have peace.