outpost 2

Outpost #2... Life was spartan, but less so than Outpost #1. Outpost #2 was also the largest and best staffed of the four battalion outpost in the TAOR.

Outpost #2 was staffed by four to five MPs with an Non Commissioned Officer (NCO) in command.

They were augmented by a platoon of approximately 20 Regular Force/Popular Force (RF/PF) Vietnamese Village Militia, commanded by their own senior NCO. The PF NCO, unlike his counterparts at the other outpost's had his own private office.

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Water and supplies could be trucked in daily if needed on the dirt roadway, and there was plenty of level open ground for helicopter landings.

The outpost was constructed around what was once a Buddhist religious enclave. The dominant physical structures were small, cement block, clay tile roofed buildings converted to quarters, supply rooms, and offices. There was a concrete reinforced four posted lookout tower just outside the southern perimeter.

The interior compound was approximately one square acre in size, and had a barbed wire perimeter, connecting interior trench lines with numerous sand bag, timber reinforced bunkers and pit firing positions.

In March of 1968 Outpost #2 still had a relic of the First Indochina War. In the event the outpost radio might be disabled during an attack, they had a large 6' long arrow, made of wood, that rotated on a center post in the same manner a needle on a compass works. Along the arrow a line of small cans were fastened. If during a night attack the outpost defenders lost the use of their radio, kerosene would be placed in the cans and set on fire. The arrow would then be pointed towards the direction of the attacking forces so any responding aerial assistance would know where to direct their fire on the enemy positions.

SOUTHEAST TOWARDS MAIN GATE

With the exception of the west side where a grove of trees was located between a small group of farmers houses and the south east corner, another farmers house, the perimeter had unobstructed fields of fire all around.

NORTHERN HALF

SOUTHERN HALF

The MP quarters were located in a dirt floored pavilion open on three sides with a clay tile roof. The supports were cement block and the roof trusses (teak) timber.

The west side (back) had a full cement block wall with two small rooms , one off to each side. One (north) was the arms room, the other (south) the supply room.

The MPs slept on standard army cots in the left and center section. The dirt floor was covered with wooden truck pallets that kept your feet dry in the rains but also became a home for every kind of insect and vermin possible so wearing boots at all times was a necessity.

During heavy rains the cots would be moved towards the center of the structure and at times depending on the strength of the wind even that didn't keep them dry.

Floor Plan Diagram 1968

SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS

ARMS ROOM

When the monsoons came there were times the water wound rise above the floor boards. The only benefit was the vermin that lived beneath them would be driven out, until, a new colony moved in when the water subsided.

For lighting at night a small oil lamp was used. A small wooden table was used to hold the field radio during radio watch at night. Each man pulled a two hour radio watch and gave hourly "SIT-REP's (situation reports) to Battalion Tactical Operations Command (TOC).

In addition to the MP radio, the outpost also had a telephone land line connecting it to Outpost 1, 3, 4, and Long Binh Post. However the line was not dependable due to weather, accidental damage and enemy sabotage so the MP and PF radios were the primary lifeline.

Drinking and cooking water was at a premium, it was stored in 5 gallon cans and a canvas Lister Bag hung from a rafter in the shade of the pavilion. There were no shower facilities, you washed out of your helmet or showered when it rained. Since everyone smelled the same, you tended not to notice it as much.

In between the rains you had to wait until your turn came to make a supply run into Long Binh Post and use the company showers. In Early 1968 each man was allowed to visit the post for a shower, hot meal, mail and post exchange privileges once a week.

Mail was picked up and delivered during the supply runs or when an ambush squad or someone from the company was visiting for an inspection. At the end of the month they did send an officer out for payday. The men from Outpost#1 would walk to Outpost #2 to receive their pay.

The toilet consisted of a wooden outhouse on skids. The waste was collected in a half of a 55 gallon medal drum and every couple of days it was burned by stirring in mixture of diesel and gasoline. The residue was then dumped in a nearby ditch.

US armament consisted of M-14 rifles, one 40mm M-79 grenade launcher,M-60 machine gun, 90mm Recoilless Rifle, assorted hand grenades, hand flares, Claymore anti personnel mines, and a Starlight night vision scope.

The MP's ate standard C-Rations or a combination with perishable items obtained from the post mess hall or village market. The vegetables from the village appeared anemic looking compared to those in grocery stores at home but they were tasty and were considered a gourmet delicacy when compared to the C-Rations.

The Importance of Hot Sauce and Sugar PFC Thomas T. Watson, B Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, Long Binh, Vietnam, March 1968 to March 1969.

