Got your letter today -- it was greatly appreciated. Since I last wrote to you I have become the father of a little wargamer, son David born 29th July. Since I last wrote to you we have had a tailing off of V.C. activity, but in the last two days it has picked up a bit. So far in our two months at this outpost we have had one major engagement (2 Co. of V.C. attacked one of our Base camps) and about 20 small ones, mainly ambushes that "popped". Most of our fighting is done by small patrols of 20 men with M-16 rifles, M79 Grenade launchers, and maybe a light machine-gun (M60). Every night we have 60% of our effective strength out on these ambush patrols. The patrols cover the approaches into the villages that, we are supposed to protect. The enemy forces that run into these A.P's are usually 4-6 men. On occasion we have an A.P. engage Platoon size elements of V.C., but the V.C. don't move into the Villages in such large groups. The primary daylight operations that we pull are: (1) Road Clearing (sweeping road for-mines, etc.) (2) Search (looking for V.C. tunnels and weapons caches) (3) Seal (surrounding a village in the very early hours of the A.M., then having Police and Intelligence people screen the inhabitants to find V.C. suspects and draft dodgers, etc.) (4) Security for Revolutionary Development Cadres (R.D. Cadres work with the villagers to improve the economics and security of the villages, we provide checkpoints and roving patrols to protect against terrorist type activity). Our soldiers (Regional Forces) are very much like our American National Guard or our Territorial Forces. They do not leave the province that they were recruited--an incentive for the family-oriented Vietnamese. Of our three rifle companies, two are the equal of any U.S. or A.R.V.N. (Vietnamese Army) unit and one, just organised and having just completed training, has only recently "drawn blood" and still has a way to go. As far as equipment goes they have the same weapons as the Regular forces M-16's, M.79s, M.60 machine guns, and 60mm mortars. The primary job of my team and I is to provide advice and assistance on matters of tactics, administration, and logistics aud to act as liaison between the R.F. Group and other U.S. units. As for our first task my old counterpart was a Major who had worked his way up through the ranks and held over 20 decorations for valour, including the Vietnamese National Order, their "V.C.." or Medal of Honour. He also had decorations from both the French and U.S.Armies. He has since gone to the Vietnamese Staff College and my new counterpart is a lot Lieutenant, the Commander of the Provincial Recon. Unit. The P.R.U's are elite troops, and he is another of the finest soldiers I have ever met. Usually it is he who does the advising on tactics! So most of my job is in calling in artillery, air strike;, armed helicopters, and redevacs. To aid me, I have one 2nd Lieutenant and 3 senior N.C.O's. Also the team lies one interpreter, a Vietnamese Sergeant. For our personal defence we carry M.16's plus we have a M-79 and 3 machine-guns for base defence. (Two of the M.Gs are 'scrounged" 50 cals. -- very effective. ) Well that's about all for now. I've taken enough of your time up. Hope all is well with you, and you are winning more thaA your share of battles. (With the greatest sadness I report that wargamer Mike Arnovitz was killed in action on 30th August, 1969 -- two weeks after writing the above letter. Through the mail, I have known Mike for a number of years, since he was at college. It is a sad irony that a boy whose only previous interest in war lay in its most peaceful aspect of collecting model soldiers should end a victim to it. Donald Featherstone.) Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 95 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1970 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com