Streicher heard a distress call over his radio to evacuate wounded troopers of a 4th Infantry Division unit in heavy enemy contact near Kontum. Hearing that a Medivac was not available for several hours, he requested to fly the mission although he was completely detached from the operation. Hindered by the tiny hillside landing zone and the ever darkening skies, he managed to hover low enough for the wounded soldiers to be placed aboard, a feat which four other pilots had tried but failed that same day.
     Under constant fire, Cpt Streicher returned with a load of ammunition to carry the beleagured Company of the 4th Division through the night. Captain Streicher is currently in Command of the Casper Platoon Platoon of Helicopters, which aid in support of Brigade operations.

     Sp4 Robin R. Titus, 19, then with Bravo Company, 173d Support Battalion, earned the Soldiers Medal for heroism for his actions when an Air Force C-123 cargo plane crashed on the runway at LZ English, 40 miles north of Qui Nhon.

     Although the aircraft was aflame and in danger of exploding from leaking fuel, Titus reentered the plane time and again until all casualities had been evacuated and received emergency medical treatment. As a result of this heroic action, the crash victims escaped with only moderate injuries. Specialist Titus is now serving as a Medical Aid with E troop, 17th Cavalry, operating along the north central coast of Vietnam.

     AN KHE- A small group of Montagnards and Vietnamese hunched in the darkness by the moonlit trail, a soft tropical wind whistled through the hedgerows outside Dong Che Hamlet.
     The squad's tensed fingers flicked their M-1 carbines to automatic. One rubbed the smooth stock of his M-1 with his calloused hands and peered up the trail beyond the trip flares they had set before the sun went down. Someone was coming down the trail toward their ambush site. Rifles came up- sights were leveled.
     Twenty meters away, the primitive hunting urge of the tawny skinned Montagnards sharpened. A Vietnamese Platoon Leader made a last minute check on his men. Fifteen, ten, five meters- it was at least a Platoon of NVA.

Flare Tripped

     FLASH!- the sulphur glare of the trip flares caught the NVA in its naked light. Hot lead shaved the weeds, the small squad peeled off magazine after magazine, clip after clip into the confused enemy. AK47's spit blasts into the trees, urgent commands fell on deaf ears as the NVA dove, rolled or crawled into the thick bush at the side of the trail. By the time the NVA had regathered their wits and sent out a squad to find the ambushers the ambush squad had vanished into the darkness taking two enemy dead with them.
     At first light the next morning trails were followed to six freshly covered graves containing the bodies of NVA soldiers.
     This ambush squad made up of Vietnamese and Montagnards was part of a bold new program being sponsored by the 173d Airborne Brigade. "The PF's (Popular Forces) could be one of the most effective means we have of protecting the local people living in areas beyond Allied Forces areas of operation," said Major Leonard Keller of Denver Co, coordinator of Regional Forces-Popular Forces for the Brigade.
     Similar ambush patrols are being trained by the 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry, (Mechanized), near An Khe in the foothills of the central highlands. 1Lt John D. Martin of Springfield Ill. who is in charge of the 1st Battalion, 50th Infantry's program said, "These PF's are good soldiers- not afraid of anything." Martin is currently in the process of advising his new Platoon of PF's how to build a secure outpost to defend some 1500 people living in Dong Che Hamlet a few miles south of An Khe. "On that ambush there was only a small squad of PF's against an estimated Company of NVA," said Martin, "and they killed several enemy. That's a good nights work anyway you look at it." Sergeant Stephan Dennis of Indianapolis In, explained, "we suspected that the NVA were using that trail as an infiltration route for a long time. But they'll think twice before using it again, the PF's really did a job on them."

     Bong Son- Sp4 Edward Richardson, of Brooklyn NY, has had the unique experience of serving a tour in Vietnam with both 3rd Marine Division and 173d Airborne Brigade. His first tour was with the Marines in 1965. Stationed at Chu Lai with the 4th Marine Regiment, Richardson saw plenty of action and was seriously wounded on Christmas Eve. Receiving a medical discharge, he eventually fully recovered and joined the Army a year later. After Jump School he joined 2nd Battalion, in Bong Son.
     The 24 year old veteran was an RTO(radio-telephone operator) with the Marines and has his old job back with the Paratroopers. Now with Alpha Company 2nd Battalion, Richardson said, "Both the 3rd Marines and 173d are top notch Combat Units. Basic training was tougher with the Marines, but I think the Sky Soldiers have it tougher here in Vietnam."
     Although both the Marines and 173d are always in the thick of the action, Richardson said, "I didn't even know what a rucksack was until I joined the Brigade." Richardson was referring to the 80 lb rucksacks in which Paratroopers haul up to 5 days rations, along with ammunition, grenades and other field equipment. "The Marine unit I was with carried no rucksacks and was re-supplied every day," said Richardson. "Also, we wore flack jackets and used M-14's." Now outfitted with a rucksack and M16, Richarson said, "Despite the hardships, I'm enjoying my tour with the 173d. It should be an invaluable experience."

     TUY HOA- An NVA unit recently decided to disobey written orders from its Regimental Commander rather than defend a nearly impregnable Battalion sized Base Camp and Training Area against a Company of the Brigade.
     The orders exhorting the camp's defenders to stay and fight if the 173d entered the area were found among other documents in the camp by Bravo Company, 4/503d Infantry, who were on patrol several miles northwest of Tuy Hoa. According to the Company Commander Captain, Carleton P. Vencill of Yerington Nevada, Bravo Company had been moving up a stream when a 'Kit Carson' Scout, a former NVA Officer who rallied to Vietnamese government forces, spotted an NVA outpost on top of the steep stream bank.

