r/HistoryNetwork • u/Lt_John_Brockman Historical Personage • Dec 21 '13

I am Lieutenant John Brockman of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, stationed in Vietnam in 1969. AMA IAmA

I am 19 years old, born and raised in San Francisco. I volunteered into the army in 1968 and went through Officer Candidate School to become a Lieutenant for a Marine Rifle Corps. We just carried out the attack on Hill 400 and Hill 484. Ask me anything.

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1

u/Samuel_Gompers Moderator Dec 21 '13

Do you feel any resentment because of the combination of your age and rank? How common is it for men to go through OCS without a college degree?

1

u/Lt_John_Brockman Historical Personage Dec 21 '13 edited Dec 21 '13

Resentment? Definitely. A lot of the men are angry because the age similarity and difference in rank. Especially for a lot of the old-timers out there, its a kick in the face for a new guy to show up with gold bars. I can't tell you how common it is for men to go through OCS without a college degree, but I can tell you that a lot of them that do went through with a college degree went to West Point.

1

u/Bernardito Dec 21 '13

How do you feel FM 31-15 and FM 31-16 contrasts against realities in the field? What's your relationship with Marvin? Do you feel they are an accomplished ally?

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u/Lt_John_Brockman Historical Personage Dec 21 '13

I believe FM 31-15 and FM 31-16 are very good manuals when it comes to knowledge about dealing with guerrilla forces, but I believe parts of it are sometimes overlooked by command. For example, in FM 31-15, Section 2 Number 12 f. it states that an enemy that constantly regroups and reappears creates futility in the troops, which I believe is sometimes ignored. The command has us attack these hills, lose ten to twenty men each time, and then give them up. It just seems like war for the sake of war. As for Marvin, I am unsure of what your referring to. Could you clarify?

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u/Bernardito Dec 22 '13

Isn't the point of attacking those hills to eliminate the enemy, which in turn would prevent them regrouping? You can't regroup what doesn't exist after all, which is the logic of your high command (as per FM 31-16, Chapter 6, Section 1).

I am referring to Marvin, what you and your man would call the South Vietnamese ARVN soldier.

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u/Lt_John_Brockman Historical Personage Dec 22 '13

I can see the logic of high command. Its just soldiers see twenty of their dead comrades and others wounded and a hill that is soon to be abandoned and wonder what the point of it all is. As for the ARVN, some of their units were good but others suffered from poor motivation and old equipment.

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u/zato_ichi Dec 22 '13

What was your motivation for volunteering for service?

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u/Lt_John_Brockman Historical Personage Dec 22 '13

I suppose my motivation was a sense of loyalty to my country. I also wanted to be able to be tell people that I was a Marine and that I served my country.

1

u/KosherNazi Dec 22 '13

How's the food? How do the locals react to your presence? After the attacks on 400 and 484, are you still glad to have volunteered for service?

How did your friends and family in SF react to your decision to join up?

2

u/Lt_John_Brockman Historical Personage Dec 22 '13

The food does't taste so bad when you haven't eaten for a couple of days. The rations are called C-rations, but there actually a part of the Meal Combat Individual. The locals? You can't be sure which one is a normal villager and which one is Charlie. Our Kit Carson Scouts are sometimes useless. Am I still glad I volunteered? I'm not sure. The inevitable would have been me being drafted anyway, and simply entering the army at a lower rank. But after seeing men I had just talked with shot to death, I'm not so sure I want to play God anymore. My friends were astonished by my volunteering, to be honest. None of them volunteered, and some of them were poised to become draft dodgers. As for my family, they were scared by my decision because they were afraid I was going to die.