5th Gp also - Page 6

Gstonz · 03-02-2009, 20:22

Mojaveman wrote:

Quote:

Now that brang back some memories from some long ago and distant travels.

The small herd of goats that were living on the roof of a six story apartment complex in downtown Alexandria, Egypt. The cattle and sheep that were on the dropzone in Morocco when we jumped in. We weren't smelling too rosey after that one. The crocodiles in the river that the Somali soldiers were throwing our garbage to.

Hmmm....I recall eating the goats somewhere in Somalia & wishing I was back in Cairo

Never did find a mamba thank god. I was told the Somali garter snake in compound was venomous. What wasn't?

alelks · 03-02-2009, 20:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojaveman

I remember "Pev" (red head HALO SCUBA) and "Greg"

Do you remember the infamous Oro Grande "beer bash" of '83?

It was a few months before my time but it's legendary stuff.

Haha!

I was there for that one.

Let's see.

Beer
Strippers/Hookers
Automatic Weapons
Officers getting urinated on.
Etc
Etc
Etc

AL

PS That's also the same trip that Jake in the daily BN meeting looked over to the XO and asked "do you want to hit this MF or do you want me to". He was speaking about CPT Realini (S4 OIC) at the time.

That's when I decided to step outside.

I liked Jake. He always told it like it was. I met up with him again years later when he showed up at Battery Pratt in Panama just before that ordeal kicked off. I was glad to see he survived that fiasco as there were definitely some head hunters after the Oro Grande incident.

**Pete** · 03-02-2009, 20:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by alelks

....He was speaking about CPT Realini at the time.....

Ah, yes, the Bn S-4.

Our team was packing up to go to the Carrib as the rest of 3rd Bn was going off for a winter warfare FTX.

We took out pallet up to Green Ramp and I went over to ADAG with my -2s. SCUBA Team loaded out to the Max. After a bit of chit chat with the Air Force guys we handed over the -2s and asked for help to make sure everything was straight. In less than 5 minutes we were good to go.

As we were finishing Cpt Realini rolled up with a small detail and all of the Bn's pallets. He walked in, handed the -2s to the ADAG and said something to the effect of "Sign 'um, they're good to go."

The Air Force guys slowly looked through the stack, asked the Cpt if he had proper -2s for everything and the Cpt said he did. I was headed for the door as the AF guy said "I don't see any -2s for the propane bottles". Got to be a right good pissin' contest but I guess the Cpt lost because the AF said "break 'um down we want to check the pallets & team boxes for items that require -2s ".

Not a good day to be a small pallet detail member. Us? We beat a hasty retreat after a wink and a wave to the AF guys.

2nd story on the same S-4

For some reason the good Cpt hated to order in flight meals from the Air Force. He liked to pass out MREs for long flights. Our 180A hated MREs and kept telling the S4 how to order in flight meals. Talk about a downer for the rest of the troops, another trip, another MRE, land for fuel, an AF truck drives up "Is Chief C. here? Here are the 10 meals you ordered." Next stop "Here are the 10 meals you ordered." The rest of the guys looked on as we chowed down.

One time we landed in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night with a 141 full of Bn guys. The Chief, who carried many copies of our travel orders, simply called up the in flight kitchen, said he had orders for something like 60 guys and asked if they could come up with some food. By the time the plane was ready the food truck rolled up. The AF guys kept saying how sorry they were for the quality of the meals and that we could have gotten better if they had had more time. Heck, we were happy for what we got.

alelks · 03-02-2009, 21:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

Ah, yes, the Bn S-4.

Our team was packing up to go to the Carrib as the rest of 3rd Bn was going off for a winter warfare FTX.

We took out pallet up to Green Ramp and I went over to ADAG with my -2s. SCUBA Team loaded out to the Max. After a bit of chit chat with the Air Force guys we handed over the -2s and asked for help to make sure everything was straight. In less than 5 minutes we were good to go.

As we were finishing Cpt Realini rolled up with a small detail and all of the Bn's pallets. He walked in, handed the -2s to the ADAG and said something to the effect of "Sign 'um, they're good to go."

The Air Force guys slowly looked through the stack, asked the Cpt if he had proper -2s for everything and the Cpt said he did. I was headed for the door as the AF guy said "I don't see any -2s for the propane bottles". Got to be a right good pissin' contest but I guess the Cpt lost because the AF said "break 'um down we want to check the pallets & team boxes for items that require -2s ".

Not a good day to be a small pallet detail member. Us? We beat a hasty retreat after a wink and a wave to the AF guys.

Yep,

Someday I'll have to tell you the story of the good Cpt's previous assignment. It just so happens my brother was in the same unit in Italy as him pulling a 1SG duty prior to coming back to 10th GP. That's one for the books for sure.

By chance to you remember when Smitty Daisey chained two generators together to get enough power to start the C140 so we could fly home out of (Tunisia or Morocco). I can't remember which one it was now.

mojaveman · 03-02-2009, 21:57

Hi Al,

What are we having here a 3rd Bn reunion?

I remember the Battalion S-4 well.

We're beating the Orogrande incident into the ground so how about some other stories? I had a lot of fun during Winter training at Ft. Harrison, MT in February of '85. I seem to remember a lot of beer drinking, snow skiing, snowshoeing, yet more beer drinking, some cross country skiing and a little more beer drinking. I got to know SGM Strahan well on that trip. One night in a tavern way up in the mountains he told everyone at the table the story of Son Tay. It was interesting being in SF the time that I was because many of the legends were still around.

alelks · 03-02-2009, 22:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojaveman

Hi Al!

What are we having here a god dam 3BN reunion?

