Macv, p.19
MACV, page 19
Thom knew better than that. He knew what his friend, Philip Reed, had been doing, and was sure he had been killed by the CIA because he was spying on the Americans. Trying to end that rotten war with positive action.
Thom felt tears sting his eyes as he stood up and walked to the windows that had been covered in newspaper. “God damn it, Phil, what in the hell did you get yourself into?”
He wadded up the paper and threw it, but it loosened and fell to the floor. He kicked at a table, flipping it, and hurt his toe.
“Why?” he asked, never realizing that it was the same question that was on the lips of the men as they had died in the ambush.
***
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ALSO BY ERIC HELM
THE SCORPION SQUAD SERIES:
Body Count
The Nhu Ky Sting
Chopper Command
River Raid
THE VIETNAM GROUND ZERO SERIES:
Vietnam: Ground Zero
P.O.W.
Unconfirmed Kill
Fall of Camp A555
Soldier’s Medal
The Kit Carson Scout
The Hobo Woods
Guidelines
The Ville
Incident at Plei Soi
Tet
The Iron Triangle
Red Dust
Hamlet
Moon Cusser
Dragon’s Jaw
Payback
MACV
Tan Son Nhut
Puppet Soldiers
Gunfighter
Warrior
Target
Warlord
Spike
Recon
GLOSSARY
AC — Aircraft Commander. The pilot in charge of the aircraft.
ADO — A-Detachment’s area of operations.
AFVN — Armed Forces radio and television network in Vietnam. Army PFC Pat Sajak was probably the most memorable of AFVN’s DJs with his loud and long, “GOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, Vietnam!”
AGGRESSOR FATIGUES — Black fatigues called aggressor fatigues because they are the color of the uniforms worn by the aggressors during war games in the World during training.
AIT — Advanced Individual Training. The school soldiers were sent to after Basic.
AK-47 — Assault rifle normally used by the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
ANGRY-109 — AN-109, the radio used by the Special Forces for long-range communications.
AO — Area of Operations.
AO DAI — Long, dress-like garment, split up the sides and worn over pants.
AP — Air Police. The old designation for the guards on Air Force bases. Now referred to as Security Police.
AP ROUNDS — Armor-piercing ammunition.
APU — Auxiliary Power Unit. An outside source of power used to start aircraft engines.
ARC LIGHT — Term used for a B-52 bombing mission. Also known as heavy arty.
ARVN — Army of the Republic of Vietnam. A South Vietnamese soldier.
ASA — Army Security Agency.
ASH AND TRASH — Refers to helicopter support missions that did not involve a direct combat role. They were hauling supplies, equipment, mail and all sorts of ash and trash.
AST — Control officer between the men in isolation and the outside world. He is responsible for taking care of all the problems.
AUTOVON — Army phone system that allows soldiers on base to call another base, bypassing the civilian phone system.
BDA — Bomb Damage Assessment.
BIG RED ONE — Nickname of the First Infantry Division. It came from the shoulder patch that contains a big, red numeral one.
BISCUIT — C-rations.
BODY COUNT — Number of enemy killed, wounded or captured during an operation. Used by Saigon and Washington as a means of measuring the progress of the war.
BOONDOGGLE — Any military operation that hasn’t been completely thought out. An operation that is ridiculous.
BOONIE HATS — Soft cap worn by a grunt in the field when not wearing his steel pot.
BROWNING M-2 — The .50-caliber machine gun manufactured by Browning.
BROWNING M-35 — The automatic pistol, a 9mm weapon, that became the favorite of the Special Forces.
BUSHMASTER — Jungle warfare expert or soldier skilled in jungle navigation.
C AND C — The Command and Control aircraft that circled overhead to direct the combined air and ground operations.
CAO BOI — Cowboy. A term that referred to the criminals of Saigon who rode motorcycles.
CARIBOU — Cargo transport plane.
CHICOM — Chinese Communist. Troops or weapons and equipment supplied by Red China.
CHINOOK — Army Aviation twin-engine helicopter. A CH-47.
CHOCK — Refers to the number of the aircraft in the flight. Chock Three is the third, Chock Six is the sixth.
CLAYMORE — Antipersonnel mine that fires 750 steel balls with a lethal range of 50 meters.
CLOSE AIR SUPPORT — Use of airplanes and helicopters to fire on enemy units near friendly troops.
CO CONG — Female Viet Cong.
COLT — Soviet-built small transport plane. The NATO code name for Soviet and Warsaw Pact transport planes all begin with the letter C.
COMSEC — Communications Security.
CONEX — Steel container about 10 feet high, 10 feet deep and 10 feet long used to haul equipment and supplies.
CS — A persistent form of improved tear gas (usually dispersed as a fine powder from grenades) used as a military and riot control agent.
DAC CONG — Sappers who attack in the front ranks to blow up the wire so that the infantry can assault the camp.
