Matterhorn: a novel of the Vietnam War

by Karl Marlantes

  radio alphabet code Because letters can often be mistaken when transmitted orally, the military adopted a standard code designating each letter: Alpha is “A,” Bravo is “B,” and so on through Zulu for “Z.” Because NVA intelligence units would intercept radio messages, Marines were leery of saying last names over the radio, so Jones would become “character Juliet,” Smith would become “character Sierra,” and so on.

  radio brevity code An unsophisticated but continually changing shortcut code used for concealing information from the enemy in speaking over a radio. For example, beer brands could be used to designate different categories of casualties: e.g., “Coors” for killed in action, “Oley” for wounded in action. After a short time a new system would be established, such as cigarette brands: “Camels” would mean killed in action and “Luckies” would mean wounded in action. A few days later professional quarterbacks would be the general category, so Namath could mean killed in action; Hornung, wounded in action; and so on. Brevity code was applied to anything that was dangerous to transmit in the clear. For example, “cars” would be the brevity code to transmit locations. A specific car name would refer to a designated grid coordinate. The person radioing in a position would say, “From Cadillac up two point four and right three point one.” The listener would go to the designated “cars” grid coordinate for the day and calculate (in kilometers) from there to locate the transmitting party. Sending one’s location in the clear would invite artillery or rockets to that location.

  radio unit designators To confuse enemy intelligence when transmitting the names of units, a battalion-size unit would have a radio name that it changed frequently. For example, here the First Battalion of the Fourteenth Marines is designated “Big John.” Bravo Company of the First Battalion would thus be designated “Big John Bravo.” The First Platoon of Bravo Company would be called “Big John Bravo One.” At the company level, for convenience, the battalion designator would be dropped. The company would just be Bravo, and the First Platoon would be Bravo One. First Squad in the First Platoon would be Bravo One One, and so on.

  Red Dog Radio brevity code for any squad-size patrol.

  regiment Traditional core unit of the Marines, about 4,000 Marines. It consisted of three infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, and supporting staff and was usually commanded by a full colonel, often called a “bird colonel” because the rank is designated by a silver eagle. When someone is asked what unit a Marine served with, the answer will usually be in the form of the individual’s regiment, such as “Fourth Marines,” “Ninth Marines,” or “One-Nine,” meaning First Battalion Ninth Marines. Regiments can be shifted to various divisions or task forces, depending on need. Command of a Marine regiment is a very prestigious position.

  regular The Marine Corps divides its officers into two categories: reserve and regular. A reserve officer has USMCR placed after his name and rank; a regular officer has only USMC placed after his name and rank. All enlisted personnel are regulars, unless they specifically join a reserve unit after active service. Reserve officers are expected to serve three or four years of active duty and then either join a reserve unit or quit the Marine Corps altogether. The bulk of junior officers are reserve officers, the exceptions being graduates of the Naval Academy and some graduates of Naval ROTC who have already chosen the Marine Corps as a career. If a reserve officer wants to make the Marine Corps a career, he “goes regular” and is then viewed very differently by the Marine Corps personnel system. He no longer has a set time commitment to the Corps, but is expected to serve at least twenty years until retirement, and in most cases longer. In exchange, good positions such as command of company-size or larger units and advancement in rank are easier to attain. Very few reserve officers ever attain a higher rank than first lieutenant or get assigned to career-enhancing positions.

  request mast Every Marine has the right to request an interview with his commanding officer. The term “request mast” hasn’t changed since the days when Marines served on wooden sailing ships and the interview took place “before the mast.”

  RHIP Rank has its privileges.

  Route 9 A mostly dirt or gravel two-lane highway that connected the coastal plain around Quang Tri to Vandegrift Combat Base, Khe Sanh, and Laos. During the Vietnam War it was the only easy way to cross the mountains and supply Marines operating in them with land-based transportation. It also ran through the only easy way to get from Laos into the populated coastal lowlands, and was the most direct way for the NVA to reach Quang Tri, particularly with armor; hence, it was of immense strategic value.

