Andretta - Brown Water Runs Red: My Year as an Advisor to the Vietnamese Navy Junk Force

Brown Water Runs Red

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Bob Andretta is that rare individual who combined aggressiveness as a warrior and empathy for the Vietnamese people. As an advisor to the Vietnamese Navy in a remote and dangerous outpost he pursued the war with innovation and vigor. As a human being, he found ways to minimize the impacts of the war on non-combatants. Both qualities frequently led him into dangerous situations. While the U.S. military command was counting bodies, Bob was winning hearts and minds through his self-initiated and compassionate aid to non-combatant civilians.

Doug Burgess, Officer-in-Charge, U.S. Navy Swift Boat

Andretta has written a genuine thriller about his 1969 tour of duty in Vietnam. His descriptions of the events and dangers of warfare on the Cua Dai River are truly memorable. Andrettas concern for his fellow combatants and the Vietnamese people is clearly evident. Colonel (Ret) L. Nick Lacey, USAF

Andretta has a way with words. He captures the nuances of difficult, if not dangerous, situations while recounting them with his self-deprecating humor. As Andretta writes, the jungles and rivers of RVN flood ones memories. Bob Sullivan, former USMC and Vietnam Vet.

This book provides an outstanding perspective on what happened in the trenches, actually on the rivers of Vietnam, by someone who has been there and done that. This is a must read for anyone wanting to gain an understanding of river warfare during this controversial war. Written to entertain as well as educate. Well done! Sam Dutrow, CDR, USN, Retired

Bob Andretta has combined his good humor and exceptional writing capability to create one of the great memoirs of the Vietnam War. Coming off a tour as a division officer on a frigate, he was assigned to the Vietnamese junk force as an advisor. His vivid portrayals of the pace of life on his base, the sharply defined personalities surrounding him, and the stress of combat all bring his year in country to life. Full of insightful, sometimes humorous, and often searing observations, this is a book for anyone interested in a little known piece of the larger Vietnam conflict. Bobs book is a must read! James R. Stark, RADM, USN (Ret)

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Brown Water Runs Red

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My Year as an Advisor to the Vietnamese Navy Junk Force

Bob Andretta

Brown Water Runs Red

My Year as an Advisor to

The Vietnamese Junk Force

By Bob Andretta

Published by:

Stanton Park Publishing

651 Maryland Avenue, NE

Washington, D.C. 20002

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information or storage retrieval system without written permission from the author or the Publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Copyright 2015 by Robert A. Andretta

ISBN: 1515342867

ISBN 13: 9781515342861

Frontispiece: Lieutenant Robert A. Andretta, USN, Cua Dai River, Republic of Vietnam, 1969.

Note

The people, locations, and events described in this book are real. The names of some individuals discussed have been changed to nicknames which I have given them. In many cases, I am now unable to remember the names of certain people, especially many of the Vietnamese who so bravely fought alongside our forces during the Vietnam conflict. Any omissions or errors are totally the responsibility of the author.

In Honor of

Richard A.B. Phillimore

CDR, R.N. (Ret.)

(1907-2004)

Who Taught Me To Remember

And

Dedicated To

The Class Of 1965

United States Naval Academy

Contents

Introduction

Those heady days at the Naval Academy in Annapolis just four years earlier now seemed so long ago. Here I was, lying face down in a muddy ditch on some remote and forsaken island in the Cua Dai River in Vietnam in the middle of the night. I assumed that I would momentarily be dead. I was exhausted, bleeding from wounds, and the mosquitoes were plentiful enough to carry me away. I could hear the staccato voices of an enemy search party looking for me. I was nearly in tears, wondering if they would simply shoot me, drive a bayonet through my back, or worse, take me captive with years of torture and agony ahead. Within moments they were directly above me. As I held my breath tightly, I could not stop my heart from racing wildly. Could they possibly hear that?? I could now even smell them; this surely could be it

This book recounts that night and the other 365 days that I spent as a U.S Navy advisor to the Vietnamese Navy. Looking back now, I have no idea why I was allowed to survive when so many other Americans did not come home to live out their lives. But I did, and this is the story of that most interesting, challenging, perplexing, terrifying, gratifying, life-changing year of my life.

My name is Robert A. Andretta, but I am better known as Bob. I graduated from the United States Naval Academy as a member of the class of 1965. In my first or plebe year there, when I told a favorite cousin that I was attending the Naval Academy, she asked, You mean like Annapolis? I said, Yes. Just like Annapolis. She then asked, You mean like Men of Annapolis? which was a then-popular TV series about the Academy. I answered, Yes. Just like that. Most of my days at Annapolis were a blur of physical hardships, seemingly incomprehensible studies, great sports opportunities, and the forming of lasting tight friendships.

After graduation, I attended a guided missile school and a nuclear weapons school in Dam Neck, Virginia. I was anxious to go to sea on a real navy ship with a real navy job, so I had chafed a bit at the delay the schools required, but they were necessary because my assignment was just what I wanted: the surface-to-air guided missile officer of the Guided Missile Destroyer U.S.S. Charles F F. Adams (DDG-2). I loved that ship, and the other men with whom I served. Yes, I was young and naive, and so I made the usual rookie mistakes, but my first real duty assignment as a commissioned naval officer was truly delightful, while also a lot of hard work.

My time aboard the Adams, which included a terrific Mediterranean cruise as part of the Sixth Fleet, was cut short by orders to join the pre-commissioning detail of the Guided Missile Destroyer Escort Julius A. Furer (DEG-6), then under construction at the Bath Iron Works in Maine. My new ship was commissioned about a year later at Boston Naval Shipyard. Officers on pre-commissioning details, which were considered plum assignments, were supposed to stay with their ships for at least two years. Furer was scheduled to join the Mediterranean Fleet for six months, and I could see my minimum time aboard would be coming to an end at about the same time as she would be returning to the U.S. from that deployment. At that time, it was said that there were only two kinds of lieutenants in the navy: those who had been to Vietnam and those who were on their way. Exaggeration? Only a bit.

Wondering about my own future assignment, I called the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS), and talked with my detailer. Oh, no worries, Bob. Pre-com people always get at least their first full two years on board before reassignment, he cheerily announced. Naturally, only a short time later, orders to Vietnam arrived for me while the Furer