DAI UY — Vietnamese army rank, the equivalent to U.S. Army Captain.
DEROS — Date of Estimated Return from Overseas Service.
DIRNSA — Director, National Security Agency.
E AND E — Escape and Evasion.
FEET WET — Term used by pilots to describe flight over water.
FIELD GRADE — Refers to officers above the rank of captain but under that of Brigadier General. In other words, Majors, Lieutenant-Colonels and Colonels.
FIRECRACKER — Special artillery shell that explodes into a number of small bomblets to detonate later. It is the artillery version of the cluster bomb and was a secret weapon employed tactically for the first time at Khe Sanh.
FIRST SHIRT — First Sergeant.
FIVE — Radio call sign for the Executive Officer of a unit.
FNG — Fucking New Guy.
FOB — Forward Operating Base.
FOX MIKE — FM radio.
FREEDOM BIRD — Name given to any aircraft that took troops out of Vietnam. Usually referred to the commercial jet flights that took men back to the World.
GARAND — The M-1 rifle that was replaced by the M-14. Issued to the Vietnamese early in the war.
GO-TO-HELL RAG — Towel or any large cloth worn around the neck by grunts to absorb perspiration, clean their weapon and dry their hands.
GRAIL — NATO name for the shoulder-fired SA-7 surface-to-air missile.
GUARD THE RADIO — Stand by in the commo bunker and listen for messages.
GUIDELINE — NATO name for the SA-2 surface-to-air missile.
GUNSHIP — Armed helicopter or cargo plane that carries weapons instead of cargo.
HE — High-explosive ammunition.
HOOTCH — Almost any shelter, from temporary to long-term.
HORN — Term referring to a specific kind of radio operations that used satellites to rebroadcast the messages.
HOTEL THREE — Helicopter landing area at Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut Airport.
HUEY — UH-1 helicopter.
HUMINT — Human Intelligence resource. In other words, they talked to someone who gave them the information.
ICS — Official name of the intercom system in an aircraft.
IN-COUNTRY — Term used to refer to American troops operating in South Vietnam. They were all in-country.
INTELLIGENCE — Any information about enemy operations that would be useful in planning a mission. It could include troop movements, weapons capabilities, biographies of enemy commanders and general information about terrain features.
KA-BAR — Military combat knife.
KIA — Killed in Action.
KLICK — One thousand meters; a kilometer.
LIMA LIMA — Land line. Refers to telephone communications between two points on the ground.
LLDB — Luc Luong Dac Biet. The South Vietnamese Special Forces.
LP — Listening Post. A position outside the perimeter manned by a couple of soldiers to give advance warning of enemy activity.
LRRP — Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol.
LSA — Lubricant used by soldiers on their weapons to ensure they will continue to operate properly.
LZ — Landing zone.
M-3A1 — Also known as a grease gun. A .45-caliber submachine gun favored in World War II by the GIs because its slow rate of fire meant that the barrel didn’t rise and they didn’t burn through their ammo as fast as they did with some other weapons.
M-14 — Standard rifle of the U.S. Army, eventually replaced by the M-16. It fired the standard 7.62mm NATO round.
M-16 — Standard infantry weapon of the Vietnam War. It fired 5.56mm ammunition.
M-79 — Short-barrel shoulder-fired weapon that fired a 40mm grenade. These can be high explosives, white phosphorus or canister.
M-113 — Numerical designation of an armored personnel carrier.
MACV — Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Replaced MAAG in 1964.
MAD MINUTE — A specified time on a base camp when the men in the bunkers would clear their weapons. It came to mean the random firing of all the camp’s weapons just as fast as everyone could shoot.
MATCU — Marine Air Traffic Control Unit.
MEDEVAC — Medical Evacuation. Also called Dust-Off. A helicopter used to take the wounded to medical facilities.
MI — Military Intelligence.
MIA — Missing in Action.
MONOPOLY MONEY — A term used by the servicemen in Vietnam to describe the MPC handed out in lieu of regular U.S. currency.
MOS — Military Occupation Specialty.
MPC — Military Payment Certificates.
NCO — A noncommissioned officer. A noncom. A sergeant.
NCOIC — NCO in Charge. The senior NCO in a unit, detachment or patrol.
NDB — Nondirectional beacon. A radio beacon that can be used for homing.
NEXT — The man who was the next to be rotated home.
NINETEEN — The average age of the combat soldier in Vietnam, as opposed to twenty-six in World War II.
NVA — North Vietnamese Army. Also used to designate a soldier from North Vietnam.
ONTOS — A Marine weapon that consists of six 106mm recoilless rifles mounted on a tracked vehicle.
ORDER OF BATTLE — A listing of the units available and to be used during the battle. It is not necessarily a list of how or when the units will be used, but a listing of who and what could be used.
P (PIASTER) — The basic monetary unit in South Vietnam, worth slightly less than a U.S. penny.
