13 Cent Killers by John Culbertson

Author:John Culbertson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780307414335
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-17T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Snipers Invade Antenna Valley Fred Sanders and Dennis Toncar

January 1967 had brought four new replacements to the 5th Marine Snipers and assurance to Sergeant Tom Casey that the informal training of his shooters was being noticed at 1st Marine Division in Da Nang. Casey had taken his three sniper teams of six Marines to An Hoa to accompany the increased combat patrols in the deadly Arizona Territory when the new sniper candidates settled into the old sniper billets at Hill 35 outside Chu Lai. He was informed of the arrival of his new charges, but with the preparations for Operation Tuscaloosa in their final phase, he was consumed with his operational orders.

Tuscaloosa jumped off with little enemy contact, but the river crossing presented the Leathernecks of 2/5 with one of their greatest battlefield challenges in the Vietnam War. Casey had to give hard-earned credit to his three sniper teams. They had eliminated over a dozen Viet Cong and North Viets while removing enemy snipers and heavy weapons that threatened the grunts trapped on the sandbar and later along the jungle trails to La Bac 1 and La Bac 2.

By now, the 5th Marine Sniper Platoon had racked up over sixty confirmed enemy kills. Generally, it was assumed that ten to twenty percent of all wounded Communist combatants would eventually die of their wounds due to lack of proper medical aid and the high incidence of infection. The actual contribution to the official “body count” figures amassed by the 1st Marine Division after each patrol skirmish or battle probably would have more accurately shown over a hundred kills by the snipers. During 1967 in particular, the high number of large-scale battles made the tally of official enemy battle deaths very sketchy indeed. The Communist forces always removed any dead or badly wounded soldiers during chaotic battles, often dumping their bodies into previously dug holes or tunnels to deceive American officials.

The grunts and sniper teams both expressed little concern about the body count figures. They knew when they were kicking Charlie’s ass. They also knew when the enemy got an ambush to click just right and chewed up an American patrol. The distinct advantage in surprise and stealth went to the Viet Cong, who never tried to completely annihilate the Marine forces, but instead settled on giving the Americans a good bloody nose now and then which was sure to make headlines with the anti-war press back home in the United States. Tom Casey thought his Marines would win the war if they could make the Viet Cong and the recent North Vietnamese infiltrators stand and fight.

The average American military thinker could not accurately fathom the planning and political objectives of their Communist counterparts. This period of large-scale, relatively static conventional battles would eventually convince the more flexible Communist high command that it was impossible for them to win against the powerful American military’s vast advantages in firepower, mobility, airpower, and fighting spirit. The early years of the war pitted the

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