Realini was a real gem wasn't he? I remember while we were on Flintlock in Morocco during April-May of '85 he bought some interesting gifts at the bazaar in downtown Rabat. Well, somewhere between landing at Pope and unloading at BN S-4 his belongings somehow disappeared. He was ranting and raving and blaming all of the junior enlisted guys of stealing his stuff. One team sergeant who was in the vicinity looked at me and said "he fucked up when he put his name on it." I was pretty much neutral with him. I think I still have a picture of him somewhere in my archives.

We're beating the Oro Grande incident into the ground so how about some other stories? I had a lot fun during Winter training at Ft. Harrison, MT in February of '85. I seem to remember a lot of beer drinking, snow skiing, snow shoeing, yet more beer drinking, some cross country skiing and a little more beer drinking. I got to know SGM Strahan well on that trip. One night in a tavern way up in the mountains he told everyone at the table the story of Son Tay. It was interesting being in SF the time that I was because many of the legends were still around.

I missed that particular trip. I think I may have been in O&I. By chance did you make the trip to Puerto Rico? I can't remember the year but I believe it was around 81 or 81. We had a pretty good survival phase. We were the last ones to go through so the lanes had been picked pretty clean of oranges. Heart of palm was pretty good though.

I remember one incident the last day (it was pretty much over). We ran across two teens (females) and I walked up to them asking (In Spanish) if they knew where we could buy some beer. Well come to find out they were from Boston of all places (figure the odds). Well we found a place and bought a bunch of beer and beans.

On my team every individual carried a bag of dry beans. It was pretty much SOP. Well that evening it stormed so we had a nice pot of beans going and put up our poncho hooches. For the life of me I can't remember the team leaders name right now but I remember him being drunk as a skunk, going over to get some beans off the fire. Well the next thing we know you hear this tumbling. The captain had slipped and rolled down this rather long, steep hill. He got up with a proud grin on is face saying "Didn't spill a bean.

On the mountain phase we had a 3 tiered decent. We put Paris Woodhams (Woody) in the stretcher and started down. Now Woody was longer than the darn stretcher so that was fun. The last tier we had to construct a suspension traverse to get to the bottom.

On my team at the time we had Woody, Max Recod, Dude Wicker, Buck Buchannon, Steve Mehl, Roy Rodgers, Bernie Mims, Joe Cannon, and a few others I can't remember right now.

Ahhhhhhh,

The good old days.

Not too long after that was when LT Vavra had his double malfunction. I ran across him a few years ago at the Special Operations Museum when I was working for Lockheed Martin.

AL

mojaveman · 03-02-2009, 23:29

By chance to you remember when Smitty Daisey chained two generators together to get enough power to start the C140 so we could fly home out of (Tunisia or Morocco). I can't remember which one it was now.[/QUOTE]

I'm certian it was Tunisia because SFC Bob T. told me the story one time. He said that the Air Force even tried using the downwash from a helicopter to try and get one of the props to turn so that the engine would start. I guess once they got one engine started then they could start the rest. That failed but the generators worked. Strange what I remember sometimes.

alelks · 03-03-2009, 20:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by mojaveman

By chance to you remember when Smitty Daisey chained two generators together to get enough power to start the C140 so we could fly home out of (Tunisia or Morocco). I can't remember which one it was now.

I'm certian it was Tunisia because Thornton told me the story one time. He said that the Air Force even tried using the downwash from a helicopter to try and get one of the props to turn so that the engine would start. I guess once they got one engine started then they could start the rest. That failed but the generators worked. Strange what I remember sometimes.[/QUOTE]

I know what you mean. The Morocco tip was the sickest I have ever been in my life. One of the drivers invited me and John McCrae over to his house for dinner. We ate like kings but the next day I had it coming out of both ends at the same time. They had to stick a few IV's in me to get me hydrated. I just felt like I wanted to die.

I often wonder what happened to Bob. He was a great guy and devoted to his family.

I can still see Smitty like it was yesterday jumping up saying "I'm not staying another D&^* night in this country" and going to work splicing those generators together.

Smitty is still around Bragg too. I ran into him last year in Fayetteville.

AL

voord05 · 03-26-2009, 07:24

18B
572 ruck '93-'95 ('94 First trip to Paki with SGM Pete, I still have the rosewood furniture from that trip!)

570 a little bit of the B Tm hell '95-'96

573 mountain '96-'01

MDH · 04-20-2009, 13:43

Oro Grande !!!

Havn't thought about that in years, LTC Jacobelly saved my butt after I got into it over the radio with the BN XO.

Mike

mojaveman · 04-20-2009, 18:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDH

Oro Grande !!!

Havn't thought about that in years, LTC Jacobelly saved my butt after I got into it over the radio with the BN XO.

Mike

Hey MDH,

How about a few more clues as to what you were doing then. There are a handful of guys here you might know. LTC Jacobelly was a good officer. He wasn't above having a beer with the guys.

MDH · 04-20-2009, 19:43

Think I was working in the BN C&E shop at the time, came back and went over to ODA 581

spiceygoggles28 · 11-11-2009, 09:40

5th SFGA 1/68 to 1/69

I had the honor of serving in Det A-113 / Det-B16
1st Mobile Strike Force Command
I Corp RVN

Jack

Combat Diver · 05-15-2010, 08:14

C/1/5 ODB 530 84-85 S-4
C/1/5 ODA 535 85-88 (Bragg and Campbell) Eng SGT
A/1/5 ODA 515 Dec 90-98, Eng SGT, Sr Eng, Intel, & TS
HHC/5th Gp S-3 98-99 Current Ops
C/1/5 ODA 533, TS
HHC/5th Gp S-2 NCOIC 03-06'

CD

Bait · 05-15-2010, 11:58

1st Bn: 78-81
3d Bn: 86-91 & did the roll over to the 3d.