  RPD Ruchnoi Pulemet Degtyarev, one of the lightest and most effective machine guns ever produced, was the standard machine gun used by the NVA and the Vietcong. It used the same 7.62-millimeter bullet as the AK-47 and the SKS. Beneath the barrel, it had a 100-round drum that contained the belted ammunition. The drum protected the ammunition from getting fouled by jungle dirt and plants, further increasing the RPD’s effectiveness. This weapon could fire about 150 rounds per minute for an effective range of around 800 meters (about half a mile). The bipod is permanently attached but can be folded alongside the barrel for ease in movement. The RPD weighed 19.4 pounds fully loaded.

  RPG Stands for rocket-propelled grenade. This is a small rocket with an explosive head that can be fired by a single man. It is very effective and is still used in Iraq by the insurgents.

  RTO Stands for radio operator, from “radio telephone operator,” a defunct name no longer used by the time of the Vietnam War. scuttlebutt Gossip, rumor. A scuttlebutt is a water fountain on a ship, a place where people congregate and exchange informal talk.

  Semper Fi Short for Semper Fidelis, Latin for “always faithful,” the Marine Corps motto. It means always faithful to the country’s call, but for Marines it primarily means always faithful to each other.

  senior squid The Navy hospital corpsman assigned to a company headquarters who is in charge of the corpsmen assigned to the platoons in the company. The table of organization rank called for a hospital corpsman first class (HM1 or HM-1), a naval petty officer equivalent to a Marine staff sergeant (E6 or E-6). Each Marine company had one senior hospital corpsman at the company headquarters. Tactically he reported to the company commander, but administratively he reported to the battalion surgeon, a Navy doctor, usually a Navy lieutenant. In Vietnam, because of shortages, this post was often filled by a lower-ranking hospital corpsman second class (HM2 or HM-2), the equivalent of a Marine sergeant (E5 or E-5), and there was often only one corpsman to a platoon.

  shit-kicker A paperback western novel.

  shit sandwich A particularly tough firefight.

  short-timer A standard tour of duty for a Marine in Vietnam was thirteen months. Around month eleven or twelve, most Marines began behaving differently. At this time, in contrast to the previous months, they could entertain the hope that they were going to get through alive and unscathed, but this hope destroyed the earlier psychological numbness and fatalistic thinking of the combat infantryman that had made fear easier to deal with. Short-timers’ behavior took all sorts of forms, like wearing two flack jackets, refusing to come out of a fighting hole to urinate, or refusing to brush one’s teeth (on the assumption that brushing made one’s smile too bright). Some of these behaviors were consciously opera buffa, but others were a result of serious psychological disturbances.

  short-timer’s stick Wooden staff from three to five feet long and about two inches in diameter. It was marked in some way each day, elaborately or simply, depending on the skill and taste of the carver. A few contrarians would mark all the days at once and then lop off a mark for each day that passed, until the lucky ones carried just a stub. The sticks served as walking sticks, canes, tent poles, and even weapons in a pinch. Some of the short-timer’s sticks were works of art.

  sick bay This was where the battalion medical staff was available for nonemergency illnesses and injuries. The term also meant the activity of providing routine medical care, as in “Sick bay will be at 0830 hours every day.”
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  Six Radio code for the commanding officer of a unit the size of a company or larger.

  skipper Casual term of affection and respect used by Marines to designate a company commander, no matter what his rank. Sometimes it is used for the leader of larger formations, such as a battalion or Marine Air Group or squadron. In the Navy, it refers to the commanding officer of a ship or boat, no matter what his rank, and has much the same connotation.

  Skoshi cab A small Japanese taxi. “Skoshi” means small or little in Japanese. Small Marines often were nicknamed Skosh, for example, Bass’s radio operator.

  SKS Standard-issue semiautomatic weapon used by the North Vietnamese Army and Vietcong. It fired the same 7.62-millimeter bullet as the AK-47, but it did not fire automatically: the trigger had to be pulled for each shot. Being longer than the AK-47, it was much more accurate.

  snoopy Slang for a poncho liner, so called because one could hide under it in the jungle when “snooping around.” The name also evoked, comfortingly, the cartoon beagle Snoopy.

  snuff or snuffy A young Marine of low rank.

