WAR STORIES
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By Ed Burchard
Hello
Fellow MMS'rs:
The
exact date
that I
arrived in
country is
questionable,
given
the date-line
thing! I
departed Norton AFB,
CA,
4-7-71
approx 6
PM on an
American Airlines
707. After
stops
at Hawaii, Wake,
Okinawa, we
cruised over
the bay
to land at
Danang from
the north.
We touched-down at approx
noon +/-
an
hour or
two. Even
in April,
stepping off
the plane
into
the
white hot
glare of
a typical
dry season
Danang day
was
an eye opener.
FNG, that
I was, I
was amazed
at all
these
guys
carrying M-16's
at the
15th Aerial
Port!
A sort of
short processing
initially gave
us bunk/
cube
assingments
. I
remember being
given a
set of sheets,
pillow,
etc!
No mosquito
net night
1. Awaking
the next
morning,
bites
all over
me and
dots of
blood covering
the sheets,
I
cursed
the lack
of a
mosquito net!
I felt
ill enough
to go
to the dispensery, only
to be told that
what represented
acne,
was
actually, bed
bug bites
!!!!!
The advisement
was to
jettison present
mattress and
burn
it! The
doc said
don't shave
for 2
weeks.
Then
came the
orientation to
life at
Danang! All
well and
good,
ROCKET STRIKES
occur, but
they're really
nothing to
worry
about: If
you hear the
sirens, you're
OK! It
didn't
take
one week
before I
experienced MY
first rocket
strike!
The
initial impact
scared the
hell out
of me,
but I
instantly
knew what
was ocurring----and
it was
no John
Wayne movie!
For,
at that
moment, I
realized that
these 122's
can
F!@#$%^&*k
you up!
As I
ran around
like an idiot,
a fellow
airman said
to me,
'Hey, where
you running
to? There
aren't
any bunkers,
or safe
holes to
go to!
STAY PUT!
That
stuck w/
me.
Shortly
thereafter, after
work, sipping
a Dr Pepper, sitting
on
the stairway
of my
barracks,, in
the late
afternoon/ early
evening,
I saw
a glint of
silver out
of my sight
to the
side.
Of course,
I didn't
have the
faintest idea
what it
was
until the
impact, in
the SPS/ Marine
compound, our
neighbors,
not
friends! So,
I got into the
mode, not
scared----just a
resolved
acceptance to
the strikes! After
a few
more night-time
rkt attacks,
I was
in the MMS/
Areial Port
chow hall,
when
we recieved a
single rkt
impact, again,
in the
SPS/ Marine
compound close
by. Us
AF'ers hit
the floor,
while at
the
same time
the Marines
got lost------quickly----and
disappeared!
That's always
been a
mystery to me!
"THANGS FROM DANANG" By Ed Burchard
Brothers:
I think that
it's curious
what we
do, and ,
do not
remember!
My topic
this time
is vermin:
Do any
of you
remember
the flies,
mosquitos, cock-roaches, rats,
disentary----??????
I remember
rats patrolling the
rafters
of my up-stairs
billit, and
seeing them
drink milk
from
the chow
hall drip
bowl in
the early
morning!
Cockroaches,
I remember
three of
us lighting
one on
fire,
only
to watch
it run
away in
smoke!
Indeed,
during a
trash run
to the
land-fill area
during
the
monsoon, the
hood of
the 10
ton tractor
was so
covered
w/ flies,
that I
could barely
see the
painted
hood
of the
truck! I
wish I'd
had my
camera that
day,
as it
was monsoon
season and
the flies
must
surely
have appreciated
the engine
heat on
the truck
hood!
Fellow
MMS'rs
Without
a doubt,
getting around
Danang AB
via the
hitchhike,
was the
only to
get around.
Very seldom
were we
passed-by,
unless the
vehicle being
thumned was
full. There
were Army,
Marines, and
Navy, personell, as well
as the
resident USAF'rs
always faithfully
providing hops
around
the
base. One
day, thumb
out, you
can imagine
my
surprise
when an
SPS jeep
pulled over.
Right-on I
thought
as I
trotted up
to jeep.
"PUT ON
YOUR HAT
SGT"
he ordered!
Hell, and
I thought
he was
going to
give me
a ride.
Hat properly
installed, I
flipped-him-off, as
he
sped
away. Yet
the PUKE
was checking
his mirror,
made
a quick u-turn
just as
was putting
my hat back in
the
cargo pocket.
That got
me a "TICKET".
Of course
that
resulted
in a
stand-up in
front of
the SQ
CMDR. I
don't
remember his
name, but
was just
kind of
a LET
THE
TROOPS DO
THEIR WORK
sort of
easy going
Lt Col.
