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"Prarie Fire" emergency extraction of a Recon Team from Laos in 1971

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sneakypete:


Even though I was medevacked from VN in late 69,I knew some of these guys from my time there as well as from Bragg and Okinawa.

Despite what you might think,almost nobody was willing to leave when their tour was up,and they ended up extending their tours for another 6 months at a time. I was 2 months into my extension when I got medievaced.

John Plaster,the guy running the covey operation to pull out both teams was the guy I temporarily replaced on the recon team he was on when I first got there. He was sent off to sniper school,so his team was short a man,and I filled in for him.

Can't remember right now if Kinnear is mentioned,but he was a friend of mine from Okinawa,and his Okinawan wife had just had a baby before he deployed from Okie to VN on a 6 month TDY tour. IIRC,he did this at least 3 times before he was killed in action. BIG-boned tall redheaded guy that looked like he had just stepped off a boat from Scotland. He carried a cut-down M-14 instead of a M-16,and he was big enough and strong enough to shoot it on full-auto despite the buttstock being cut off and only having a pistol grip at the rear. Not many people are big enough and strong enough to do that on a regular basis. It was easy to tell where he was at night if he touched off that cut-down M-14 because he would light up the whole damn jungle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u19f7_jdyBw&lc=UgyMq2O48ceqtP3rD8N4AaABAg.9jMnjO7Ha_a9knu6kcjyQ4

This radio conversations makes it as real as "real gets". I had no idea anyone copied them,but they sure get my old heart pumping! I suspect it will have the same effect on you,even if you never served.

BTW,take note of how calm and collected everyone talking on their radios seemed to be. You HAD to remain calm in situations like that,or you would never get out alive. People that panic don't live long.

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