SubjectDelta Company, 2/7Posted by1CAVCCO15MED
I guess I can no longer avoid telling about them. This company and what happened to it changed my life forever. I went from someone who was doing my part in Vietnam to one who hated the war, hated the lifers and was unwilling even to salute the flag intil the late 1980's. Were they a punishment company? I never heard that. 2/7 was one battalion of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Cav. I don't recall how many we had so I could be wrong on this but I think we had the 1/8, 1/7, 2/8, 1/9 and 1/12 in adddition to the 2/7. Most of our casualties in about a 3 month period of heavy casualties were 2/7 and most of them were Delta Company. The casualty reporter for the 3rd Brigade was in our company and he said they had over 300 casualties in 3 months. I remember one week. Delta company was set down in a grassy area that was in the middle of a horseshoe shaped NVA regimental base camp. They were slaughtered. Thirteen grunts came out of it. The casualties were coming in faster than we could treat them. We were not treating the "expectant". That is the first time we had to pour cases of peroxide on the floor of the treatment bunker to keep from falling in the blood. It would foam up about a foot high and we would sweep the foam out the door. The NVA either set fire to the grass or had flame throwers because the dead were horribly burned. They brought them in in slicks filled to the top. They were all tangled together and trying to get them out was like playing a game of "Barrel of Monkeys" I had just got out of the showers and was in a towel. I unloaded them dressed in a towel. The reason I think it was napalm is the burns were so wierd. There would be white bones of an arm sticking out of flesh that was only burned an inch or so. Fourth degree burns an inch from unburned flesh. The Cav "CA'ed" a bunch of clerks carrying typewriters. They set up in our mess tent and proceeded to type death certificates. Our clerks needed reinforcements. What happened next? They put Charlie Company in the same place th next day. They fared a little better. There were about 50 survivors. All the scenes of the day before repeated. What did they do the next day? They put in Bravo Company. About half survived. These kinds of things happened several times. The rumor going around was that when the Cav lost their colors in Korea, This was the batallion that lost them. They were put into the worst of everything. We in the treatment bunker were so angry at this that we declared war against the lifers and the war. Delta Company and 2/7 were a death sentence and all rules were off. Any guy could come to C Company from 2/7 and we would do anything to keep them out of the field at least for a while. We taught them how to fake rat bites with fingernail clippers. Rabies shots were good for a 3 week stay at the rear. If we knew the bite was fake we woud not give the shots with the understanding that if a lifer was around they would have to have the shot. Noone minded. One guy wanted to stay out due to being short. I told him he could break his hand. I told him how to do it with a friend hitting it with a rifle butt. It took him three tries. He cried in pain and joy. I have no regrets for any of this. After reading Hackworth's book and doing some recent thinking, I think the reason for this was some Battalion CO wanted his ticket punched big time and this is how he did it. He was a traitor. Boom, there it is.
11-05-2003, 04:53 PM
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