Recording of chopper pilots pulling a shot-up recon team out of Laos in 1968

[sneakypete]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u19f7_jdyBw&lc=UgzMXYWfAvqapiHakd94AaABAg.9jfCXgHEL-d9kHEmBOp6d6

If ya REALLY want to get some insight into what it was like running covert recon missions into Laos and Cambodia during the VN war,here it is.

For those of you who have never been in the military,this is a recording by the crew of a "slick" (troop helicopter only armed with door guns) picking up a recon team in Laos that was surrounded,wounded,and in danger of being overran and killed or captured by the NVA. The people speaking are the helicopter pilots,the door gunners,and the leader of the surrounded recon team in the jungle.

 AFAIK,NO SOG member that went MIA in Laos,North Vietnam,or Cambodia has ever even been reported as being captured or as a POW by the Vietnamese government.

Part of this is due to it being a "secret war". We went in carrying NO dog tags,US Army ID card,or any other form of identification. Some teams even wore NVA uniforms and carried AK-47's and AKM's. I preferred wearing either the top or bottom of a US jungle uniform that had been dyed black,and the other half still being OD green. Kinda broke up the profile in the jungle and made it harder to tell what you were seeing at a casual glance.

Since OFFICIALLY neither the US or the NVA were in Laos or Cambodia,how could any of us have been captured there?

I can't speak for how people who have never done this sort of thing will react to it,but it sure as hell got MY blood pressure up and increased my mental focus! Thought I was 20 years old again,there for a few minutes. Wonder my heart didn't explode from the adrenaline rush.

BTW,the adrenaline rush you get in combat is probably more powerful than any rush you could possibly get taking drugs and surviving the dose. You can leap small building with a single bound,are bulletpoof,and want to call Super Man a lightweight poser.

There are some things you just really have to experience for yourself to believe them.

If you wonder why so many combat vets become junkies,now you know.

This ain't Hollywood,folks. This is the real deal. Conversations recorded in real time while it was happening by the people being rescued and their rescuers.

BTW,this is the ONLY recording of its kind that I have ever even heard of. I think they were pretty common during missions inside VN,but not in Laos or Cambodia. Since we weren't supposed to be there,there weren't supposed to be any private recordings or photos of any of our missions or people.

[sneakypete]

@mystery-ak

@sneakypete

Did I post this in the wrong place?

If so,please feel free to move it and please ping me to the new url.

[corbe]

   A couple of B52's left my base to support Linebacker II out of Guam and returned, though one was pretty charpeled up (101).

[Smokin Joe]

Thanks, @sneakypete

Sounds pretty damned hectic, and yes, I caught the call for Spads, too.

[sneakypete]

   A couple of B52's left my base to support Linebacker II out of Guam and returned, though one was pretty charpeled up (101).

@corbe

It was rare for B-52's to take any hits because they generally flew VERY high,and they generally had fighter escorts.

Sog guys carried URC-10 Survival radios we stole/traded with the USAF to get. They were only issued to pilots,and you turned them on by pulling the antenna out. When you did,it broadcast a "aircraft shot down,crew needs help message to ever US aircraft flying in VN,NVN,Cambodia,and Laos.

When a team was in trouble on the ground and running for their lives,you could pull out a URC-10,pull the antenna out,and withing minutes have fighter/bombers and every other armed aircraft operated by the USAF come running because they though a fellow pilot had been shot down.

We were surrounded once on a hilltop with the majority of the team wounded with no where to run even if they were able to run,so the team leader pulled out his URC-10 and within minutes we had a whole damn flight of B-52 bombers flying so close to the ground we could see the open bomb-bay doors as they circled.

Talk about something that would get the NVA high-stepping away from THAT hilltop!

Gave us the break we needed to gain time for the fighter-bombers to show up to bomb and strafe around out perimeter so it would be safe for the helicopters to come in and pick us up.

BTW,have you ever stood along an airstrip while a flight of fully-loaded B-52's were taking off to go bomb the snot out of somebody? Damn things are so heavy it seems like their wings are flapping up and down as they try to gain airspeed,and the sound coming out of them is sound you can litterally FEEL in your bones when it hits you.  Not only that,but you can feel the ground trembling beneath your feet.

I can't remember why I was there at this late date. IIRC,this was at either Kadena AF Base on Okinawa,or that island in the Pacific where so many were based. I was only there once,and can't remember why I was there now. Probably just catching a ride from whatever flew to get back to  VN or Okie,and it stopped there for fuel.

I have no idea why the aircrews and pilots weren't deafened for life unless there as an unbelievable amount of sound insulation on the inside.

It was freaking awesome!

[corbe]

   @sneakypete Many a night I was at work on the USAF Supply computer (Univac 1050-II) and the exercises would start from the nuclear igloos to the flight lines, then the B52's and the KC-135's that were on alert would take off.  It was a site to behold and has permeated my conscious mind to this time, 50 tears later.

[mountaineer]

Thanks for posting this, @sneakypete   

[EdinVA]

@sneakypete
There were times our F-4s came back with tree branches in the flaps and wheel wells.... just saying "flying low" is not enough..   

[sneakypete]

Thanks for posting this, @sneakypete   

@mountaineer

You are welcome.

Frankly,I am surprised there isn't more interest in this story due to the fact that there are a LOT of American families whose relatives have gone off to fight in foreign wars. I don't understand how anyone could NOT be interested in those radio calls.

[sneakypete]

Thanks, @sneakypete

Sounds pretty damned hectic, and yes, I caught the call for Spads, too.

@Smokin Joe

You are never going to meet a VN grunt that didn't flat LOVE those old prop fighter-bombers.