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Chap 14 Little Man, Big Man
122024 The Big Red One launched
Operation Billings on June 12, 1967. On the 13th, while we stayed
behind, pulling base security in those same scorpion infested bunkers at
Lai Khe, Lt. Colonel Lazzell's Rangers took the lead again. His 1/16th
Infantry Battalion took a fifteen-minute chopper ride to make an air
assault into a clearing northeast of our position at Lai Khe and just a
little ways due north of Phuoc Vinh in War Zone D. There was virgin
jungle surrounding the entire clearing. The clearing, itself was
five hundred meters in length and about three hundred meters wide. It
was designated LZ
(Landing Zone) Rufe. This operation would be Lazzell's last trial by
fire. Counting his painful surgeries and recovery time, from that
disabling elbow wound, Lazzell spent almost twice as long in mind
rending situations, then the average American officer serving in
Vietnam. As brave and
determined as Lazzell was, it is my belief that he was also a misguided
leader of men. Leaders display symptoms of being misguided in many ways.
I like to label the totality of Lazzell’s symptoms simply as little man
syndrome. In Vietnam, there were a handful of my superiors under six
feet tall, who were not suffering from little man syndrome. Lt. Colonel
Cavazos was under six feet, but he was certainly not a little man.
General DePuy was under six feet, but he was a big man. The tall
handsome General Hay, though lacking the qualities it takes in my book
to be a great leader, was certainly no little man. On the other hand,
Westmoreland was tall and handsome but very small minded indeed. Perhaps, I should
explain what I mean just a bit more, when I use my home spun term,
“little man”. Here goes. You see, little men continually measure
themselves by this world's standards. To gain statue in their own minds,
a little man tends to fixate on gaining the approval of those above them
in rank, at the expense of focusing on the job, itself. They also give
very little thought to developing a relationship with The God of heaven
and earth. However, not all big men have a relationship with God either.
Here is the difference. Whether big men have a relationship with God or
not, big men apply Judeo-Christian principles to their everyday actions.
These principles are almost always learned through their exposure to the legacies left behind
by true believers who do have a close personal relationship with God,
through Christ and His Holy Spirit. Such was the case with Richard Cavazos,
who was greatly influenced by The Christ centered Henrietta Chamberlain King
and her King Ranch
legacy. A little man, however, is anyone, believer or not, who has not learned to apply
God's eternal rules for everyday life, either through ignorance or
stubborn disobedience. Those rules won't gain eternal life for a
non-believer but they will help them make better choices while alive
here in this life. Little
men become condescending, disrespectful, and have only a feigned
sympathy for anyone they deem to be of a lower status in life. When
allowed to lead, these poor fellows will always lead everyone who
follows in the direction of a cliff. There is no lasting peace for a
little man. He is never comfortable with himself, or with anyone else,
for that matter. There is just one other thing that I would like to add
here. A little man might be a little woman. Little men are a disaster waiting to happen.
Miraculously, Lazzell had already narrowly escaped two situations which
normally would have led any other little man to a disastrous fate either
time. The first situation was at the Battle of Prek Klok I. The fighting
ability of men like Captain Ulm and Sergeant Matthews bailed him out of
that disaster. The second situation was at the Battle of Ap Gu. Haig
saved his butt that time. Now, both those situations were added to
Lazzell’s resume as credits, instead of exposing Lazzell’s woeful
incompetence as an effective leader. Shortly before making this
air assault into LZ Rufe, Lazzell assembled his men and bragged that his
Rangers had logged more continuous time in the field than any other
battalion in the Big Red One. He did not realize that this brag was
exactly the wrong thing to say. People are smart. His men realized that
this remark was crafted to meet Lazzell’s own need for a pat on the back
and had nothing to do with his appreciation for them. To inspire his
men, all he needed to say was what an excellent job they had done and
leave it at that. Sergeant Murry's men of the 1/16th Infantry Battalion
had just completed some of the longest, grueling and dangerous missions
in the field of any of the nine First Infantry Divisions. They were bone
tired, after coming down off the many adrenalin rushes of combat.
However, little men will never be able to identify with those they lead,
because they can never become free of the need to focus on themselves in
everything they do. By this time, every old guy in Lazzell's unit knew
that when they took a walk in the woods with Rufus Lazzell, the odds
were good that they wouldn’t return in one piece. Why, in the world,
would they want to make their walk with Lazzell longer instead of
shorter? However, Lazzell was blind to himself being the problem. As I
have mentioned, there are only two ways to avoid this distortion of the
mind. The first is to become the beneficiary of a Christian legacy, as
Dick did by growing up on the ranch. The better way, however, is for a
person to develop a relationship with the Holy Spirit, after confessing
Jesus Christ has Lord. There is no indication that this had happened
with Lazzell. After Lazzell made his little self-promoting speech, is
there any wonder that there was low murmuring and cussing under his
men's breath, much to Lazzell's out-of-touch surprise? What they really
heard Lazzell say in so many words was this. "I will run this unit into
the ground and get as many of my men killed as necessary, as long as it
elevates me in the eyes of my superiors". Cruelty is also a
frequent companion of little men. Years later, I learned that Lazzell
publicly berated one of his fallen platoon leaders in the worst
conceivable way. He called him a criminal in front of the entire
battalion. Again, the truth was this. Like a chip off the ole block, the
untested and inexperienced platoon leader had gotten himself and most of
his men killed, while following Lazzell's very own example. The young
platoon leader had rushed forward, without thinking, as Rufus had done
when he first took over the unit. That was the time when Lazzell was
shot in the elbow. By trashing this poor fellow, in front of his men,
Lazzell did not realize that he was really trashing his own standing as
their leader. Unless done to break and reshape new recruits in basic
training, trashing a subordinate publicly is not only cruel but very
destructive to an entire organization.
Lastly, little man syndrome predisposes it's victim to
continually dream up superficial ways to prove themselves and gain
attention. They seldom spend the time to do the in-depth critical
thinking needed to come up with better solutions to problems. A little
man continually knee jerks, increasing his propensity to rightly discern
situations. This leads to bad judgments. Bad judgments lead to bad
decisions, which produce destructive consequences. Even so, those
consequences may not be revealed immediately. Everything may seem to run
fine, until an organization experiences some type of external pressure.
I can think of no other external pressure greater than that of combat in
the jungles of 1967 Vietnam. However, having said
what I have just said, it’s only fair to ask what the reader may already
be asking. What gives me the right qualifications, to criticize any
leader, anywhere, in any endeavor, since I have never been one, myself?
