Tet (Vietnam Ground Zero Military Thrillers Book 11)

by Eric Helm

Target

  Warlord

  Spike

  Recon

  GLOSSARY

  AC — Aircraft commander. The pilot in charge of an aircraft.

  AFVN — U.S. armed forces radio and television network in Vietnam. Army PFC Pat Sajak was probably the most memorable of AFVN’s DJs with his loud and long, “GOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, Vietnam!”

  AK-47 — Assault rifle normally used by the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.

  AO — Area of Operations.

  AO DAI — Long dress-like garment, split up the sides and worn over pants.

  AP ROUNDS — Armor-piercing ammunition.

  APU — Auxiliary Power Unit. An outside source of power used to start aircraft engines.

  ARC LIGHT — Term used for a B-52 bombing mission. It was also known as heavy arty.

  ARVN — Army of the Republic of Vietnam. A South Vietnamese soldier.

  BISCUIT — C-rations.

  BODY COUNT — Number of enemy killed, wounded or captured during an operation. Used by Saigon and Washington as a means of measuring progress of the war.

  BOONDOGGLE — Any military operation that hasn’t been completely thought out. An operation that is ridiculous.

  BOONIE HAT — Soft cap worn by a grunt in the field when he wasn’t wearing his steel pot.

  BUSHMASTER — Jungle warfare expert or soldier skilled in jungle navigation. Also a large deadly snake not common to Vietnam but mighty tasty.

  C AND C — Command and Control aircraft that circled overhead to direct the combined air and ground operations.

  CAO BOIS — Cowboys. A term that referred to the criminals of Saigon who rode motorcycles.

  CARIBOU — U.S. Army cargo transport plane.

  CHINOOK — Army Aviation twin-engine helicopter. A CH-47. Also known to the troops as a shit hook.

  CHOCK — Refers to the number of the aircraft in the flight. Chock Three is the third. Chock Six is the sixth.

  CLAYMORE — Antipersonnel mine that fires 750 steel balls with a lethal range of 50 meters.

  CLOSE AIR SUPPORT — Use of airplanes and helicopters to fire on enemy units near friendly troops.

  CO CONG — Female Viet Cong soldier.

  DAI UY — Vietnamese army rank equivalent to U.S. Army Captain.

  DEROS — Date of Estimated Return from Overseas Service.

  E AND E — Escape and Evasion.

  FEET WET — Term used by pilots to describe flight over water.

  FIVE — Radio call sign for the Executive Officer of a unit.

  FNG — Fucking New Guy.

  FOX MIKE — FM radio.

  FREEDOM BIRD — Name given to any aircraft that took troops out of Vietnam. Usually referred to the commercial jet flights that took men back to the World.

  GARAND — M-1 rifle that was replaced by the M-14. Issued to the Vietnamese early in the war.

  GO-TO-HELL RAG — Towel or any large cloth worn around the neck by grunts to absorb perspiration, clean their weapon and dry their hands.

  GRAIL — NATO name for shoulder-fired SA-7 surface-to-air missile.

  GUARD THE RADIO — Term meaning to stand by in the commo bunker and listen for messages.

  GUIDELINE — NATO name for the SA-2 surface-to-air missile.

  GUNSHIP — Armed helicopter or cargo plane that carries weapons instead of cargo.

  HE — High-explosive ammunition.

  HOOTCH — Almost any shelter, from temporary to long-term.

  HORN — Term that referred to a specific kind of radio operations that used satellites to rebroadcast messages.

  HOTEL THREE — Helicopter landing area at Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut Airport.

  HUEY — UH-1 helicopter.

  IN-COUNTRY — Term used to refer to American troops operating in South Vietnam. They were all in-country.

  INTELLIGENCE — Any information about enemy operations, including troop movements, weapons capabilities, biographies of enemy commanders and general information about terrain features. It is any information that would be useful in planning a mission.

  KA-BAR — Military combat knife.

  KIA — Killed in Action. Since the U.S. was not engaged in a declared war, the use of the term KIA was not authorized. KIA came to mean enemy dead. Americans were KHA or Killed in Hostile Action.

  KLICK — A thousand meters; a kilometer.

  LIMA LIMA — Land Line. Refers to telephone communications between two points on the ground.

  LLDB — Luc Luong Dac Biet. The South Vietnamese Special Forces.

  LP — Listening Post. A position outside the perimeter manned by a couple of people to give advance warning of enemy activity.

  LZ — Landing Zone.

  M-3 — Also known as a grease gun. A .45-caliber submachine gun that was favored in World War II by GIs because its slow rate of fire meant the barrel didn’t rise and they didn’t burn through their ammo as fast as they did with some of their other weapons.

  M-14 — Standard rifle of the U.S. Eventually replaced by the M-16. It fired the standard NATO 7.62mm round.

  M-16 — Became the standard infantry weapon of the Vietnam War. It fired 5.56mm ammunition.

  M-79 — Short-barreled, shoulder-fired weapon that fires a 40mm grenade. These can be high explosives, white phosphorus or canister.

  MACV — Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. Replaced MAAG in 1964.

