Soldiers raining out of the sky, but don't panic.

AN great uncle of mine was a british para involved at Arnham. IN fact he was in the house depicted in “A Bridge too Far” that was blown to buggery by a German tank. He ended up getting captured and imprisoned. An escape attempt later in the war cost him a lung.

A good mate of mine was a HALE jumper in the SAS. Now that is scary stuff.

a relative tells me that it was worse when he was on point, after landing in a site, moving out, the traps usually triggered after him and skewered the guys behind.

at least the red berets around canberra are just jumping out over canberra for a bit of exercise…

Sorry, just correcting the terminology.

My father probably dropped bombs on the Vietcong in South Vietnam in the late 60s and early 70s.

It was all hand to hand for my father. Think Lord Stabington from Stabington Hall – stab stab, bang bang, neck wring etc.

‘Viet Cong’ was made up by the Yanks and the anti-communist Vietnamese.

I said, that’s what my father said.

I have jumped out of a plane a couple of times. it is a thrill, in full kit, to do so. I would prefer to not have to do it on a rainy, miserable day, but if these fortunate few get the chance to do so in all weather, around canberra, lucky them.

rosebud,

the French fought the Vietminh in North Vietnam in the 50s and the very early 60s.

The US and Australia plus others fought the Vietcong in South Vietnam from the early 60s until the early 70s.

So?

rosebud said :

The Vietkong cottoned on to this tactic of getting to ground quickly and as a counter measure, they would not only try and shoot them out of the sky, but would also dig shallow pits and insert large pointy bamboo stakes to greet the soldiers on arrival on the ground. Nasty.

Punji Sticks!

My father was a parachutist (not sure about the spelling) with the French Foreign Legion in the late 50s or early 60s fighting in Vietkong (as he called it). The clever Vietkong soldiers would try to shoot them out of the sky as soon as they left the planes (and no doubt while they were in the planes too). To avoid being shot in the air, the Parachuters used to fight to be the first one out (the first ones gave the enemy notice they were coming, and the second lot of jumpers copped the fire). They also used to hang on to their parachutes and not deploy them until the last minute, so that they would get to ground quickly and get to cover first. This resulted in many broken legs and other serious injuries. They didn’t take many prisoners and if they did, well, let’s say that the Geneva convention wasn’t high on their agenda. So a soldier with a broken leg was in a very bad way. The Vietkong cottoned on to this tactic of getting to ground quickly and as a counter measure, they would not only try and shoot them out of the sky, but would also dig shallow pits and insert large pointy bamboo stakes to greet the soldiers on arrival on the ground. Nasty.

Ah, that explains the aerial congo lines I saw this morning.