[Rich D]

How did/do you deploy to combat? My first VN tour was there by C-130(flew the Pacific in a prop plane) from Cal via Hawaii and returned by C-141 via Hawaii. Second deployment was by C-141 from Cal via Alaska. Returned by C-124 to Philippines, and C-141 from there to USA. I was a Navy Seabee, and never set foot on a ship.

 

[nf1e]

Commercial to Okinawa for a short stay, then on to Danang via commercial.
Return in 1968 was by commercial to Guam and then on to Conus in same aircraft.
Before that we used to go from the East coast to Yuma for bombing practice via C-130 most of the time. Did have the pleasure of flying in a C-47 one time and that was enough.

Chu Lai Summer camp 1967 - 1968.

[URL=http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/nf1e/media/059.jpg.html][/URL]

 

[XUSNORDIE]

Most memorable......1987 USS Stark was hit by Iraq....I had orders to VF-21 who was currently deployed with CAG-14 on CV64 Constellation and on station in IO patrolling Straights of Hormuz. I was M61A1 20MM certified from previous stint at AIMD Armament. Shortly after hearing about the Stark getting hit I was yanked out of FRAMP class, and told I was heading out "Now". Went home....packed Sea Bag, called the wife (at the time) at work to say cya, kissed the dog...and drove back to Miramar with Sea Bag in hand. Quick stop at Personnel and off to the flight line. Not sure what aircraft it was but flew from Miramar to LAX. Then from LAX to Alaska on a commercial airliner (flying Tiger). From Alaska to Okinawa on same airliner. From Okinawa to Diego Garcia on a C141. Spent a few days bored to death on Diego. Twice put on a S3 like a mail bag only to be turned around and land back on Diego. Then from Diego to Masirah on C141.....spent a wonderful afternoon crammed in a dusty stinky cinder block cell.....then brought to a hangar. Lines of people....everyone was handed a cranial and float coat....told to put on, and when hanger doors opened had to run to box with command painted on side and dump bags into. Then look for a person holding assign with command written on it.......when those doors opened there were CH46's lined up with said boxes between us and them.....sort of crazy. CH46 started having problems......shaking and shuttering. We made a wide turn and were given instruction on what to do for a crash landing....scared to death we were going down in water....but we crash landed on the USS Niagara Falls...that was a trip. That chopper broke landing gear and I swear I'm an inch shorter today because of it. We spent the rest of day, night and half the next on that ship......we finally took off again on that repaired chopper and finally made it to the deck of the Connie......and the fun of the Straights of Hormuz....

 

[CAVman]

Charter Flights to and from...From Ft.Lewis/McCord, back to Oakland/Travis...
I think Global? And World? Airways...
'Stewardesses' old enough to be your momma!

GI2

Like most things about 'the Nam'...it all depends on the date, your branch, your unit, your MOS, etc...

"There are 8 million stories in the Naked City...this has been one of them."

CAVman in WYoming

 

[dwight55]

Feb of 1966, . . . charter flight out of San Fran, . . . stopped in Seattle, Anchorage, Tokyo, Clark Air Base for breakfast, . . . slid in to Saigon just after sun came up.

Lufthansa, . . . and a couple of the most beautiful blonde haired stewardesses I'd ever seen in my life, . . . coming back. Got on board, . . . next stop, . . . San Fran.

I think they were testing MRE's back then, . . . at least it seemed like that for what we ate coming back.

At the hotel, . . . sat down in one of them there big legged bath tubs, . . . filled it with hot water, . . . leaned back, . . . fell asleep, . . . darned near drowned.

All else was just routine.

May God bless,
Dwight

 

[USCGNavig8tor]

December 1990 - Desert Storm - USMC C130 from Cherry Point, NC to Saudi Arabia via Belgium. Came back commercial 11.5 months later. That's what you get for volunteering to remain in country for loading MPS ships for the return trip.

December 2004 - Iraqi Freedom - Flew commercial out of Miami, debarked in Bahrain - picked up Navy Patrol Boat out of Bahrain. Flew back commercial 6 months later.

April 2009 - Iraqi Freedom - Flew commercial out of Norfolk, VA - debarked in Bahrain - picked up Coast Guard Patrol Boat out of Bahrain - came back commercial a year later.

 

[XXIV Corps]

Commercial charter Flights to and from...From Ft. Lewis/McCord stops in Anchorage, Tokyo and all out in Camron Bay June 1970. The stops in June 1971 were from Ft. Lewis/McCord stops in Anchorage, Tokyo and all out in Danang this time. I joined up with my last battery again at JJ Carroll (FSB) along Highway 9 near Cam Lo.

"There are 8 million stories in the Naked City...this has been one more of them."CAVman.

GI5

 

[Capona]

Good thread guys , keep'em coming.