  Slausens A gang of the 1960s in Los Angeles.

  splib Among Marines in the bush during Vietnam, this was a non-derogatory term for a black Marine. It was used by both blacks and whites as a rather “hip” way of identifying an African-American, usually a male. A common example is “He’s a splib dude” for a black Marine, in contrast to “He’s a chuck dude” for a white Marine.

  squad Unit designed to consist of thirteen Marines: three four-man fire teams and a squad leader. Usually, however, it operated with about ten or eleven Marines. A squad was designed to be led by a sergeant (three stripes), a noncommissioned officer with at least four years of experience or more; in Vietnam, though, most squads were led by corporals (two stripes) or even lance corporals (one stripe), most of whom were teenagers.

  squid Slang for a Navy hospital corpsman. The Navy provides all the medical services for the Marine Corps. (The Army, by contrast, has its own medical services; the Army equivalent of a corpsman is called a medic.) Corpsmen wore Marine uniforms and trained for service with the Marine Corps in special schools run by the Navy at Marine Corps facilities called field medical services schools (“Field Med” for short). The table of organization called for two corpsmen for each platoon, but there was often only one.

  stand to Most attacks come at dawn or dusk, when the light is favorable enough for the attacker but makes him hard for the defender to see. For this reason all Marines would be required to man (stand to) their fighting holes at these critical times.

  super-grunts Reconnaissance Marines. Reconnaissance personnel were all volunteers who operated far from friendly units in very small groups. Only highly recommended and experienced Marine infantry personnel were selected from the rifle companies; hence the half-derogatory, half-admiring nickname “super-grunts.” Marines still in rifle companies had mixed feelings about reconnaissance teams. On the one hand, these teams were admired because they were brave, were frequently sent on dangerous missions, and had already proved themselves as ordinary grunts. On the other hand, they lived in relative comfort in the rear when they weren’t out in the bush, and if they got into trouble they sometimes had to be bailed out by a rescue operation, which usually involved a firefight. There were two levels of reconnaissance: division and force. Force reconnaissance personnel received more extensive training than division reconnaissance personnel; for example they were all highly trained scuba divers and parachutists. Force recon is generally considered to be the crčme de la crčme of the Marine Corps, equivalent to (although the Marines would say better than) the Navy’s SEALs.

  TAOR Tactical area of responsibility. A geographic area assigned to any unit for which that unit has sole operating authority and responsibility.

  TBS See Basic School.

  Three The officer in charge of the staff tasked with planning operations. Major Blakely is in charge of First Battalion’s operations staff, S-3, so he is called “the Three.”

  tubing When an armed mortar shell is dropped into the mortar tube, an explosion propels it from the tube toward its target. The sound of this explosion is very distinct and is called tubing. Usually, if one hears tubing, there are several seconds before the round hits, because the sound of tubing arrives much faster than the high-arcing mortar round itself.

  twelve and twenty A Marine’s tour in Vietnam was thirteen months, as opposed to the Army’s standard tour of twelve months. The thirteenth month was added because initially Marines were transported to Vietnam and back by sea, and the two voyages took roughly a month. Even though the Marine Corps later adopted the Army’s practice of moving personnel by air, the tour of duty remained unchanged. However, there was an unwritten policy that no Marine would spend his last ten days in Vietnam out on an operation. Marines would often get so nervous and spooked, worried that they would die just before they were to be sent home, that many stopped functioning. This unwritten policy of getting out of the bush on one’s “twelve and twenty” was generally adhered to.

  utes or utilities Camouflaged trousers and jackets used by Marines in the jungle. Also called jungle utilities, cammies, and jungle utes. Marines referred to their working non-dress uniforms as utilities; the Army referred to them as fatigues.

