They Called Me LT: Inside the Heart and Mind of an Infantry Platoon Leader

By Ronald J. Nielsen

They Called Me LT by Ronald J. Nielsen

__________________________________

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781636303727

Book preview

cover.jpg

They Called Me LT

Inside the Heart and Mind of an Infantry Platoon Leader

Ronald J. Nielsen

ISBN 978-1-63630-371-0 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63630-372-7 (Digital)

Copyright © 2020 Ronald J. Nielsen

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Getting into College and Army ROTC

My Draft Notice

Introduction to the US Army: ROTC

Infantry Officer’s Basic Course: Fort Benning, Georgia

Fort Carson, Colorado

I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane!

The Flight to War!

My Platoons

I Meet My First Platoon

First Contact—I Earned It!

Despair

Patrolling and Ambushes

Blowing Bangalore Torpedoes by the Mekong River

Booby Traps for Lunch

Tunnels and Stay-Behind Ambushes

Bomb Craters from the Air and Ground

Hunter-Killer Team Episode

Calling in Artillery and Gunships

Critter Encounters

Surprises in the Field

Haircuts, Pizza, and Life in the Rear

AFVN and Millie, the USO Girl

An Exciting Ride in a Light Observation Helicopter

Movie-Night Confrontation

New Assignment: The Walking Regulars 3/22nd Infantry

The New Platoon

Pigs on a Night Ambush

An Unexpected Incident on Patrol

The Cave Inspection

Resupply Along Highway 1

Confrontation with the Enemy

Friendly Fire

Dog in the Claymore Incident

Follow Me!

Landing Zone (LZ) Incidents

Sharing Information with the Vietnamese

Phantom Patrols and Fake Ambushes

Everything Is Off-Limits!

Fooling Civilians and Ruff-Puffs

We Feed the Children

The Jungle Penetrator

The Night Hawk

The Xuan Loc Bar

One LZ Too Many

I Am a Minority for a Night

Dear John

One Dark Night!

Christmas 1970

Time on Active Duty Reduced

Drugs and Distractions in the Field

R&R—Going and Coming Back

The Michelin Rubber Plantation

Ambush with New York Times Reporters

Dinner at My Scout’s Home

My Last Platoon Sergeant

Orders for Home!

Last Mission

Carrying Rocks

Leaving Vietnam

Back to the World

Release from Active Duty

Back to Denver and Valerie

Homecoming

Introduction

This is my story of the time leading up to how I got into the Army and my time on active duty. This experience has colored my entire life since, both good and bad. It helped make me the person that I have become, my life views, and my values.

The Vietnam War was not popular by the time I entered military service. No one particularly wanted to go and fight that war, but some of us didn’t really have a choice. All we could do was to try to make the best of a bad situation and try to survive the experience. We had been taught to be patriotic and love our country, so we went.

I was determined to make the time a good learning experience and to take out what I could from it. I met many good men of all colors and backgrounds who truly enriched and taught me many things about life and society and how things really worked in this world for which I shall be ever grateful. I traveled to many places and met good people from across the United States who shared their knowledge and experience with me to help me survive then and now. I also got a close look at other cultures, both at home and abroad, which helped me understand that there are good people all over the world who hold many of the same values as I do.

I share these experiences now to help my family understand what I went through in a difficult time. While these are some of my experiences, there are many others that I’m not willing or able to share.

Prologue

A long time ago and in a place far away, I fought like hell to stay alive. Using all of my wits, knowledge, and strength, I hung on and refused to give up, give in, or give any kind of quarter. Today I am here because of the force of my will and several guardian angels who kept watch over me during that time and since. I was fortunate to have good company in this fight, the American fighting men.

As their leader, I guided them, taught them, relied on them, and led them through a series of trying events that took us all to our physical and mental limits and beyond. It was only by becoming a melded together unit that we were able to keep each other going until we could get out of there. In a way, it was like being in prison as we had no choice but to be there. On the other hand, there were many lessons to be learned from one another as we strove to survive being placed in this situation where it was kill or be killed. These lessons have stayed with me ever since, and I will never forget them. I learned what it was like to change from a boy into a man through these experiences. The place was Vietnam. My men called me LT, not Sir or Lieutenant. They said they would not salute me in the field in order to protect my identity as an Officer from the enemy. They said I was a good platoon leader and they wanted to keep me alive.

Getting into College and Army ROTC

I entered college at South Dakota State University in the fall of 1963. In those days, registration was held in the barn, which was the large Quonset-shaped building known as the field house. In the building were the gymnasium and many classrooms for physical education classes, offices, locker rooms, etc. The university had received many complaints regarding the order of registration as those at the beginning of the alphabet always got to register first and got all the best classes, and those at the end didn’t. So that fall, they decided to jumble the alphabet to get rid of the problem. Lucky me, the Ns got to register last that fall.

