{"id":3317,"date":"2017-11-01T22:33:52","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T22:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/?p=3317"},"modified":"2018-01-15T15:09:05","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T15:09:05","slug":"vietnam-war-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/2017\/11\/01\/vietnam-war-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Day in the life of a Vietnam Soldier"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dane Huber\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOne day, I was just like you, walking down the street. I had a brand new car and everything and a beautiful girlfriend\u202624 hours later I was down in Fort Dix sleeping in the parking lot because they didn\u2019t have enough room for us. They had boarded so many people at once, [I would] spends nights in the parking lot on the asphalt before they could even give us a bed\u201d recalls Sargent Lawrence Galiano on his first moments as a solider preparing for the Vietnam War. [1]<\/a> His plans to attend architectural school following his graduation from Barringer high school in downtown Newark, New Jersey would now be forfeited to fight for his country. Drafted on July 10th<\/sup>, 1966, Sargent Galiano would go onto serve in Vietnam from February 5th<\/sup>, 1967 to February 1st<\/sup>, 1968 with Company C of the 1st<\/sup> Battalion 12th<\/sup> Infantry Regiment 4th<\/sup> Infantry Division, also known as the Red Warriors. [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

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Lawrence Galiano in Vietnam<\/p><\/div>\n

H.W. Brands, the author of American Dreams<\/em>, provides a memoir of Marine Corps second lieutenant Philip Caputo, as he \u201cand his fellow junior officers frequented the Officer\u2019s Club in Okinawa, waiting and doing what off-duty officers do while waiting: drinking.\u201d And \u201cfor seven weeks Caputo\u2019s battalion saw no action,\u201d when finally sent out into the jungle. [3]<\/a> Sergeant Galiano\u2019s experience does not deny Brands depiction of the battle in Vietnam, but offers a typically overlooked perspective of a drafted soldier fighting in the central highlands of Vietnam.<\/p>\n

February 5th<\/sup>, 1967, Galiano was headed to Saigon, Vietnam with 90 fellow Americans on an Air Force c-131, but orders were quickly altered following a pit stop \u201cin Wake Island to refuel for about an hour…they recut our orders and sent us to a 4th<\/sup> division in Pleiku, [Vietnam].\u201d [4]<\/a> Pleiku was the location of Camp Enari, the 4th<\/sup> division headquarters. [5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Once arriving in Vietnam, preparation for battle consisted of \u201ca little bit of training, [a] little country orientation, a couple Vietnamese words, and we had a chance to zero in our m16s.\u201d [6]<\/a> The zeroing of his m16 was a first, as Galiano was trained on an m14 prior to the war. However, there was little time to adjust to the environment of war Galiano recalls, as on \u201cthe morning of the 12th<\/sup> of February, [the United States] put us on helicopters and sent us out into the field.\u201d [7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Galiano\u2019s first day in the jungle transpired so quickly, he didn\u2019t even have a moment to touch ground before under attack. He remembers \u201ceverything was under fire…when we land, we cover about ten feet out of the helicopter; we got thrown out.\u201d [8]<\/a> But the next moment his luck would change along with his role in the war. After his ejection, he jumps into a \u201cfoxhole where one of the guys was dead; he was the gunner…So, because the gunner was dead, the assistant gunner had [to] take his place, the ammo baron became the assistant gunner, and I became the ammo baron.\u201d [9]<\/a> The gunner squad gave Galiano protection and comfort in a war that provided little. Unlike other members of the infantry, the machine gun squad had to stay together at all times.<\/p>\n

The Red Warriors spent time along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an area where all three boarders of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia meet. Galiano\u2019s regiment\u2019s main objective was to protect the area and conduct bomb assessment. [10]\u00a0<\/a>Between August and December of 1967, it was an intense period as the \u201cAmericans bombed almost every target of military and economic importance in North Vietnam, flying 55,000 sorties and dropping 100,000 tons of ordnance.\u201d [11]<\/a> The intensity of the bombs imposed on the enemy could be heard and felt by the soldiers themselves. Galiano states they would wait \u201cto hear the bombs fly over [and] the Bombay doors open\u201d to then \u201cfeel the jungle bounce\u201d as they hit the ground. [12]<\/a> Following the bombings, the regiment would enter the area under attack, to conduct analysis on accuracy of the bombings and gather death intelligence information. Galiano can remember going in to \u201cdig up bodies and see what rank [the soldiers] were\u201d because the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) would hide the bodies. [13]<\/a><\/p>\n

Dak To, a village in the central highlands, was home to a US Special Forces Camp \u201ccomposed then of mountain tribal mercenaries led by experienced and canny Army noncommissioned officers.\u201d [14]<\/a> The US learned of NVA development and preparation of attack in the area. [15]<\/a> Early in November of 1967, the US decided to bring in the 173rd<\/sup> airborne Brigade and battalions of 4th<\/sup> infantry under Major General William R. Peers. [16]<\/a> Though not directly involved from the beginning, Galiano and the 12th<\/sup> regiment were called in for backup during the final battle of Hill 875 after many casualties. He recalls the 173rd<\/sup> airborne, \u201cwas on guard duty\u2026and a couple of their guys\u2026fell asleep and the NVA came through the wire, cut their throats, and started blowing up anything they could find.\u201d [17]<\/a> The US army finally forced the NVA out and decided they must follow them up Hill 875. Galiano states this was a costly mistake because the \u201carmy did exactly what the NVA wanted them to do. They chased them up the hill. And when they chased them up the hill, they ran into a whole regiment of NVA\u2019s.\u201c [18]<\/a> Leadership is key to success in the military, and on Hill 875, those leaders failed their soldiers.<\/p>\n

The lack of leadership was not only issue during Galiano\u2019s time in Vietnam. According to Brands, the US was far superior in every category of firepower and logistics compared to the NVA. [19]\u00a0<\/a>However, Galiano\u2019s experience does not reflect Brand\u2019s opinion. The weapon given to Galiano and his fellow soldiers was an m16, while the NVA were provided AK47\u2019s. The AK47 was a far superior weapon to the M16 rifle because \u201c[an AK47] didn\u2019t jam [and] you could hold it under water and it would fire.\u201d [20]<\/a> The enemy was not only better equipped, but often outnumbered the United States military. Galiano, as sergeant, had a platoon that \u201cfluctuated, sometimes it was 12 guys, maybe there [were] 15\u201d and his infantry company was \u201csupposed to have 120 members and at best we had maybe 70.\u201d [21]<\/a> As stated earlier, The United States felt no need to better equip or reinforce their troops because they believed their airstrike capabilities were plenty to support the troops. Galiano and his regiment would be sent out into battle with a 9 enemy to 1 soldier disadvantage in hope of support through the air. However, Galiano explains that the \u201coperations were up in the high canopy jungle, sometimes 3 [level] canopies\u2026and when they fired artillery, [the soldiers] would get airbursts\u201d as backup. [22]<\/a> And the environment not only affected airstrikes, but resupply of replenishments. There were days, Galiano says, \u201cwe were on our own, and we would have to fight our way in and fight our way out\u201d of the jungle. [23]\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n