As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
This is just one of those stories which Vietnam needed as far too many of those young Americans were inundated by the Cronkite commie propaganda and the GI's never had the opportunity to reflect on the greatest adventure of their lives.
In the battles of Khe Sahn a Marine base in the north of South Vietnam, the North Vietnamese Communists attempted a pinning operation there to support a general uprising, and the Marines had their hands full for a few months in beating back the NVA, but in the horrors of war, there are always stories which are just too fun to ever be forgotten.
It was on one of the forward firing bases around Khe Sahn that there appeared a communist sniper, who really was becoming a problem. All of the Marines wore flack jackets and at times flack pants or crotch girdles for protection from the explosive rounds and the bullets peppering their locations.
The sniper at the center of this story over the weeks WIA 10 American Marines and he was becoming a problem. The Americans responded with field glasses daily to try and locate muzzle flashes from mortars, cannons, missiles or rifles.
The NVA was very astute in trench warfare in going so far as to dig in mortars underground, provide a slant tunnel for the shell exit and this made hitting the mortars almost impossible.
In this case, the NVA communist in all of the dust, smoke and fog, was located in the flash of his scope reflecting in the sun.
The Marines responded with a 106 mm recoiless rifle, one of the finest pieces of artillery ever devised as an anti tank, anti personnel weapon, but was stupidly replaced by the more expensive TOW missile. To this day the Iranian Muslims still manufacture their own version of the American 106 as it is that dead on accurate and deadly.
The 106 did it's job superbly in making an end of the sniper. The problem was, a new sniper soon appeared and was peppering the camp with bullets.
The search began for the new sniper, but there was a silver lining in this story, as the sniper was such a horrid shot that he or she never hit anything or anyone. Whether this was a defective old weapon or whether the sniper was that bad of shot, a Marine told the commander, "Skipper, why not just leave that snipe alone as they can't hit anything. We kill this one and one will show up who will hit what they are aiming at".
With that sage advice, the sniper was left alive and the Marines of the forward base were safe from NVA sniper fire.
Those are the wonderful stories of Vietnam, and not those leftist whining versions of people who bought into the propaganda and never realized they were in the greatest experience of their lives. People die in war, and that is what makes them an experience for the survivors to cherish life in every moment of the day or night, and to not let their fears overcome them.
The Soldiers who did their duty and were not dope headed shit burners, were all heroic and all had fears as that is normal. They also all excelled and the ones who are not parading around with their Vietnam hats are the ones who need the praise of a nation proud of them in the snipers they killed who could hit things and the snipers they left alive so the Americans could come home alive.
Nuff Said
agtG