He smiled
at me
and said
"Sgt Burchard,
just please
where
your hat
once you're
out of
the bomb
dump,"
seemingly
inconvenienced with the
fine work
of the
SP's.
Indeed,
I never
did have
much use
for 'em!
Ed Burchard
Brother
MMS'rs:
Yes,
it's me
again since
nobody else
has been
contributing,
I'll offer
up another
one: During
the
monsoon
'71---72, not
all was
that wet.
Yet, with
the
humidity, nevertheless
it
felt COLD!
'Truth is,
the temp
most likely
never
dipped
below 60--55F
All that
aside it
felt
cold-----enough
so that
many of
us were
wearing sweats,
or field jackets.
One
fine morning,
as we
ran a PU to
ASP 1,
driving
up the slight
rise before
making the
left turn
into
ASP
1, an
Army MP
jeep goes
tumbling past
me to my
immediate
left, as
I'm turning
into ASP 1!
Startled------YOU
BET! What's
this F!@#$%^&*(Ker
doing
passing
me on
a blind hill.
The Army
dudes suffered
no immmediate injuries.
'Thing is:
my 10
ton tractor
had
no turn
signals, brake
lights, OR
MIRRORS! As
the
cops went
tumbling -
by, since
they were
belted-in,
thay
suffered no
immediate injuries!----Indeed,
I had
thrown
a left-turn
hand signal----and who know's
who was
looking!
All
said and
done, the
Army guys
climb-out and
both
shoot
a burst
of M-16
rounds into
the carcuss
of the
Jeep. No
sweat, man,
they said,
we'll just
say we
took
small-arms fire and
that will
be it!
Not
so with
a certain admin
O-3, for
I'll call
him
Capt.
RIDE ME-----for
that is
all he did. He,
and two
senior
M-SGTS fairly
had a
game plan
for me
as well! It
was probably
my fault
for freely
speaking my
mind
when
I just
should have
kept my
mouth shut!
I was
offered
the opportunity
to sign
yet another
Art
15------which
I respectfully
declined! Interestingly enough,
none of
this stuff
is contained
in my written
USAF
records!!!!!!!
Ed Burchard
Here
we go
again MMs'rs:
Does
anyone remember
the yellow
water tanker
we had
at
the
bomb dump?
We had
it there
in '71--72!
We'd
use it
to hose off
the trucks
of mud
or dust,
and
believe it or
not, when
it was
HOT, some
of us
storage
and handling
guys would
climb down
thru the
hatch
to cool-off!
It was
F!@#$%^KING GREAT,
and it
was
a stor/ handlg
secret!
We had 3
shitters at/
in the orderly
room bomb
dump
bldg.
In the
morning, after
chow, it
always seemed
that
a bunch of
us needed
to take
a dump.
Low water
pressure,
so that
meant all
these dudes
taking a
dump
and
no water
to flush!
I tolerated
this for
about a
week
when I
JUST HAD
to make
my thoughts
known. So,
I proposed that
we fill
50 gal
drums w/
water, so
that,
at least
some of
us, might
be motivated
enough
to bucket water
into the
comode tanks
so that
we could
F@#$%^KING FLUSH
THEM!!!!!!! I gotta
tell ya,
there were
tyrds,
and water
on the
floor. For
some reason
our
senior
NCO's, and
a particular O-3
didn't have
a
clue.......
But they
didi think
I had a great
idea! AND
guess what
my newest
task would
be with
ye old
faithful
water tanker?!#%???
Ed Burchard
HAIRCUTS----indeed,
a fact of life to the tune of every 2 weeks or so.
I
was
always interested that some guys were routinely being hounded to get
a
fresh cut, while some other
less-sharp troops always seemed to avoid
the
admonition to get a Haircut. Nevermind
the sideburns issue, or the
limits
of the mustach parameters!
If you were in the USAF, you gotta
remember
the rules. And you know that
I know that you remember these
things.
Originally
trained as a 322 (I Think-attack
radar troop, sentenced to
Nellis),
we settled into 2 years of boredom,
for the F111A was crashing
at
a rate that saw many of us working 4 hr days, plus a secondary civil
job
in the town of Vegas, for the bird was often grounded!
So,
the haircut issue translated into shit details, notably, golf-course
duty,
building tumbleweed x-mas trees, compete w silver
paint----AND---because
the base commander didn't like rocks, the ever
incessant
rock policing duty, to take them
from their resting place to
be
installed as walkway borders. Now,
these were painted a fine white
color,
only to be turned-over the next year to re-painted----on
the
opposite
side. F!@#$%^&*()K
NO, repainting
was not adequate.
