I mostly lurk here, but I wanted to share this. My older brother Steve volunteered for service the day he got out of high school in 1965. After boot camp, he volunteered for Airborne, and was assigned to the 82nd after Jump School, from which the 1st Air Cav drew replacement cadres. He served in C/2/8/1st Cav in Vietnam from June ‘66 to June ‘67. I was 12, and never prouder! He was first an assistant m60 gunner, then gunner, then squad leader, all through attrition. His platoon was the one depicted in the movie Casualties Of War. In fact it was in that firefight that his gunner was killed and he became the gunner. His squad was in the valley with the rest of the platoon, the “bad guy” (Sean Penn played him, IIRC) and his squad was up on the ridge line. Steve said he was a decent squad leader, but had gone native and worse after 2 tours in country and apparently just snapped. After the firefight and the Michael J. Fox guy (I forget the real guy’s name) told his tale of murder to the Platoon Leader, the PL brought the kid over to Steve and told Steve to guard him for the night, and to shoot anyone who tried to get to the kid. The kid told him the whole story that night. Steve spent quite a lot of time at Leavenworth after he got back, and even after he was discharged, testifying at various hearings and trials of the bad guy (I forget his name, too.) Steve told me that story one day in 1970. We’re we surprised—especially him of course—when a movie about it came out 17 or 18 years later!!!
Sorry, I got carried away, but wanted to give his credentials for the following: I emailed him about his recollection of NVA/VC uniform colors. He saw plenty up close and personal. Here’s his response:
“Little uniformity in [enemy] uniforms—black pjs, various shades of khaki. Khaki more often with NVA. Bush hats more than pith helmets. Web gear and leather belts and commie-style canteens and ammo pouches. I even have a Nazi three-pocket leather Mauser ammo holder that was filled with M-1rounds.”
Btw, Steve got me into war gaming of a sort when I was around 5; he made up rules for all our various Marx men. Then, in 1974, even though married and in law school, he turned me on to something called miniature wargaming. After his combat days and all, I thought he’d gone bonkers!
Final note, then back to Lurk mode: one of Steve’s best high school buddies was in Alpha/1/1 USMC...Roger rotated home in November 1967(!) after his year was up. When I talked to him last year about his time in Nam, his comment about Hue was that he knew many of the guys mentioned in the various books about the battle, but he was “sure glad I missed that mother****er! It had to be pure shit-show!”
Cheers!