Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Rolling Coffins - 23rd Mech in Vietnam

Anybody out therecross paths with the 25th Infantry Division, 4th Battalion of the 23rd Infantry Mechanized in '68-'69?

A buddy of mine wrote a book about his expereinces in Vietnam titled "Rolling Coffins", a tip of the cap to the lightly armored APCs he had in the 23rd Mech.

Over the years, he has casualy spoken about his experience there - and not in positive tones - but I never new the details. I just finished his book, and to say I was dumbfounded is an understandment.

First day in the field, his APC takes a hit from a short round, from 105mm or 155mm Howitzer. Everyone riding on the APC was killed expct for him, who was blown off, dazed from concussion and bleeding ears. Friendly fire. Being the NFG, they picked him up and made him walk the point (idiots).

To round it up, Brian was awarded 3 Purple Hearts, CIB, Silver Star and the DSC (our Nation's 2nd hghest honor). to say he was in the chit, is an understatement. I'm surprised he's basically a normal guy. His experience has made him glad to be alive, and he has been a go getter and very successful.

As e says, any day here beats being back in 'Nam. He does a really good job of summing up what he considers a major lack of leadership onthe ground in 'Nam. Draftees were sent to the field to serve under inexperienced Shanke and Bake NCO's and college boy LTs, while the professional NCOs and officers were assigned as House Cats at Base. The promotions went to the House Cats while grunt Companies in the field remained chronically undermanned and without at times ANY leadership.

I read one of those APC books that were damn good about a year ago. I couldn't find it on my Kindle AP on the phone just now.

However...

I was shocked to find how much of a unsafe space those things were. The only real protection was the 50 and the skills of the driver most of the time to get them some distance away from RPGs especially.

The vets I knew that had experience with them, would only ride on top.

I think they had almost stopped using those rolling coffins by the time I got there in early '71. Not the smartest design for a troop carrier, in many people's mind.

My uncle was in the 4/23 and was killed in Jan 1968 by an RPG. Ask your bud if he knew George H Nunez from New Mexico. He was a machine gunner.

Is the book available on Kindle?

Brian said he arrived in country after that date. He also said he never really learned any names other than nicknames. They were always tired, hungry, and always short handed. Casualties were so high, they didn't bother to learn the names of the FNGs because so many fell in the first weeks they were there.


Said RPGs seemed under every bush and the tracks were main target. RPGs would destroy an APC straight away.

25th Infantry Div was in III Corps. I was in I and II Corps. NOBODY who was a Grunt had an easy trip. Officers (boy wonders) would only serve in the field for 6 months "to help their service records" and shake and bakes usually got killed pretty quickly. Our Platoon Sergeants were Lifer Dogs and as harsh as ground glass in your KY. RPG's in the jungle were nasty because of the wood splinters that hit guys when the bastards went off. I suspect your buddy would attest to the intensity and frequency of combat in Nam. It was a savage place.

Tag.

Jim,

Thanks for your input. Brain pointed out some things in his book that I never really knew or pondered. He was thrown into action in the field and almost immediately upon arriving in country. He was in the combat zone without a break for 3-4 months before he got a 3 day R&R and pass. Everyday on the move, digging in a laager defensive position overnight. Every third night he and another had to go out and set up claymores and ambushes. Eating nothing but C-rats and watching guys go down everyday from contact with the enemy, friendly fire, disease, phoucing snakes, leaches, centipedes etc. Said it didn't take long to get the thousand yard stare.

Some REMF Office would chopper in, alight with starched fatigues and spit shined boots, survey the battlefield, and fly back to base.

Meanwhile, the NVA had a regular R & R rotation. They would make contact and then run for Cambodia if outnumbered. Rest up, eat, regroup, and come back for more. I never really understood that about the NVA, which explains how they could put up with the massive casualties. Their grunts thought Uncle Ho had their back. Our grunts thought they were expendable, used as bait to lure the enemy into a situation where airpower and artillery could wipe them out.

Each side had a wholly different perspective. We had an unlimited amount of supplies and "stuff" but valued each and every soldier's life. The NVA had an unlimited supply of warm bodies but were woefully short of supplies.

As a result, the NVA attacked our stuff, because they incorrectly thought it was the most valuable. We attacked their people, incorrectly thinking they were the most valuable. Each side used its own perspective. Wrongly.

We finally wised up and began attacking their supplies, supply lines, and storage yards. And we were within an eyelash of complete victory when our politicians pulled the plug as slunk away with their tails between their legs.

(As it eventually turned out, the other guys took note of all of our "stuff" and decided that maybe a little capitalism wasn't such a bad idea after all. It took a few decades to take effect, but we finally won that one.)

Interesting observation. Thx for sharing with us.

In late '69 while deployed at Phucat AB I had the privilege of pulling perimeter augment duty with AF Security Police patrols in those damn tin cans especially around the bomb dump and POL storage areas.Our manpower requirement during those days was inadequate to say the least and when not flying "Spooky" crews pulled double duty.

Not my cup of tea looking out through that green fuzz for the bad guys..sapper types the main threat to neutralize before they could celebrate their own 4th of July event.

Good post. Thanks.

What Rocky said....

I drove one of those things for a while but wasn't in Nam so I didn't get shot at. I was in an NG headquarters troop and we used them for radio shacks. For cold weather, they have gasoline fired heaters that are so loud that it's impossible to hear the radios, even with headphones.
The 1/4 tons also had smaller versions of those heaters. With the billions of cars on the road with very efficient hot water heaters, how did the army come up with such an idiotic idea as those things?