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commander would catch a ride with the supply chopper or a Battalion Jeep from the Motor pool and attend the meeting and be choppered or driven back to our positions. Capt. Tolleson would receive each platoon leaders’ briefings re. their
Capt. Fred Tolleson, XO John Clancy
sector—The Skipper would then brief us re. the strategic big picture as far as he knew it and freshen up our missions with new orders from time to time.
The Company staff did a good job of coordinating the logistics to support our operations. The days passed with little fanfare—the VC were elusive and not very active. The nights were long and often shattered with a Marine firing rounds at some of the ‘ghosts’ that tended to form when staring into the pitch black night —they were still getting used to the idea of being in a combat zone and guerrilla warfare. We honestly didn’t know if we were being ‘probed’ or not most of the time. Then less than three weeks after landing at Qui Nhon came the worst night of my time in the Marine Corps. We had settled in for the night—a half moon was
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