Anytime you purchased items from the local villages there were certain rules you followed to insure the items were not tampered with.

Ice was usually available when needed because it was shipped in daily to An Hoa Hung Village from Bien Hoa. The ice was only used to cool perishable items or bottles and canned drinks, it was never mixed. This was a standard rule the men were taught because if the VC learned that US personnel made routine purchases from certain village outlets they would mix ground glass in the ice.

A similar caution came with purchasing bottles of Coke and vegetables. If you bought bottled coke in the village you first examined the cork liner in the cap before drinking it. If the cork was black and it didn't have any fizz when shaken it meant the soda was spiked with battery acid. We arrested one Mamasan in Long Hung Village and turned her over to the local National Police when we discovered she had sold us two bottles of Coke tainted with battery acid.

When purchasing vegetables in the village market you always selected the items from different vendors. If you couldn't do it personally you purchased them directly from the garden of a local villager or one of the local PF's that farmed as a side line.

Outpost #2 was the central HQ for the Popular Forces (PF) and centrally located in the TAOR, accessible by road and helicopter, it became the headquarters for all large scale operations within the TAOR. It's accessibility also made it the showcase for numerous show and tell tours for visiting MP brass.

The RF/PF’s had a radio that permitted them to traffic over the ARVN military network. The OP was the Popular Forces central command and control Headquarters for the TAOR and the best staffed.

The RF/PF armament situation was the same as at the other outpost, all weapons consisted of a limited assortment of surplus WW II and Korean War vintage small arms that were handed down among them when their shifts changed.

Since Outpost #2 had the best defensive location, strongest structures, most manpower (PF's) the greatest security concern for the MP’s was not a ground assault but mining of the only roadway between them and Outpost #1. Twice in 1968 Viet Cong land mines were detonated by U.S. military vehicles using the roadway. The mining's resulted in the death of one MP, wounding of another and two female Vietnamese Nationals, and the wounding of one engineer truck driver.

1967 Time Line ~ Outpost-2 began with Operations CORRAL & STABILIZE

September Prior to the start of Operation Corral and STABILIZE the 720th MP Battalion combined ambush platoon leader, 1LT Wilkerson of B Company, evaluated the four Popular Forces outpost within the Tactical Area of Responsibility. It is still unknown exactly when the first MP's were stationed at each.

11 September Operation STABILIZE began in the TAOR. All three villages were cordoned and searched to root our the enemy infastructure. This is the earliest known photo of Outpost #2.

The mission at Outpost #2 for B Company MP's began when SGT Robert R. "Andy" Anderson of B Company was assigned as the first NCOIC.

Photo SGT Anderson with several of the local Long Hung village children, April 1968. Courtesy of SGT Robert R. "Andy" Anderson, B Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, June 1968 to June 1969.

3 November, 1845 hours [6:45 PM], "Pican Wonder" [radio call sign], located at Outpost #2, informed this office that an individual received minor burns from a flare and requested transportation to the hospital. Pican Wonder #26 was dispatched for the transport.

1968 Local Viet Cong target the roadways

20 March PFC Thomas T. Watson is assigned to duty at the outpost and he was followed within a week by PFC David J. "Ski" Sinwelski which increased the MP staff to five, 1 Noncommissioned Officer and 4 enlisted men.

Welcome to B Company and MP Duty In Vietnam From the Journal of CPL Thomas T. Watson, B Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, March 1968 to March 1969.

Apr-May The OP obtained a new large trailer mounted generator to replace the smaller and less efficient one used to power the lights that illuminated the perimeter fence and the Popular Forces radios.

8 April The 720th MP Battalion assumed operational control of the 116 man, 301st National Police Field Forces Company [NPFF], and deployed the unit in the Tactical Area of Responsibility.

The NPFF Headquarters was set up at Outpost #2, tents were erected to house the unit. Their US Advisor Mr. Hale, set up his quarters with the B Company MP's at the outpost. Two enlisted men from the 301st were integrated into the Battalion Tactical Operations Command [TOC] to insure coordination of all NPFF operations within the TAOR.

Photo G0012 Left to right- CPL Woodrow "Woody" Morgan (NCOIC Ambush Team 76), PFC Dave Sinwelski (with mallet) and two other unidentified MP's erect the NPFF tents. Courftesy of CPL Thomas T. Watson, B Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, March 1968 to March 1969.

April Exact date unknown, SGT Robert R. "Andy" Anderson is reassigned back to Long Binh Post to prepare for the end of his tour and replaced by SGT Robert L. Parker.

A program was initiated to upgrade the security and living conditions at the outpost.

