Vietnam II: A War Novel Episode 3 (V2) Read Online Free
Author: C.R. Ryder
Sealift Readiness Program and the charter of commercial vessels.
About three-fourths of Jungle Shield cargo and personnel deliveries were made by ships resulting from the post V1 investment in strategic sealift programs during the last ten years. Without the new strategic sealift, there would have been no afloat prepositioning ships and no fast sealift. The APS/MPS ships prepositioned in Diego Garcia, Japan and the Philippines delivered ordnance and supplies two or three weeks sooner than sealift from the U.S. could have delivered it. Military fast sealift ships delivered cargo at twice the speed of most commercial shipping. The deployment in Jungle Shield was the first real test of sealift and it performed to its full potential. It would become the model for conflicts stretching into the 21st century.
Captain William Bell
F-15 Driver
Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa
After busting our ass to get there we found ourselves with nothing to do except wait. Now we were hours away from the deadline and there was a typhoon between us and them. It frustrated everyone. We either wanted to kill something or go home.
When we arrived at Kadena we were put into a composite squadron, made up of planes and pilots from several different stateside units, under the banner of the 18th Fighter Wing. I was personally paired with Major Peter West for this deployment. He was a good instructor and I knew I could learn a lot from him, but I cannot say I was ecstatic to fly with him.
“Watching you taxi centerline is like watching a monkey fucking a football Catfish.” He had said more than once. “You’re always off altitude, you’re always out of formation and you make lousy corn.”
I was a prior enlisted maintainer, a ROTC Nazi, a fact that I had kept on the down low from the ring knocker academy graduates after the poor reception my past brought me in undergraduate pilot training.
“You ever heard of Kimpo Air Base Catfish?” West asked one day after chow. West insisted I eat every meal with him and work out with him every day. He said it was to make us a better team, but honestly I think the man was lonely.
I shook my head in response to his question.
“You don’t know about Kimpo?” He said.
That was what I just indicated, but he was making a show. This felt like a loaded question. I could not do anything except walk into the trap and shake my head again.
“You see this patch Catfish?”
He pointed at the 18th Wing patch that adorned his left shoulder. It was a fighting chicken in a yellow background.
“Let me tell you a little about it.” He took a swig of beer. “This is the Fighting Cock.
You see the military is full of myths and legends. Some are good and inspire troops to greatness. Others serve as a warning to others. The curse of the 18th Wing and the Fighting Cock is one of the later.”
There are three distinct characteristics of the legend West explained. First the Fighting Cock on the wing emblem, the "ZZ" tail code on 18th Wing aircraft; and the fact that the 18th Wing has never been stationed in the continental United States.
The story goes that the 18th Wing airmen behaved cowardly in the Korean War. When the Red Chinese overran Kimpo Air Base the 18th Wing pilots fled in their aircraft rather than try to repel the brutal Communist attack against the operating base. The remaining ground crews, left undefended without their aircraft, faced the wrath of the advancing enemy unequipped, as this was before the Air Force trained airmen in even the most basic small arms training.
When the base fell the enlisted men left behind were strung up with wire from hangar rafters. When General MacArthur found out about the incident he was enraged. In the face of such cowardice, the 18th Wing was punished in various ways.
First the 18th is forbidden from ever landing on American soil. Second they were made to wear a patch displaying a surrendering
About three-fourths of Jungle Shield cargo and personnel deliveries were made by ships resulting from the post V1 investment in strategic sealift programs during the last ten years. Without the new strategic sealift, there would have been no afloat prepositioning ships and no fast sealift. The APS/MPS ships prepositioned in Diego Garcia, Japan and the Philippines delivered ordnance and supplies two or three weeks sooner than sealift from the U.S. could have delivered it. Military fast sealift ships delivered cargo at twice the speed of most commercial shipping. The deployment in Jungle Shield was the first real test of sealift and it performed to its full potential. It would become the model for conflicts stretching into the 21st century.
Captain William Bell
F-15 Driver
Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa
After busting our ass to get there we found ourselves with nothing to do except wait. Now we were hours away from the deadline and there was a typhoon between us and them. It frustrated everyone. We either wanted to kill something or go home.
When we arrived at Kadena we were put into a composite squadron, made up of planes and pilots from several different stateside units, under the banner of the 18th Fighter Wing. I was personally paired with Major Peter West for this deployment. He was a good instructor and I knew I could learn a lot from him, but I cannot say I was ecstatic to fly with him.
“Watching you taxi centerline is like watching a monkey fucking a football Catfish.” He had said more than once. “You’re always off altitude, you’re always out of formation and you make lousy corn.”
I was a prior enlisted maintainer, a ROTC Nazi, a fact that I had kept on the down low from the ring knocker academy graduates after the poor reception my past brought me in undergraduate pilot training.
“You ever heard of Kimpo Air Base Catfish?” West asked one day after chow. West insisted I eat every meal with him and work out with him every day. He said it was to make us a better team, but honestly I think the man was lonely.
I shook my head in response to his question.
“You don’t know about Kimpo?” He said.
That was what I just indicated, but he was making a show. This felt like a loaded question. I could not do anything except walk into the trap and shake my head again.
“You see this patch Catfish?”
He pointed at the 18th Wing patch that adorned his left shoulder. It was a fighting chicken in a yellow background.
“Let me tell you a little about it.” He took a swig of beer. “This is the Fighting Cock.
You see the military is full of myths and legends. Some are good and inspire troops to greatness. Others serve as a warning to others. The curse of the 18th Wing and the Fighting Cock is one of the later.”
There are three distinct characteristics of the legend West explained. First the Fighting Cock on the wing emblem, the "ZZ" tail code on 18th Wing aircraft; and the fact that the 18th Wing has never been stationed in the continental United States.
The story goes that the 18th Wing airmen behaved cowardly in the Korean War. When the Red Chinese overran Kimpo Air Base the 18th Wing pilots fled in their aircraft rather than try to repel the brutal Communist attack against the operating base. The remaining ground crews, left undefended without their aircraft, faced the wrath of the advancing enemy unequipped, as this was before the Air Force trained airmen in even the most basic small arms training.
When the base fell the enlisted men left behind were strung up with wire from hangar rafters. When General MacArthur found out about the incident he was enraged. In the face of such cowardice, the 18th Wing was punished in various ways.
First the 18th is forbidden from ever landing on American soil. Second they were made to wear a patch displaying a surrendering
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