The old saying that one thing leads to another is certainly true. my long winded tale about operation
Attleboro has brought back a three small amusing incidents that occurred in that time frame that I know some of those who read this will be able to relate to.
Number one;
concerns tear gas grenades, not the round ones of today but the old ones that were the same size and shape of the smoke grenades. The smoke grenades were all OD in color with a colored band around them to designate what color, red, yellow, and purple are what I remember but I'm sure there were others?
One day while the company was moving threw the bush Charlie 6 "Cpt Paone" decided to verify his location by using a smoke grenade, yup he used a tear gas grenade. After that I suspect HQs plt was a little more alert when using smoke grenades. I do know it caused more than one laugh in the line plts
Number two;
concerns a claymore mine and a trip flare. Each evening just at dark we would move positions and put out the claymores. under each claymore would be a trip flare with the pin pulled.
One morning one of the new guys was out getting the claymores that had been set the night before.
Everyone heard the pop of the smoke grenade and here came the white-faced new guy at a dead run. He had forgot or didn't know? about the trip flare. To make matters worse when the flare popped he dropped the claymore and ran, as it would happen the claymore fell right on top of the flare. Yell "fire in the hole" keep your head down and wait while the claymore burned, when the heat reached the detonator it blew. I took some ribbing from the other two plt sgts over that and Charlie 6 just shook his head.
Number three;
concerns a ambush patrol I was on when our sister company was attacked. When we got the sudden word to get back to the company area we moved! Still dark it was. Not sure when but maybe a day later I realized I had lost my billfold. Not a big deal as the only thing of value was my ID card and a military driving license for of all things "a M46 tank" I came to the conclusion that the last time I could remember having the billfold was the day before the ambush patrol. Perhaps a week later we were right back in the same spot the night I went on the patrol. I went with one of the squads to where we had setup that night there was my billfold laying on the ground, plus we found a belt of M60 ammo and several M16 magazines.
The drivers license? perhaps two years later I'm in Hawaii on R&R and wanted to rent a car.
I"ve often wondered if I anyone else ever rented a car from Hertz using a military driving license for a M4 46 tank, guess the girl thought that anyone who could drive a tank would be right to home on the local roads.
Someplace else on this website I've told how we went out to secure a C130 that had been spraying defoliant and had taken a few rounds in one engine and had to make a crash landing out in the bush, a few years ago while on the Internet I found what I believe is the official report of that plane. click here for report And yes I'm pretty darn sure that I was the only buck sgt to blow up a air force plane.
