From: flyn3nvt@adelphia.net
Date: Tue Oct 07 2003 - 19:34:49 PDT
> Vietnam is not Iraq. Don't ever make the mistake of thinking you can
> just pluck one thing out of history and, without any more thought than
> that, compare it to something else. History doesn't work like that.
Well I too a Historian, spend countless hours researching the History of the Line Haul in Vietnam and the "Gun Trucks" they used. I am currently in the process of replicating 3 of them so their history and there lessons learned wont be fogotten. I doing so I foreward all the posts to a Veteran friend who served on Gun Trucks and this is what he had to say.
STEVE MY NAME IS LARRY FIANDT--- I WAS ON A FIVE TON GUN TRUCK AND TAKE EXCEPTION TO YOUR HISTORIAN APPROACH TO GUN TRUCKS IN IRAQ. VIETNAM AND IRAQ HAVE A LOT IN COMMON, WE WERE AMBUSHED IN VILLAGES, HEAVY FOLIAGE AND MOUNTAIN PASSES. ABOUT THE ONLY PLACES THAT ARE NOT THE SAME IN THE WIDE OPEN ARID DESERTS, BUT THEN WE HAD WIDE OPEN WET RICE PADDIES, THE GUN TRUCK AS YOU SAY "WAS NOT A MAGIC WAND" BUT--AGAIN YOU SAY AS A "TOOL". THE FIFTYS WOULD SHOOT THROUGH A BUILDING, THROUGH A TREE, AND IT DID KEEP THEIR HEADS DOWN AND WHEN YOU KEEP THEIR HEADS DOWN THEY CANT AIM VERY GOOD. STEVE-- THESE PEOPLE WERE SCARED OF THESE TRUCKS AND TO SAY" YOU CANT PLUCK FROM HISTORY"---WELL--I GUESS THE TANK NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN USED AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR---WRONG STEVE---YOU TAKE WHAT WORKS AND IMPROVE ON IT---I'LL TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THAT THESE GUYS IN IRAQ ARE JUST STARTING OVER, THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN THE LESSONS LEARNED STEVE, AND WHEN YOU FORGET WHERE YOU BEEN YOUR DOOMED TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES, AND ONE MORE T
HING. THE ONLY REASON A AMBUSH WORKS IS BECAUSE OF POOR DEFENSE----STEVE, I CANT TELL YOU THIS OR THAT WOULD HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE AT A PARTICULAR TIME OR INSTANCE BUT I WILL TELL YOU THIS--IN VIETNAM THE VC AND THE NVA WERE EATING US ALIVE IN CONVOY--JUST AS THE ENEMY IS OUR TROOPS IN IRAQ, BUT WHEN THE CONVOYS WERE MANNED WITH GUN TRUCK AS WE KNOW IT THEY BEGAN TO FAIL---AND FAIL BIG, MOST ALL THE MAJOR AMBUSHES BECAME LITTLE ONES, AND INSTEAD HAVE HANGING AROUND AND SHOOTING UP OUR TRUCKS THEY HIT AND RAN---MOST AMBUSHES WERE OVER IN 5 MIN. OR LESS NOT THE LONG DRAWN OUT FIRE FIGHTS AS BEFORE, AND IT WAS BECAUSE OF THE FIREPOWER WE HAD--THE GUN TRUCKS--THE TRUCKS WITH THE FIREPOWER OF A COMPANY OF MARINES STEVE--WHEN IT COMES TO A FIREFIGHT ITS FIREPOWER AND ON THE ROAD ITS GUN TRUCKS--JUST LIKE TANKS--THEN AND NOW--TAKE CARE STEVE AND MAYBE RETHINK THINGS IN YOUR HISTORIAN WAY OF THINKING. LARRY FIANDT, 523RD TRANS
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