Firefight on the Mountain
Captain Bill "Skipper 6" Neal was Company Commander of D Company, 2/8 Cavalry, in June 1971. This is his account of an action on the mountain near old LZ Fontaine — and the brand-new Battalion commander who happened to be listening in.
Editor's note: Based on Marvin Miller's letters and Harold McGrew's calendar, this event appears to have occurred on June 24, 1971. The cache and VC tunnel network were discovered the following day by Kirk Davis (Range Platoon).
I'm not sure I have all the facts right, but here is how I remember it. No names will be used in this story to protect the guilty — especially a certain LT, a skillful point man, and an RTO.
Angry Skipper had just returned from R&R in Vung Tau early in the morning sometime in June of '71. A lot of troops were seriously hung over. We were supposed to go into base security at LZ Fanning. However, as we were landing, one of the Battalion staff officers ran out to the pad to escort me into the TOC for a briefing. A Pink Team had taken fire from a mountain redoubt near old LZ Fontaine. They fired back with CS gas and called in artillery. Our orders were to saddle up immediately and head up the mountain to flesh them out.
We had a brand new Battalion CO named Blagg, who was out doing a recon of the AO, so I never got a chance to meet him.
We choppered into an LZ at the bottom of the mountain and started to move straight up in our V — one platoon forward and two back. After about an hour of going up what seemed like a 45-degree climb, there were a lot of green faces all around me, and I wasn't feeling so great myself. Just as we were starting up a particularly steep part of the mountain I heard the lead platoon's point and back-up open fire, then I heard the lead squad go on line firing rock 'n roll. I turned to the Battalion RTO and told him to inform Battalion we were in contact, and the FO to set for a fire mission.
I then grabbed the company radio and asked for a sitrep. After a very long silence the platoon RTO started to speak. Just then the whole platoon must have opened up on rock 'n roll. I didn't know it then, but at that very moment the new LTC Blagg, up in the C'nC, had keyed into our company net to monitor the situation, and, of course the first thing he heard was the lead platoon blazing away. This was his first firefight as CO.
After about 15 seconds of all-out return fire — silence. I ordered the flank platoons to move forward as the CP was trying to do, but it was slow moving. I finally raised the lead platoon's RTO again and demanded to talk to the platoon 6. "He's up front somewhere, I can't see him" was the reply. "Well, get his ass on the horn, now!"
My Battalion RTO hands me the horn and says it's the CO wanting a sitrep. As I key the mike, the lead platoon opens up again. The only thing I can tell the CO is that we're moving forward to get an assessment of what's going on. Of course, all he is hearing every time he monitors us is a lot of firing and a lot of huffing and puffing on my part.
Meanwhile the FO is putting in marking rounds further up the mountain and informs me that Battalion has inbound ARA due in three minutes. We also have two Pink Teams circling over the AO looking for something to shoot at. The FO then informs me that Battalion has called for four sorties of F-100's to divert to our location, and the FAC is inbound to our location.
I get on the horn to tell the lead platoon to get smoke out. Silence again. It finally occurs to me I haven't heard a single AK round and no grenades. Hmmmm.
We finally run into the rear elements of the lead platoon where they have dropped their heavies and ask "Where the f___'s the GD LT?"
"Up front."
"What the hell's going on?"
"I donno."
So we keep moving. The FO is going nuts between his own artillery, the pink teams, the ARA, which is now on station, and the FAC that is telling him that he needs a target for the F-100's. In fact, everybody's looking for something to shoot at and I have no idea what the hell is going on or where to shoot.
As I break through some thick brush and look up, I see about half the platoon standing around in a circle looking at the ground. By this time I'm in a seriously pissed off mood and start chewing ass in all directions, but it's having little effect — probably because nobody can hear me because of all the aircraft flying around overhead.
As I get to the circle, I see what's left of two shot-to-hell-and-back ground monkeys. The enormity of the situation hits me like a brick. We had just spent about a million dollars to kill two monkeys, and the new Battalion CO was going to look like a turkey.
Ah, to tell the truth — we killed two monkeys, or to fudge a bit and say we got two step-ons. Too bad those monkeys weren't carrying papers or AK's.
The hunt for targets by all the air assets was getting critical, so I had to make a quick decision. It had to be the bloody truth.
When I told the CO, I thought I was going to be relieved then and there, but I just got a very serious ass chewing. Hell of a way to get introduced to your new CO!
Epilogue: The next day we did find the enemy's cache they were protecting — that's where we got a bunch of B-40's, small arms, bags of rice, numerous bolts of black pajama cloth, and four Singer sewing machines.
