"Prairie Fire" x2
 

This is a recording of two Recon Teams (RT's) who are in dire straits. Both RT's are loosing a battle wherby death is immenient. Those RT's are: RT Colorado with Pat Mitchel being the 1-0, Lyn St. Laurent as the 1-1, and David "Lurch" Mixter as the 1-3. RT Colorado is an eight man team including the five Indigenous troops. The other was RT Hawaii with Les Dover as the 1-0, Regis Gmitter the 1-1, and John Justice the 1-2 (I believe this to be the case with this recon team as far as who was what on the team through natural progression of skills learned in combat.) May not be accurate though, reader and listener take note. Also, it is unknown to me how many Indigenous Troops made up RT Hawaii at that time.

RT Colorado is the team that is running for its life. RT Hawaii is holding their own. Both RT's have called out a "Prairie Fire" in Laos near the Ho Chi Minh Trail and are approximately 10 miles apart as the crow flies. Colorado has just been hit by a North Vietnamese platoon of 40 men who desire no more than to wipe this team completely off the face of the Earth.

During this Prairie Fire, David Mixter is killed when he saves Mitchel's life by shoving him to one side and exchanging fire with an NVA armed with an RPG. Mixter and the NVA exchange fire immediately. The NVA fires his RPG as Mixter fires his weapon. The RPG hits Mixter in the knee area and kills him instantly as the NVA drops dead by Mixter's return Fire.

What exactly does a "Prairie Fire mean? It means at least three things, they are: 1) You are in contact with a much superior force than yours. 2) Either completely surrounded or will be. 3) Death is imminent.

The other two "emergencies" were the following: 1) Tactical - meaning you are in engaged with the enemy, but you are holding your own for now. This could be upgraded at any time to a "Prairie Fire". Especially if you are surrounded and have allot of wounded. 2) Team - Somebody is sick or injured.

All pilots that flew gunships, helicopters, attack and fighter aircraft were given a "briefing" before flying in country. That briefing entailed what to do if a FAC has called out a "Prairie Fire" over the radio. By the rules in Vietnam everyone listening was to stop what they were doing and come to the aid of the FAC/Recon Team(s).

John "Plasticman" Plaster is the "Covey Rider or Backseater" on the afternoon shift with Captain Mike Cryer as the pilot of their OV-10 Bronco. They had just lifted off from Pleiku after eating lunch there and are heading out towards Laos. Ken "Shoebox" Carpenter is flying as the CR onboard the military version of the Cessna 210 Skymaster over Laos at this time. As Plaster and Cryer left for Laos they noticed how clear the sky was considering that most of January had been very wet. As they passed Ben Het below, Cryer switched their radio frequency over to "Shoebox" Carpenter's frequency and what you hear for the next 35 minutes is two RT's fighting to stay alive.

One other item of importance. The reason why you hear so many people talking at once is because allot of the helicopters and FACs had what is known as a "hot mic". What this means is that the microphone is always on and talking on it is much like talking on a telephone. Everybody can talk and hear responses immediately. The only exception to this is the Recon Team(s). They relied upon the PRC-25 and much later in the war the PRC-77 for commo and this meant that the RT could constantly moniter a channel (receive) and transmit by pushing the button in on the handset.

Also, the first "Prairie Fire" you here is from RT Hawaii's 1-0 Regis Gmitter and it is during their rescue mission. When you here Platster call on the radio: "I have your smoke, where do want the firepower brought in?" you will hear Pat Mitchel's voice stating that "Their is only two of us left and Charlie is dead on our ass!". Mixter was killed a few minutes before this and the Indigenous troops are nowhere to be seen. Also, it is during this time that Mitchel is carrying Lyn St Laurent as he is seriously wounded himself. They are fighting for for their lives. Pay special attention to the background noise when Plaster is talking. You can hear the twin engines screaming and an occasional burst of the four mounted M-60's. The continuos M-60 firing at the end is from the rescue Hueys doorgunners. One is firing one long string of 7.62 ammunition through his M-60 without stopping. It is still a very hot area.