It's true. On June 13th, 1967, while Lazzell was just four days away
from getting his men shot to pieces for the last time, I was one of the
lowest ranking grunts in the First Infantry Division. I also went on to
become a college dropout, who would never be given a leadership role of
any kind, during my entire life. In other words, I would always be a
grunt. So, again, what gives me the audacity to think that I can
accurately access the mental condition of others who have strived to
achieve a lot more in life than I? The answer to that question may come
as a surprise. You see, I believe that I have great credibility here, in
understanding little man syndrome, because I was one. Before I submitted
my mind to be conformed to the mind of Christ, not only was I a little
man, but my affliction was so severe, that I could easily have been
mistaken for a Lilliputian. Now, let’s take a
look at the command situation in my unit’s recent past as Lazzell was
about to be given the lead in executing Operation Billings. It had been
a little more than three months since Dick Cavazos took over my unit.
That was a lifetime in Vietnam. Once again our unit was being sidelined
in favor of Lazzell. We had also been sidelined while our former
battalion commander, Lt. Col. Denton was in command. Major General DePuy
was our First Division Commander at that time. He was smart and he was
tuff. No doubt he noticed Denton's poor performance. I cannot remember a
single time that Denton had us dig a fox hole according to S.O.P. Supply
problems abounded. We got no hot meals, except during our rare visits to
home base at Di An. Sometimes we lacked even an adequate supply of
drinking water. Looking back now I see a commander, who was more than
likely burned out. Although brave, Denton was definitely not suited to
command an infantry battalion. General DePuy was still our Division
commander at the time Denton left. Denton had served only two months in
the field. I believe DePuy fired Denton. He fired a lot of battalion
commanders for incompetence. Denton never received another promotion
after he left Vietnam. However, I would discover years later that Denton
was not a little man. God creates many
personalities, and our nation needs them all, then and now. Denton’s
removal from command and then retirement from the Army freed him to
begin developing his true gifting, which was in technology. His work in
that field later contributed greatly to his nation as well as giving him
the standing needed to become a significant role model for his
community. For goodness sake, top leadership in any organization needs
to be able to spot people who have an aptitude for the job and also spot
those who don't. They then need to find another fit for those who don’t
or set them free to find that fit for themselves. I am happy to say that
Earl Denton found that fit for himself. I would also wager that there
was at least one Christian legacy influencing his ability to make that
enlightened and radical change in his life. DePuy was removed by
Chief of Staff Johnson shortly after firing Denton. Seems Johnson
thought he was firing too many battalion commanders. Major General Hay
became our next division commander. General Hay moved much slower than
DePuy and believed in maintaining the status quo. Hay kept most of
DePuy's staff. With the arrival of Hay, the climate at the top changed
and not in Dick Cavazos’s favor. No one was interested in keeping a
critical eye on battalion commanders anymore. Wherever one was rated in
the lineup, that's where they stayed. At this time, Cavazos had no big
battles under his belt, which wasn’t unusual. Most battalion commanders
never fought a single big battle. However, Lazzell did. He also had a
doctorate in showboating so initially he had managed to pull the wool
over DePuy's eyes. Therefore, he was now rated at the top of that
lineup. DePuy had liked him, so Hay liked him. At this moment in time,
Hay knew next to nothing about the real leadership abilities of any of
his battalion commanders. I have just given
very good reasons for why Dick's current working environment was against
him ever having a star pinned on his shoulder, much less four of them.
However, there was even a greater reason for that not happening. Dick's
values were fixed. The legacy of the ranch had molded him into a staunch
throwback, firmly grounded in biblical principles at his very core. That
meant that he was not about to manipulate his circumstances to make
himself look better. Instead, for those first three months Dick focused
on doing his job. At the end of that three months, he had turned us into
the best battalion in the division, but who knew? No one, and I mean no
one could beat Dick in his ability to show us how to maneuver in large
formations through thick jungle and coordinate covering fires at the
same time. He looked straight past rank to see the soul. He could
recognize a person's ability to get the job done, and also one who
couldn’t. A good spotter for calling in artillery or air strikes could
be anyone, as far as Dick was concerned. He could be a point man, an
RTO, an FO, a squad leader, or a company commander, just to name a few.
“Just get the job done” was his motto. We had a lot of people who were
good at what they did, but we also had a constant influx of some who
weren't good. Dick was quick to recognize and set the bad ones free. Besides people, Dick
made some other very under rated and unnoticed improvements in our
housekeeping. You might ask, What in the world does that have to do with
creating a superior fighting force?. Well, let me explain. Our DePuy
bunkers were our homes away from home. Very shortly after Dick arrived
they were fitted out to meet Dick's good housekeeping seal of approval.
He did this by making some simple changes, which allowed us to build
these fortifications much faster and much stronger. He had our supply
sergeant reconnoiter and secure two very important homemaker tools. One
was a mattock, and the other was Marston matting. The mattocks allowed
us to bust up hard laterite ground at least three times faster than
other units could do, using only entrenching tools. Marston matting was
a 10 foot by 15-inch-wide steel plank which was excellent for supporting
sandbags on our overhead cover. These planks made a much stronger roof,
which could take direct hits from mortar rounds. They were heavy so they
were flown out to us in Chinook helicopters while we were digging in.
They kept us from having to spend valuable time and energy chopping down
small trees for overhead supports. The time and energy saved here was
invaluable. It gave us more time to chop firing lanes, run trip flares
and claymore mines. It also meant that we were not as tired and thus
more alert. The number of mishaps were fewer because we did not have to
use machetes to chop tree limbs to use as roof supports. A tired soldier
swinging a machete was a recipe for accidents. He could easily miss his
mark and chop into a leg bone. Many units used C-4 explosives and hand
grenades to soften up the ground for digging. How dangerous was that?
Yet, these seemingly little changes made a big difference. However, they
also went largely unnoticed by senior command. Many patrols in the
First Division were enticed into walking trails. Dick was adamant about
us never walking on trails. This meant that our regular grunt patrols
experienced fewer surprise encounters with the enemy and/or their booby
traps. My only job in my squad was walking point and I did that for nine
months. During that time, I never ran across a single booby trap because
I never walked a trail. Also, Dick was blessed with some proficient
NCOs, none finer than Bartee, Robert O'Brien, “Mac” McLaughlin, Gerry
Chesnut, John May, and Pink Dillard. I believe my squad thump gunner,
Walker, was the best in the Division. Our weapons platoon people were
top rate too. They could drop a mortar round on target every time. Dick
was also blessed with a recon platoon which was very stealthy. In all
the interviews, written reports, and stories, I could not find a single
remark about our recon platoon. It's as though these guys did not exist.
Believe it or not, that speaks volumes about this little band of
brothers. It was a recon platoon's primary duty to seek out information
about the enemy and not be noticed. These guys were specters. They were
flesh and blood, but they were also ghosts. Their platoon leader had
been scrutinized closely by our “ole man”, before he was given command
of that platoon. A Hot meal in the
field was something which made a huge difference. Dick expanded the one
hot meal a day to include dehydrated vegetable beef soup and fresh hot
donuts in the morning. Most battalions were fortunate to get one hot
meal a day, but I have never read about a single Vietnam veteran getting
“piping” hot donuts, airfreighted to him in the in the middle of the
jungle every morning. However, we did. Yes, I know. They were not good
for a young man's long-term health, but they were gooood not only for
boosting morale, but also for giving us the sugar high we needed, to
carry an extra 80 pounds of gear in sweltering 95-degree temperatures.
