THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER

These are the men of 60th Company, OC 504-68, of Fort Benning, Georgia, who were killed in Viet Nam. We graduates of that 1968 class at Infantry Officers Candidate School, commemorate these seven each Memorial Day. One graduate:  1LT Jacob Lee Kinser, a Huey helicopter pilot. Two Tactical Officers:  CPT Reese Michael Patrick and 1LT [...]

This meme of Obamaloot bites dog is becoming a trend, at least among conservative and libertarian bloggers. It is funny, I think, though it always reminds me of my little tour in the Southeast Asian War Games in 1969. American military advisors (as I was to the South Vietnamese light-infantry militia) had to spend at [...]

In 1965, the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended bombing Hanoi and mining Haiphong Harbor to avoid a protracted ground war in South Viet Nam. President Johnson screamed at them, cursing them and calling them idiots. “Why had Johnson not only dismissed their recommendations, but also ridiculed them? It must have been that Johnson had lacked [...]

I’ve had Tinnitus, a ringing in the ears, since I came home from the Vietnam War in 1970. Although it can have several medical origins, I’ve always attributed it to months of being in close proximity to the staccato noise of machine guns and automatic rifles. Last night I was awaked by what sounded like [...]

Found this scouting out some public domain shots for the cover of my new Vietnam War novel, “The Butterfly Rose,” which will soon be available for the Kindle. I decided to use another snap but kept this one on the desktop because it’s so unusual. Hardly the stereotype shot of a covey of Hueys in [...]

The rearing black cat on the yellow circle on the nose of these Hueys reminds me they were our resupply and courier service in Viet Nam in 1969. This is one of their bases somewhere near Da Nang. Note the M-60 machinegun tilted downward on the left side of the bird on the right. Nobody [...]

“Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel George D. Wolfe Jr., of Ligonier, [PA], passed away at his home Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. He was born Jan. 14, 1934, in Gettysburg, to the late Rev. George D. Wolfe and Vernie Warner Wolfe…. “George was a husband, a father, a grandfather, an uncle, a brother and a friend, but [...]

Never occurred to me at the time (1969-70) that the Army would replace these birds with bigger and faster ones. The Huey, or UH-1B, being small, was harder to hit. But, compared to a Blackhawk, it was pokey slow.

First of several American war in Vietnam photos I’ll be running here. This is my old headquarters unit from RF-PF advisory days in 1969. Guy on left is my RTO holding my M-79 while I take the pix. Next to him is Mr. B.’s future godfather in his younger days. I hope the rest of [...]