Death in the Jungle by Gary Smith Read Free Book Online

Inspection). The Cadre (SEAL Team 1 instructors) had us running all over the prickly Chocolate Mountains and the mucky Salton Sea, blowing up enemy targets with explosives, capturing specific individuals, rehearsing area and point ambushes and reconnaissance, and in general, doing RP&B (Rape, Pillage, and Burn). We were beginning to work smoothly as a platoon, and also as a squad, when we split up. Each man was beginning to feel comfortable and confident with his responsibilities and how he fit into the platoon. And every man knew exactly what the other men’s responsibilities were.
    It was at this point that our instructors began teaching us the art of flexibility applied to contingency planning (when the enemy had gained the element of surprise over us). The key was to take the unexpected and turn it into victory. Continuous training in immediate action drills prepared us to respond instinctively and aggressively and for the best chance of survival. For example, if we were to patrol into an enemy ambush, our immediate response would be to charge directly into the midst of the ambush, thereby changing a defensive action into an offensive action, that is, direct assault against the enemy. If we could pull it off, we were winners; if not, then the enemy would surely hold us in great awe and respect for our courage. Even in death, it was good to be a winner.
    We gradually became more confident as a fighting unit because we knew we could count on the Navy Seawolves, Navy Boat Support Unit personnel, and others to respond to our cries for help or reinforcement. In other words, we would use our strength against the enemy’s weakness, neutralize the enemy’s strength, andconceal our vulnerability. The enemy had a larger force, but we had superior firepower, and/or maneuverability. Because we were a small, offensive unit, we always had to try to seize and hold the initiative. Without going into all of the elements of war, our strengths were due to our good leadership, up-to-date training, state-of-the-art equipment, and teamwork. Take away any one of the four, we would be in trouble.
    The last three weeks in July ’67 were spent at the Army’s Jungle Warfare School at Fort Gulick in the Canal Zone in Panama. It was an excellent school, staffed by U.S. Army Special Forces personnel.
    There, Foxtrot Platoon was used primarily as point element for company- or battalion-size operations. During one evolution, we were to E&E (escape and evade) the enemy from point
A
to point
B
. Naturally, the “enemy” consisted of Special Forces staff members. We were given all day to complete the course. All of Foxtrot ran the distance and none were captured. However, one sergeant was hot on my trail, and got close enough to get a hand on my right shoulder, when I dove into a creek. I swam to the other side and kept on moving. I hadn’t forgotten the lessons learned at Devil’s Elbow on the Colorado River during UDT Training.
    We learned how to make comfortable shelters (called bohios) from a mosquito net, poncho, and inflatable mattress. We learned how to cook coatimundi, boa constrictor, iguana, sea foods, et cetera, and how tasty their flesh was.
    The highlight of the trip occurred when a sergeant said I could have a small boa constrictor for a pet. All I had to do was reach into a cage where a fifteen-foot mama boa lay with several hundred babies, each twelve inches in length, wiggling all together in one bundle. I couldn’t back out, as SEAL Team 1’s image was at stake. I reached down into the mass of squirming eviland came up with none other than Bolivar. He and I became fast friends. I simply put him into my pocket and smuggled him back to Coronado.
    When we returned to the Silver Strand, we had just one week to get our gear packed to leave for Vietnam.
    On 7 August, Foxtrot and Alpha Platoons departed for Vietnam on board a Navy C-117. Foxtrot Platoon members were as follows: Lt. Stanley S. Meston (OIC), Lt. (jg) Francis E. Schrader