Clean fatigues also started being supplied to us more regularly after
Operation Junction City. No doubt, Dick had a hand in that. It is
surprising what Dick could get our people in the rear to do just by
treating them the way he expected others to treat him. This tact worked
much better than treating his people like we were new recruits just
getting off the bus. Yes, in three months, Dick had turned my unit into the best line unit in the division, and probably in all of Vietnam. Don’t take my word for it. Ask anyone who served with him. His animated way of initiating and explaining the benefits behind routine commands always had an earthy and unmatched characteristic, unique to him alone. I never heard of him bullying or trying to intimidate anyone. When he spoke to the battalion, every man listened intently, and many remembered his words fifty years later. Why? Well, one reason was because Dick never made the conversation about himself. He talked about his people and how proud he was of us, but not in a “mushy” way. There were always various contacts with enemy patrols and sappers but nothing a single squad in my unit couldn’t handle during the entire time Dick served as our commander because Dick never micro managed. He trusted us to do our job. Dick also had his own uncanny assortment of little tricks. He paid special attention to little tricks which would frustrate enemy ambushes. He had his patrols to zig zag instead of doing those dumb cloverleaf maneuvers. Dick also had us count off at the beginning of each patrol in force. Even numbers knew to flank to one side while odd numbers knew to flank to the other side when we made contact with the enemy. He wasn't into trading our dead bodies for more enemy body counts. When we made contact, we would always withdraw at least fifty meters, while calling in artillery on that vacated ground. Dick was also a master at nipping things in the bud and just too wily to be baited into a trap. Like an ole moss-back buck, his instincts for slipping the noose were remarkable. I witnessed that several times. One of those times was when I was almost squashed by that flying tree. I mentioned that in an earlier chapter. Another time we made
an air assault at noon into a little clearing on top of a small, rounded
rise with thick jungle all around. That spot had been carefully surveyed
by Dick from a helicopter beforehand. Shortly after landing, enemy
mortar rounds started raining down around me, as I helped unload a
Chinook helicopter. In less than five minutes, phantoms appeared and
started roasting the jungle around us with napalm. That was followed by
an artillery barrage and then antipersonnel bombs. White phosphorous
shells marked the spots for the bombers to target. The enemy shelling
stopped immediately. In less than 30 minutes Hueys were landing to
extract us and take us back to a nearby base camp and a hot meal. I
never learned the details behind this event. However, I would be willing
to bet that it had something to do with Dick outthinking some senior
commander. It seems that we had been used as bait to lure the VC into
attacking. On the surface that may sound reckless of Dick but that's
just the sort of out of the box thinking that Dick was capable of coming
up with. He was good at coming up with seemingly audacious tactics which
would lure his bosses away from what he know would be their much more
risky plans. Every time we patrolled War Zone C, we were being used as
bait, so why shouldn't Dick come up with better ways to keep us from
being swallowed whole by the enemy. Big Jim Shelton
alludes to this ability in Dick in his book, "The Beast Was Out There”.
At this juncture in his tour, however, most of our superiors never
realized the amount of expertise that Dick was putting into his job. One
of his big secrets to success was the fact that he knew the power behind
using carefully chosen words when talking to superiors and also the
importance of not saying too much, especially over the radio. His words
were also crafted to build us up rather than tear us down. He understood
that every word he spoke, as our commander, had wings and would be heard
far beyond the sound of his voice. This too is something that he learned
while growing up on the ranch. He had learned from his father, Lauro, by
observing the way his father spoke to his ranch hands. Yes, since we
were already being used over and over as bait, I think that it’s safe to
say that every man in the unit was just glad that it was Dick doing the
fishing. Dick was the
complete package, and yet we were being sidelined once more for the
likes of Lazzell. It was destined for
other battalion commanders, like Lazzell, to
continue to be chosen to lead operations, instead of Dick. His career
was definitely weighted toward ending in a fizzle rather than a shooting
star. He would be left with a great retirement, but he would never
have become part of that greater legacy which God had in mind. Of course,
his career did not fizzle. Instead, just the opposite happened. However, I very much
doubt that Dick realized the why or the how of that. Dick was
completely content with his life as it would have turned out to be. In a phone
conversation, he once described his promotion to four star general, as
"a moon shot". I cringed when he made this remark. I wanted to say, "No Dick,
it was not a moon shot. Instead, you were made a part of God's grander
picture, which is too large for anyone to fully comprehend". You see, mediocrity
and chance are not words, which accurately describe God's works and
Henrietta King's legacy is an eternal work of God. During Operation
Billings, the hand of God would turn the tables and create a much
greater opportunity for Dick, than he could ever have imagined. That
was not done for Dick's sake alone. Instead, it was done to advance God's kingdom
here on this earth. The grunts, whom Dick commanded and whom Dick
cherished would open that door for Dick. Of course, the Lilliputian
still gasping for air deep in my soul would like to think that the lowest ranking
grunt in the entire Dogface Infantry Battalion was the one who first
cracked open that door. On the 13th, when
Lazzell landed at LZ Rufe, his Rangers were unopposed. However,
intelligence reports had made it noticeably clear that the 271st NVA
regiment had not only been completely rebuilt, after the battle of Ap
Gu, two and a half months before, but had now moved many miles further
south using numerous base camps, as staging areas to mount an attack on
the large American base at Phuoc Vinh. The area was crawling with enemy
patrols as evidenced by the large number of small unit contacts. Other
American units, like Jack Toomey's 1/2nd, had air assaulted into an area
several klicks S.E. of LZ Rufe the day before. Toomey, now a machine
gunner, arrived in the operational area just after sheets of rain had
finished dowsing the landing zone with a heavy downpour. Lazzell was placed
in overall command of both his own unit and also the Black Lions, who
landed after his unit landed. They were commanded by LTC Jerry Edwards.
That night the Black Lions had two ambush patrols make contact with
enemy patrols. This, in itself, should have been a warning to Lazzell
that something was afoot. It was rare for even one night ambush patrol
to make contact, much less two. Next morning newly minted Buck sergeant,
Greg Murry, and his "A" Company made a sweep one thousand meters to the
west of their NDP, then turned southeast to go another thousand meters.
The fog from the light drizzling rain during the night gradually lifted.
