Author: Sniper Ghost

Night Ambush

Sniper Ghost Posts

Camp Ranier, Dau Tieng, Vietnam

Today is June 9th,1968 and our company has ambush patrol once again.

Tonight, the company will leave the base camp and split out into three different platoon sized (roughly 20-25 men) ambush sites along a major supply route west of the village in the Ben Cui Rubber plantation.

The company has orders to leave the “wire” (base camp perimeter) at 1600 hours. The azimuth will take us out into the rubber plantation. It will be dark soon and there is no moonlight. I have left the machine gun crew and started my new job as the RTO (radio telephone operator) for my3rd platoon leader 1LT Chris Brown, who hails from Texas.

I change the battery to my PRC-25, turn on the radio and start the procedure to perform a commo check with the C.O.’s (company commander’s) RTO, call sign “Charlie 6 X-Ray”. Charlie 6 is the C.O.’s call sign. If it’s just the company going out, we have our own “push” assigned and we drop using “Charlie” and abbreviate our calls to numbers, i.e. ‘6 X-Ray this is 36 X-Ray’. If we were operating with another company, it would be ‘Charlie 6 X-Ray, this is Charlie 36 X-Ray’.

We leave the base camp with 1st platoon taking the point followed by 2nd and 3rd platoons. I locate LT Brown, who has a stocky build and a pleasant smile and fall in behind him in formation. The company moves to a checkpoint where we will wait for darkness. Continue reading →

Booby Traps

Sniper Ghost Posts, Videos

The Vietnam War has been one of the ugliest and nastiest wars ever fought. Beginning in early parts of the 60’s, it extended until President Nixon pulled the plug in the 70’s. With public opinion sharply divided, it created confrontations between Americans all over the country. Even our troops, perhaps especially our troops, hated fighting such a nasty conflict. It’s the conflict that has created the greatest emotional and psychological damage of them all.

Political reasons and considerations aside, one of reasons for such strong emotions were the brutal tactics used during combat. Many of the booby traps were seen as inhumane. This video will show you the most gruesome and fearsome traps used in the conflict.

US ARMY BASIC TRAINING (1967)

Sniper Ghost Posts, Videos

This introductory film made by the pictorial branch of the US 3rd Army (in affiliation with the US military’s well known The Big Picture series) shows a recruit going through basic training. The film begins with a new private recounting his experiences during basic training as the narrator.

As might be expected for a US Army-produced film it puts a positive gloss on the training. The narrator makes corny jokes and the films soundtrack includes contemporary hits from bands like the Monkees in an effort to appeal and engage with the young men entering basic training.