Title: Roy Benavidez,a true hero Source:
[None] URL Source:[None] Published:Sep 3, 2010 Author:Big Geek Daddy Post Date:2010-09-03 09:58:05 by sneakypete Keywords:None Views:14255 Comments:35
http://www.mishalov.com/Benavidez.html
Poster Comment:
This action happened in Cambodia,not South Viet Nam. Roy was assigned to MACV-SOG's CCS. All the operations were classified as Top Secret and everybody went in wearing sterile clothing with no US insignia or patches,and with no dog tags or ID cards. Our weapons were even sterile,with the serial numbers having been reported as stolen if US weapons,or never logged into the army system if foreign. Not that this makes any difference in this case because Roy went in armed with only a Bowie Knife. I know there has been a lot of talk about John McCain being a hero. Here is a REAL hero.
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#1. To: All, *Military or Vets Affairs*, *SOCOM* (#0)
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"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Then your standards aren't very high. I did NOTHING spectacular. Not false modesty because I'm not all that modest. It's just the simple truth.
I am and will always remain in awe of people like Roy and Rocky Versace. I never knew Rocky,but was casual friends with Roy before he was awarded the MoH. He was as nice a guy as you would ever hope to meet.
BTW,I was also friends with two other holders of the MoH they earned while running SOG recon missions,and THEY were in awe of Roy and what he did. What does that tell you?
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
I served with one MOH winner during my peace time service in Germany. He was our Bn S-3 and our COL/0-6 Brigade Cdr didn't like him. The MOH winner sported a mustache and that might have been one reason. I don't know. I was just a butter bar.
His name was Sprayberry.
I remember Benavidez being awarded the MOH by Reagan.
Did you ever see that episode of M*A*S*H where Hawkeye goes to pick up BJ? They take Radar into the O Club by pinning their captain's bars on him declaring him a "Corporal Captain"?
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. Sprayberry, Armor, U.S. Army, distinguished himself by exceptional bravery while serving as executive officer of Company D.
His company commander and a great number of the men were wounded and separated from the main body of the company. A daylight attempt to rescue them was driven back by the well entrenched enemy's heavy fire. Capt. Sprayberry then organized and led a volunteer night patrol to eliminate the intervening enemy bunkers and to relieve the surrounded element.
The patrol soon began receiving enemy machinegun fire. Capt. Sprayberry quickly moved the men to protective cover and without regard for his own safety, crawled within close range of the bunker from which the fire was coming. He silenced the machinegun with a hand grenade. Identifying several l-man enemy positions nearby, Capt. Sprayberry immediately attacked them with the rest of his grenades. He crawled back for more grenades and when 2 grenades were thrown at his men from a position to the front, Capt. Sprayberry, without hesitation, again exposed himself and charged the enemy-held bunker killing its occupants with a grenade.
Placing 2 men to cover his advance, he crawled forward and neutralized 3 more bunkers with grenades. Immediately thereafter, Capt. Sprayberry was surprised by an enemy soldier who charged from a concealed position. He killed the soldier with his pistol and with continuing disregard for the danger neutralized another enemy emplacement.
Capt. Sprayberry then established radio contact with the isolated men, directing them toward his position. When the 2 elements made contact he organized his men into litter parties to evacuate the wounded. As the evacuation was nearing completion, he observed an enemy machinegun position which he silenced with a grenade. Capt. Sprayberry returned to the rescue party, established security, and moved to friendly lines with the wounded. This rescue operation, which lasted approximately 7½ hours, saved the lives of many of his fellow soldiers.
Capt. Sprayberry personally killed 12 enemy soldiers, eliminated 2 machineguns, and destroyed numerous enemy bunkers. Capt. Sprayberry's indomitable spirit and gallant action at great personal risk to his life are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.[1]
James M. "Mike" Sprayberry (born April 24, 1947) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Vietnam War.
He was really a low key guy. I remember one minor incident with him.
He had SDO - staff duty officer one weekend night - patrolling the downtown German night clubs to make sure GIs were behaving. He saw me at one of the hot spots and thought I shouldn't be there because I was an officer (in civvies). He was probably correct. I think there was a stabbing there later that night. That's what I remember.