There
was a few of us that got rather
fed-up. Our big mouths and lousey
attitudes
finally led to a new USAF opportunity.
Yes,
indeed, the
USAF needed beebie stackers in RVN.
Goody Goody,
yet
all of us cross-trainees
volunteerd for service in RVN. Well, we
got
our wish! Most certainly, we
figured, at least over there, we can
just
simply do our jobs w/o the attendant BS. NOPE---NOT
TO BE SO!
As
our trans-Pacific flight stopped in Okinawa,
an e-6,or 7 spotted one
of
my pals and ordered him to get a haircut, lest he not be allowed to
board
the final flight leg to Danang. And
that puke, with hands on
hips
watched the entire clipping! Now,
this guy had always managed to
skirt
the strick haircut rules. Mystery----indeed.
Once
ensconced at Danang, I started having my own issues re haircut with
some
a certain trio of upperlines
and
after many admonitions re the haircut subject, decided to have my
head
shaved. That occomplished,
the mood was grim amongst
the 3
Amigos,
for hair was ALMOST never to again be an issue again. The VN
national
who administered said haircut was ecstatic, rambling on in his
native
tongue, that is, 'till he dropped the shears---at which he said
SHIT!
That was the only word I
understood him to speak through the
entire
session.
What
comes around, goes around, for as I initiated out-processing for
separation,
a certain E-6 hollered at me that
I would not be allowed
to
out-process until I got a haircut. Well,
I was ahead of schedule,
and
the dumb-ass hadn't a clue that
I'd
return on his day-off to get said
processing papers, for the
2-sriper
at the counter didn't care. Yea
man, you gotta love it. Later
Ed
A
couple of us were walking to the Skeeter Flick in
Camp
DaNang (Gunfighter Village) with our gas mask
bags
dutifully draped across our shoulders.
A crowd outside one of the Barracks started ragging
us
asking if we were afraid that their would be a gas
attack
tonight.
You haven’t been here long have you? We asked.
Then
ripped
open the bag pulled out a Budweiser, opened it
with
the church keys around our neck and went to the
movie.
The
Mighty Quinn
=====
Tim
Q
With 30 plus years between now and then and more than a little frost on the "punkin" I don't remember clearly all about my arrival at Danang, but I haven't forgotten much about the landing. Actually the landing was a little short of Danang. The Stretch DC 8 that I was on mistakenly landed at Marble Mountain, a 3800 ft strip used by Marine and Army choppers and small planes. We came in the wee hours of the morning and the pilot mistook the lights of MMAF for those of Danang. I don't know how he did it but we came to rest just before running off the asphalt. >From inside all I could see was black night and engine flames. All I could hear was roaring engines and screaming tires. We had to climb down on a fire truck to get out of the plane. Just after daylight a bus was sent from Danang to fetch us Air Force guys. I don't know which scared me the most, that landing or that bus driver with his M-16 and his instructions in case of an attack. I spent the next few months hauling bombs from ASP 1 to the on base dump for 366th MMS. Then I was transferred to Ubon Thailand and 408th MMS.
Carl E. Dickey
Another time, we went to the new bomb dump to load flatbeds with 750 lb'rs. The Marines guarding the perimeter said they were getting sniper rounds from some vc. They wanted us to work with our lights off on the truck and the H-11 crane. We asked Sgt Dunnigan if we could take our M-16's with us and he told us to go ahead. So we took them and our equipment into the bomb dump and proceeded to do our work with the lights ON. The Marines were P.O. but we couldn't work in the dark. We got our bombs loaded without incident.
Gordy
Having been in country a short time it took a while to get used to those 12 hour days of loading bombs. Sleeping hard from working all night I awoke and looked at my watch and it was 0530 and I had to catch the van at 0545 to the flight line. Walking to the van stop I noticed some airman sitting at the end of the barracks and drinking. I thought this seemed a little odd being so early in the morning, but I shrugged it off and continued to the stop. Getting there I noticed I was the first to arrive and I sat down and waited. Ten minutes to, than five minutes to, nobody else arrived. I was beginning to wonder where everybody was. Then one of the guys I worked with walked by and asked me what I was doing out here. Now I new there was something wrong. I looked at my watch; a Seiko that everybody bought shortly after arriving in country, I noticed it was on upside down and the time was really 2330 not 0530. I told him I was just getting some fresh air. Waiting for him to leave I proceeded back to bed to get the rest of my sleep.
George Field
Danang AB
1970