Fire Exchanged

     The point element exchanged fire with the remaining enemy in the camp and one Platoon moved on line to assault the positions. The Paratroopers encountered no enemy but found a recently constructed Company sized base camp. After a quick search they pushed forward another 300 meters where they discovered a Battalion sized base camp.
     It was situated in four levels along a ridgeline and ran 600 meters in lenght from a jumble of huge boulders to the peak of the hill. There were 40 or 50 fortified positions dug into the base of the boulders and numerous caves scattered among them. Some of the 30 huts found were still under construction. Four of them were mess huts which contained fresh rice and other signs of recent use. "The base camp, approximately two years old, was in the process of being rebuilt," stated Captain Vencill. "I'd estimate there was at least a Company in the camp, but it could easily hold a Battalion."
     The next day Platoon sized reach-outs further explored the base camp and the surrounding area. Outside the camp, the Platoon's pointman Pfc Bruce Welch of Roy Washington, found the training area which was 200 meters in length. It contained another mess hut, a classroom area, dummy wooden Chinese-Communist grenades and an infiltration course consisting of real and simulated barbed wire set up in single strand, double apron concertina and tanglefoot fashion with a bayonet dummy at the end. "The training area was only built about two or three days before we found it," said Psg Wilbur Ali of Cusseta Ga, "so the NVA couldn't have trained too much on the course if they did at all."

     LZ ENGLISH- As night fell, the two Commanders folded their maps, shook hands and returned silently to their units. The next day's Combat Assault was now carefully planned. It was nothing new to Captain Robert Fox, Orlando Fla, and his Paratroopers of Bravo Company, 2/503d Infantry, but this one was different.
     A light rain began to fall, as Fox briefed his Platoon Leaders on the details of the operation. "From now on, we are under the command of Major Nguyen Thieu, the Commander of the 3rd Battalion, 40th ARVN Regiment," he explained, pulling his poncho over him. He's calling the shots."
     The operation, the first of its kind for the Brigade, brought a Company-size American unit directly under the command of an ARVN Regiment. According to Fox, a veteran Company Commander, Bravo Company has worked with ARVN units before with much success. "Their tactics differ from ours," he remarked, "but they are definitely good troops." First Lieutenant Glen R. Ray, Battalion Advisor Commander of the ARVN Regiment said "Operations of this type have many advantages to both units. Similar operations in the past have produced good results."
     Designed to familiarize both units with each other's tactics, the operation took place southeast of LZ English, about 35 miles north of Qui Nhon. "Their knowledge of the terrain and booby traps will definitely help us," stated 1st Sgt Worthy F. Kelton of Reford NC. As 1st Sgt Kelton prepared his rucksack for the Assault, he added, "The ARVNs are also very good at interrogation of the civilians."
     An early morning rain christened the operation as the choppers landed in the dense terrain, the Paratroopers and ARVNs swiftly joining their respective units. Dispersion was stressed by both Commanders to their men as they moved through the thick jungle foliage on the first day of the joint operation.

     BONG SON- 'Bao' the natives call him and repect him with a mystic awe. He talks to them fluently in Vietnamese and calmly prys the villagers for enemy information. 'Bao' is Vietnamese for Bob and Sp5 Robert Newman, of Columbus Ga, is an Army Interrogator for the 172 Military Intelligence Detachment with the 173d Airborne Brigade. Newman has been in Vietnam for 23 months. During his first tour he was a Rifleman with the 101st Airborne Division.
     "While in the field," Newman said, "I talked with every Vietnamese I came in contact with and eventually picked up the pronounciation and differences in language tones between the geographic areas." "I also read every book on the Vietnamese language I could get my hands on," he continued "and gradually, I became able to converse with Vietnamese, regardless of whether they were from the North, South or Central sections. "
     An Officer from the MI Detachment said, "Newman can speak Vietnamese much more fluently than the school trained linguists. There is no substitute for practical experience." Once while interrogating a Chieu Hoi, Newman gained information that led to the discovery of a small Viet Cong production plant, where local Viet Cong were molding engineer stakes and other metals into entrenching tools and knife blades.
     Newman said that the school taught Vietnamese was most like that spoken by the North Vietnamese. "There is a distinct difference between the North, South and Central dialects," said Newman. "It is similar to the difference between British English and American English," he said.

     TUY HOA- A new level in American-Vietnamese cooperation was reached recently when a Civilian Irregular Defense Group (ClDG) Company began manning the defensive perimeter of a 4th Battalion 503d Infantry support base. The base, is located in the mountains west of Tuy Hoa along South Vietnam's central coast, and serves as the Forward Command Post of the 4th Battalion.
     In using the indigenous soldiers, Major Kenneth Wright, Operations Officer for the Battalion, said, "this is the second CIDG company we've had on the perimeter now. They've done a good job, both on the perimeter and on their daily reconnaissance patrols around the base."
     According to SFC John Jelen, the CIDG adviser from Special Forces Detachment A 221, the hundred-man company was recruited by American and Vietnamese Special Forces from villages in the Cung Son area, about 12 miles south of the fire support base. They are trained in weapons, ambush and patrolling techniques and are primarily used for defensive purposes in their home area. This is the first time the unit has been used to defend an American Fire Support Base.