Hey all, anyone from those years???  i was a towgunner in Echo company when i first got there then they disbanded all Echo companies and moved us to D company.Steve Hurst, Dave Hoeshele, mcallister, ray, anyone who went to Sinai with us....contact me....

michael.bauman@shell.com

  michael.bauman@shell.com

What years were you at JSA?

Imgin Scout.........wow, thats an old phrase. I was wondering how you got so many patrols (42)?

I'm not trying to start anything, but the history that I know (from working there for a year in the Scout Plt.) is that Imjin Scouts worked the Macha Valley (Infal. Alley) for 3 month tours. In that tour, there were 3 shifts....OP1, QRF, and Patrol. One platoon would take its turn inside the DMZ for 9 days, one platoon would pull Cordon (?), and one platoon would do manuv. / live fires near Liberty Bell.

After 9 days this 3 platoon formation would shift.........garrison would goto patrol, qrf, and OP1; patrol  and such would goto cordon, and cordon would goto garrison. (if you can follow that)...........this is where my question comes in.

How did you get 42 patrols? And why did you count them?

It was not till a few years later that JSA scouts were formed, Cordon duty was dropped, and the Imgin Scouts stopped. These scouts worked SOLEY inside the DMZ and could only get about 60 patrols  (365 days / 18 day cycle x 3 patrols per cycle per team = 60.83) And this is IF a dude never took leave (and I did not know not 1 guy that could stand 1 more second there, so everone took time off)

Next question..........what the hell is a green private doing as a point man.....esp new to the terrain and as your primary compass? Are you kidding me? I don't care if a SGM wanted to lead a patrol, if he didn't know that area like the back of his hand, the answer was NO!

We rarely had green privates and they were going to be RTO's or AG's, while every pointman we had was an E4 (P) or an E5. It was rare to EVER see an E5 even lead a patrol...........HELL, every gunner we had was an E4 (P)...........no way in hell would ANYONE ever let a green pea lead as pointman on a combat patrol.

There were ALOT of small firefights during the years you mention. This does not suprise me, but what does suprise me is that, EVEN if some NCO had his head up his 4th point of contact, after a firefight you would think you'd pull that private off of point before everyone got killed!?

With all that said..........why / how does a guy with less than a year, 1 year, or even JUST over a year in the Army get a slot to ROK Ranger?

I am NOT ATTACKING.......I would be the last to do that. This is not a small discrepency. And I am not argueing semantics. I worked my butt off there, and would not do it again for a million bucks! Reading this just got me to jump..........so excuse me if I come across wrong.

"The ones that run are VC......the ones that just stand there are well disciplined VC." 

- Door Gunner / Full Metal Jacket       Familyman411@yahoo.com

Nice to hear from someone who was there...even though questioning me...lol

As for your questions, i was there in 84-85, i was on the DMZ that summer and we did 3 days of patrols and 3 days off. That is how i did 42 patrols. The reason i kept a record was because i was told to. we all did on 3x2 index cards with the date,time and if it was a day patrol or a night ambush. I was a private E-2 at the time and was a very hard chargin infantry troop at the time.Before we went to the DMZ they needed a combat medic on all patrols and i voluntered for the two week course and was honor grad. Maybe that,my abilities during the 45 days in the field during Team Spirit, and the fact i was very good with map reading is why they put me as pointman which i asked for anyway. I had a excelant memory and as i guess you know they gave me a map everyday and i had to memorize the different legs of my patrol, meters,degrees, and terrain features and was tested on this 3 times before each patrol. No maps allowed on the DMZ.Anyway that type of stuff was fun for me and i guess it showed in my performance. The ROK Ranger school had alot of volunteers wanting to go but you had to pass all the physical tests first and they sent the top 3 troops which i was one of. This was after we got back from the DMZ. Kind of how my career went, i went to Korea a pv-1 and left a spec.4. I made SGT. at 2 1/2 years and while in the 82nd i went to about 6 more military schools, should have stayed in ..i loved the 82nd. only thing that was able to drag me away was a woman of course.damn.  oh yea...i do have all my documentation, of my patrols, and certificates of schools...matter of fact there on my DD214. And i don't think you are being to suspicious....i understand completely.

  michael.bauman@shell.com

Good, I am glad there is little to no friction here; thats how I like it.

However, just some things make me scratch my head. Are you telling me that you worked inside the DMZ for MORE than 3 months?

The ONLY thing I can figure is that you worked inside the DMZ for 3 months, average days in a month is 30, half the time patroling. (30 x 3 = 90 / 2 = 45) Thus making sence on how you got 42 patrols.

But what gets me is why ya'll were not rotating in and out of duties (as per the SOP as far back as I know). Who the hell was manning OP1, Cordon duty, and QRF?

Your story contridicts the history that I know, and still makes me wonder why ANYONE would put a cherry at point much less send him to ROK Ranger. Gene Stewart could answer all this for me. He is an officer for DMZ Vets Org and helps run one of the best web rings I have EVER seen. Poorboygene@msn.com is how to reach him. There is little to nothing he doesn't know about the history of JSA and has members of his org. that were there during your time. He also has a VAST collection of memorabilia and pictures (of which are all on the net).

Like I said, when I was there, no one would even think about putting a cherry at point. I have walked that AO so much I could walk it today without a compass nor map. I did it when it was -30 deg. and did it when it was 105 heat index.

If thats your story than I will accept it at that and "move out smartly", but its not like the ones that I have heard of before.

My years were 95-96, we pulled the security for the "POW" release of Capt. Bobby Hall, we met a head on force (out numbered 4 to 1) outside the Swiss / Swede Camp and was told to take my M60 off safe with the bolt to the rear when Kim Jun Il's dad died who promised to reunite the Korea's before he died, and came to wtiness the 2 dead bodies of KPA SF soldiers who tried to sneak in to our 5 o'clock near the river. 1st ROK soldiers killed them and captured their equipment........G2 did a layout and had us look at them and their equipment so that we could better know our enemy.

Its a "hot with action" AO that no one talks about, you never read about, get no recoginition for, and more than a hand full of US soldiers died at................

"The ones that run are VC......the ones that just stand there are well disciplined VC." 

- Door Gunner / Full Metal Jacket       Familyman411@yahoo.com

  michael.bauman@shell.com

What do you mean "air guard"? Do you mean helicopters in the DMZ?

And are you saying that you bunked at Camp Howze but worked in the DMZ?

You did not live at Camp Bonifas?

"The ones that run are VC......the ones that just stand there are well disciplined VC." 

- Door Gunner / Full Metal Jacket       Familyman411@yahoo.com

  michael.bauman@shell.com