Here is the following code names/words that are used in this recording that may be of use to the listener. Hopefully this will make the following conversations easier to understand and follow. Here are some of these words:

1) Plasticman John Plaster's personal call sign while on a RT
2) White Lead Huey in charge of flying the rescue mission
3) Delta Papa Three John Plaster's call sign while flying as Covey Rider in Bronco
4) Tango Papa Pat Mitchels call sign as 1-0
5) Panthers AH-1G Cobras. Also known as "Cobra"
6) Kingbees H-34 Helicopters usually flown by Vietnamese pilots
7) Bravo Hotel Ben Het SF camp
8) Delta Tango FOB at Dak To
9) Foxtrot Mike FM radio frequency
10) Victor VHF radio frequency
11) Uniform UHF radio frequency
12) Straw Hat/Type Code name for American personel on a RT
13) Kilo November Known North. Position is "Kilo November"
14) Lurch David Mixter's personel call sign
15) Winchester Air assets that are out of ordnance

Note: If any codenames/words are left out, they are unintentional. I ask that you either PM me or send a response to this thread with any question you may have. I will try and find out the answer and if I cannot, hopefully one of the SOG members here can respond to it. Any error(s) that may have occurred above are mine and only mine. I applogize a head of time for this.

Note: From my point of view, one should listen to this if possible, in a dark and quiet room with no distractions. This way you can hear and understand most of the recording.

This recording is dedicted to the greatest soldiers in the world, the men who wear the Green Beret.

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...in_trouble.mp3

NOTE: For further information on this Prairie Fire x2, one should get "Secret Commandos, Behind Enemy Lines With The Elite Warriors Of SOG", By John L. Plaster

I remember this day vividly, 29 January, 1971!! I was at One-Zero School and had just been through the Brightlight Mission (posted in the Briefback Forum: http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...read.php?t=788) one week earlier. We inserted on our FTX on the 28th and heard about these in the Club after we were extracted and de-briefed.

Later
Martin

I found this link that has some pages from Mr. Plaster's book

http://books.google.com/books?id=JYT...65N0h4#PPA3,M1

After listening to this again,...............this tribute also goes to the Air Support Members that would get OUR FAT OUT OF THE FIRE!!!!!

As I was told several years ago, by an air crew member when I was invited to the Gladiator's Reunion, "You know, a lot of us thought that you guys were crazy getting off our Choppers where you did... and some thought we were nuts going back after you when you got caught... but we know they can never really know anything about it at all." This was from 1992, before all of this was de-classified and cleared for release, but there is also a very hidden message!!

Take care.
Martin

Wow... A unique piece of history right there.

I have one question though for those of you in the know. Was Delta Papa Three actually getting ALL of those transmissions to include the helo common nets (i.e. the chatter between birds on their internal frequencies)? If so that seems like a bit of overkill. We have a phrase this day and age for situations like that where you're processing conversations on multiple nets at once: helmet fire. That said, I've never come across anything as confusing as what I heard here!

As AM has stated, the Aviation units and their crews need to be recognized as the bravest and most courages of all the units flying in support of SOG. Whether you were Army, Navy, Marine, Vietnamese (VNAF), or the USAF aviation this is also to you, that I dedicate this CD.

How I forgot all of you, I am not certain. Please forgive me for this huge mistake.

Anyone else getting error on page?

Try to memorize the code words/names. It makes listening/understanding what your hearing, more realistic.

Stay safe.

Are you referring to my question? I can't download it. Probably one of my settings.

From which link, Post #1 or #3?? You might need to turn your Firewall off to open it if your anti-spam/pop-up settings are set too high.

Later
Martin

You could always right-click on the link and save target as, then save it to where ever you save files on your hard drive. I did that and it makes playback abit easier. If you don't want to save it AM's method hit the spot and will work as well.

