10/17/97 4:50
" 407th RRD:Attitudeville"
by Buck Buchanan

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About the 407th RRD. I spent several weeks with them up at A-4 (Con Thien) in the spring of 1970. It was a direct support unit of the 5th Mechanized division that had come over from Ft. Carson.

It wasn't the end of the world,but you could see it from there.

Actually ,one could see a huge NVA flag waving in the morning sun over the NVA artillery base of Duc Duc. They flew it just to get our water hot. Some dumbass American Legion post had offered whoever got the flag $50 K for their efforts.


Suicide money.

We lived in the old abandoned Marine bunkers that they'd built in 1965-66 when they arrived. It was located about 2 klicks from Song Ben Hai which is the crick that divided the DMZ. Nasty, cold, miserable outpost. Rats the size of cats, terrorized us every nite. One guy who was bitten was shipped to the USS Comfort Navy hospital ship lying off the coast a few miles.

It was three hill tops.

Rangers on one, artillery on one and ASA on the middle one.

I figured if they were to give RVN an enema they'd have to insert the tube at Dong Ha mountain and thread it 40 miles up it to get to Con Thien.

I'd had 2 Article 15's at Fu Bye within a few weeks of one another. The dignitaries really liked it when I was out of sight...what better place than 407th? I doubt it. Was never assigned to the 407th, just sent up there to enjoy the north country. I was there because of a bad attitude at Fu Bye and a strong desire not to spend the rest of my life in a military prison for killing some remf asshole.

When I got there a few of the guys thought I was a narc because I didn't smoke anything.... period. Did myself in w/ beer and Scotch instead. We kept ourselves entertained during the day watching zippo tracks west of A-4 in firefights w/ the bad guys. At night, listened to the rats fight and squeal in the spaces behind the bunker walls.

One of the guys ordered some live traps from Herters and we'd trap the rats and then stick the atropine injectors through the wires.
They'd fight them until the injectors shot and ran them through the brain.

When we were on the bunker line guard during the nights,the SOB's rattled down through the old rusty c-rat cans and empty flare tubes that had been thrown down in the concertina wire for 3 or 4 years.
Drive you nuts thinking some dink was crawling up thru to slit your throat,or throw a satchel charge into your bunker.

Many at Con Thien the same.
Attitudeville if there ever was one.


"407th RRD: The General"
by Ken Rand


407th was for those who were trully warped, but I learned to hide it under the hooch near the rats. Dong Ha and Dong Ha mountain and Alpha 4 where we painted "fuck you general " using rocks.We painted the top of em and after the asshole flew over we'd flip the rocks to the unpainted side.It drove him crazy.


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