As I planned my strategy for registering, I decided to go for the required classes first as my student adviser suggested. This was because you had to stand in long lines to get an IBM punch card for each class. When I got there, I looked over everything and saw a couple lines for classes I needed that were short and jumped in there and got a couple of quick classes. As the day progressed, there came a time when I got to the front of the line and discovered that the class I wanted was full and thereby had to adjust my schedule into what was available that was required that would fit. I figured that I could wait for the ROTC (Reserved Officer Training Corps) class until last. It was required that all male students spend two years in ROTC because SDSU was a land-grant college. The Military Science Department would have the most flexible schedule of classes left by the time I got there.

When I had finally filled out my schedule of other classes, I went over to the Air Force ROTC table since I had decided to go into the Air Force if I had to go into military service. When I got there, they were packing up as it was late in the day. I asked one of the officers to look at my schedule to see which ROTC class I could fit into for the semester. He looked at me and told me that all the classes were full, and nothing was available. He directed me to the Army ROTC table as he said they still had plenty of openings. I asked him if I took Army ROTC in the fall, if I could switch to Air Force the next semester. He said I probably could, but I would have to start all over since the Air Force didn’t accept Army ROTC classes for credit. I thought his attitude was pretty high-handed and walked away, deciding I would see what the Army had to say.

When I reached the Army ROTC table, I asked them if they had openings for me. A friendly officer said that, yes, they did. He took my schedule and looked to see what freshman classes were still available and offered me a couple of choices. I looked at his uniform and demeanor and decided that I liked green uniforms better than blue—and that I liked the way I was treated much better too.

So there I was in Army ROTC.

My Draft Notice

I had been having a tough time adjusting to college. During my freshman year, I suffered from poor grades and a bad attitude. I had been advised to take a semester off, which I had done. After working out in the real world, I had decided I was really stupid not to be in college and decided to go back, much to the relief of my fiancée, Valerie, and her parents. I had decided to try harder. However, I also had to work to earn enough money for living expenses. I had no scholarships since my grades were not high enough. My dad had told me he had no money to pay for college expenses. He had finally agreed to cosign a loan at the Lake Benton Bank, with the understanding that I would be the one paying it back. The president of the Lake Benton Bank really helped me out then and for the next two years with loans, for which I will be forever grateful. I paid it all back.

So here I was back in college. Things were going along okay. I was working weekends for a local farmer and also working part-time during the week in Brookings, South Dakota, near the SDSU campus. Together, these jobs gave me enough money to live on and to occasionally drive to St. Olaf College where my fiancée was a student. I didn’t have any money to waste. I never went to a movie, didn’t drink very much beer, never bought a pizza, nothing. But it was going okay. The folks would give me some groceries and fill up my car with gas when I went home on the weekends to work at the farming job. I don’t remember Dad giving me money, and if he did, it was no more than $10 at a time. He didn’t have it as he was going through a tough time too.

Anyway, on one of the weekends, I had a letter waiting for me from the local draft board when I came home. The letter said they were changing my draft status from a 2-D to a 1-A. The 2-D was a student deferment, and the 1-A was an immediate availability to be drafted into the Army. I was worried about it and decided to drive to Ivanhoe to the courthouse and see what was what in person.

The draft board had an office on the third floor (no elevator). I walked up to the desk and handed the secretary my letter. I told her that I was a full-time student at SDSU and that I should still have my student deferment. She looked up my information, looked at me with an attitude, and said that the letter I had received was correct. She explained that since I had not maintained full-time student status since graduating from high school and could not graduate from college by the time four years had passed since graduating from high school, they were going to take me now! I calmly asked her how many young men were they going to draft from Lincoln County anyway, to which she scowled and spat out, All of ya! I held up my hands in front of me and retreated from the office with a quiet thank-you. I was screwed!

I went back to college and waited. Sure enough, a draft notice came in the mail. I opened it and it said,

Greeting:

You have been chosen by your friends and neighbors to participate in military service for your country. You are to report to the Courthouse in Ivanhoe, Minnesota for a physical examination to determine your fitness for duty. If you fail to report at the given time and place, a warrant will be filed for your arrest.

The date and time were there. So I went.

I checked in early in the morning and was put on the bus for Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to the induction center, along with many other young men from the county. We arrived, were herded into the reception room, and the physical exam procedure for the day was explained to us. After that, they moved us through like cattle. It was quite a dehumanizing experience. They had many other guys from different places and were wasting no time or energy getting us through.

