@Smokin Joe I was working with a Hatchet Force platoon on a mission in Laos in the summer of 69,and we had a new guy come in that had volunteered to extend his tour in VN for 6 months if he could get transferred to SOG. Since the only people we got were volunteers and damn few few had even heard of SOG (cover story was we were mapping the remote areas around the borders with Laos and Cambodia).
So this huge black SSG shows up wearing a 173rd Abn combat patch and a CIB. Naturally,we assumed he had an infantry MOS because of the CIB,so his first mission was with a Hatchet Force platoon to see how he held up in combat before putting him on a recon team.
We ended up surrounded on a hilltop in Laos,all 26 of us. I have no idea how many NVA there were,but we could hear the trucks rolling up at the bottom of the hill and the tailgates dropping as the NVA got out and formed up.
What happened was my squad had an ambush set up along the road to try to capture a NVA prisoner. EVERYBODY liked capturing prisoners because it meant your team got pulled right away before the NVA could rally and take him back. We are sitting in ambush,and lo and behold,a whole damn NVA company decided to stop and take their noon "pot break" (pot as in rice pot) right in front of us.
So there we sat,as quiet and still as church mice,hoping they eat quick and move away,and one of them walks over to the side of the road to take a leak,and pisses right on the head of the platoon sgt. Who immediately gives him a CAR-15 burst for the bad manners,and it's "game ON!"
That was when we discovered that company was just the lead element. So we hauled ass to the top of the hill and started digging in and calling in tac air.t
I decide to wander over to the new guy from the 173rd to check on him,and there he is in his hole,with his claymore set up right in front of his foxhole,and he is peeping through the sight used to zero it in so the zone you want is covered,just like it is a rifle scope,and he has the detonator in his hand.
That was when we found out his MOS was "head cook",NOT infantry as we had all assumed.
Needless to say,he was no longer assigned to SOG and had already flown back to Nha Trang for reassignment before dark the next day after we got back in.
I am SOOOOO glad I decided to check on him.
You would THINK a career E-6 would know enough to ask questions when he didn't know what to do,but he didn't,and THAT was what got him the boot. You can't train anybody not interested in learning and who won't admit he doesn't know what he is doing.