These multi-purpose bombers were among the very powerful fixed wing workhorses of the Vietnam War. As far as the United States Marine Corps personnel on the ground was concerned, they were our low level, close order ''fire dragon's''.
All airships; helicopters or fixed wing, was our version of "Death From Above." They would swoop down out the sky, and come in guns a-blazing, firing rockets, and or dropping high explosives, or a long "Wall of Fire"> napalm (a jellied soap and gasoline mixture). Sometimes they would also drop white phosphorus bombs (an acid-like chemical substance) that burns white hot at extreme temperatures, "eating" through flesh, wood and even some metals . Those charging enemy forces would be no longer be an over-whelming threat to us.
We would jump up and down waving our arms, shouting approval and marvel at the accuracy of those courageous pilots as well as the precision of their drops on a enemy who sought to 'wipe us out'/ over-run our position and kill all of us grunts. However the end result, the residue, would be blown up body parts, extreme crispy critters, and or a life-time scarred and permanently disfigured shell that once resembled a human being who had anti-American belief's.
The world does not always see why the combat veteran suffers from PTSD-, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, aka, "Shell Shock", "Combat Fatigue."
I Can Still Hear Their Cries, Even In My Sleep...a journey into PTSD
By "Doc" E. Everett McFall, USMC, Class of Vietnam 1966-1967
Rated 5 (*****) Five Stars by AMAZON.Com readers and book reviewers.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
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