Red Flag= Ambush

[Deleted]

The Company was passing a village that appeared deserted why was this a red flag that went unnoticed ? , normally when American troops passed a village there would be kids out begging for candy , chewing gum cigarettes , today there were none , the point usually about 5 men should have alerted the company commander of this , but it was a hot day 100 in the shade and the troops were tired , when the main body approached the ambush was sprung the point rushed back when they heard the firing they in turn were killed , when the relief showed up there were only 27 survivors out of a 140 men . the Americans burned the village to the ground and would have killed anyone around . Don't have a link but this happen on Plantation Road 12 miles north of Saigon 11/22/67 .

[Deleted]

Moral of Ambush is , life is full of red flags , those unaware become aware tooo late . Don't be an unaware

[Swampy]

Moral of life indeed - avoid red flags.

[Sir John]

They knew they were coming because of the aftershave, and radio blaring rock and roll.

All they had to do was have a cuppa and wait.


SJ

[Deleted]

there were 3 types of ambush used by the enemy the X the U and the L , the Americans were forced to tighten up at this location because of the village on one side the river on the other the enemy was alerted to the troop movement probably soon after the unit left the Saigon area the Ambush used was the L type with the long line on the village side and the shot line to cover the rear , very effective . Whole thing didn't last 5 min.

[Sir John]

Australian soldiers were rarely ambushed, The always went "via the bush", never on tracks or roads, and the baddies never knew were they were and were the ones sometimes ambushed.

No aftershave either!


SJ

[Deleted]

Yes the Men from OZ did pretty well but they were basically professional soldiers while most of the Americans were draftees 16 weeks of training into the bush the Officers mostly 90 day wonders so you have all the makings of a cluster f--k .

[Swampy]

Jun 13, 2013 15:03:58 GMT -5 Sir John said:

Australian soldiers were rarely ambushed, The always went "via the bush", never on tracks or roads, and the baddies never knew were they were and were the ones sometimes ambushed.

No aftershave either!


SJ

I believe that about the Diggers, especially since they were among the first to beat the Japanese - at Kokoda Trail. But I'm not sure about them not wearing after shave, because the human sense of smell isn't that good.

[Sir John]

Not certain of the breakup but I think about one third to a half were "nashoes" - National Servicemen, called up by ballot.

They had about a years training in jungle warfare up in Queensland at Canungra, and Shoelwater Bay, where they have been training troops since WW2.

The Officers were all or at least most, professionals, trained for 4 years in the Military College.

After a year in VN the nashoes were demobbed when they got back.


SJ

[Deleted]

What made the American Army a mean machine in 1968 was the fact many men were on their second tour and most of them were NCO's also this Army sensed victory , by the end of tet you couldn't find a better Army than this anywhere in the world .

[hornet32]

I would have considered the Boston Marathon an ambush but in this case there were no red flags or were there ?

[jerryfmcompushaft]

Aug 13, 2013 14:10:14 GMT -5 hornet32 said:

I would have considered the Boston Marathon an ambush but in this case there were no red flags or were there ?

I assume this was posted with tongue in cheek. There were plenty of red flags, but all ignored out of political correctness or ineptitude....

[hornet32]

You missed my trailer ( or were there ? . )