Several guys were held over for some additional exams, and I was one of them. I had hurt my back in high school and was still having some issues with it. The doctor who examined me asked a few questions with no examination and then declared me fit for service. By the time I got back to the main group, the bus had left for Ivanhoe, the county seat where my day had begun. We were told we would be held over to return the next day. Since I had to get back home, I decided to hitchhike with a couple other guys.

We walked along the street by the induction center and put our hands out to thumb a ride. No one stopped. In fact, they would speed up as they went by. I looked around and discovered that we were across the street from the South Dakota State Penitentiary. That was why we weren’t getting picked up. We walked down the street for a mile, put out our thumbs, and almost immediately someone stopped to give us a ride. We got three different rides that day and ended up beating the bus back home.

The following day, I went back to the ROTC Department at SDSU. I walked in the door and asked them if they still had any openings for Advanced ROTC, which was two additional years. They got big grins on their faces and asked me if I had passed my draft physical. I nodded yes, and they said, C’mon in. I signed up for Advanced ROTC. That meant I could stay in college until I graduated, but then would be given a commission as an officer and be obligated to serve my country at that time. I figured it was a good deal. I would be paid $50/month as a junior and $100/month as a senior. The war in Vietnam would be a distant memory, and I would have a degree. Best of all, I wouldn’t be drafted. Life was good again!

Introduction to the US Army: ROTC

Fort Lewis, Washington Summer Camp

In the summer of 1967, I was required to go to summer camp at Fort Lewis, Washington, as part of the requirements of ROTC. This was really a boot camp where we would learn firsthand about the way the Army operated.

After a road trip along Interstate 90, which wasn’t even completed all the way through the mountains, I arrived at Fort Lewis as ordered with three other cadets. We checked in and were assigned to a company and sent to different barracks, where I received a cot. The next morning, we were greeted by an officer, who started us on our journey through the summer camp. We were first taken by truck to a building where we went through a line where we were asked our sizes for boots, fatigues, etc. We were given the clothing, which we stuffed into a large canvas bag. From there, we all got our haircut in the butch style, very short. Then back to the barracks where we dressed in our new clothes. We put the rest into foot lockers and wall lockers in a particular order with everything folded or rolled just so according to a set of instructions given to us.

For the next six weeks, we received both physical training to get into shape and had classes on different aspects of military life. It was basic training geared to the infantry, so we learned how to shoot a M-14 rifle, a .45 caliber pistol, an M-60 machine gun, the LAW (light antitank weapon), recoilless rifle (like a WW2 bazooka), and other various weapons. We were taught how to use a bayonet and sent through a bayonet course. We learned how to build and crawl under or through barbed-wire obstacles in rain or shine while explosive charges were going off in pits beside us. We learned how to throw a grenade and how to set up a Claymore mine. We learned how to dig for mines already in the ground and how to disarm them. There were day and night patrols where we learned how to read a map and use a compass and how to keep a pace count in order to know where we were. There were aggressors (regular Army men) out there looking for us, so we learned how to avoid them, how to survive an ambush, and how to capture and detain prisoners.

We held various leadership positions during our time there, from a company commander to a platoon leader to a squad leader to a team leader and many days as an ordinary soldier. We all had to teach a class to a group of soldiers. My topic was how to build a slit trench. I got a lot of laughs out of the men for that one. We also got to serve as KP (kitchen police) where we would prepare and serve meals and clean up afterward.

We learned about tear gas and how to use a gas mask. We went through a gas-chamber exercise where each one of us had to take off our masks inside the chamber, say our name, college and service number, put the mask back on, clear it and exit the chamber without showing any signs of panic. Many couldn’t do it, but I did it on the first try. I was always calm doing these things.

They gave us demonstrations about what napalm would do to a person and what flechette rounds from a Cobra Gunship would do. I was to experience Cobras many times in the coming months both on the ground and in the air over Vietnam.

After the six weeks were over, we were released and made our way back home, older and wiser. We made sure to stop and buy some Olympia beer to take back to lord it over our classmates that we had been somewhere and done things they hadn’t. We had some car trouble on the way back and had to rent a car to get part of the way. When I got home, I was down to my last two dollars.

The summer camp was a time where we learned to toughen up a bit and get a taste of what was ahead. I was still holding out hope that the war would be over before I got there, but I found out that things sometimes don’t happen as fast as you would want.

So back to SDSU I went to finish up my college days.

Oakwood State Park ROTC Weekend

Every spring, the ROTC faculty would spend a weekend at Oakwood State Park north of SDSU to train the cadets for experiences they may encounter in combat. Cadets spent three days in tents and roaming around the state park practicing patrol formations and fire and maneuver. Leadership lanes were utilized to teach cadets how to use their heads and solve problems that may occur while they were leading a platoon.

When it was my turn to lead, the mission I was given was to rescue prisoners by using stealth to approach and overcome the enemy. Little