  MEDEVAC — Medical Evacuation. Also called Dust-Off. Helicopters used to take the wounded to medical facilities.

  MIA — Missing in Action.

  MOS — Military Occupation Specialty.

  MPC — Military Payment Certificates.

  NCO — Noncommissioned officer. A noncom. A sergeant.

  NCOIC — NCO in Charge. Senior NCO in a unit, detachment or patrol.

  NEXT — The man who said it was his turn next to be rotated home. See Short.

  NINETEEN — Average age of combat soldier in Vietnam, as opposed to twenty-six in World War II.

  NUOC-MAM — Foul-smelling sauce used by the Vietnamese.

  NVA — North Vietnamese Army. Also used to designate a soldier from North Vietnam.

  P (PIASTER) — Basic monetary unit in South Vietnam, worth slightly less than a U.S. penny.

  PETA-PRIME — Tar-like substance that melted in the heat of the day to become a sticky black nightmare that clung to boots, clothes and equipment. It was used to hold down the dust during the dry season.

  PETER PILOT — Copilot in a helicopter.

  PLF — Parachute Landing Fall. The roll used by parachutists on landing.

  POW — Prisoner of War.

  PRC-10 — Portable radio.

  PRC-25 — Lighter portable radio that replaced the PRC-10.

  PULL PITCH — Term used by helicopter pilots that means they are going to take off.

  PUNJI STAKE — Sharpened bamboo hidden to penetrate the foot. Sometimes dipped in feces to increase the likelihood of infection.

  RINGKNOCKER — Graduate of a military academy. The term refers to the ring worn by all graduates.

  RON — Remain Overnight. Term used by flight crews to indicate a flight that would last longer than a day.

  RPD — Soviet 7.62mm light machine gun.

  RTO — Radio Telephone Operator. The radio man of a unit.

  SA-2 — Surface-to-air missile fired from a fixed site. A radar-guided missile that is nearly 35 feet long.

  SA-7 — Surface-to-air missile that is shoulder-fired and has infrared homing.

  SAFE AREA — Selected Area for Evasion. It doesn’t mean that the area is safe from the enemy, only that the terrain, location or local population make the area a good place for escape and evasion.

  SAM TWO — A reference to the SA-2 Guideline.

  SAR — Search and Rescue. SAR forces would be the people involved in search-and-rescue missions.

  SHIT HOOK — Name applied by troops to the Chinook helicopter because of all the ‘shit’ stirred up by its massive rotors.

  SHORT — Ter
m used by a soldier in Vietnam to tell all who would listen that his tour was about over.

  SHORT-TIMER — Person who had been in Vietnam for nearly a’ year and who would be rotated back to the World soon. When the DEROS (Date of Estimated Return from Overseas Service) was the shortest in the unit, the person was said to be Next.

  SIX — Radio call sign for the unit commander.

  SKS — Soviet-made carbine.

  SMG — Submachine gun.

  SOI — Signal Operating Instructions. The booklet that contained the call signs and radio frequencies of the units in Vietnam.

  SOP — Standard Operating Procedure.

  STEEL POT — Standard U.S. Army helmet.

  TEAM UNIFORM OR COMPANY UNIFORM — UHF radio frequency on which the team or the company communicates. Frequencies were changed periodically in an attempt to confuse the enemy.

  THE WORLD — The United States.

  THREE — Radio call sign of the operations officer.

  THREE CORPS — Military area around Saigon. Vietnam was divided into four corps areas.

  TOC — Tactical Operations Center.

  TOT — Time Over Target. Refers to the time that the aircraft is supposed to be over the drop zone with the parachutists, or the target if the plane is a bomber.

  TRIPLE A — Antiaircraft Artillery or AAA. Anything used to shoot at airplanes and helicopters.

  TWO — Radio call sign of the intelligence officer.

  TWO-OH-ONE (201) FILE — Military records file that listed all of a soldier’s qualifications, training, experience and abilities. It was passed from unit to unit so that the new commander would have some idea about the capabilities of an incoming soldier.

  UMZ — Ultramilitarized Zone. It was the name GIs gave to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).

  UNIFORM — Refers to the UHF radio. Company Uniform would be the frequency assigned to that company.

  VC — Viet Cong, called Victor Charlie (phonetic alphabet) or just Charlie.

  VIET CONG — Contraction of Vietnam Cong San (Vietnamese Communist).

  VIET CONG SAN — Vietnamese Communists. A term in use since 1956.

  WHITE MICE — Referred to the Vietnamese military police because they all wore white helmets.

  WIA — Wounded in Action.

  WILLY PETE — WP, White phosphorus, called smoke rounds. Also used as antipersonnel weapons.

  WSO — Weapons System Officer. The name given to the man who rode in the back seat of a Phantom because he was responsible for the weapons systems.

  XO — Executive Officer of a unit.

  ZAP — To ding, pop caps or shoot. To kill.

  ZIPPO — Slang for flamethrower, derived from the cigarette lighter popular with the troops.

  Published by Sapere Books.

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  Copyright © Eric Helm, 1989

  Eric Helm has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events, other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.

  Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-80055-234-0