07- The Combat Infantryman in Vietnam
In this episode of The Austin Chapter H21 of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we begin a series of episodes where we have discussions and interviews with combat infantrymen during the recent campaigns — since World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm and today in Southwest Asia (Afghanistan and Iraq- OEF/OIF). These episodes will not come all at once, one-after-another. Rather, they will be spread out amidst other interviews that will be highlighting the community service participation and the events in which our chapter will be involved.
To understand the combat infantryman during the Vietnam War, this Southeast Asian conflict, we explore the following themes:
- Loneliness while in the “bush”;
- Losing the concept of “The World” and feeling that he will never return;
- The misery of the elements (e.g., the monsoon rains), the creepies-and-crawlies, the insects and snakes;;
- The resulting complications (e.g., Agent Orange, skin disease, etc.)
- The feelings of fear, terror and fright during engagements with the enemy or while on ambushes, patrols, air assaults or other missions–while feeling the boredom and monotony during interim periods;
- The dangers and risks of being unluckily hit by friendly fire.
Notice that the eyes of this combat infantryman tells the entire story by just one look, as he is in “the bush.”
This episode is a discussion with a combat infantryman that served in the Vietnam war and earned the CIB– Fred Castaneda.
Different other themes are brought into the discussion — especially the “bond of brotherhood” that resulted from the closeness that we had as we became more than comrades.
In addition, we discuss the differences between the documentaries from the early-to-mid-1980s to the present day about the combat infantryman’s plight in Vietnam vs. the Hollywood studio films and their depiction of the war.
Since we feel that the documentaries made an attempt to portray the situation of the combat infantryman a bit more realistic and fair than the early days of the 1980s, we list the following (which I describe and held in my hands as I delivered the podcast audio episode):
- The Grunts of Vietnam – from the series Weapons at War, as shown on The History Channel. Copyright (c) 1993, Greystone Communications, Inc.
- Battlefield Vietnam- from the Time-Life Video series. Copyright (c) 1998, Lamancha Productions, Ltd.
- Inside the Vietnam War - as seen on the National Geographic Channel. Copyright (c) 2008, NGHT, Inc.
- Vietnam: An American History – from the PBS series, The American Experience. Copyright (c) 1983-2000, WGBH Educational Foundation.
As mentioned in the audio podcast episode, the speaker’s opinion is that the only 2 Hollywood movies worth mentioning were: (1) We were Soldiers, (from the book, We Were Soldiers Once…and Young by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway); and (2) Hamburger Hill, which is the story of the taking of the hill in the Ashau Valley by the 101st Airborne Division during May, 1969.
In the next episode, we will begin with the first part of an interview session with Bobby Briscoe (Chapter Commander) and Olie Pope, the Director of the Travis County Veterans Service Center of Texas.
Copyright (c) 2008, Matrix Solutions Corporation and the 82nd Airborne Divsision All-American Chorus. All Rights Reserved.
Image of Combat Infantryman from painting image owned by Fred Castaneda; Audio excerpt from The Last Full Measure of Devotion, 82nd Airborne Division All-American Chorus.