One of my duties as a radio operator for the Tactical Air Control Party required that that I keep the DASC (Direct Air Support Center) up to date on local weather conditions that could affect flying conditions in our AOR (Area of Responsibility). At first light, each morning, I would report the weather as observable from the ground, at the same time I would receive our mission schedule for the day to pass on to the FAC’s so they could schedule their flights accordingly.
On one particular morning, as I was rushing to the commo (command and communications) bunker to check in with the Direct Air Support Center (DASC) at Bien Hoa, give my weather report and receive our missions, I heard a noise like a dull thud followed by the sound of a rifle shot in the distance. In my rush, probably not yet fully awake either, I didn’t think much about it or connect the thud with the gunshot. After I
had sent the weather and received the missions, I took off in a hurry to drop the mission schedule on the ALO’s desk, clean up quickly and hopefully get something to eat before the day got busy. As I ran up the steps of the bunker I noticed a little mound of sand on the path that wasn’t normally there. After delivering the mission schedule, cleaning up and grabbing a cup of coffee and toast from the messhall, I had to get back on the radio and get prepared for the day’s missions. On the way back to the commo bunker, I again noticed that pile of sand and it was bigger now. Out of curiosity, I knelt down to investigate where the sand was coming from. Another thud followed by a distant gunshot, this time I sensed the connection and glanced quickly to my left and out past our western perimeter. I could clearly see a slight wisp of smoke rising from a clump of brush on the hillside just across the river from our camp. I immediately ducked behind a concrete wall, protecting the stairway down into the bunker, and looked out through the gun port in the wall. I could hear the Sergeant Major banging on doors waking the rest of the camp up for the day so I knew that we were probably the only ones that were up and about.
I watched the hillside for a minute or
two and could see no movement so I charged on down the steps to call the messhall
on the field phone and hopefully attract the Sgt Maj’s attention. Just then, I heard the sound
of helicopters coming in and made a call on the VHF-FM radio:
"Choppers landing the vicinity Sierra Bravo (Song Be) this is 4 Harvest Night, Over.."
I received a response at once:
"4 Harvest Night this is Rattler 27 (helicopter gun ships) landing for refueling, go ahead.."
"Uh Rattler 27 we have sniper fire in the compound do you have enough fuel to take a look for us. Over.."
"Roger that 4 Harvest Night, there are two of us escorting 4 slicks (troop carriers), we’ll swing over the
compound while the slicks refuel, Over.."
"Appreciate that Rattler 27, I can pinpoint the location of the sniper once your overhead, Over."
"We are familiar with the camp layout, where’s it coming from, Go Ahead."
"Ok, just across the river from the Western berm, you’ll notice an isolated clump of brush about 30
meters down the hill from the tree line; it’s just a little to the left of the center of the camp, Go Ahead."
"I see it, how long ago did you get the fire?"
"It was only about two or three minutes ago and I’ve been keeping an eye on the brush,
haven’t seen any movement but he could have made it into the tree line while I wasn’t looking."
"Rog, I’ll put a couple of HE (high explosive rocket) into the brush and the door gunners will
sweep the tree line. Standby ."
I ran back up the stairs so I could see what was going on. The choppers were about 150 feet
overhead and towards the western berm. The lead helicopter fired two rockets in quick succession
and the explosions on the hillside were practically instantaneous. Both of them moved in a little closer
and swung around giving the doorgunners perfect positioning to sweep the tree line with machinegun fire.
They started about 20-30m into the trees and then worked it forward towards where the brush
had been. By this time, everyone in the camp was wide awake and headed for their bunkers.
"4 Harvest Night this is Rattler 27, that’s about all we can do right now."
"Roger Rattler 27, thanks for the help we owe you one."
Just about then, the Sergeant Major followed by the Team C.O. come rushing down the stairs asking what the hell was going on. I told them that a sniper had taken a couple of shots at me and since the gunships were in the area I asked them to return fire. I could see that they weren’t at all convinced that a sniper had taken a couple of shots so we went back up the stairs, there were two little piles of sand now and at just about chest height, there were two fresh bullet holes in the sandbags with sand still trickling out.