 

[rstickle]

Three overseas deployments (but not combat). The first was in '65 to Korea and I went by ship, along with folks going to Korea the ship was carrying part of the 173rd ABN to Vietnam. Two later deployments were both by air (military charter), Okinawa in 67 and back to Korea in 79, both with stops in Japan.

 

[Rich D]

Commercial to Okinawa for a short stay, then on to Danang via commercial.
Return in 1968 was by commercial to Guam and then on to Conus in same aircraft.
Before that we used to go from the East coast to Yuma for bombing practice via C-130 most of the time. Did have the pleasure of flying in a C-47 one time and that was enough.

Chu Lai Summer camp 1967 - 1968.

[URL=http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/nf1e/media/059.jpg.html][/URL]

My unit did a lot of work at Chu Lai then(MCB3), but I never made it. I was mostly near Hue City.

 

[nf1e]

My unit did a lot of work at Chu Lai then(MCB3), but I never made it. I was mostly near Hue City.

One of my best friends from my hometown of Bethlehem ,CT served in MCB3. First Class George Turner. He died a few years ago.

 

[USCGNavig8tor]

MAN!! I had some humdinger travels when I was a USMC Embassy Guard.

First post was in Jakarta, Indonesia. I left out of Quantico, VA on December 22, 1987. Drove to Norfolk and boarded a plane in the early evening. Went Norfolk to Tokyo to Jakarta. Got into Jakarta at about 9pm December 24th. Marines picked me up, showed me to my room at the Marine House and I crashed. My luggage had been lost. I had no clothes, no uniforms, not even a toothbrush.

Next morning I woke up and went downstairs to the common area in the Marine House and saw a small Christmas tree with a wrapped box with my name on it. Somehow, between Taps and Reveille, the Marines had mustered up a spit kit for me. I was never so thankful to be able to shave, brush my teeth and wash my butt.

18 months later I left Jakarta and went to my next post in Nouakchott, Mauritania (West Africa). SON! I thought the flight from VA to Jakarta was long. There was some kind of of terrorist advisory out at the time, meaning I couldn't fly a more direct route (west). I went from Jakarta to Anchorage, AK to NY JFK to Paris, France to the Canary Islands to Nouakchott. Took like 3 days of flying and sitting around in airports waiting on connecting flights.

I guess the first two posts were worth it, my third post as an Embassy Guard was Port of Spain, Trinidad. That was a straight Nouakchott to Paris to JKF to Miami to Port of Spain Flight. Maybe 28-hours travel time.

Left Port of Spain just in time for Desert Storm. That was my December C130 trip from Cherry Point to Saudi Arabia via Belgium flight. Loved the warming tents on the airport tarmac that we stood around in waiting for the plane to be refueled so we could continue on to Saudi Arabia. Landed on December 7, 1990.

 

[GardenValley]

USMCAS El Toro via Continental charter to Hawaii and Okinawa, staging there and on to DaNang via another charter. Was everywhere in northern I Corps: Dong Ha, Camp Evans, Phu Bai, Phong Dien, Khe Sanh, C-2, C-3, Cua Viet, D-5, Leatherneck Square, Rock Pile, Camp Carroll, Vandegrift Combat Base (LZ Stud), Quang Tri, but generally only for a few days in any location whenever we came out of the field. Believe I walked from one end of I Corps to the other and then back again. Returned via commercial charter by way of Alaska to El Toro.

 

[CAVman]

USMCAS El Toro via Continental charter to Hawaii and Okinawa, staging there and on to DaNang via another charter. Was everywhere in northern I Corps: Dong Ha, Camp Evans, Phu Bai, Phong Dien, Khe Sanh, C-2, C-3, Cua Viet, D-5, Leatherneck Square, Rock Pile, Camp Carroll, Vandegrift Combat Base (LZ Stud), Quang Tri, but generally only for a few days in any location whenever we came out of the field. Believe I walked from one end of I Corps to the other and then back again. Returned via commercial charter by way of Alaska to El Toro.

Q: Was 'Phong Dien' just the small Ville outside Camp Evans?

CAVman in WYoming

 

[XUSNORDIE]

Sam Maynard

One of my best friends from my hometown of Bethlehem ,CT served in MCB3. First Class George Turner. He died a few years ago.

I worked with a great guy who was a Seabee, who talked about Chu Lai and Hue City. He also spent some time at Camp David/FT Ritchie. Since we were both Navy guys and I was familiar with the Camp David/Ft Ritchie area we got along famously. He was a southern guy, from TN.....name was Sam Maynard.

