Recent posts

#91
General Discussion / happy new year 2013
Last post by tanyer - February 02, 2013, 12:10:08 PM
Hi All, I am excited and looking forward to recount my experiences with any and all members ofATroop 2/1 cav. I do have some pictures. I was with the troop in VC Valley, road security between Blackhawk and the Magyand Pass, the move to Phag Rang and more. I do not know if any of this will help anyone. I was wounded at the engineering compound outside Phang Rang.  Take care, Bob Tanyer
#92
A Troop / Re: Somewhere In A-Troop
Last post by tanyer - February 02, 2013, 11:49:48 AM
Hi Smoky, I was on a Big Boy during 1969. There was a tall black fellow that left our troop. I like you have a recollection dulled by the years. I have a picture of this fellow. I am not sure if it is you. Take care Bob
#93
General Discussion / Every Marine a Rifleman
Last post by Fred Lohr (D Troop 68-69) - November 10, 2012, 04:08:34 PM
Marc Weintraub: A Harrier Jet Pilot True to the Creed, 'Every Marine a Rifleman'
The lieutenant colonel took care of his Marines, whether at home in the States or at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan.
By MARC 'VINO' WEINTRAUB

A memorial service was held recently for Lt. Col. Chris "Otis" Raible at my former Marine base in Yuma, Ariz. It was a moving ceremony that required overflow seating outside the chapel. Even in Yuma's 100-degree heat, not a chair went empty.

Lt. Col. Raible's fellow commanders and most of the Marine Corps' leadership on the West Coast were in attendance. Fellow Marines of all ranks and ages, and civilians from the local community all took time to pay their respects. Wives and children of Marines still deployed wept not only for Donnella Raible and her three children, but also for this painful reminder that their loved ones are still in harm's way.
The tributes were poignant. Col. Michael Gough, Marine Air Group 13 commander and Lt. Col. Raible's boss, described him as the consummate leader, whether in taking care of his Marines at home in Arizona or leading from the front to mount a counterattack to defend his base. Quite simply, Col. Gough said, "he led."

One of the more touching tributes was given by Chief Warrant Officer Two Robert J. Lopez. He told the gathering about a time, prior to this deployment, when he faced some extraordinarily pressing family matters and was given the option of deploying or remaining in Arizona. Lt. Col. Raible, knowing that this Marine would agonize over the decision and wouldn't want to let down his squadron mates, called him into his office, sat him down, and told him that he would remain behind in Arizona as part of the squadron's rear party.

Lt. Col. Raible took the burden of the decision out of the chief warrant officer's hands and made the burden his own. He did what a commanding officer does; he took care of his Marines.

While Lt. Col. Raible's story has certainly permeated the Yuma community, it's doubtful that much of the rest of the country, beyond the Marine Corps circle, knows about him or his death on Sept. 14 at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. The media coverage of the insurgent attack on Camp Bastion was wholly inadequate. Beyond news that several aircraft were destroyed that night, the reporting tended to focus on the fact that Prince Harry was in the area with British forces but was unscathed.

Here is what happened, and how Otis Raible died. About 15 insurgents wearing U.S. Army uniforms breached the perimeter of the airfield. They were armed with weapons including suicide vests, rocket-propelled grenades and crew-served machine guns. The insurgents succeeded in destroying six U.S. Marine Corps Harrier attack jets, severely damaging two others, and putting a light transport plane out of commission. The losses were worth more than $200 million. The attack on Camp Bastion represents the largest loss of military equipment and capability in a single day since the Vietnam War.

That much information made the news. But you might not have heard much about who defended the rest of Camp Bastion, including buildings that housed hundreds of Marines and dozens more aircraft; and you might not have heard much about who commanded them.

Marine Attack Squadron 211 (VMA-211) took the brunt of the hit. Upon hearing the initial shots and explosions, Lt. Col. Raible grabbed his body armor and pistol and began to lead the counterattack, which his squadron Marines had already undertaken.

As the night unfolded, the insurgents were pinned down in a fight that lasted more than two hours. All insurgents but one were killed. While Marines proudly claim "every Marine a rifleman," and there certainly is some truth to that, these men were aviation maintenance Marines and attack-jet pilots led by their commanding officer.

They don't train to this mission. They fix and maintain highly complex aircraft. They fly missions at 500 knots in the skies over Afghanistan in support of ground operations. And yet they performed heroically, killing the enemy on a dark confusing night. But during the course of the fight, Lt. Col. Raible and one of his men, Sgt. Bradley Atwell, were killed by explosions of rocket-propelled grenades.

We have since learned that the insurgents were not only targeting aircraft but also intended to blow up housing facilities in order to kill as many Marines as possible while they slept. Otis Raible and the VMA-211 Avengers, as they are known, thwarted the plan.

