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Jungle_Expert_Cert.JPGThe Most Valuable Certificate Ever!195 viewsMany students were "dropouts". Several of the exercises were beyond those officers and NCOs who didn't have sufficient physical fitness. Some were petrified by having to rappel down a vertical cliff. The "practice" run was a mud cliff; the "graded for score" rappelling was done down a rock waterfall. Those very devious buzzards didn't tell us that. Crossing the raging Chagres River with two poncho halfs making a raft was very daunting for the non-swimmers. I was lucky to be paired with a strong swimmer. The 24-hr E&E was not for the faint-hearted, plus they threw us into a raging storm. The maps literally washed out of our hands from the driving rain as a monsoon started. Such fun.
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Dixon18.jpgThe 2/9th Hexagon graphic194 viewsThis is one of our HQ Btry guys with one of our trucks. Note the special 2/9th hexagon graphic on the door. It is basically a yellow hexagon with a red overlay. It you look at it the right way, it appears to be a box tipped at an angle.
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TopKick.jpgThe Top194 viewsJust looking at this picture, you can tell this man is a respected leader of his crew.
Update: January, 2014. We now know he is 1SG Clifford J. Pullan. He passed away in January, 2015.
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TamKyClouds4.jpgThe Final Days193 viewsStrange view from a firebase. We definitely took the "high ground".
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Malnar2.jpgThe Final Days193 viewsPFC Greg Malnar tends to some sore feet atop LZ Mile High at Tam Ky. Greg was in the FDC and later served as an RTO with Lt Bert Landau.
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Dixon13a.jpgPitching In193 viewsGetting with the program...even us Commo guys!
Note the "macho" version of artillery ear plugs. No wonder we go deaf as seniors.
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Dixon34.jpg155mm Self-Propelled193 viewsTaken when assisting another unit's commo group. They were on the far end of Montezuma from where 2/9th was. This was a self-propelled) 155mm howitzer as it sat at Montezuma/Duc Pho. Taken with a Polaroid and an officer got bugged at me for taking it. I reminded him that I had top secret clearance and he got de-bugged. The marking above the white star is a cartoon of a duck sitting on a squashed egg. Don't recall anymore what it said, but was quite humorous.
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Dixon44.jpgLZ English - Bong Son193 viewsMe and some of the guys in commo managed to "acquire" a few unauthorized, non-standard arms. Along the way I had a "grease-gun", a "B.A.R.", a captured AK-47, and others. I also carried an M-16 "over and under" (grenade launcher underneath the barrel) until they took it away! Here I am at English with one of my "slightly modified" early M-16s (note that the prongs on the barrel end are NOT joined) and an M-1 A-1 rifle I loved. I also carried a .45 sidearm given to me by one of the officers. And would you believe that I am NOT a "gun guy"?
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Slide71.jpgBig Truck193 viewsThe locals manage to domesticate the water buffalo and the elephants for their work purposes. Also, the enemy used them as truck-haulers.
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SG-10.JPGGood Morning, Vietnam!193 viewsA "cold day in hell" as they say. Caesar is warming a bit of hot chocolate just outside the FDC on LZ Incoming.
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MK17.jpgHere I Am192 viewsYours truly, Michael P. Kurtgis, "B" Battery, 2/9th, attached to "B" Company, 2/35th Inf Regt, July, 1968.
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Dixon43.jpgLZ English - Bong Son192 viewsBong-Son was a scary place and we had a lot of weird things happen there, so I kept armed to the teeth 24/7! We were spoiled by the perimeter bunkers we built at Duc Pho. At English, all we had was a flimsy culvert section and some worn-out sandbags with broken-down barbed wire for protection. ONE AK-47 round probably would have gone through this like cheese! I was always told that I was exempt from guard duty due to my critical MOS... but that meant nothing when I got to Viet Nam- especially at Bong Son! Here is an example of my perimeter guard post. Note the M-60 machine gun and ammo, M-79 grenade launcher, flare, box of C-rations, bug spray, etc.. And EVERYTHING looked like it was moving out there at night!
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