Bright shooting rays of sunlight pierced open areas in the
overhead canopy. These columns of light illuminated patches of jungle
flooring below. At 1215 hrs., one of Murray's machine gunners, Jose
Garcia, was at the right place, in the line of march, to catch a glimpse
of five VC congregating in one of those bright patches of sunlight. They
were startled by the approaching Americans and wasted no time scattering
into the darker jungle foliage around them. Jose squeezed off several
three round bursts, shooting from his hip, before his gun jammed. He
missed. Two hours later, as
Murry's "A" Company was finishing with its sweep and was returning to the
NDP, Murray could hear gun fire in the Jungle to the west. Captain Ulm's
"B" Company was coming under some small arms fire, as they made a sweep
about 1800 meters west of Murry and the NDP. Earlier, the 271st NVA
field commander had his sappers determine the direction of "B" Company's
march when they left their NDP perimeter that morning. American
formations rarely changed course during a march. Instead of zigzagging,
Ulm was forced to march in a straight line and perform a First Division
S.O.P. which required the time-consuming clover leaf maneuver. Marching
in a straight line made it much easier for the enemy lookouts to plot
our course and the useless clover leafing maneuver slowed us down,
giving the enemy more time to stage an ambush in a place of their
choosing. Like the Battle of Prek Klok I, "B" Company's straight-line
movement and slow progress assured the enemy that he would have time to
prepare his ambush at a place of his choosing. The communist
commander, Vo Minh Triet, used his local guides and sapper teams to herd
the brown uniformed conscripts into position. They again would do the
dirty work of charging the flanks of the Americans. What did it matter
that some would be blown apart by artillery fire or killed by their own
crossfire, from the other flank? A communist commander had no messy
human rights laws to stymie his tactical imagination. While in training
these conscripted teenagers were exposed to brutal corporal punishment
technics which traumatized their impressionable minds. Living as human
moles in the tunnels of South Vietnam became much more bearable for
these unfortunate souls after being exposed to the communist's brutal
forms of indoctrination during training. The systematic use of fear
split the minds of these child victims. Those minds were then reshaped
into demonic personalities, which could be redirected to perform all
sorts of maniacal acts of violence. Suicidal assaults on American
defenses were just one of many hellish acts which they were conditioned
to perform. The communist ideology routinely makes allowances for the
manipulation of children from a very early age. Their minds are very
malleable. Sympathetic news networks across the globe would refer to
these child pawns using descriptive words and phrases like 'well
disciplined, committed, experienced, legendary, seasoned, storied,
highly motivated, and brave liberators. Some described them as the best
soldiers in the world. Ho Chi Minh, himself, was sometimes described as
a Vietnamese “George Washington”. However, well over 90% of Thanh's
forces were nothing more than traumatized teenagers, who had first
fallen prey to a psychosis known as Stockholm Syndrome. Only 3% of the
entire nation of Vietnam even today belong to the communist party. The amount of
initial incoming fire suggested to "B" Company commander, Captain Ulm,
that they were in contact with a much smaller force than was actually
the case. Instead of charging ahead, the savvy Captain Ulm withdrew his
men a safe distance away. He then called for a thorough artillery
shelling of the area. In less than 20 minutes, the shelling to his front
was halted and Ulm rushed forward, as Lazzell commanded him to do.
Unfortunately, while he was making this maneuver, Triet had time to
funnel his conscripts down both flanks. Soon, Ulm found himself boxed in
and taking tremendous fire from three sides. It was now obvious that Ulm
was up against a much larger force than he first realized. Things got real
tense real fast. "B" Company started taking casualties. Two dust-offs
(medevac) were damaged, by enemy gun fire, while trying to reach the
wounded. Air strikes were requested but were useless. The enemy was too
close for air support to be used without Ulm killing his own men. It was
now up to Captain Ulm's veteran gun slingers in B Company to come
through for him. They did just that, as they had done in the battle of
Prek Klok I. The shootout lasted four and a half hours. Once again the
air force would receive most of the credit for saving the day. However,
was that really the truth? Although the air force may have killed a few,
it was much more likely that the good shooting of Ulm’s grunts saved the
day. I would be willing to bet that they were well schooled in how to
shoot low, using three round bursts, while methodically traversing their
fire and only shooting when there was an indication that there was
something to shoot at. In doing so, those grunts whittled down the enemy
attackers all afternoon and saved themselves. The air force may have
busted up some staging areas further back. If that happened and that is
a big “if”, then that would have helped but still not as much as the Air
Force was credited for helping. "B" Company lost only six men killed and
15 wounded during this very intense and long battle. That speaks volumes
about the prowess of Captain Ulm and his men. Official enemy losses were
sixty killed, but anyone with half a brain can realize that getting an
accurate body count in thick jungle is impossible. Enemy losses could
have easily been double or even triple that number. Did these losses
phase Thanh and his field commander Triet? Absolutely not. There was an
almost endless supply of replacements flowing down the Ho Chi Minh
Trail. Oh, how nice it was for a hater like Thanh to have complete
control over how long his fellow countrymen would have before they
breathed their last breath. With no restraints or consequences to
himself, or his communist cohorts, what did it matter. There were plenty
more fourteen-year-old children where these came from. Thus ended the
Battle of Xom Bo I. The next couple days
saw the Rangers and the Black Lions making company size sweeps, which
resulted in no large-scale enemy contact. On the 16th of June, Sergeant
Murry was enlisted to use his skill with explosives to clear an area
near LZ Rufe so helicopters could land. This was done to make the enemy
believe that another LZ was going to be created, for more troop
landings. It was a naive ploy, at best. Sappers, watching from their
perches in the 150 Ft. tall trees around Sergeant Murry monitored and
reported on Murry's progress. They also maintained high perch positions
in several trees surrounding Lazzell’s troops at LZ Rufe, with standing
orders to report back on any changes in troop movements in and out of LZ
Rufe's perimeter. The enemy didn't care how much work we Americans did,
in the meantime, while they waited for their next opportunity to attack.
They already knew that we didn't stay put anywhere, for more than a few
days. So, Triet settled in and watched and waited for the tactically
challenged Lazzell to make a mistake. Most American commanders usually
made one or two while either extracting troops, or bringing more in. As the enemy watched
and waited, there were always side shows to behold. Murry was putting on
one for the enemy at this very moment. He was moving from tree to tree
in the “false LZ”, placing his C-4 charges. The engineers, working with
him, linked those charges together with long strings of detonator chord.