A yet to be identified PFC, is assigned to the outpost and stays for approximately two weeks before being reassigned back to Long Binh Post.

11 April The outpost was the scene of a major inspection by the Battalion Commander, LTC Zane V. Kortume, who escorted Brigadier General (BG) Karl W. Gustafson, Commanding Officer of the 18th Military Police Brigade and the Provost Marshal General of the United States Army Republic of Vietnam (USARV).

General "Gus" Comes to Visit From the Journal of CPL Thomas T. Watson, B Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, March 1968 to March 1969.

23 April SP/4 John I. Hart is reassigned from HQ Detachment to B Company and assigned to Outpost #2 which maintained the staff level at five, with the reassignment of PFC Hush, 1 Noncommissioned Officer and 4 enlisted men.

The outpost trenches were cleaned of trash, debris and deepened, grass maintenance was started and the older bunkers were strengthened and new bunkers added where needed.

The old deteriorating sand bags were removed and new sand bags added where needed. A regular maintenance schedule was initiated on the perimeter wire to clear the field grasses that obstructed the views from the bunkers. Additional trees were removed from in and outside the perimeter line.

The roof of the MPs pavilion was not suitable for sand bagging and was very vulnerable to enemy mortar and Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attack so an operations bunker was constructed next to it.

12 June A Viet Cong land mine destroyed a 3/4 ton dump truck being used by D Company, 46th Engineer Battalion constructing the new Friendship Bridge's. The land mine was placed under the single lane dirt roadway between outpost #1 and #2. The front end of the 3/4 ton dump truck was destroyed but the driver received only minor injuries.

Starting The Day With A Bang From the Journal of CPL Thomas T. Watson, B Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, March 1968 to March 1969.

22 June PFC Watson was transferred from duties at Outpost #2 to Outpost #4 in Long Binh Tan to initiate the transfer of responsibility of operations for the outpost from A to B Company, scheduled officially for 26 June. It is unknown at this time who replaced him at Outpost #2.

26 June B Company assumed responsibility for total operational control of the 720th MP Battalion Tactical Area of Responsibility under Operation STABILIZE. The transfer did not effect activities at Outpost #2 which was already a B Company operation.

1 October,1050 hours [10:50 AM], SGT Billy Joe Dansel RA1575434736, D Company, 87th Infantry (Rifle Security), 95th MP Battalion, received serious neck strain, and a possible cerebral concussion when a bunker he was working in collapsed on him at the outpost. SGT Dansel was medivaced to the 24th Evacuation Hospital and treated by Dr. Barrett.

1751 hours (5:51PM) A Viet Cong land mine explosion resulted in the death of PFC Robert Alicea and the serious wounding of PFC James Brunotte of B Company, 720th MP Battalion, who both lived and worked at Outpost #1. The wife and daughter of a local PF sergeant were also seriously wounded but survived. It is believed that the intended target was the bridge security team truck that would have come along within minutes after the MP jeep unexpectedly left Outpost #2.

If you were working at Outpost #2 or were present at the time of this incident , please contact the History Project Manager via the Email Link at the top of this page.

1969 The Vietnamization of the Outpost Begins

23 February The 274th North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Regiment of the 5 NVA Division attacked the southern perimeter of Long Binh Post. The thrust came right through the eastern sector of the Tactical Area of Responsibility avoiding the more populated western sector where the four B Company outpost were located.

After the 23 February Post Tet attack on Long Binh Post the security priority shifts from the villages and outpost to the unpopulated eastern sector of the TAOR. By the end of the summer most of the MP's on outpost duty are reassigned to other assignments and the local Popular Forces units take primary responsibility at the outposts.

The Village Outpost staffed from late 1967, OP#1 An Xuan, OP#2 Long Hung, OP#3 An Hoa Hung and OP#4 Long Binh Tan, were turned over to the local Popular Forces units. All B Company personnel withdrawn from the facilities were committed to increased reconnaissance and ambush missions within the Tactical Area of Responsibility.

2 August All outpost missions in the TAOR were terminated. B Company abandoned the two fortified command post, Outpost #5 on Hill-15 and #6 on the Finger of Land, built in the spring of 1969. The fortifications at both locations were destroyed.

1970 Operation STABILIZE Comes To An End

25 July A result of the Vietnamization Program, Operation STABILIZE came to an end when all B Company missions in the Tactical Area of Responsibility were turned over to the Army of The Republic of South Vietnam (ARVN) and the 25th Infantry Division.

25th

2006 Satellite view of former Outpost-2

The village area is now very developed.