Move from I Corps to III Corps
Around the middle of October 1968 rumors starting flying that the 1st Air Cav was moving. Where or when,
the rumors did not say, but we were still moving according to the rumors. The Army lives on rumors and the
troops love to guess about what is happening.
Still hearing rumors of the move, 1st Bn 8th Cav starting getting replacements, FNG's (F*****g New Guys) or
Cherries, into our companies like no one had ever seen in the past, EVER! Most of the companies in the field,
Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta, operated with about 70 to 85 men tops. Now the companies were growing to
100 men, then 120, and at last count Charlie Company was up to 150+ men. This meant we had more FNG's
than guys that had been in firefights. That was scary, because if we were going into a BAD place, say cross
border, we did not have enough battle-hardened troopers to train the new guys.
On October 24th @ 1900 hours "C" Company went Opcon (operation control) to the 2nd Brigade, but only
the Headquarters, 1st Platoon and 4th platoon. On 25 October @ 1010 hours 2nd & 3rd Platoons went Opcon
to 2nd Brigade. Then on 26 October we went Opcon to 2nd Bn 8th Cav. On October 27th we came back to 1st
Bn 8th Cav control. Why the move is a good question. No one seems to know. The 1/8 Cav continued
operations in and around LZ Anne thru the 1st of November: finding bunkers, trails and getting into small
firefights, 2-3 NVA. Nothing big. On November 1st we were surprised to learn that LZ Anne was being turned
over to "A" Company 1st Bn 9th Marines. The 1/8 Cav continued to turn over responsibility of our
operational area to the Marines. Then on November 3rd, 1968 the 1st Bn 8th Cav started their move to a new
location. The rumors had come true, we were moving, still did not really know where, but we were moving. We
knew it was some place BAD because the supply sergeants started issuing extra ammo, grenades and even flack
vests, which we NEVER wore in the field. Guys were getting nervous. All this extra gear meant some place BAD
and probably had lots of hard-core NVA in the area. Maybe back into the A Shau Valley to set up a
permanent base camp. We loaded on planes, not choppers, to our new location so we knew it was a long way
away. The Air Force loadmasters on the planes did not take our weapons, ammo or grenades, or even tell us to
remove the magazines from our weapons. Unheard of in every other airplane ride I took in Viet Nam. We
landed at Ben Hoa airport in III Corps. It was kind of funny in one respect. Here is a bunch of grunts fresh out
of the Bush, dirty, smelly, torn and sweat stained jungle fatigues and loaded for bear with our extra ammo,
grenades etc walking thru Ben Hoa airport. Check out the picture of me at the top of the page to see how we
looked. This airport was for guys going to the WORLD, R&R and new guys just getting in country. That day
and time it was full of replacements. There was a line of MP's, Military Police, about 10 feet apart in their fresh
uniforms, shined boots and pistols keeping us away from the replacements. I guess they didn't want us to
mingle with them. But we still yelled at them anyway. I will leave it to your imagination to guess what we
yelled. Outside we loaded up on either Duce &½ trucks (2 &½ ton trucks) or "cattle trailers", 40-foot trailers
with wood sides and benches on either side and a row down the middle. Next stop our new home. It turned
out to be Tay Ninh, and we moved in with units of the 25th Infantry Division and took over some of their old
barracks. I can remember November 5, 1968 very well. It was my 20th birthday and we celebrated by getting
drunk. 1st time we had been drunk in Viet Nam. We had to go to the Philippino PX to get our beer because the
25th would not sell any to us. There were four of us that night and we lay out on the sand bags in front of the
barracks and drank the beer and talked. Some time that evening after dark, we heard mortar tubes go off in
the distance. You can tell a round had just left the tube by the sound it makes as it exits the tube. The 1st ones
starting hitting the flight line where the CAV had parked all our choppers, Lift birds, Gun ships,Cobras,
Chinooks, Medevac and Scout birds. In about 3-5 minutes after the 1st round hit, every bird was in the air and
looking for the source of the mortar rounds. We were so drunk that we did not even move to cover, especially
when we figured out they were after the choppers. The mortar rounds were coming from cross border,
Cambodia. The Gun ships and Cobras went after them. The sight of a solid red line from up in the black sky to
the ground is a very pretty sight to a grunt, but not the enemy. Every 5th round is a tracer that burns red, and
that is what the solid red line is made up of. Lots and lots of 7.62mm rounds hitting the ground. One of the
guys with us that night was a RTO, Radio Telephone Operator, that worked in the Tactical Operation Center,
TOC, and had his radio. He tuned it to the aircraft frequency and we listened to the chatter of the pilots and
the control tower. The control tower was telling the pilots they could not shoot cross border and the pilots
telling the tower to repeat last transmission as it was garbled and then breaking radio contact and hearing
static. We were laughing so hard our sides hurt. The 25th and the NVA in the area had not seen the CAV react
to being attacked or how our birds worked. The rest of our time on Tay Ninh Base Camp the flight line never
got mortared again. Then on November 7, 1968 we got the word to saddle up and get ready to CA, Combat
Assault, to the bush of War Zone "C". And as expected, it was a BAD place. Thus ended the Move South as
we moved out to build our first LZ and find and fight the NVA. We knew the enemy had to be Hard-core NVA
because NOBODY in I Corps had mortared our choppers. I guess the NVA did not know about the CAV and
how much death and destruction we rained down on the enemy when we were attacked. It just got us p****d
off and mad and we went after the enemy that much harder.
Continued on November 1968 pages.