The VMA-211 Avengers have had their legacy defined for the past seven decades by their heroic actions in the battle of Wake Island in World War II; now they can add Camp Bastion to that storied legacy.
Over the past decade, the fighting being done by U.S. forces on behalf of the country has been given too little attention—by our leaders in Washington, by the national press and, in turn, by many Americans. If there is ever a time to remember and appreciate the sacrifice of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, it is on Veterans Day. But beyond thinking about such matters on Sunday, please also vow to reserve some attention for the military the rest of the year.

Indifference, from Washington or the public, is disquieting for those in uniform, who know that the enemies of civilization never rest. Luckily, Lt. Col. Raible and tens of thousands like him are manning the front lines. Rest in peace, Otis, your brothers will take it from here.

Maj. Weintraub retired in 2011 after serving 20 years as a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier pilot.
#94
General Vietnam / Re: R.I.P.
Last post by Fred Lohr (D Troop 68-69) - October 11, 2012, 01:48:30 AM
Basil Plumley, veteran of 3 wars, featured in 'We Were Soldiers' movie, dies in Georgia
Published October 10, 2012

COLUMBUS, Ga. –  Basil L. Plumley, a renowned career soldier whose exploits as an Army infantryman were portrayed in a book and the movie "We Were Soldiers," has died at 92 — an age his friends are amazed that he lived to see.

Plumley fought in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam and was awarded a medal for making five parachute jumps into combat. The retired command sergeant major died Wednesday.

Friends said Plumley, who died in hospice care in west Georgia, never told war stories and was known to hang up on people who called to interview him. Still, he was near-legendary in the Army and gained more widespread fame through a 1992 Vietnam War book that was the basis for the 2002 movie starring Mel Gibson. Actor Sam Elliott played Plumley in the film.

Plumley didn't need a Hollywood portrayal to be revered among soldiers, said Greg Camp, a retired Army colonel and former chief of staff at neighboring Fort Benning who befriended Plumley in his later years.

"He's iconic in military circles," Camp said. "Among people who have been in the military, he's beyond what a movie star would be. ... His legend permeates three generations of soldiers."

Debbie Kimble, Plumley's daughter, said her father died from cancer after spending about nine days at Columbus Hospice. Although the illness seemed to strike suddenly, Kimble said Plumley's health had been declining since his wife of 63 years, Deurice Plumley, died last May on Memorial Day.

A native of Shady Spring, W.Va., Plumley enlisted in the Army in 1942 and ended up serving 32 years in uniform. In World War II, he fought in the Allied invasion of Italy at Salerno and the D-Day invasion at Normandy. He later fought with the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment in Korea. In Vietnam, Plumley served as sergeant major — the highest enlisted rank — in the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment.

"That puts him in the rarest of clubs," said journalist Joseph L. Galloway, who met Plumley while covering the Vietnam War for United Press International and remained lifelong friends with him. "To be combat infantry in those three wars, in the battles he participated in, and to have survived — that is miraculous."

It was during Vietnam in November 1965 that Plumley served in the Battle of la Drang, the first major engagement between the U.S. Army and North Vietnamese forces. That battle was the basis for the book "We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young," written nearly three decades later by Galloway and retired Lt. Gen. Hal G. Moore, who had been Plumley's battalion commander in Vietnam.

In the 2002 film version, Mel Gibson played Moore and Elliott played Plumley. Galloway said several of Elliott's gruff one-liners in the movie were things Plumley actually said, such as the scene in which a soldier tells the sergeant major good morning and is told: "Who made you the (expletive) weather man?"

"Sam Elliott underplayed him. He was actually tougher than that," Galloway said. "He was gruff, monosyllabic, an absolute terror when it came to enforcing standards of training."

That's not to say he was mean or inhuman, Galloway said. "This was a man above all else who had a very big, warm heart that he concealed very well."

Plumley retired with the rank command sergeant major in 1974 at Fort Benning, his last duty station. He then took a civilian job doing administrative work for the next 15 years at Martin Army Community Hospital.

Camp said Plumley remained strong until just a few weeks before his death. He helped open the Army's National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning in 2009. Camp, who now works for the museum's fundraising foundation, said Plumley helped him get Elliott to come narrate a ceremony dedicating the parade ground outside the museum. When Camp mentioned the actor's name, Plumley handed him Elliott's cellphone number.

After Plumley became ill, Galloway mentioned his worsening condition on Facebook. Fans of the retired sergeant major responded with a flood of cards and letters. The day before he died in hospice, Camp said, Plumley received about 160 pieces of mail.

