O'Deuce - Strike ForceIn the initial buildup of fighting troops in Vietnam, General Westmoreland needed troops to hit the ground running and take the fight to the North Vietnamese government. The 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division were among the "First to Fight" in the Vietnam War. Arriving in Vietnam on July 25th of 1965, they soon fought the first battle waged from helicopters on September 18 and 19 of 1965. First blood would take 13 dead and 44 wounded and the 1st Brigade would go on to make history again in the Central Highland Jungles of Vietnam. They learned guerrilla warfare by On the Job Training and would go toe-to-toe with the Viet Cong and many NVA Regiments of the North Vietnamese Army regulars. They fought in the rice paddies of South Vietnam and moved to the Central Highland Jungles early on in 1966 and would remain there through 1967, slowly moving North to Phu Bai, near the DMZ.
This book relives-in great detail-the lives of those first paratroopers to fight in Vietnam. They learned the ways of the jungle guerrilla and became accustomed to monsoon-drenched operations that lasted 30, 45 and 60 days without seeing a rear area of any kind. Not having any kind of permanent rear area base to come to, their "three day stand downs" between operations were nothing but 8 GP medium tents set up somewhere along the coast of the South China Sea. They never knew where until they got there. A typical tour of duty in the jungles of Vietnam lasted 300 days in combat. Only the Australians spent more field combat time in the bush than the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division. They Australians brag about 313 days, as well they should. The average combat time in the field, for an Infantry soldier during World War II, was 40 days.
Malaria, leeches, Punji sticks, trench foot and any minor wound that became instantly infected, were just some of the day to day afflictions that became a way of life with the troopers of the O'Deuce - Strike Force Battalion. Some gave all, all gave some, and day-by-day they fought for each other like the "Band of Brothers" that made them all proud in The Big War as the older veterans called it.
As the great World War II correspondent, Ernie Pyle, wrote in his book Ernies War,
"They have made the psychological transition from the normal belief that taking hum n life is sinful, over to a new professional outlook where killing is a craft. To them now there is nothing morally wrong about killing. In fact, it is an admirable thing."
They fought as a family unit and today shed tears when the names of their fallen comrades are read in Veteran's Day ceremonies. They were "Airborne" one and all, and proud of their military heritage. The journalists of Saigon stated that "Medals fell like snowflakes" among the 1st Brigade troopers.
This book has the names of 2,151 soldiers that fought for the O'Deuce of the 1st Brigade and over 400 individual stories of men in war during the years 1965, 66 and 67.
"Only the Dead know the end to War" Plato