Other than that, he was just a regular Joe, smoking cigarettes, minding his own business.
He didn't chew me out but somehow he made his point.
Other than that, he was just a regular Joe, smoking cigarettes, minding his own business.
I've met a few guys who've been to the abyss...there's something about them that, as you say, is a constant non-verbal expression of something that will always tell you where you are with them. It's as if they have a lightening fast method of observing, calculating and displaying...all without appearing to do any of that.
I don't know. That may be a confusing description because, as you observed, it was always an unspoken poiint being made but communicated none the less. I'm sorry if I can't describe it.
I grew up around WWII vets who'd "stormed the beach" and to whom my father paid great deference to, even tho some of them were nasty old drunks and mean to us kids. As I saw some of the older part of my generation come home one way or another from the RVN, I came to understand what my father, who was a vet, was doing - even if I wasn't there my self.
I served with one MOH winner during my peace time service in Germany. He was our Bn S-3 and our COL/0-6 Brigade Cdr didn't like him.
It didn't matter if the Col liked him or not. All he could do was write him a positive OER,and that was it. MoH holders have the ultimate "get out of jail free" card" while in the military. He could have taken a dump on the Colonels desk if he wanted.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Did you ever see that episode of M*A*S*H where Hawkeye goes to pick up BJ? They take Radar into the O Club by pinning their captain's bars on him declaring him a "Corporal Captain"?
I had a senior SGM (he was corporal in the USMC when Pearl Harbor was attacked)catch me in the dayroom one afternoon and tell me to come to the NCO club and have a few drinks with him. When I reminded him that I was a Spec4 and couldn't get into a non-SF NCO Club,he told me to borrow the fatigue shirt from a SSG that was in there shooting pool,and come along.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
I grew up around WWII vets who'd "stormed the beach" and to whom my father paid great deference to, even tho some of them were nasty old drunks and mean to us kids.
Sounds like most of my uncles, a total of 12. They seemed to hate kids, even their own.
For the WWI's who were forced to go 'over the top', it had to be the worst. I used to hear them screaming in the night with nightmares about that. One guy said he did it five times and all the rest on the unit said he was a hero. No treatment for PTSD in those days either.
"Look you leftist pervert, make sure you keep your Mr Winky away from your family's new addition or I will send some fellow salad tossers to square away your sorry butt. Got it??"
The good "cop", Jethro Tull explaining how to prevent a Palin family tradition in YOUR family.
I've met a few guys who've been to the abyss...there's something about them that, as you say, is a constant non-verbal expression of something that will always tell you where you are with them. It's as if they have a lightening fast method of observing, calculating and displaying...all without appearing to do any of that.
I don't know. That may be a confusing description....
They have no self-doubt. They are absolutely self-assured and have no need to prove anything to anybody. Maybe because they have proven themselves TO themselves. Or at least that is my theory.
Take them out of uniform and away from a military setting and you would never even suspect they had done any of the things they have done. All you would notice would be a man that seemed to be very self-confident and happy. Which makes sense when you think about it because a self-confident man doesn't have very much to make him unhappy on a personal level.
I have known and served with several MoH winners. The one thing that stood out most about them is that they were all almost always smiling and happy. Oh,they could get steamed if somebody screwed up,but their general outlook was every positive and they tended to prefer laughter over being morose or being mad.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Sounds like most of my uncles, a total of 12. They seemed to hate kids, even their own.
Just like suicide is the ultimate expression of self-criticism,people tend to hate their own kids because they know them so well.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
My grandfather was WWI vet...there's a book somewhere that was written about his Company...Keytone 28 I think it was...have book at home. There's a picture of him @ 24 in it [he was born in 1893]...
He was mustard gassed, dung bombed - yea, the Germand threw shit, in fact, both sides did it's how they kept their trenches clean... and something got grief for at LP by, Big Meanie, I think...he was wounded and was given a ride back to the front in a Jeep that was giving Churchill a tour of the conditions.