"He was dad to me when I was growing up," said Kimble, Plumley's daughter. "We are learning every day about him. He was an inspiration to so many. He was a great person, and will always be remembered."
#95
General Vietnam / Re: Missing in Action Returned
Last post by Fred Lohr (D Troop 68-69) - September 14, 2012, 03:32:21 PM
Remains identified as 6 airmen from Vietnam War missing since 1965
Published July 05, 2012FoxNews.com

The remains of six servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors, the Department of Defense's POW/Missing Personnel Office announced Thursday.

The crew aboard an AC-47D aircraft nicknamed "Spooky" failed to return from a combat strike mission in southern Laos on Dec. 24, 1965. All contact with the crew was lost following an initial "mayday" signal. Search efforts for the crew and aircraft were unsuccessful.

Those on board were Air Force Col. Joseph Christiano of Rochester, N.Y.; Col. Derrell B. Jeffords of Florence, S.C.; Lt. Col. Dennis L. Eilers of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Chief Master Sgt. William K. Colwell of Glen Cove, N.Y.; Chief Master Sgt. Arden K. Hassenger of Lebanon, Ore.; and Chief Master Sgt. Larry C. Thornton of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Col. Joseph Christiano's oldest child, Barbara Annechino, was 21 at the time, and said that she had never given up hope that her dad may be alive, the Democrat and Chronicle reports.

Christiano was 43 years old at the time of the crash in Laos. He was a career serviceman and veteran of World War II and Korean War.

A joint United States-Lao People's Democratic Republic search team investigated a crash in Laos in 1995, when villagers said they remembered seeing an aircraft crash in December 1965. The team was able to recover small pieces of wreckage, which prompted further investigation.

The joint search and recovery teams returned to the site four times between 1999 and 2001, conducting additional interviews with locals as part of the investigation. The team then began excavating the site, but did not recover any human remains at the time.

More than 300 American personnel are missing from Laos, where the U.S. bombarded supply lines of communist guerrillas fighting U.S. forces in neighboring Vietnam.

Search efforts were suspended until 2010. The Department of Defense reported that the joint team has since recovered human remains, personal items and military equipment, which scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command identified using dental records and other evidence.

The six men's remains will be buried as a group in a single casket representing the entire crew on Monday in Arlington National Cemetery, the Department of Defense said.

"It is a great honor and that this crew really deserves. They really are heroes," Annechino told the Democrat and Chronicle.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
#96
General Discussion / Searching
Last post by DanD - August 29, 2012, 02:56:00 PM
Does anyone remember the name of the CO of HHT during Dec 1968 in Pleiku.  Seems he was a 1LT and rotated home shortly after Christmas 1968, thinking his first name was John but could be wrong.  Thanks for any help.
#97
General Discussion / Re: Reunion Location 2012
Last post by Shooter - August 13, 2012, 08:35:09 PM
 8)
I'm Glad the Troopers are getting together in Gettysburg! I suggested a forum for vets that are fighting for their benefits with the VA. I was told it was a case-by-case situation. There is a formula to success with the VA. If anyone needs help, please contact me. It took me 9 years, however, I learned the strategies for success. Even if it is 40 odd years since the war. You can get benefits if you were in combat. Have a good time. I hope the 2/1st will put some meaningful learning experiences together for future reunions. I have better things to do than to sit and discuss war stories and get drunk.
:-*
#98
General Vietnam / Back to the world Aug 1968
Last post by jmm48a3 - August 10, 2012, 10:57:29 AM
Seems like yesterday but 44 years ago, I arrived at JFK international airport after a brief stop in California for processing. I'm sure many of you were part of the same experience. I was originally in the 4th Div, A-troop 2/1 Cav. Went over on the ship, later was transferred to 1st Div, A-troop 1/4 Cav in June 1968. I received a warm welcome from my family...not so from anyone else.
Different times i guess. Any interesting stories?
#99
General Discussion / Re: Reunion Location 2012
Last post by yorkiedad - July 08, 2012, 10:53:28 AM
Even though I will drive up to Gettysburg it would be nice to have a bus tour.  Can we have a list of attendees posted.  It would be nice to know who is going.  I will be there and am sending my registration soon.  See you all then.
#100
General Discussion / Re: Veteran ID
Last post by James Cregan (D. Troop) - June 26, 2012, 11:04:47 AM
Again, here in Florida the state issued me a photo I. D. card stating "100% Service Connected Permanently and Totally Disabled Veteran" on the front and my signature on the back. This card works everywhere as proof of eligibility for all discounts at State Agency's (D.M.V. Driver License etc.) and retailers here in Florida that give Veterans discounts. My driver license also has a V on the front identifying me as a Veteran. I strongly recommend that you check with your local county Veteran Service Officer to see if they have a similar I. D. card program that helps you get the discounts you deserve.