James A. Lockhart - The Luckiest Guy in Vietnam

This book is dedicated to:

My mother, Ruby V. Lockhart
Without whom none of this would be possible

And

My wife, Suzanne M. Lockhart
For her unfailing encouragement and support

THE LUCKIEST GUY IN VIETNAM
Copyright 2018 by James A. Lockhart

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN (Print Edition): 978-1-54392-812-9
ISBN (eBook Edition): 978-1-54392-813-6

I have been lucky. I have been very, very lucky. During my two-and-one-half years in Vietnam I never earned the Purple Heart Medal. I never got a scratchat least not one delivered by the enemy. I dont have nightmares or flashbacks, although sometimes I thoughtfully review my actions from that period. I have been very lucky.

As well as I am aware of my luck, I also know of the indescribable suffering and losses incurred from that war by many of the participants, as well as the pain that some still endure. The families and loved ones of those killed, wounded and scarred in other ways do not have their suffering carved on a black granite wall: it is indelibly marked on their souls. I dont rejoice at my own good fortune without experiencing an enduring consciousness and sadness for all casualties, direct and indirect.

I am sharing my wartime experiences and observations because, despite the intense media coverage of the war and the massive subsequent analyses, misconceptions still abound in the public mind. Often certain images and second-hand accounts form a persons understanding and opinions about what happened there. Sometimes generalizations are taken as specifics and specifics are generalized.

In this account, I will present a different view of Infantrymen in combat than what many readers may have taken for granted. This view is from my perspective as an Infantry leader during a 12-month period in Vietnam. I believe that readers will be surprised at what they did not know about soldiers living under pressure in the field, day after day.

I am equally convinced that the story of a Special Forces unit wrestling to accomplish a secret mission will be new to most readers. For those who have read about this unit, they will find an account of the early stages that has not been previously published as well as anecdotes unknown to previous writers.

I dont intend to state how luck specifically impacted every episode in this book. Each reader can make judgments about particular events and the extent that luckgood or badinfluenced them.

In addition, I will not try to propose a definition of luck; however, I am presenting here a few examples of good luck:

When your enemy is careless or decides to stay home that day.

When your commander doesnt give stupid, certain death orders.

When your commander allows you freedom to make your own decisions in the field.

When the men under your command are competent, reliable and motivated.

When your support (artillery and helicopters) are available and proficient.

When you make a minor mistake, you get a pass.

I have organized this book into a chronological sequence with a before, during and after Vietnam time line. The during portion is divided into first tour, interval and second tour. In keeping with a focus on my experiences in Vietnam, I am not including my full personal history except for the one-and-one-half year period that describes my only prior leadership experience before Vietnam, including the events that pulled me into the war. A section on post-Vietnam is included to show the wars lingering but significant impact on me and others.

This is not intended to be a military book only for military-oriented people. With that in mind, I intend to take care not to drift off into the cryptic realm of abbreviations, acronyms, jargon and obscure military terminology. Therefore, I hope the reader will bear with me as I try to maintain a balance between an interesting pace and explaining important but not-well-known terms. With some of the more difficult-to-remember and recurring terms, I will reiterate their meaning in the quest for clarity.

When referring to ranks, Ill spell the title completely in its first appearance (Lieutenant Colonel) and subsequently use the abbreviation (LTC). The same will be done for the names and numbers of military units of which only a few will appear.

Some of the other challenges in this area are the various units of measure used in military weapons. For example, the calibers of some weapons are specified in inches (4.2 inch mortar) and some in millimeters (81 millimeter mortar). When there is a potential area of confusion, Ill present the Army standard measurement first and follow with the more familiar one if necessary.

Another possible area of confusion is the measures of distance in which the military uses meters and kilometers. At relatively short distances, a meter (39.37 inches) is very close to a yard (36 inches). One hundred meters is just over nine yards longer than 100 yardsthe playing length of a football fieldso this distance is fairly easy to visualize. However, one kilometer (1,000 meters) is five-eights of a mile, a much more abstract concept to most Americans. So while Ill use meters and kilometers to conform with military usage, anything over 100 meters will be followed by the English equivalent measure in parentheses.

Keeping it simple, all times will be in the am/pm format; e.g. 7pm instead of 1900 hours.

Vietnamese words and place names will be represented without the normal diacritical marks followed by their phonetic pronunciation unless the pronunciation is self evident. In the field we never used the Vietnamese names of localities except as a general reference because of the difficulty in pronunciation and the similarities of many names. Therefore I will use only a few here. We always used map grid coordinates instead of place names and this technique will be described later.

Without a doubt, my greatest regret is not having maintained a diary during my time in Vietnam. Because of this, the names of many comrades whom I have described in this account are lost to me. At that time, everything we owned was carried with us in the field. I felt that any accurate diary which listed our successes, if I had been captured, would have worked to my disadvantage. So most of the men who were so important during this period in my life cant be included by name.

I am including brief accounts of genuine heroes with whom I have crossed paths and their impact on my life.

I will explain later how I was able to reconstruct some events during that period from official documents. Most, however, are retrieved from indelible memories.

After each major section covering one tour, a chapter titled Reflections will be presented. These comments will address background issues that didnt arise naturally during the narrative. I will also use them to discuss some topics in more detail than was appropriate earlier.

All photos and maps follow the end of the text as figures.