First he gave me grief for use of the term "Jeep" which he incorrectly claimed didn't exist in WWI and then for the Churchill story when he incorrectly claimed that Churchill had nothing to do with WWI.
When I as a kid, there was a guy who was, for lack of a better description, a degenerate gambler who lived across the street and a couple houses over with his WWI vet dad. He would send us kids to the store for six packs of Pepsi and he'd give us a fin or a sawbuck, sometimes, rarely a twenty. The money would be wrapped around a slip of paper with 3 numbers on it [of course, he told us to not look at the paper but we did anyway.]
AS you know, in 1965 a six pack of Pepsi cost about 49 cents +12 cents bottle deposit and 2 cents tax. He would tell us to keep the 35 cents change and then give the rest of the change along with the slip of paper to the butcher - the store was actually run by two brothers who ran also ran a bookmaking operation there. Sometimes the butcher would tell us that he had an "envelope" for, geez. his name escapes me now. His dad's name was "Cy" which, for years, I thought was "Sigh". I think his name was Jack but maybe because their last name was Bauer.
Anyway, the guy was a WWII hero and my father treated him as if he were a God. Dad always reminded me that he was a hero and that I should be polite and if he needed someone to go to the store for him then, goddammit, go to the store for him. It really struck me as odd because my father absolutely loathed lazy people and this guy was, I thought, lazy. Turns out it was probably PTSD.
There was one night where he got really drunk and I guess his dad got scared and he came over and got my dad. My dad went over and I remember at some point seeing them both come out of the house, and Jack shaking my Dad's hand and patting him on the shoulder. He came home, told Sigh it was okay to go home and everything was okay.
I remember thinking that night that my dad was my hero.
He was mustard gassed, dung bombed - yea, the Germand threw shit, in fact, both sides did it's how they kept their trenches clean... and something got grief for at LP by, Big Meanie, I think...he was wounded and was given a ride back to the front in a Jeep that was giving Churchill a tour of the conditions.
We had a few that had been gassed, but were still ticking into their seventies. It's funny... one would start singing an old WWI tune and pretty soon the rest on the unit (it was barracks style in those days) would follow along, and when they stopped most would be crying. I never saw any of that from the WWII's or Korean War guys that followed. It was remodeled into semi private rooms in the mid nineties which permanently destroyed that type of comradery.
"Look you leftist pervert, make sure you keep your Mr Winky away from your family's new addition or I will send some fellow salad tossers to square away your sorry butt. Got it??"
The good "cop", Jethro Tull explaining how to prevent a Palin family tradition in YOUR family.
My grandma hated it when he would go to his monthly canasta games at the Americn Legion. He'd come home drunk and depressed and often sang himself to sleep.
Weird the flood of childhood memories this thread has evoked.
My God, Roy Benavidez was THE definition of "HERO." Glad Reagan stepped in. RR was right; You couldn't make this up. Not even the Rambo character does as much...and with so little. At 4:11 I'm thinking this ain't ending well...and then there's Benavidez spitting from within his body-bag. WHOA.
It's just so damn depressing to have the man endure only to have the gubmint bust his chops over medical bennies and ignore his past heroics and sacrifice. Is it because he was assigned to a TS detail?
RB waits 13 years for a medal, while Kerry gets....how many Silver Stars for scratching his ass? Even Fraudie McCain is Audie Murphy compared to Kerry.
As an aside, nobody can challenge your balls (or sanity) Pete for doing what you guys had done. Not like you could quit whenever you'd had enough, either.
Q: Did there seem to be an inordinate number of Indian-Americans and Mex-Americans on covert ops like this?
It was remodeled into semi private rooms in the mid nineties which permanently destroyed that type of comradery.
LOL! I lived in open squad bays in WW-2 barracks until I came back from VN in Nov of 69. You had to be a E-7 or above to have one of the private rooms at the end. Most E-7's were either married and living off base,or living in NCO quarters on base,so whoever the senior E-6 was got the squad leaders rooms.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
He was really a low key guy. I remember one minor incident with him.
I was watching the history channel show on MOH winners and they had an hispanic guy who had won both our MOH and the mexico's MOH.
