Nam Vet Who Was There in the 173rd ABN BDE

Posted by Rock on Jan 22nd 2018

I went looking for this movie. I saw it when it first came out - not in a theater but rented the VCR tape. I have always felt it was for me the most accurate Vietnam movie. I should explain - I was in the 173rd Airborne BDE (Sep) when it was on Okinawa and Gen. Westmoreland wanted an airborne unit in his build up of US forces in Nam. We were the first Army combat force sent to Nam in May 1965. I was there until my ETS in Dec 1966 - 20 months. The movie is about a LRRP team - we created the concept in Nam, were the first guys crazy enough to do small unit long range recon patrols. It's not a Hollywood big star pretty boy war movie, no John Waynes, just a lot of true s**t. I bought the DVD because I thought I wanted another look . . . maybe I should have passed. For me it is a lot of memories, mostly bad, but it also has a lot of truth.