"Tanks, But No Tanks!"

Let me set the stage for this one:

About a half mile outside of Camp Las Pulgas, (one of the many camps that make up the huge Pendleton complex), was "Rocket School", where bazookamen are born. They taught you everything you always wanted to know about blowing things up, but was afraid to ask. In addition to the "range time" with the LAAW and the "Stovepipe", there was some classroom work to go with it.

One particular segment featured the Soviet-built T-72 and T-76 tanks that the North Vietnamese were known to have. Of special interest was the T-76, which was thought to be equipped with infra-red screens that could see YOU in the dark, and "automatic range-finders" as well. The idea was to knock him out with the first rocket, or you might be in DEEP DOO-DOO!

"Infra-red" might seem like pretty "gee-whiz" stuff back then, but WE had it, and so did the Russians------------who have ALWAYS supplied these 3rd world countries we end up fighting. (Just about every G.I. since Korea, killed in combat, has been killed with a Russian-made weapon, and our government today wants to "cut deals" with them). Go figure.

Anyway................. back to the fall of '68. I've got a tad over two months left on my tour, and we're camped out along this road, at an "intersection" of sorts that broke into 2 or 3 OTHER roads, not far from Hill 55. The sun has set, it's dark now, and there's barely enough moonlight to see anything except the wide dirt road that runs past our positions.

It's starting to get late, and way down the road you can hear a big engine, and a "clankety-clank" of tank treads comin'.

Well..............to this point, we'd never SEEN any tanks but our own over there. In the "bazooka world", a tank is considered the "Boone & Crockett trophy", that once-in-a-lifetime "10-point buck".............(if you lived through it, of course).

EVERYBODY is alert, nobody is "dug-in" because we were just there for the night, and moving out in the morning. Word gets passed down to Bosch & I to "load up." No LAAW's would even be CONSIDERED here ........we're talking ARMOR now, and this would be a job for the "stovepipe."

As the tank "clanked" PAST our position, we'd still not been given the "ok" to fire, and it was hard to imagine how THEY could see where they were going. It was dark enough that you really couldn't see the road all that well. Then the tank stopped in the area where the roads intersected.

Platoon leader summoned "Rockets Up!", so with the big tube already loaded, John & I headed up there and set down fairly close to where the Lieutenant and his radioman were, and it offered a good clear area for a shot.

The tank was just sitting there idling. It was an eerie situation, by now, there was just enough moonlight to see it was a tank, but not clear enough to decipher if it was ours or theirs. If it WAS "theirs", was it a T-72 or one of those "infrared-equipped" T-76's?...............Rocket school seemed like 50 years ago right now-----do you even remember the DIFFERENCE in the profiles of the two?

The glass sights were useless in the dark. If I HAD to fire, it would be one of those "Kentucky windage" numbers, and you CAN'T hit a tank "just ANYWHERE."

There is an old "wive's tale" that's been around FOREVER, about stopping a tank by blowing off the treads. That's bogus. Tanks usually have main turret guns of OVER 100mm, machineguns of 50 caliber or more, and some of them are equipped with flame throwers. Doesn't matter if you jam a tread-track, if he can still swing that turret around, he can wipe your butt out!

The "sweet" spot, is that area where the gun turrent meets the body-----the SWIVEL plate, and it's also where the armor is the thinnest. Blow a hole through THERE and you'll kill everybody inside. If the rocket DOESN'T quite get through, it will STILL mangle the swivel area so bad, that the tank crew will NOW have to move the whole tank and align IT with the target. THEN, you can put a second rocket into a tread if you wish...........then just sit back & wait'em out. But you stop the GUN first. However, this is a shot that is best-pulled-off in clear daylight, where you can CLEARLY set your sighting grid on the exact spot.

But it's NIGHTIME right now.........you can't see through your sight well enough to "pinpoint" ANYTHING, and if this IS a T-76, he'll have an "infrared" advantage in the dark, if you DON'T get him with the first shot...............and I could barely SEE him!

At a time like this, a lot of things go through your mind in the span of a moment or two. For me, it was time.......I was completing my 11th month of 13, I had dodged a "big one" on 861 when my '16 jammed. While my first rocket shot off that hill was at a safe 350-yard distance, the recent "church" episode was less than 100, and THIS time, a heavily armored TANK at less than 50! Things seemed to be getting TOUGHER, the closer I got to LEAVING!

This entire situation probably didn't last for more than 20 minutes, but it seemed like HOURS! The tank is still sitting still, idling. I've got sweat rolling down my face, even in the cool of the evening. We had a rocket in the tube, ready to fire, waiting for the command to shoot, all that was left, was for Bosch to flip the arming lever up and tap me on the helmet.

At one point, Bosch adds to the tension...........he leans over to me in the dead of the night..........tank still idling in front of us......... I'm still straining trying to see SOMETHING through the sight............Bosch whispers....:

"Hey Brad!"

"What?"

"Remember what they told us about that infra-red crap?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Brad?"

"Yeah?"

"Brad.......you wouldn't MISS would ya?!

"Shut-up! Shut-up".............I was wound up tighter than a hat band.........."As soon as I fire, get the h--l OUT of here!"

We sat there ANOTHER few minutes, and the tank SHUT ITS ENGINE OFF!" Then in TOTAL silence, tensions REALLY rose! Further down past us, our radioman was still talking over his PRC-25, and directly......the Lieutenant was SHOUTING out so all could hear..............."DON'T ANYBODY FIRE-------------IT'S ONE OF OURS!!"

It was an Army tank, that had apparently lost contact with its unit, and had been wandering around. All the units in OUR area had been alerted and given the radio channels, so our radioman was able to contact these guys...........told them where they were, and ordered them to shut down so there'd be no mistaken identity. (It was so dark now, they COULDN'T have gone much further).

The REST of us didn't know that, though! Anyway, we were told NOT to panic, because these guys who'd be climbing OUT shortly, were "friendlies," and would be "camping" with US until morning.

I remember putting my right hand over the top of the tube, while Bosch safely unloaded the rocket, and I also remember shaking a little AFTER I'd laid the tube back on the ground.

I laid back in the brush, took a few deep breaths and thought to myself, "S.O.B.!!"

........and there were still a couple of months to go!........(which would prove to be UN-eventful for once!)

POST-NOTE...........as the years have turned into decades, I've found myself at a lot of Marine Corps Reunions, family reunions, bar-b-ques, etc. I don't talk about 'Nam as a rule, (except for THIS particular blog project). But once in awhile someone will ask me what I did in the Marine Corps. "I was a bazookaman." And maybe twice in the last 30 years, somebody has said..........."WOW......a BAZOOKA!..........did you ever shoot a TANK??"

I'd just smile and say, "Well.............ALMOST!"