The explosions caused every tree to collapse at once, but it also did
something else. The vibrations from the explosions shook the ground in
the clearing around Murry. That upset every colony of black ants in the
entire clearing. These were the same kind of ants which welcomed me to
Vietnam on my first patrol. They could sting and bite and they now went
after Murry, as he began to place his explosive blocks of C-4 on his
next line of trees. Both Murry and his engineer friends were now having
to jump up and down to shake off the furious little beasts, while being
stung and bit mercilessly. About fifty yards inside the wood line, I can
imagine a sapper sitting high up in his jungle perch, clutching his
Russian carbine. He would have just sat there, watching the show. At
some point, he may have lazily sighted his rifle on Murry, thinking what
fun it would be to nail Murry, at the top of his jump. Then he could
watch Murry crumble to the ground. However, he also knew that would be a
big mistake. It would no doubt be a thrill to shoot this American, but
it would also disturb the rest of these Americans in a similar fashion
as those black ants had been disturbed. These Americans, however,
possessed much more powerful weapons than a stinger in their tail. They
had five-hundred-pound bombs which they could drop on his head in no
time flat. With that thought in mind, instead of shooting Murry, he
lazily yawned, and laid his rifle back across his lap, while continuing
to watch the antics. To prove that the
telling of my story is not so farfetched, on this same day, a security
team for other engineers working at nearby LZ X-Ray got into a fire
fight with a small number of black pajama sappers on the northern end of
that same clearing. Their security patrol had run into them just inside
the wood line. Of course, there again, the sappers were observing the
engineers and also familiarizing themselves with routes to the clearing.
If we Americans did land a force in the clearing, Triet wanted to be
prepared to guide the brown uniformed conscripts into attack positions.
His thoughts were that once in place, their deplorable lives could then
be transformed into sacrificial lambs for the cause. His tactics was not
meant to win battles. He knew these deplorables stood little chance of
winning battles against an industrialized America. Instead, their
purpose was to die in a human wave attack so we Americans would think
that we were winning. Triet’s boss Thanh knew very well that we had a
track record of fighting, winning and going away, so why not let us keep
winning until we decided to go away for good? During this particular
fire fight, No American was hurt, and the sappers withdrew only a short
distance. They knew that this group of engineers would not follow them.
This enemy contact was most certainly reported to Lazzell. The engineers
finished their work and were flown back to Lai Khe that afternoon.
Fortunately for them, Triet had bigger fish to fry. On the 13th, the
1/28th Infantry Battalion had discovered a huge regimental size base
camp with 150 unmanned bunkers, just south of LZ Rufe. Actually, this
was only one of many hidden unmanned base camps. These types of hideouts
were scattered from this current area of operation, throughout War Zone
C and D, all the way to the Cambodian border and beyond. Local VC units
were placed in charge of guarding and maintaining them. The very next
day, after having his ranks thinned by Captain Ulm, Triet had already
received more khaki uniformed conscripts, just hours later, coming from
another hidden base camp north of his current position. They had
previously been hopping from one base camp to another, moving further
south toward the general Phuoc Vinh area day after day. Now they waited
in these bunkered camps scattered throughout the area to become
replacements, as needed, like pawns on a chess board. NVA units did not
need to hike all the way back across the Cambodian border to replenish
themselves. If they were shot to pieces by us Americans, reinforcements
were usually only hours away in other nearby base camps. However, it was
not as easy to make up losses in the ranks of the sappers, like the one
watching Murry do his little dance routine with the ants. Those were
composed of the more brain washed and better trained communists who were
intimately familiar with the habits of local citizens and the trails in
their area. Most of these were somewhat true believers not because they
favored communist ideals so much as they favored the power which came
with their position. Their position in life somewhat resembled that of a
“made man” in a neighborhood controlled by the mafia. By the time Triet
had that shootout with Ulm's boys, his ranks had long since been
replenished after the battle of Ap Gu. Even now, as recently as that
fight with Ulm, his ranks were fully restored, with replacements coming
from other nearby hideouts. On June 17th, Triet was fully ready to rock
and roll. Westmoreland
had vast knowledge of the conditions of the battlefield which was
Vietnam, but lacked God's courage and understanding to lead his nation
to victory on that battlefield. If he had possessed God's understanding,
he would have soon realized that the
strategy of attrition actually worked in favor of the communists, instead
of us. The communist mindset was not one which was simply programed to
endure high losses of human life. It was one which many times actually
delighted in those losses. They took advantage of those losses to purge
those whom they deemed the less productive and undesirable elements of
their utopian state. Westmoreland went to his death defending his
mindless battle of attrition. However, he didn't know, and he certainly
didn't understand. In 1974 he revealed his willful and continued
ignorance, when he made the following remark. “The Oriental doesn't put
the same high price on life as does a Westerner. We value life and human
dignity. They don't care about life and human dignity.” That statement
couldn't be further from the truth. To the contrary, here is the truth.
Without the love of God, which is placed in a believer's heart, at the
time we become born of the spirit, there is no enlightenment in any of
us to love those we don't know personally. Ethnicity has nothing to do
with it. In Vietnam, it was the communist ideology, not race or culture,
which bred a callous disregard for life. The defining characteristics of
Marxism ensures that only sociopaths will rise through the ranks to the
most powerful positions in government. If Westmoreland had understood
this, then perhaps his mind would have been more open to a very
different strategy. Instead, his own disregard for human life allowed
him to latch onto his simplistic and morbid body count strategy. He held
on to that false belief so tight that it shocked even the carnal senses
of average Americans. The decision was made by brigade, on the
morning of June 17th, to march two battalions under Lazzell's command by
foot to another clearing 1500 meters north. That clearing had been
prepared for those two battalions the day before, by Captain Pascareli's
C company, of the 1st engineering Battalion. Those engineers blasted
down trees, in the destination LZ named X-Ray, to clear areas for
resupply helicopters to land safely. This work occurred at the same time
that Murry and another group of engineers from this engineering
battalion were clearing trees in the false LZ. Tree top sappers
were watching all these LZs closely and reporting back to Triet. His
sappers and NVA planners used como wire strung to various relay points
to communicate faster. Registration rounds had already been fired,
marking key strike locations at LZ X-Ray. These mortar teams were hidden
deep within the triple canopy jungle surrounding the clearing. The
arrival of the engineers on the morning of the 16th, at LZ X-Ray, did
nothing but reinforce the fact, that Triet needed to continue preparing
this 500-meter-long clearing for an ambush. He was certainly not fooled
by the creation of Murry's false LZ. Triet knew that he needed to be
ready to greet the Americans wherever they decided to land. Ox cart
trails leading into the clearing at X-Ray had to be clearly marked for
sappers, who would be guiding largely clueless conscripts from nearby
assembly points to their attack positions around the clearing. From
there, they would charge the Americans, at the sound of a whistle. If
they assembled too soon and too close to the clearing, a prepping of the
surrounding area would wipe conscripts out before they could be formed
up to make those suicidal charges. If the
Americans prepped the area before entering the clearing, that would
severely hamper Triet's plans. The bombing would disrupt recognizable
landscape around troop assembly points and destroy como wired
communication lines and booby traps. It could cause Triet to call off
the ambush. Nevertheless, the ambush preparations had to be started,
whether they were actually carried out or not. It made no difference.
Cancelations of evolving battle plans, like this, happened all the time.