Got it thanks
Guy is right. If you know the code names it's not as confusing. You have to also listen to it more then once. It gets more interesting every time you listen to it.

You are correct!! There are many side conversations going on in it, beside the commo between the RTs and Covey!!

I probably find it easier to understand because I recognize most of the voices, having whispered in Plaster's ear for HOURS and have been "In The Loop" on several similar Ops!!!

Later
Martin

I believe that allot of the begining of the CD is chatter between the rescue helos and the Panthers crews from the first "Prairie Fire". If you can isolate them talking about what they just went through and their own opinions being voiced, you can then concentrate on Plaster's conversation and the second "Prairie Fire" in the background. You also have to remember that this tape/CD starts near the end of the first "Prairie Fire".

You also have to remember that this tape/CD starts close to the end of the first "Prairie Fire" and rescue procedures are well on their way.

Also, I have listened to it at least 50 times and on a regular basis I play it in my truck's CD player when driving and I still find it interesting and I do learn something new each time I play it. Just like AM stated that he understood the voices better than us because he was there, if you do listen to it more and have read any books on SOG you will pick it up much faster.

Only if he wanted to hear it. You could select any of the comms that you wanted active at any given time.

Later
Martin

Cool, thanks. Yeah, I'd definitely want to be able to turn some of the nets off if I needed to. It's kinda silly to have to listen to one pilot chat with another about overspeeding on the landing when they're on their way home while at the same time you're trying to listen to a guy in the ground and get him out of trouble.

Did you hear the Aircrew talking about how close the Pink Panthers brought their support fire?? He said that his door gunner had a piece of schrapnel land in his lap!!!

Those guys did put it where we needed it!!!

The slick drivers would actually come in through the tops of the canopy while we were standing on the skids!! Hence the vectoring that the top cover C&C ship was giving. I've actually gotten on the ground and later found branches stuck in the laces of my boots and spats!!

Also, did you hear the Door Gunners open up as they were comming into the LZs!! They would hose the whole way in and out!!!

It did get confusing, but I never turned off a freq, just had to multi-task.

In addition to monitoring all the freq's, and guard channel, there was usually one of your crewmembers communicating via the intercom. That overspeed was a rotor overspeed, wasn't it?

I am going to have to listen to this again, it brings back a lot of memories! Some good!

Martin:

Thanks for the heads up, Brother!

Total team effort, all the way!

CPTAUSRET,

I believe so. I also Believe that he stated something like he "Couldn't get this thing to land!" Now that is the main rotor correct?

MAB:

I am not sure just why a rotor overspeed would prevent slamming that thing on the ground. Unless he REALLY overstressed something. Was it rotor overspeed under power? If so, the engine (gas turbine) could have been overstressed. Here's something for you to read.




Transport Accident Investigation Commission Aviation Rail Marine


spacer
Investigation 04-003
Bell/Garlick UH1B Iroquois helicopter, ZK-HSF, in-flight break-up, near Mokoreta, Southland, 23 April 2004

Report Extracts Full Report
O Abstract
O Safety Recommendations Download full report (808 kB PDF file)
Order hard copy: volume A83, price NZ $24.00 Order here

Abstract
On Friday 23 April 2004, Helicopter Services UH-1B helicopter ZK-HSF was on a ferry flight to Gore to facilitate maintenance work. En-route near Mokoreta a main rotor blade separated, the helicopter broke up and fell to the ground. The pilot, the sole occupant, was killed and the helicopter was destroyed.

The accident resulted from fatigue failure of a tension-torsion (TT) strap, a critical rotor hub component. The fatigue cracking had probably been initiated by an unreported rotor overspeed event.

Safety issues identified included:

· The need for pilots to understand the importance of reporting a rotor overspeed event

· The need for FAA and CAA airworthiness personnel and licensed maintenance engineers to recognise and respond to documented improper identification of critical finite-life components such as the TT straps

Safety recommendations to address these issues were made to the Director of Civil Aviation, and to the Administrator of the United States Federal Aviation Administration.