His son was in tears because his father had never mentioned receiving the awards and he only became aware his father was a hero when the history channel contacted him.
It's just so damn depressing to have the man endure only to have the gubmint bust his chops over medical bennies and ignore his past heroics and sacrifice. Is it because he was assigned to a TS detail?
Yes. In the early days of SOG we even had some guys that were wounded pretty badly not being able to get medical retirement or service-connected VA benefits because "we didn't have troops in Cambodia or Laos". Same thing with valor awards. They were hard to get for a couple of reasons. One was that was a hard group to impress enough to get put in for something,and the other was the citation had to be carefully worded to make it look like it was a part of a action that took place in VN.
Plus,it was hard to make a awards panel for Silver Star and higher awards understand how dangerous SOG operations were because you were behind enemy lines and cut off from getting any help. Bob Howard was put in for a Medal of Honor on THREE separate occasions before he finally got one.
Another problem for the really big gongs was that a special review board of regular army officers at higher command had to approve them,and the regular army hated Special Forces and thought we got too many awards.
And sometimes there were just no logical explanation for not awarding the MoH to a worth recipient. Rocky Versace,who was held as a POW inside VN,just got his MoH award for his conduct as a POW a couple of years ago,and I THINK it was 1966 when he was executed. AND....,unlike Colonel Bud Day,he had at least two former POW's who witnessed his heroics pushing for him to get one from the time they escaped (Nick Rowe) or were released as POW's. Nick Rowe was assassinated by communist Muslim guerrillas in the Philippines and never got to see Rocky get what he deserved. Read the citation below based on WITNESS TESTIMONY and give me just ONE rational reason it took him decades to get his award. I honest to God can't read it without getting teary-eyed,and I have read it dozens of times.
http://www.mishalov.com/Versace.html
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
Sometimes the butcher would tell us that he had an "envelope" for, geez. his name escapes me now. His dad's name was "Cy" which, for years, I thought was "Sigh". I think his name was Jack but maybe because their last name was Bauer.
I can understand how there might have been a slight hold up on special service operatives' bennies, but major, long-standing hold ups I can't understand. We would think fail-safe logistical precautions would have addressed benefits for guys who "weren't there." The ignorance and indifference of the higher-ups is stunning. Btw, I had no idea regular army hated SOGs. Chyeah, well maybe their dangerous assignments justified the medals?
These days, many Special Forces seemed to have been subbed out as "Private Contractors." It's about time medals as compensation are replaced by a lotta CASH and a contract, eh? ;-) Better late than never, Pete.
Regarding Versace:
It took the last 38 years for several former prisoners of war to press at least four administrations to get their fellow captive Army Capt. Rocky Versace a Medal of Honor, an award that many of his supporters argue he was denied in Vietnam.
Shameful...
His story is beyond amazing as well. Those who know the story of Versace and acknowledge his honor and courage is MUCH better than a medal given from gubmintal bureaucrats who really don't GAS. Who really needs them to validate the Courage & Honor of those who lived it?? It reminds me of the Wizard of Oz's ceremonial "validation" of giving a heart, diploma, medal to the Tin Man, Lion, and Scarecrow.
Do you feel as if some of your youth was robbed from you?
Oh no not at all, the army straightened my punk ass out and helped me get a good education.
My wife (40) asked me many times if I had any regrets and I always tell her that even with what I know now, I'd enlisted again and try my best to make it to nam.
He could have taken a dump on the Colonels desk if he wanted.
The Colonel was a real demanding boss a.k.a. asshole. I remember after church on Sundays he's ride around our installation and if he saw anything amiss - usually grass that wasn't mowed properly he'd call the Bn Cdr who would call the Cmd Sgt Major and so on - on Sunday.
He made one-star, somehow divorced his wife of thirty years and then retired. He died within a year of retiring IIRC. I just looked up his name - Ronald W. Zeltman.
Peace time Army B.S.
I'm sure you've heard the saying - War is hell, but peacetime is a motherfucker...
I never saw combat and for that I thank my lucky stars.