It was to be expected. The effort was good training and would not be
wasted no matter whether he pulled it off or had to wait for a more
opportune time. What more purposeful
labor and death could these rice farmers be called upon to perform, than
a death which contributed to the goal of forging a utopian state? I
believe this is what Triet believed because I believe Triet was one of
those rare few who had not only swallowed the communist lie but totally
digested it. It had become a part of who he was. He, himself, had not
slept in a real bed since 1961. He had been exposed to death many times
as he rose in the ranks of the communist party. It was exciting.
However, in the communist hierarchy, he was still far enough removed
from personal contact with top leadership, like the pedophile Ho Chi
Minh, and the murderous Mr. Duan, to have his idealism shattered by too
close an association with those twisted minds at the top. In a sick way,
Triet's train of thought was spot on. It wasn't as if these young
conscripts would ever live in an environment which would allow them to
fiddle with a television in their garage and someday turn it into a
computing device which would change the world. Heck, they didn't even
have garages, or televisions. When advanced technologies did finally
show up, they would come from the brainstorming of protected minds,
which lived under the rule of righteous laws, fairly enforced by freedom
loving societies and not from tyrannical Marxist dictatorships. A
Marxist is forced to steal their technology because murderous thoughts
and productive thoughts cannot share the same brain cells. Yes, I would have to
disagree with Westmoreland's belief that Orientals devalued life more
than westerners. If anything, young Vietnamese men and women valued and
honor their parents much more than we westerners do. In many cases, it
was this very strong devotion, which the communist masterly used to trap
the South Vietnamese into aiding their cause. Dawn appeared at LZ
Rufe, on the 17th day of June 1967, through a low hanging mist,
penetrated by tiny droplets of drizzling rain. Soon after first light,
Triet started receiving reports from his scouts, that something unusual
was happening with the Americans he was shadowing. As he sat under a wet
canopy, listening to more and more of these same reports, coming from
his wired communications and runners, it became obvious that today was
going to be a day of opportunities. He would have to continue to hide
and keep watch. Just how opportune things would turn out was yet to be
determined. However, events so far were indicating that this day could
be a very good day, indeed. The messages that he was receiving were
certainly good. The Americans at LZ Rufe were filling in their bunkers
and emptying sandbags. This was a clear indication that they were going
to make a permanent withdrawal from LZ Rufe. What Triet needed to know
now was how they would withdraw. Would they withdraw by helicopter or by
foot? Where would they go? Would they go home or move to another
location? He knew withdrawals deep in the jungle were usually always
made by helicopters, supported by a lot of covering artillery fires and
gunships. This usually meant that while troops were loading, air strikes
would also be blasting his potential troop assembly areas around the
extraction point. If this was going to be the case, it wasn't a good
scenario for Triet. Quite frankly, it would be better for him to keep
hiding and watching for a better day. Shortly after 0700 hours, however,
Triet received the news, which he had dared hope for, but doubted that
it would ever happen. When Triet received the news, however, It was
almost too good to be true news. American troops were assembling at the
northern end of LZ Rufe and marching single file into the jungle.
Triet's soon had his best trackers on the job, verifying the direction
and pace of these troops. Oh, could it be so? Could they indeed be
heading for the large clearing 1500 meters to the north (LZ-X-Ray). If
that was true, Triet realized he now had the better part of three hours
to position his troops for an assault on that clearing, after allowing
the Americans to arrive and start digging in. To make matters even
better, he had been training his troop for an assault on this very
clearing. Without realizing
it, Lazzell had now given Triet all the information he needed to set in
motion an attack. He began to put his attack plans into high gear, being
careful not to move his troops in, too close, too quick, before American
air strikes and artillery had finished prepping the area. This is where
the ox cart trails would come in handy. They were wide enough to move
his troops quickly, after holding them back at a safer distance, until
the Americans had finished shelling and bombing the jungle around the
perimeter of LZ X-Ray. When the shelling stopped, double columns of his
conscripts could be double timed down these wider trails, until they
reached marked areas around the perimeter. The markings were in the form
of shallow fox holes, which had already been dug several days before,
not only to act as markers, letting the guides know where to halt and
start dispersing the troops, but also to give these brown uniformed
conscripts a little protection from rifle fire, coming from the
Americans, as well as their own machine guns, firing from behind them.
This was a tactical maneuver, which these troops had practiced doing
over and over. Some carried RPGs and were taught to target American
machine gun crews. Today, two of those American machine gunners would be
Sergeant Murry's men, Jose Garcia and Bob Pointer. Enemy RPG teams would
watch and wait for these machine gunners to start killing conscripts.
When they opened up, it was easy to spot their location, because they
were required to fire here I am tracers every fifth round. Once the
masses of conscripts were spread out from the ox cart trails into these
shallow fox-hole locations, life was reduced to two choices for them.
When the whistles blew, signaling for an assault to be made, they could
either rise up and make the suicidal assault or be shot dead by their
own NCOs. At the same time those whistles blew, the alert NVA machine
gunners would stop firing, so they wouldn't shoot these conscripts in
the back. Field telephone communications would also notify the mortar
crews to stop firing. Simply put, Triet's dehumanized outfit was taught
to perform like a well-oiled Borg machine, devoid of all human feelings
for the well-being of the individual. It was only the collective which
mattered. There was only one factor now which could cause him to hold
off on his attack plans. If the prepping destroyed too much of the area
around the clearing then he would choose to hold off and fight another
day. In comparison to Triet, as
a tactician, it was as if Lazzell had just stepped off a plane at
Tan Son Nhut Airport the day before. It seemed he had learned nothing,
during his many contacts with the enemy. Not only was he a bad
tactician, he was a bad peace time battalion commander too. He had
absolutely no notion of how to relate to subordinates in general. After gleaning through report, after report, on the
battle of Xom Bo II, I could hardly believe what I was reading. I have
no personal bias toward anyone or anything here. I am just stating what
I believe to be true, from the perspective of an objective observer who
was actually there on that battlefield. I hope that up and coming
young leaders, who read this, will be able to glean a
useful lesson from it. I couldn't find a single report of this battle,
which reflected well upon Lazzell. Unlike Cavazos, or Haig, or Triet,
for that matter, there was no indication that Lazzell had learned
anything from past experiences on the battlefield. This inability
severely handicapped him in determining what his enemy was planning
next. By this time, he had
been in more engagements than at least ninety percent of other field
officers. Yet, on this day, he seemed transfixed on the much less
important problem of getting from point A
to point B within the targeted time table. Sad to say, the coordination
of that effort seemed to be kicking
his rear end. As he faced his
last battle, before his tour of duty ended, I think it is correct to say that Lazzell was in over his head.