  VC Vietcong, the guerrilla army based in South Vietnam and supplied by the North Vietnamese. The Vietcong were the “peasants in black pajamas” of folklore, but this force ranged in quality from “peasants” to well-equipped cadres virtually indistinguishable from a traditional regular army. Early in the war the Vietcong had nationalist as well as communist elements, having grown out of the Vietminh movement that opposed French colonial rule. The Vietcong were purposefully virtually eliminated as a fighting force by the North Vietnamese during the Tet Offensive of 1968. They were deliberately thrown into battle, inadequately equipped or inadequately trained to withstand American firepower, while the regular NVA units, better equipped and better trained, were held back. This was done because the North Vietnamese government feared that the Vietcong would form an opposition to its eventual rule.

  VCB Vandegrift Combat Base, located in a small valley in the eastern side of the Annamese Cordillera about midway across Vietnam. VCB was originally called LZ Stud the primary LZ from which the Marines and the 1st Air Cavalry division launched their relief of Khe Sanh. When the Marines withdrew from Khe Sanh, they turned LZ Stud into a forward staging area from which smaller units of company size could be inserted into the mountains. The Marines named it after the hero of Guadalcanal General Alexander Archer Vandegrift, recipient of a Medal of Honor and the eighteenth commandant of the Marine Corps.

  VFR Stands for visual flight rules, operational standards and procedures that are in place when flying conditions are good enough that pilots need not rely on instruments.

  wake-up It was extremely important, psychologically, to know exactly how many days a man had left until his tour of duty was over and he could leave Vietnam. However, there was an ambiguity. Do you call the day you board the plane for home your last day in Vietnam or your first day out of Vietnam? This was resolved by calling that day a “wake-up.” It didn’t count as in or as out, and this was the most accurate way of expressing how much time was left until the date of departure. (That date was called the RTD, “rotation of tour date,” by the Marines, and DEROS, “date eligible for return from overseas,” by the Army.) It is the day you wake up in Vietnam, but the day you go to sleep somewhere else.

  WIA Stands for wounded in action.

  XO Stands for executive officer.

  NUMERICAL TERMS

  .44 Magnum Staff NCOs (four stripes) and higher ranks could carry personal firearms of their choice, and a favorite was the Smith & Wesson Model 29 or Colt .44 revolvers designed to fire the powerful .44 magnum cartridge. (Another favorite was the slightly smaller .357 Magnum.) The original .44 Magnum revolver was developed jointly by Remington, which developed the .44 cartridge (actually a .429), and Smith & Wesson, which beefed up its standar
d .44 Special to accommodate the cartridge. The weapon was developed in the 1950s but did not become widely known to the general public until later, because it was carried by Clint Eastwood’s famous character Dirty Harry Callahan.

  .45 Standard-issue .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol. It was issued during the Vietnam War to officers, noncommissioned officers, corpsmen, and machine-gun and mortar crews. It was developed by John Browning in 1905 as a result of Marine action against the Moros in the Philippines, where it was found that a .38-caliber revolver, without a direct hit to either the heart or brain, could not stop a man who had bound his limbs and body with vines or ropes to stop bleeding and prevent shock. The .45 fires a very heavy bullet, at low velocity, and will knock a man down when it hits him in nearly any part of the body. The disadvantages of the .45 are that it has only a few shots before having to be reloaded and that it is notoriously inaccurate. The reputation for inaccuracy is somewhat unfair: because of their far shorter barrel lengths all pistols are less accurate than rifles, and accuracy up to fifty feet is quite good with a skilled shooter. Mastery of the weapon, however, is difficult. It has immense recoil that puts the next shot off target; and accuracy requires sighting time and a steady hand, both of which are often lacking in combat. In Vietnam, most junior officers, corpsmen, and even machine gunners carried both .45s and M-16s. Controversy still rages over the .45. In 1985 the U.S. military replaced it with the 9-millimeter Parabellum semiautomatic pistol, but the Marine Corps still retained the .45, though not as standard issue. Reports from Iraq indicate that the 9-millimeter is too light, and demand for .45s, which, among their other virtues, can penetrate concrete blocks and still kill someone on the other side, has risen sharply in that theater.