But their service isn’t always adequately recognised by the nation which benefits from it. http://www.gurkhajustice.org.uk/
If you were to list every military incursion of every country your list would be un-manageable. And, as in Ealdwita’s Op. Claret, many are/were classified and may not be listed. Yet still men/women went into harms way and deserve recognition,
[QUOTE=Uyraell;175906]“C-130 aircraft, configured as an Airborne Command Post. (7th ACCS)”
MC 130, “Combat Talons” ? if my recall is correct, Laconia?
I’ve always considered the airborne command post variant of the c-130 to be one of the more interesting, along with the Ac-130H and U.
I’d be interested to learn more of those variants.
I don’t know if they are using them anymore. I think the type I worked on was phased out sometime in the 90’s. What ours consisted of was a removable capsule that housed the command post part. This slid into the cargo area of the C-130. Inside were the mapboards and crew positions, usually occupied by officers. This “capsule” also contained the comm equipment (radios, and the old fashioned radio teletype equipment) which were behind the map boards. For more info type in ABCCC in a search engine. My old squadron also has a web site. If I was home I’d post some pics, but you can find them on the net. Like I said search ABCCC on the web.
U.S. Army, '70-'71, Nha Trang area, Vietnam. Squad radioman, part-time combat medic assistant. Spent a lot of time trying to keep the S.Koreans based next to us from stealing our med. supplies !! They were good guys but had rather sticky fingers. Early out with some RPG fragments in the back of my thighs (yes, my *** too !) What fun !
toastmaker - In the late ‘80’s I served with a US NCO who held dual citizenship (ROK and US). He said he had been drafted into the ROK army in the ‘60’s and had served with their Tiger Div in Viet Nam - he told some tall tales of the ROK soldier’s exploits.
We never were in the weeds with them but they were pretty serious grunts - just a bit sneaky and under-supplied.
Off the top of my head, I seem to recall that ROK had the second largest foreign troop commitment in Vietnam after the US and that they suffered, in very rough round figures, about ten per cent of the casualties the Americans suffered and about ten times the Australian rate.
But for some reason they don’t figure much in most American and Australian, and Vietnamese, histories and certainly not in proportion to their commitment and casualties.
Also mostly ignored is the ROK’s contribution to there own defense during the Korean War. Koreans, both South and North, were especially valuable behind the lines.
I did two tours with the US Army in the ROK and knew many Korean soldiers serving with us (Korean Augumentee’s to the US Army (KATUSAs)) and ROK soldiers, they are tough, professional, well trained and equipped, and dedicated to the belief that what happened in 1950 will not happen again.
Pretty much same as you pdf27, joined TA 2003 to present, haven’t been deployed yet, sadly lost a friend in Afghanistan four years ago.
Very interesting,
By chances you might spotted my old man, he was CO of so called police’s pioneer regiment stationed along the border of indonesia and serawak, he witnessed many indonesians RPKAD returned with one less leg or arm, courtesy of the captor.
Do you mean that RPKAD troops had limbs amputated out of battle by the British and or Australian forces?
Yes, they were caught by either British, Austalians or Gurkhas.
I’m willing to accept that anything is possible in war or warlike operations, but this seems unlikely to me.
Were the Indonesians subjected to unskilled amputations in the field by by their enemies, that is by enemy infantry or other fighting soldiers? That seems unlikely to me as the chances of survival are poor under any circumstances without skilled medical care at every step, and more so in tropical jungles.
I have the greatest difficulty in accepting that they were subjected to skilled amputations by British etc medical staff.
Yes, i know it is hard to diggest, but really, most the stories i get from hearsay of my father and his colleagues, however i ever saw one photo somewhere of amputated veteran of RPKAD from that era.
Veterans with missing limbs are not a surprise - get hit by a high velocity round or something like a claymore and absent very rapid and skilled medical care losing a limb is highly plausible. Amputating limbs from PoWs for non-medical reasons is a very different kettle of fish - that’s an extremely serious war crime, and should be reported to the appropriate authorities (not sure who that would be - maybe start with the Royal Military Police?).