Top of Page
the rumors did not say, but we were still moving according to the rumors. The Army lives on rumors and the
troops love to guess about what is happening.
Still hearing rumors of the move, 1st Bn 8th Cav starting getting replacements, FNG's (F*****g New Guys) or
Cherries, into our companies like no one had ever seen in the past, EVER! Most of the companies in the field,
Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta, operated with about 70 to 85 men tops. Now the companies were growing to
100 men, then 120, and at last count Charlie Company was up to 150+ men. This meant we had more FNG's
than guys that had been in firefights. That was scary, because if we were going into a BAD place, say cross
border, we did not have enough battle-hardened troopers to train the new guys.
On October 24th @ 1900 hours "C" Company went Opcon (operation control) to the 2nd Brigade, but only
the Headquarters, 1st Platoon and 4th platoon. On 25 October @ 1010 hours 2nd & 3rd Platoons went Opcon
to 2nd Brigade. Then on 26 October we went Opcon to 2nd Bn 8th Cav. On October 27th we came back to 1st
Bn 8th Cav control. Why the move is a good question. No one seems to know. The 1/8 Cav continued
operations in and around LZ Anne thru the 1st of November: finding bunkers, trails and getting into small
firefights, 2-3 NVA. Nothing big. On November 1st we were surprised to learn that LZ Anne was being turned
over to "A" Company 1st Bn 9th Marines. The 1/8 Cav continued to turn over responsibility of our
operational area to the Marines. Then on November 3rd, 1968 the 1st Bn 8th Cav started their move to a new
location. The rumors had come true, we were moving, still did not really know where, but we were moving. We
knew it was some place BAD because the supply sergeants started issuing extra ammo, grenades and even flack
vests, which we NEVER wore in the field. Guys were getting nervous. All this extra gear meant some place BAD
and probably had lots of hard-core NVA in the area. Maybe back into the A Shau Valley to set up a
permanent base camp. We loaded on planes, not choppers, to our new location so we knew it was a long way
away. The Air Force loadmasters on the planes did not take our weapons, ammo or grenades, or even tell us to
remove the magazines from our weapons. Unheard of in every other airplane ride I took in Viet Nam. We
landed at Ben Hoa airport in III Corps. It was kind of funny in one respect. Here is a bunch of grunts fresh out
of the Bush, dirty, smelly, torn and sweat stained jungle fatigues and loaded for bear with our extra ammo,
grenades etc walking thru Ben Hoa airport. Check out the picture of me at the top of the page to see how we
looked. This airport was for guys going to the WORLD, R&R and new guys just getting in country. That day
and time it was full of replacements. There was a line of MP's, Military Police, about 10 feet apart in their fresh
uniforms, shined boots and pistols keeping us away from the replacements. I guess they didn't want us to
mingle with them. But we still yelled at them anyway. I will leave it to your imagination to guess what we
yelled. Outside we loaded up on either Duce &½ trucks (2 &½ ton trucks) or "cattle trailers", 40-foot trailers
with wood sides and benches on either side and a row down the middle. Next stop our new home. It turned
out to be Tay Ninh, and we moved in with units of the 25th Infantry Division and took over some of their old
barracks. I can remember November 5, 1968 very well. It was my 20th birthday and we celebrated by getting
drunk. 1st time we had been drunk in Viet Nam. We had to go to the Philippino PX to get our beer because the
25th would not sell any to us. There were four of us that night and we lay out on the sand bags in front of the
barracks and drank the beer and talked. Some time that evening after dark, we heard mortar tubes go off in
the distance. You can tell a round had just left the tube by the sound it makes as it exits the tube. The 1st ones
starting hitting the flight line where the CAV had parked all our choppers, Lift birds, Gun ships,Cobras,
Chinooks, Medevac and Scout birds. In about 3-5 minutes after the 1st round hit, every bird was in the air and
looking for the source of the mortar rounds. We were so drunk that we did not even move to cover, especially
when we figured out they were after the choppers. The mortar rounds were coming from cross border,
Cambodia. The Gun ships and Cobras went after them. The sight of a solid red line from up in the black sky to
the ground is a very pretty sight to a grunt, but not the enemy. Every 5th round is a tracer that burns red, and
that is what the solid red line is made up of. Lots and lots of 7.62mm rounds hitting the ground. One of the
guys with us that night was a RTO, Radio Telephone Operator, that worked in the Tactical Operation Center,
TOC, and had his radio. He tuned it to the aircraft frequency and we listened to the chatter of the pilots and
the control tower. The control tower was telling the pilots they could not shoot cross border and the pilots
telling the tower to repeat last transmission as it was garbled and then breaking radio contact and hearing
static. We were laughing so hard our sides hurt. The 25th and the NVA in the area had not seen the CAV react
to being attacked or how our birds worked. The rest of our time on Tay Ninh Base Camp the flight line never
got mortared again. Then on November 7, 1968 we got the word to saddle up and get ready to CA, Combat
Assault, to the bush of War Zone "C". And as expected, it was a BAD place. Thus ended the Move South as
we moved out to build our first LZ and find and fight the NVA. We knew the enemy had to be Hard-core NVA
because NOBODY in I Corps had mortared our choppers. I guess the NVA did not know about the CAV and
how much death and destruction we rained down on the enemy when we were attacked. It just got us p****d
off and mad and we went after the enemy that much harder.
Continued on November 1968 pages.
Top of Page
Quang Tri Airport
Loaded up, ready for the move to Tay Ninh
