Raiding The Sanctuary
Redcatchers in Cambodia, May 12th - June 25th, 1970
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
I had been in Vietnam with the 2nd Platoon of Bravo Company, 5th Battalion, 12th Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade since arriving in-country as a scared but optimistic draftee on July 4th, 1969.
Bravo Company, along with the other four infantry companies in our battalion, had for nearly six months operated deep in the remote and far-flung boonies around Firebase Libby and Gladys in Long Khanh Province. Daily, we humped through the hell-like heat and gushing jungle rains, searching in near vain for the phantom-like little people of the 274th Viet Cong Main Force Regiment and their hardcore brethren from the northern regions that comprised the 33rd NVA Regiment.
Sometimes, when not pounding and trudging through the lush, tropical jungle like mindless green zombies, we would catch the enemy off guard while on ambush, grimly netting a body count of two or three enemy soldiers killed in action. Sometimes, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese would catch us off guard...
For several months, we lived in this nightmare epitome of jungle warfare, with young men barely old enough to vote or buy a beer back home in the world, fighting and dying in hundreds of small but deadly firefights and ambushes that never grew beyond the company level.
Most of my tour in Vietnam was like this. Then, the battalion went into Cambodia. Shit.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
The "Warriors" of the 5th Battalion, 12th Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade joined the U.S. Army's lightning offensive into the Cambodian border sanctuaries late in the afternoon of May 12th, 1970. Less than six hours after arriving at a small, poorly-constructed patrol base called LZ Brown, two under-strength infantry companies from the battalion were fiercely engaged with the 174th NVA Regiment. This battle marked the North Vietnamese Army's first major counter-attack of the Cambodian Incursion. For the next two months during that hectic summer of 1970, the 5-12th Infantry and Delta Battery, 2nd Battalion, 40th Artillery fought head to head on a daily basis with some of the toughest and most determined units in the North Vietnamese Army.
About the Author
Robert J. Gouge lives with his wife, son and daughter in the mountains of western North Carolina. A serious student of the Vietnam War and the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, Gouge is an active member and teacher at Newbridge Baptist Church and a U.S. History teacher at A.C. Reynolds Middle School in Asheville. In addition to writing and researching, Gouge is also an avid outdoorsman and enjoys traditional black powder hunting and shooting.