 

[tomdokulil]

Flew a United commercial charter from Hawaii to Travis AFB in California in September 1971. Our plane was met by loads of Air Police upon our getting out of the plane. I found out later that the previous plane was met by a group of "young ladies" who welcomed the departing servicemen getting off the plane by throwing used Kotex sanitary napkins at them. Many of these guys took these "soiled" garments off and threw them in the nearest trash container. I'm glad that never happened to me, I'd still be in prison on a charge of murder! Tom from MN "Welcome Home"!!!!!!!

 

[GardenValley]

Q: Was 'Phong Dien' just the small Ville outside Camp Evans?

CAVman in WYoming

Yes, it was a district headquarters and there was an advisory team there comprised of several Americans and an Australian and a bunch of either PF's or CIDG's, never knew which. 1/9 was at Camp Evans in late 1967 and another Marine and I were sent to Phong Dien to serve as coordinators with the Army during a coastal sweep in what was known as the "Street Without Joy." We were there for four or five days.

Couple of interesting notes .... the local VC hit the compound while we were there and the advisory team ushered us into their CP bunker where we found several ARVN's arguing over a 4x8 sheet of plywood attached to a wall that had a whole bunch of Claymore clackers hanging on it and all labeled in Vietnamese. I think they were attempting to determine which ones they should blow. I don't know what they decided but the attack didn't amount to much.

The two of us went to Phong Dien with enough C-Rations to hold us for the time we were there, but the afternoon after we arrived an Army command group showed up and the morning after that they were all milling about and the best we could make out was that they were complaining about some choppers being late. A little later a couple choppers landed and off loaded quite a few Mermite cans that contained breakfast for the Army guys. Breakfast? Hot chow in the field?? The two of us couldn't believe that the Army delivered hot chow to the field because the Marine Corps did not do that. Those nice Army guys saw us standing there with a look of wonderment on our faces and invited us to have breakfast with them. Right nice guys, them Army fellas!

Other than that, Phong Dien sucked. Course, there was that red head Vietnamese girl that sold Cokes, but that's another story .....

 

[nf1e]

[URL=http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/nf1e/media/046.jpg.html][/URL]

 

[CAVman]

Yes, it was a district headquarters and there was an advisory team there comprised of several Americans and an Australian and a bunch of either PF's or CIDG's, never knew which. 1/9 was at Camp Evans in late 1967 and another Marine and I were sent to Phong Dien to serve as coordinators with the Army during a coastal sweep in what was known as the "Street Without Joy." We were there for four or five days.

Couple of interesting notes .... the local VC hit the compound while we were there and the advisory team ushered us into their CP bunker where we found several ARVN's arguing over a 4x8 sheet of plywood attached to a wall that had a whole bunch of Claymore clackers hanging on it and all labeled in Vietnamese. I think they were attempting to determine which ones they should blow. I don't know what they decided but the attack didn't amount to much.

The two of us went to Phong Dien with enough C-Rations to hold us for the time we were there, but the afternoon after we arrived an Army command group showed up and the morning after that they were all milling about and the best we could make out was that they were complaining about some choppers being late. A little later a couple choppers landed and off loaded quite a few Mermite cans that contained breakfast for the Army guys. Breakfast? Hot chow in the field?? The two of us couldn't believe that the Army delivered hot chow to the field because the Marine Corps did not do that. Those nice Army guys saw us standing there with a look of wonderment on our faces and invited us to have breakfast with them. Right nice guys, them Army fellas!

Other than that, Phong Dien sucked. Course, there was that red head Vietnamese girl that sold Cokes, but that's another story .....

Yep, Camp Evans was a Marine Regimental Base prior to the 1st Cav arriving in late January 1968 until the Cav moved South to III Corps in late October 1968.
Actually, I Corps itself was under the Marine CG then.
I have some memory of the Ville there when we Convoyed up and down from Camp Eagle at Hue/Phu Bai...
That whole area of Northern I Corps was actually not very large when viewed from a Chopper...you could see North to Quang Tri and Dong Ha all on Highway 1, East to the South China Sea, West to the A Shau Valley and Laos, and South down towards Camp Eagle!

CAVman in WYoming

 

[Rich D]

Was everywhere in northern I Corps: Dong Ha, Camp Evans, Phu Bai, Phong Dien, Khe Sanh, C-2, C-3, Cua Viet, D-5, Leatherneck Square, Rock Pile, Camp Carroll, Vandegrift Combat Base (LZ Stud), Quang Tri, but generally only for a few days in any location whenever we came out of the field. Believe I walked from one end of I Corps to the other and then back again. Returned via commercial charter by way of Alaska to El Toro.

We were in charge of roads in Northern I Corps, from Phu Bai where Camp Eagle was built right next to our base(we moved a lot of dirt there)to Quang Tri, east to ColCo Island where we built a fuel farm, and west to the mountains where we had our rock crusher. I was a heavy equipment mechanic and serviced road equipment over that whole area in my deuce and a half service truck.