Service In Vietnam With H Company, 75th Infantry LRRPs

AJ Simon was born in 1950 in Covington, Kentucky, and grew up in Newport. He was very active as a boy, enjoying hunting, fishing, and a variety of sports. He knew a lot of young men were dying in Vietnam, but felt that he should do his part, and when his buddy was drafted, AJ volunteered for the draft with the hopes of training with his friend. At the induction center, his friend was disqualified, but AJ was sent to Ft. Dix, New Jersey, for Infantry basic and advanced training. He remembers getting his hair cut and having to do KP. He enjoyed rifle training and remembers shooting both the M-14 and M-16. In advanced training, he learned more techniques for reading maps and using weapons, but still felt that “they never taught us enough.” He took 15 days of leave back home before deploying to Vietnam, flying from Ft. Lewis, Washington, to Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam, eventually ending up in Phuc Vinh with the 1st Cavalry Division. He volunteered for H Company, 75th Infantry, the Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP), and immediately began three weeks of Ranger training focused on physical fitness, map reading, and shooting. A LRRP team consisted of five or six Soldiers, a Platoon Leader, an Assistant Patrol Leader, an RTO, and two riflemen. Generally, missions were five days long and involved thorough reconnaissance of a four-grid-square area, moving very slowly for close observation. He describes carrying a 90-pound rucksack containing a Claymore mine, a radio battery, 30 magazines, grenades, an M-72 LAW (Light Anti-tank Weapon), medical supplies, quinine tables, a poncho liner, a VS-17 panel (for visibility from the air), det cord, extra water, rations, flares, C-4 explosive, and a compass among other items. The teams moved during the daylight and silently observed at night to catch the enemy when they were moving. He discusses fighting the NVA and Viet Cong and highlights the differences between those two enemies. On one occasion, he stumbled across an enemy bunker, and once while walking point, he had a close encounter with an enemy soldier. He recalls a harrowing flight out of the jungle on a McGuire rig, which ended with him falling into a rice paddy. He walked four patrols with SGT McConnell and encountered the enemy on three of them. Later, he led thirty-three patrols himself. He earned a Bronze Star for killing two NVA officers and recalls the medal being presented by General Casey. In addition to Ranger Training, he also completed the Recondo School and felt that the map training was very good in that school. Based on some of the harrowing missions he conducted, he developed a deep love for helicopter pilots. He describes preparing for LRRP missions and some of the rehearsals his Soldiers conducted, as well as their actions after returning to base. When LRRP patrols encountered the enemy, the LRRPs were pulled out, and larger American units were inserted to kill the enemy. He notes that his patrol did not leave booby traps in the jungle because he did not want to injure unsuspecting Americans. At one point he was going to take R&R to Bangkok with a buddy from Newport, but before they could leave, his friend, John Cottingham, was killed. He describes returning to Cincinnati in uniform and hearing some disparaging comments at the airport. He was proud of his uniform, but that incident changed his feelings and he recalls, “They hated the war so bad, they hated us.” After leave, he returned to Ft. Lewis, Washington, to finish his time in the military. He talks about having a tough time finding a good job, but he eventually ended up working as a Railroad Engineer. He suffers from Post Traumatic Stress, but gets help at the VA for that and other health issues. He is proud to have been in the Army, but sometimes feels embarrassed to bring up his service, although he is not ashamed of anything he did in Vietnam.