Witness to History
Reflections of a Cold War Soldier
by
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Convoy Duty: We left early in the morning and began our long journey west. The inclusion of the fuel tankers lengthened a normal convoy because the vehicles themselves were very long and they allowed increased distance between them as we approached the Mang Yang pass. It was a sunny pleasant day with little humidity. There were helicopter escorts in abundance this day because of the presence of the fuel tankers. About five kilometers (3 miles) east of the Mang Yang pass along Highway 19 in the flatland was a 105mm artillery battery of six howitzers. They provided close-in supporting fires for the convoy and could cover the entire eastern slope of the pass and nearly all of the approach from the west. I always felt safe seeing this battery "at the ready." As we passed the battery that day I recall all the howitzers facing towards the pass and all the gunners manning their guns as if they expected something to happen. We had gone about three kilometers (1.8 miles) past the artillery battery when all hell broke loose. I saw a huge ball of flame rising in the air and heard a tremendous explosion shortly thereafter. The tree line seemed alive with bright flashes as small arms fire poured into our vehicles. I jumped out the right side of my jeep while my driver went out the other side. We both began firing into the wood line as soon as we hit the ground. My big trucks had responded similarly. The two soldiers assigned to each vehicle typically got farther away from their vehicles in the event that the ammunition on board exploded. At the rear of the convoy we were engaged in a small arms fight. It seemed that we had escaped the main killing ground. The real action was up front in the direction of the fuel tankers. Artillery was pounding the wood line to the north of the road whereas the helicopter gunships were firing into the wood line to the south of the highway. The noise was horrendous and the situation was terribly frightening. I could hear the enemy bullets striking my jeep and the trucks to my front and rear. Suddenly I heard a tremendous roar coming from the "Quad-Fifty" about three vehicles in front of my jeep as it began to open up on the wood line. The Quad-Fifty was an anti-aircraft weapon designed for use in World War II. Four 50 caliber machineguns were arranged, two to a side, with a gunner sitting between them. This gun system was on a powered turntable platform affixed to the bed of a 2 ½ ton truck. I had seen this weapon system in our convoy before but had never heard it fire. It was awesome. As I looked up in the direction of the Quad-Fifty I could see long streams of fire belching from the guns. It was playing beautiful, but loud, music as it swept back and forth along the wood line. It was like a giant "weed whacker." The kind that clips off the tall grass you might find around your house. As the stream of bullets would hit the tree line large trees were being cut in half and were falling wildly. I had never seen anything like it before. What a hell of a weapon. After what seemed a long time the Quad-Fifty stopped. You could see the smoke and heat rising from its barrels. Suddenly the tree line was quiet in our area. Up front it was a different situation. The battle raged for some time. The constant whistling of artillery being fired over our head and landing in the wood line and the drone of helicopters in the air was at the same time exhilarating and frightening in the extreme. The sounds of battle were so incredibly loud it was nearly impossible to hear someone shouting next to you. I felt completely helpless. Here I was with an M-16 rifle and a 45 caliber pistol—big deal. Against all this firepower I felt like a piss ant in an elephant stampede. The battle finally ended after some time. It was about noon now and it was getting warmer. Black smoke was rising from the highway to our front. The artillery had stopped firing as more helicopters had arrived to work the tree lines on both side of the road. We were ordered to get back into our vehicles and began moving. All of my vehicles were hit by small arms fire but none of my personnel were hurt. We were lucky. As we pulled forward in convoy, I saw the killing ground. We were diverted around three fuel tankers which had been hit by rocket propelled grenades (RPG, B-40), a bazooka type weapon used by the VC. The tankers were burning wildly. It was a frightening scene; nobody said a word as we passed. In the front seat of one of the tankers sat a soldier, the driver, boldly sitting upright in his seat and clutching the steering wheel. He was consumed in flames. His outline could be seen clearly. The poor bastard never knew what hit him. I will never forget that scene. We passed through the Mang Yang pass without further incident. I don't think my driver and I said one word to each other the rest of the way.
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About the Book
This book is a first person account of military service during the Cold War in Europe from the erection to the destruction of the Berlin Wall. It is also about combat in Vietnam as an artilleryman in the Central Highlands and as an infantry advisor in the Mekong Delta. The author participated in the investigation of a fragging incident that killed an NCO, he put down an attempted mutiny and directed the first artillery counter-battery attack on Soviet artillery manned by North Vietnamese regulars in the tri-border era of Vietnam—Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. He worked with the CIA in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam managing the Phoenix Program while assigned to Tam Binh District where he met the legendary John Paul Vann and hosted visits by Sir Robert Thompson, the British guerrilla warfare expert and John Erlichman, advisor to President Richard Nixon. Between tours of duty in Vietnam, he returned to Germany with a Pershing Missile unit that experienced severe discipline problems including drugs, assault and attempted murder. This book is about a thirty-three year military career from private to colonel during a particularly difficult time for the US Army. He served in Germany, Vietnam and Belgium and conducted missions in Africa. While in Belgium he served at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), the American Embassy and finally NATO headquarters. The author participated in a NATO Summit attended by President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher and completed his career on the faculty of the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania where he participated in the first uniformed visit to Warsaw, Prague and Budapest following the demise of the Warsaw Pact.
About the Author
Bob Ulin is a retired Army colonel who served two and a half years in Vietnam during the war and more than seventeen years in Germany and Belgium during the Cold War. He was a private in Germany when the Berlin Wall went up and a colonel at NATO headquarters in Belgium when the wall started to come down. He has worked with the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, the Energy Department, the National Security Council and the White House staff. He spent seven years on graduate faculties and was a member of the diplomatic corps in Europe for three years. He holds a Master Degree in Middle Eastern History from the University of Kansas, a Masters Degree in International Relations from Boston University and he’s a graduate of an executive management program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He’s a published author with chapters in two books on European security policy, numerous articles and studies in U.S. and European journals and is currently an Adjunct Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Colonel Ulin is a co-founder and the chief executive officer of the CGSC Foundation, Inc., Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.