A note about my stories. I am very new to "creative" writing. I once wrote excellent Immediate Intelligence Summaries (IIS’s) and After Action Reports (AAR’s). And while in college, both as a student and as a professor, I wrote outstanding academic papers. So cut me some slack if you bother to read these stories.

The stories are told “as best I can remember,” so don’t get to nitpicking if I

get a detail wrong. And, for the record, I have no need to embellish my

Experiences.

First Contact: After four (4) boring months in country and with many uneventful harassment and interdiction patrols under my belt, I finally made enemy contact 23 December 1967. I had one (1) other American and about a company of CIDG (+/- 100 men). My contact was with an NVA battalion on it’s way to attack Tam Key during the upcoming Tet Offensive. Their forces assembled in the area total +/- 500 men. Events of the day would lead to my being awarded my first Silver Star.

NOTE: This link is to a page on my old site.

Rocket Science: A short anecdote about how too much time on one’s hands, too little supervision, easy access to really fun ordinance, curiosity and the SF motto “If you don’t have what you need, use what you have, but get the f*ing job done!” Came together for some great “recreation” in the middle of a combat zone.

The Battle of Hau Duc: This story recounts an early contact with a major NVA force (The Yellow Star Battalion) just prior to the Tet Offensive of 1968. This was a craqck unit with all the best Russian and ChiCom weapons/equipment. They were moving down from the North to show local VC units the new weapons that were on the way and how to use them. This battle, to which I was the first Amrican involved, lead to be being given a personal award of the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star.

NOTE: This link is to a page on my old site.

Flying the DHC-4 with Air America: While working as the S-5 (Civil Affairs/Psychological Operations) NCO at Company “C” of the 5th SF out of DaNang in 1968, I was closely involved with the CIA’s Air America. I worked, most of the time, with the same crew and we had many adventures together. Some of my favorite memories from this time have to do with flying the big bird.

NOTE: This link is to a page on my old site.

Jumping From the Air America Caribou: The kicker (crew chief) of the crew with who I mostly flew was one, Eugene Hasenfus of later Iran-Contra (Reagan’s War) fame. Eugene and I had a lot in common with sport parachutist at the top of the list. We, also, both called Florida home. We made three jumps together over special forces “A” camps.

NOTE: This link is to a page on my old site.

Arming the Air America Caribou: The kicker (crew chief) of the crew with who I mostly flew was one, Eugene Hasenfus of later Iran-Contra (Reagan’s War) fame. Eugene and I had a lot in common with sport parachutist at the top of the list. We, also, both called Florida home. We made three jumps together over special forces “A” camps.

NOTE: This link is to a page on my old site.

The First (only?) Free Fall Cargo Drop: The unofficial motto of Special Forces was “If you don’t have what you need, use what you have, but get the f*ing job done!.” I can think of no better personal story of implementing this “out of the box” thinking than the cargo drop I made into the besieged Special Forces Camp at Thuong Duc (A-109). After much research, I still believe it to be,

Not only the first, but only, successful high altitude, free fall, cargo

Drop in U.S. military history.

NOTE: This link is to a page on my old site.

My Sky Diving R&R in Australia: Thanks to my good friend, then Ct. Cmdr. Joe Rice, I was able to fulfill a sky diver’s dream, and sky dive Down Under. As with most of my life, my five (5) days in Sydney and Melbourne were fall from UN-eventful.

NOTE: This link is to a page on my old site.

A Tribute to MAJ Vương Vĩnh Phát of the Lực Lượng Đặc Biệt: The story with my friendship with one of the finest and most dedicated officers I’ve ever had the privilege with whom to serve. Bar NONE. He will NEVER be forgotten as long as I draw breath.

NOTE: This link is to a page on my old site.

My First Mission with RT Michigan: A very short story.

Leg Horn - A Bright Light of Sorts: My first “mission” as 1-0 of RT Michigan was to provide security for SOG’s radio rely site called Leg Horn, a barren mountain top in South-East Laos near the Cambodian-Vietnam border.

NOTE: A SOG Bright Light mission was some sort of

rescue/body recovery operation.

Another Bright Light or How NOT to Rappel: This mission started with a runner telling me I was to report to the company HQ, NOW!!! I have no idea where I was or what was going on prior to that moment. Most of the rest of this mission is equally a blur but here’s what I do remember.

When I got to headquarters, I met a very haggard member of a team (As usual, I have no idea which it was.) That had just been extracted from a hot LZ. The story was that he was the loan survivor of an ambush. My mission was to return to the hot area with him, insert with my team and see if we could find bodies to recover. Okay. Now think about this kind of mission and the extra risk to teams that ran them.

Thanksgiving Dinner at the White House: After I was WIA on my last mission on 08 August, 1970, I was eventually medivaced to Walter Reed Army Medical Center near Washington D.C. (A story for another time.)

Along with excellent medical care, the hospital offered ‘field trips’ to convalescing soldiers. I was fortunate enough to get to go on several of these: A week-end trip to Atlantic City; A flight to Goldsboro, NC for a Veterans’ Day weekend parade and Pig Pickin’, invitation to a Congressional Christmas party and Thanksgiving Dinner at the White House among my adventures.

The Congressional Christmas Party: After I was WIA on my last mission on 08 August, 1970, I was eventually medivaced to Walter Reed Army Medical Center near Washington D.C. (A story for another time.)

Along with excellent medical care, the hospital offered ‘field trips’ to convalescing soldiers. I was fortunate enough to get to go on several of these: A week-end trip to Atlantic City; A flight to Goldsboro, NC for a Veterans’ Day weekend parade and Pig Pickin’, invitation to a Congressional Christmas Party and Thanksgiving Dinner at the White House among my adventures.

My Home Coming Prade: After I was WIA on my last mission on 08 August, 1970, I was eventually medivaced to Walter Reed Army Medical Center near Washington D.C. (A story for another time.)

Along with excellent medical care, the hospital offered ‘field trips’ to convalescing soldiers. I was fortunate enough to get to go on several of these: A week-end trip to Atlantic City; A flight to Goldsboro, NC for a Veterans’ Day weekend parade and Pig Pickin’, invitation to a Congressional Christmas Party and Thanksgiving Dinner at the White House among my adventures.

Mission #4: I Love the Smell of Napalm Any Time of Day: This was my first real mission. Formal briefings, preparation, time in pre-mission isolation. The mission was to find the exact location of a reported large ammo dump.

I am, at the time of this waiting, in touch with my 1-1 on this mission. At the time of the mission, he was a SP/4. Now he’s a retired major and lives not 80 miles away in the Ft. Carson/Colorado Springs area. Charlie Reed.