Yet, it also seems that he was convinced that he
had arrived, as the embodiment, of what a field commander should
be. This is a typical endpoint for little men if they are allowed to
remain in their leadership position without proper correction. They
acquire an inflated perception of themselves. Westmoreland had this same
false perception too, as evidenced in his autobiography, "A Soldier
Reports". Later, military leaders like Lt. General Lawson Magruder would
make vast strides in developing and improving our leadership training
tools to deal with little man syndrome. Unfortunately, this didn't
happen in time to benefit those commanders like Rufus Lazzell and thus
our nation in the Vietnam War. You see, most “little men”
can be rehabilitated with the proper guidance from superiors. Once
rehabilitated, a little man's mind is than set free to focus on the
problem at hand. I
believe this would have been a high probability in Lazzell’s case. Here are some more
reasons why I say what I have just said. First off, the lineup for the
march from LZ Rufe to LZ X-Ray was wrong on several counts. One very
important thing that I noticed when I arrived after the battle that day
was the lack of prepping around the perimeter of LZ X-Ray by the air
force. Murry's 1/16th Rangers “A” Company led the march to the new
location. Lazzell and headquarters followed. Captain Ulm's "B" Company was
next, while the very experienced First Lt. Doug Logan's recon platoon
was sandwiched in behind their own Battalion and "B" Company of the Black
Lions, who were bringing up the rear. This line-up immediately brings to
mind a disturbing question. Why would Lazzell place his most capable
troops, which was the recon unit, in the middle of the line of march?
Instead, his recon should have been sent out, at first light, to scout
the route ahead of the line of march. Also, long before making the move,
they should have already scouted and reported back to Lazzell, with a
diagram of the area around LZ-X-Ray. That would have given Lazzell the
lay of the land, so to speak, so he could have already had his artillery
people target critical locations with registration rounds long before
the march began. Here is another glaring error. "B" Company of the 2/28th
Black Lions marched out that morning at the rear of the Rangers, but
their “A” Company was made to wait, until "B" Company had arrived at the
destination, three hours later, before they were allowed to moved out.
How foolish was that? It was 1030 hours before FO David Hearne and
company left LZ Rufe. As a side note, their point man got them lost,
along the way. First Lt. Hearne was a forward observer attached to this
particular Black Lions “A” Company and later wrote a book about the
battle. David recorded various conversations with the men, who were
there that day. There was no indication that it had occurred to Lt.
Colonel Lazzell to do any of the preparations which I just mentioned. I
also found it disturbing that Hearne couldn't remember if there had been
an early morning pre-march face to face meeting between Lazzell and his
key people. David and his cohorts were definitely some of those key
people. A face to face like this was very important, on many levels,
before making any type of maneuver. Key subordinates needed to know, in
a very personal way, exactly what their leader expected of them, and
also how important their function was to the success of that particular
undertaking. That message has much more power when communicated face to
face. Cavazos understood this. Apple magnet, Steve Jobs, understood
this, but Lazzell did not. As the forward
element approached the perimeter of LZ X-Ray, it’s point man stumbled
across a huge warning sign. That warning sign was a well-worn trail
discovered just 200 meters from the clearing at LZ X-Ray. Although
Lazzell had two recon platoons, which he should have used to scout this
area already, this was the first time that he was finding out about this
trail. It’s obvious, that this wasn't the first time that Lazzell failed
to properly scout an area or ignore warning signs on the battlefield.
The significance of this trail, however, was not lost on Donnie Gunby.
Donnie was the country boy grunt in sergeant Murry's 2nd platoon, who
found the trail. The trail had been heavily worn down very recently by a
lot of heavy foot traffic. Donnie and anyone else with field experience
knew this was important information. With his mad face on, however,
because he was running behind schedule and was now having to pause
again, Lazzell came stomping up to examine the trail for himself. He was
visibly irritated about having to halt the column. The sour look on his
face silenced everyone's input around him. This toxic attitude also
prevented him from performing one of the most critical functions a
battlefield commander will ever perform. That function is the ability to
allow oneself the time and presence of mind to analyze new data. Why
where there so many footprints on this trail? The angry Lazzell never
asked that question. Instead, he focused on venting his anger because he
was running behind schedule. Actually, being behind schedule was his own
fault. Hearne wrote about the discovery of the trail and also Lassell’s
reaction to the discovery of the trail in his book, “June 17, 1967 –
Battle of Xom Bo II”. He said, “The path's discovery caused 2nd platoon
to temporarily halt their march so they could investigate their find.
They were the lead element which meant the long column of men snaking
behind them would be stopped and the men would be wondering what was
going on. The column would become one big dangerous traffic jam. The
path was reported to their platoon leader, Second Lt. Sermuskis. Once
the Lieutenant saw how fresh and used the trail looked, he contacted
Captain Williamson, who came strolling up to check out the find.
Meanwhile Lieutenant Colonel Lazzell was fuming over the delay in the
march. He was pissed-off that the march had halted and wanted to know
why in the hell Alpha Company had stopped....Lazzell wasn't alarmed much
by the trail but did call in an air strike to the east of LZ X-Ray. The
fact that we were a bit behind schedule seemed to bother Lazzell more
than the evidence of a large unit's presence”. If only the 1/16th
commander had just stopped the fuming long enough to ask himself that
all important question, Why were all those fresh tracks there? That
would have been a first step in having the events of the rest of the day
go much better for our side. Donnie Gunby had already performed his job
splendidly. He found the evidence for an impending attack and notified
his superiors. Donnie knew, with one glance, that the heavily traveled
trail was a clear indication of a large enemy force lurking nearby.
Every officer and NCO who was staring down at those tracks knew it too.
At the battle of Ap Gu, Haig had done a splendid job of modeling
critical thinking for Lazzell to see. However, little men have a hard
time listening in class because they are too distracted by their own
thoughts. It wasn't as if this was rocket-science. It wasn't. Those
footprints were made very recently by a large number of people. The
obvious question to ask was, “Why had so many people been walking around
on this particular spot on the earth?”. For sure, they were not going to
a Beatle’s concert. The Beatles were not even in town. So, the obvious
question that Donnie and everyone else standing around Lazzell were
asking themselves was, “Do you suppose that there is a large enemy force
lurking nearby, getting ready to attack us?”. Yet, the very one who
needed to ask that question never did. He was too busy worrying about
his timetable. Because he was running behind, Lazzell got mad, but he
didn’t really get mad because he was running behind. He got mad
because he was afraid that his
superiors would be mad at him for running behind. Truth is, at least one
of his superiors probable reinforced that feeling. Donnie did realize
the danger, but “little men” don’t value the honest feedback of their
subordinates. Obviously that trail was screaming out the fact that there
were a lot of VC nearby, but Lazzell was as clueless about this as
Johnny Carson was about picking his next wife.