PETA-PRIME — Tar-like substance that melted in the heat of the day to become a sticky black nightmare that clung to boots, clothes and equipment. It was used to hold down the dust during the dry season.
PETER PILOT — The copilot in a helicopter.
PLF — Parachute Landing Fall. The roll used by parachutists on landing.
POL — Petroleum, oil and lubricants. The refueling point on many military bases.
POW — Prisoner of War.
PRC-10 — Portable radio.
PRC-25 — A lighter portable radio that replaced the PRC-10.
PULL PITCH — Term used by helicopter pilots to mean they are going to take off.
PUNJI STAKE — Sharpened bamboo hidden to penetrate the foot.
PUZZLE PALACE — The Pentagon. It was called the puzzle palace because no one knew what was going on there. Puzzle Palace East referred to MACV or USARV Headquarters in Saigon.
RED LEGS — Artillerymen. From the old Army where the artillerymen wore a red stripe on the legs of their uniforms.
RINGKNOCKER — Graduate of a military academy. The term refers to the ring worn by all graduates.
RON — Remain Overnight. Term used by flight crews to indicate a flight that would last longer than a day.
RPD — Soviet-made light machine gun, 7.62mm.
RTO — Radio Telephone Operator. The radio man of a unit.
RUFF-PUFFS — A term applied to the RF-PFs, the Regional Forces and Popular Forces. Militia drawn from the local population.
S-3 — The company-level operations officer.
SA-2 — A surface-to-air missile fired from a fixed site. It is a radar-guided missile nearly 35 feet long.
SA-7 — A surface-to-air missile that is shoulder-fired and infrared homing.
SACSA — Special Assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities.
SAFE AREA — Selected area for evasion. It doesn’t mean that the area is safe from the enemy, only that the terrain, location or local population make the area a good place for escape and evasion.
SAM TWO — A reference to the SA-2 Guideline.
SAR — Search and Rescue.
SECDEF — Secretary of Defense.
SHORT-TIMER — Person who had been in Vietnam for nearly a year and who would be rotated back to the World soon. When his DEROS was the shortest in the unit, the person was said to be Next.
SINGLE DIGIT MIDGET — A soldier with fewer than ten days left in-country.
SIX — Radio call sign for the unit commander.
SKS — Soviet-made carbine.
SMG — Submachine gun.
SOG — Studies and Observations Group. Cover name used for MACV Special Operations.
SOI — Signal Operating Instructions. The booklet that contained the call signs and radio frequencies of the units in Vietnam.
SOP — Standard Operating Procedure.
SPIKE TEAM — Special Forces team made up for a direct action mission.
STEEL POT — The standard U.S. Army helmet.
TAOR — Tactical Area of Operational Responsibility.
TEAM UNIFORM OR COMPANY UNIFORM — UHF radio frequency on which the team or the company communicates. Frequencies were changed periodically in an attempt to confuse the enemy.
THE WORLD — The United States.
THREE — Radio call sign of the Operations Officer.
THREE CORPS — The military area around Saigon. Vietnam was divided into four corps areas.
TOC — Tactical Operations Center.
TO&E — Table of Organization and Equipment. A detailed listing of all the men and equipment assigned to a unit.
TOT — Time over target. It refers to the time that the aircraft are supposed to be over the drop zone with the parachutists, or the target if the planes are bombers.
TRICK CHIEF — NCOIC for a shift.
TRIPLE A — Antiaircraft Artillery or AAA. Anything used to shoot at airplanes and helicopters.
TWO — Radio call sign of the Intelligence Officer.
TWO-OH-ONE (201) FILE — Military records file that listed a soldier’s qualifications, training, experience and abilities. It was passed from unit to unit so that the new commander would have some idea about the capabilities of the incoming soldier.
UMZ — Ultramilitarized zone, the name GIs gave to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).
UNIFORM — Refers to UHF radio. Company Uniform would be the frequency assigned to that company.
URC-10 — A small emergency communications radio used by Special Forces LRRPs.
USARV — United States Army, Vietnam.
VC — Viet Cong, called Victor Charlie (phonetic alphabet) or just Charlie.
VIET CONG — A contraction of Vietnam Cong San (Vietnamese Communist).
VIET CONG SAN — The Vietnamese Communists. A term in use since 1956.
WHITE MICE — Refers to the South Vietnamese military police because they all wore white helmets.
WIA — Wounded in Action.
WILLY PETE — WP, white phosphorus, called smoke rounds. Also used as antipersonnel weapons.
WSO — Weapons System Officer. The name given to the man who rode in the back seat of a Phantom because he was responsible for the weapons systems.
XO — Executive Officer of a unit.
X-RAY — A term that refers to an engineer assigned to a unit.
ZAP — To ding, pop caps or shoot. To kill.
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Copyright © Eric Helm, 1989
Eric Helm has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events, other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 9781800553347
Eric Helm, MACV