I can understand how there might have been a slight hold up on special service operatives' bennies, but major, long-standing hold ups I can't understand.We would think fail-safe logistical precautions would have addressed benefits for guys who "weren't there."
It was Top Secret. They didn't know about it. The FACT is we weren't even wearing US uniforms,dog tags,or carrying a US Army ID card. If captured we were not protected by the Geneva Convention,and they could legally execute us at will without any sort of trial as spies. As far as that goes,they didn't even have any obligation to report us as being captured. To this very day not a single SOG member that went MIA has ever been released or had their remains turned over by the communist Vietnamese. Nor have they admitted to having ever captured any of us.
The ignorance and indifference of the higher-ups is stunning.
They didn't know because they didn't have a right to know. How can you blame them for that? It ain't like we weren't warned about this because we were.
Btw, I had no idea regular army hated SOGs.
They didn't. They thought we were clerks. SOG was originally called the Special Operations Group,but that desigination was quickly changed to Studies and Observations Group. The regular army DID hate Special Forces,though. They still do.
BTW,Special Forces is not and was not SOG. True,most of the on the ground and planning operational people were SF guys,but there were also Navy Seals running a few SOG missions in the Delta and off-shore in the north,and there were a BUNCH of US Army aviators and even a few USMC aviators flying us in and out of the jungle.
SOG was a Special Operations direct action unit. Special Forces had and has a more traditional training mission.
In other words,even though MOST SOG ground operations people were Special Forces people ,not all Special Forces people worked SOG operations.
BTW,there were even a few volunteers from conventional airborne units like the 173rd Abn Bge that volunteered for SOG missions that never spent a single day in Special Forces before they arrived at one of the FOB's. SOG had such a high casualty rate (supposedly 50% some years) that we had trouble keeping enough healthy people to keep the recon teams and hatchet force platoons manned. Some worked out real well,but most only ran one mission and quit. Some didn't even run one mission. They quit the day they hit recon company and the map was unveiled revealing the area of operation and they were told they would be out there on their own. They didn't know this when they volunteered.
Chyeah, well maybe their dangerous assignments justified the medals?
Well,*I* think so,but I may be a bit biased.
BTW,I would like to add the conventional Army helicopter forces that provided us with air transport and tactical air cover in that group,as well as the US Air Force A1 pilots. These guys really put it all on the line to pull us out of hot spots,and unlike us they weren't volunteers. Or most of them weren't,anyhow. I have no doubt some of them volunteered to fly us and support us,but others were just typical soldiers doing their jobs.
These days, many Special Forces seemed to have been subbed out as "Private Contractors
I have no problem whatsoever with a SF guy pulling his 20 and then going to work with a contractor for the big bucks. Good for them! I do have a problem with the posers that are SF for one enlistment in order to get that on their DD-214 so they can get out and use that training to get a big paying job with some big city SWAT team or as a contractor employee.
Hell,Billy Waugh retired out of SF (he supposedly led the very first SOG recon mission into Laos,and he did lead the first Bright Light team into North Viet Nam to rescue a shot down Navy pilot.)and went to work for the CIA. He is the guy that caught the terrorist called Carlos,the Jackal,and set him up for arrest by the French after Clinton refused Billy permission to kill him on the spot. Billy was close enough to the villa where Carlos was staying that he took photos of the arrest and his crying wife leaving the villa. Billy was also still running around in the mountains in Afghanistan was he was in her early 70's,tracking down and killing Taliban.
Those who know the story of Versace and acknowledge his honor and courage is MUCH better than a medal given from gubmintal bureaucrats who really don't GAS. Who really needs them to validate the Courage & Honor of those who lived it??
Well,I am just one of many who are VERY grateful that his mother was still alive to receive it in his name. It doesn't replace a lost son,but at least it is something to say he was there and he was important and is missed by all.
"I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago." (Sarah Palin,Dec 2009) ************************************ DID Palin say or write these things or not? (Me) I don't know or F ing care. (Mad Dog posted on 2009-12-26 16:36:33 ET,post # 105 http://libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=5510&Disp=114#C114)