Upon arriving at the
clearing a little after 1030 hours, Murry's 1/16th “A” Company skirted
the east side of the clearing some 500 meters to the northernmost edge,
taking up positions from twelve o'clock to two o'clock around the
perimeter of the clearing. The Ole War Horse, Captain Ulm and his “B”
Company, spread out from 2 o'clock to 4 o'clock on the east side. 2/28
“B” Company took the western side of the perimeter, tying in with the
1/16th on its northern flank, and stretching to about the 7 o'clock
position in the south. There were so many mistakes made, while trying to
establish perimeter lines, I hardly know where to start pointing them
out. First off, Lazzell had four companies to cover the entire
perimeter. Yet, he divided the spacing of those companies, as though he
had all six companies present. Had he forgotten that he left both 1/16th
“C” Company and 2/28th “C” Company behind at LZ Rufe? To make matters
worse, almost as an afterthought, he had his recon platoon fill in the
resulting gap on the south side of the perimeter. Their 28 men were
given the impossible task of covering an area longer than that which
should have been assigned to an entire company. At the battle of Ap Gu,
Haig had modeled for Lazzell numerous good decisions, which withstood
the test of a ferocious attack. However, it was as if Lazzell had taken
no note of that experience, whatsoever. One key factor Lazzell should
have taken note of was the benefits gained when Haig held back his recon
platoon in reserve, to be used as needed during the heat of battle.
2/28th A company (the company Hearne was attached to) left the old NDP
late, so they arrived late, but they could still have been used to shore
of the southern perimeter, freeing up recon to become a standby force.
Instead, “A” Company of the 2/28th was ordered to stay within the
clearing and spread out to the north behind 2/28th “B” Company which was
inside the wood line. If attacked, not only would the southern portion
of the perimeter be lightly defended, but now “A” Company would not be
able to shoot at an attacking enemy, without putting their own “B”
Company in a crossfire situation. The same thing happened to Murry's
platoon on the northern side of the perimeter. His 2nd platoon was
placed behind 1st platoon. Haig, on the other hand, in laying out the
perimeter at Ap Gu, had his men establish positions along the entire
perimeter and start digging in immediately. Lazzell couldn't allow
anyone to start digging in, because his initial sloppy positioning of
troops made sure that every man in the unit was not in his permanent
position. There is no doubt
that things would have gone quite differently, if Cavazos had been
leading Lazzell's battalions, on the 17th of June. Ranch life had taught
Dick to be resourceful. Lazzell was still struggling to spell that word,
much less know what it meant. Dick had learned early, not only how to be
resourceful, himself, but also how to spot and use the resourcefulness
of others. No leader should try to be a one-man band. Learning from
observing his dad's resourcefulness, Dick had developed the ability to
pick the right guy for the job. He had also come to realize, that no
subordinate is ever going to be good at everything they do all the time
and there are certain things that they are never going to be good at.
Observing his dad, Lauro, as he exerted his leadership over other ranch
hands, taught Dick a lot more about human nature, than I have time to
discuss here. Most of it, became embedded in his subconscious, so deep,
that I doubt even Dick, himself, understood how he was able to do what
he did. Dick could pick the right junior officer every time without
belaboring his choice. That subordinate learned to mimic Dick in picking
his subordinates, without Dick having to intervene. Very soon, the
entire unit became self-starting. We could establish a battalion
perimeter, complete with the DePuy fighting positions, in less than half
the time of other units in the division. Delegating, and then trusting,
but verifying, not only worked well for Reagan, but it also worked well
for Dick. Maybe it was Dick's original idea to use mattocks and Marston
matting, or maybe it wasn't. Who cared. It was a good idea and that's
all that mattered. Many battalions, including the 1/16th, established
two-man positions. We always had three men to a position. That gave each
position an extra man which meant we had one third more muscle power to
dig in faster. It also allowed us three men to pull guard, which
translated into more rest time for each man. Men could be pulled from
perimeter positions for other details and patrols, and we still had two
men manning each position at all times. Lastly, the third man could
watch the rear opening of our fighting position for bad guys, during an
attack, or go for more ammo. This was just another routine improvement,
but powerful in the affect it had on our performance. Prior to the
beginning of the attack, which began around 1230 hours, Murry's “A”
company had been left to lounge around the north side of the perimeter,
for almost two hours. The attitude was such, that Lazzell's men were
behaving, as if they were on practice maneuvers in a totally secure
area. There was no sense of urgency, whatsoever. Many of them were
laying back on their ruck sacks, napping out, eating, or reading letters
from home. Machine gunners failed to have their boxes of ammo dropped
off near enough to them so they wouldn't have to retrieve them under
fire. One of Murry's machine gunners had failed to set his gun up until
the battle started. Under Cavazos, we would have already fully encircled
the clearing and had a well-protected perimeter established, with DePuy
bunkers well under construction. Instead, not a single foxhole had been
started. To top this jumbled mess off, the 2/28th's ‘A” Company was
strung out in the open, as if to say, "Here I am. Drop your mortars on me
first". Cavazos would have
prepped the entire perimeter just before we grunts started arriving.
When Dick prepped an LZ, he spared no expense. He used every asset
available to him. Napalm and anti-personnel bombs were a favorite. This
would have eliminated many of the snipers and spotters, who were hiding
in trees surrounding the clearing. It would have also destroyed much of
the communications wiring and disrupted the ox cart trails, making it
harder to herd the conscripts down those trails. Yet, when we arrived
after the battle was over, it was obvious to me that the perimeter had
not been properly prepped. It’s amazing that Lazzell gave so little
thought to his job. Even more amazing is the fact that senior officers
did not recognize his incompetence. Instead, he seemed to be perceived
by senior command as the pride of the First Division. Actually, Lazzell
had been extremely fortunate, to be surrounded by exceptional commanders
like Haig and subordinate commanders like Captain Ulm, who covered his
sins and bailed him out of some very critical situations. In Lazzell's
defense, by June 17th his unit had been over worked. He, himself, was a
short timer, who had seen much more than his share of combat. Those two
factors, alone, should have been enough reason for picking Cavazos
instead of Lazzell to lead this operation. After more than
fifty years, I have said all this to say the following. Those young
soldiers and junior officers who walked into that clearing that day gave
much more than they got from their country. Later, when we pulled out of
Vietnam for good, the Vietnamese people, themselves, became a treasure
lost. On this one particular day, the 17th of June, 1967, however, it
was not just Lazzell who added to the totality of mistakes made in
Vietnam. It was the cascading consequences of poor choices made by our
nation’s leaders, all because we had turned our backs on God, myself
included. That choice quickly blinds any nation. That blindness makes it
impossible to win although the cause is righteous. As that blindness
continues, righteous causes will be seen more and more as unrighteous
and vice versa. Although fraught with many human failings, the earthly
salvation of the Vietnamese people was definitely a righteous goal.
President Johnson, with all his chronic flaws, got it right when he
said, Let's go. However, he left God out of his equation for winning. |