Safety Recommendations (SRs)

Ok, I understand that completely. I will listen to it again and see if I can hear more and figure out more details.

Good.

The knowledge base, and information available on this website is as good as it gets!

I plan to listen to the tape when I get back to Georgia. As a purely technical correction, the Skymaster is a Cessna 336/337, not a 210. The mil version of the "Mixmaster" was the O-2, which was easily differentiated from a 336 by the presence of the hard points under the wings (for 2.75" rockets).


Dedicated C&C Hueys had radio consoles installed which had multiple FM, VHF, and UHF radios. That would probably explain the vast amount of traffic that apparently was on the recording. The typical slick had one of each.

Mouth shut until I get home to listen.

I stand corrected on the numerical designation between the 336 and the 210.

What was the deal with the Air Burst rounds. Then the one guy came back with "it wasn't an Air Burst" Some Dumb F*#$k threw a Grenade out the back"

I have had a CE, or door gunner carry frag grenades onboard, we sometimes hovered over spider holes and dropped them.

What I think happened in that case was one of the Indigenous troopers threw it out. I have some copies of various "Tips of the trade" that were wrote out usually by the company's First Sergeant so everybody could see what has worked in the past and what hasn't. AM, do remember what those papers were called back then? The name seems to escape me right now.

Anyway, in one of those tips it mentions that you should never throw a grenade from out of a rescue chopper because their could still be Panther's, air support, and other hueys beneath you. Now the Americans on the RTs knew about this no-no but maybe an Indigenous Trooper(s) did not understand it and maybe out of fear or rage he tossed one out while they were climbing to escape enemy AA. IMHO and nothing more. Could be wrong too.

"LESSONS LEARNED" ?

In a way, that sounds correct. I have heard that title somewhere before too. I'll have to dig through my library on SOG.

IIRC, it was "Lessons Learned" and was put together by the folks at B53 Camp Long Thanh.

There was also a post in here a couple of years ago:

http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/...d%22#post93450


Terry,

The "Overspeed Issue", was a Main Rotor. We operated High and Hot in Laos!! We could only carry 4 folks per ship. Hence the question of if they could carry 6 out!! My 12 man team took a flight of at least 9 Slicks!!! Three for us and six more to haul us and the 4 man crews out if things went south!!

Cap and AM you are correct. I found it in a copy of the: POI 7658, Patrolling FTX, "Combat Recon Manual, Republic of Vietnam". Prepared by Project (B-52) Delta, HQ. Nha Trang.

Under [B]"M-16/CAR-15 Tips", #9 states: "During extraction do not fire weapons from helicopters after leaving the LZ because a gunship may be passing under you without your knowledge."

I would also think that this would also mean grenades and "any" aircraft passing below you. Just MHO.

thanks for stopping by.......

And you are?

TR

TR,
Possibly a Team Member of RT Hawaii, MAC-V-SOG CCC!!! From above:



Reg,...............is that really you?!?!?!

Take care.
Martin

Wow, thats some crazy s**t. One of the more intense recordings Ive heard. Hats off to all the Soggies out there.

With the proper equipment would it be possible to isolate some of the different "conversations" and then listen to them seperately ?

JW

Just came across this thread. The original document for this was titled "Reconnaissance Tips of the Trade" and was prepared by two of B52s most experienced NCOs, Joe Alderman and Norm Doney (who was the Recon Co 1SG at CCC when the Tips were written). This POI has expanded the original Tips and also has some of the elements found in the MACVSOG RT Leaders Handbook circa '69 plus a few other pics to 'sex' it up a bit I guess.

Richard

Thanks for the link MAB32.
I just stumbled on this thread and will order the book ASAP.
"working and coming in hot and heavy"

Wow this is some good stuff, I just got done reading Secret Commandos and this is just intense to listen to. I dont even know what to say but thanks!

Josh

For last Memorial Day...
 

Thought that I would re-post this thread for all the new people to hear. Should have posted this for Memorial Day.