Essence of the FAC Experience
submitted by: Alva Leon Matheson
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2003 08:24:44 -0000 From: “Edward J Kalkbrenner Subject: Briefing
Folks,
A day or so ago I suggested that someone brief Steve on the FACing business. In retrospect, that seems a little presumptuous, so I have put finger to keyboard to do it myself. This is a little long, but I hope it captures the essence of what the FACNET is to us.
Steve,
Welcome to the FACNET. I was a FAC pilot stationed at DaNang and Bien Hoa from mid- 1968 to mid-1969, flying the O-2 aircraft. As you may have guessed by now, we FACs and those closely related to our experience are a different breed of people. There are good reasons for that, so I will try to give you a little insight.
We were mostly (commissioned) officers or NCOs (non-commissioned officers, or the rank of sergeant). Some, like Crew Chief Bob and Lowdog, worked very closely with the flight crews. They were ground crews on whom we depended for life-supporting duties like aircraft maintenance, weapons loading, radio contact during hairy contact with the enemy, etc. Back then rank made a lot of difference to some people, mostly to those not in the thick of action. Now, we are mostly just people with a common, powerful and life – altering experience which binds us in a way that few people can experience outside of combat. In combat, rank is often overlooked in favor of the actual valor that people display. That valor could have been recognized bravery, or more subtle, reliable dignity and discipline in getting a job done – a job that could mean someone else’s life or death. Our bond is known as the brotherhood of war, and has been a phenomenon shared by warriors since early history, ever since humans first began to settle social and political disagreements with fists, dinosaur bones or rocks.
The Vietnam war was very unpopular in the United States. Because of the war and the social change occurring in our country during the 1960s, the U.S. was very polarized. When combatants returned from most other wars, they were often viewed as heroes for protecting the citizens from an assault on their safety, on their resources, or on their values. When we returned, we faced criticism at best, assault or discrimination at worst. We were often cast by the public media as the villains, not the protectors. That is why we as a group almost universally abhor the press and their liberal positions. We are generally very politically conservative, although you will find notable exceptions.
The country’s polarization, and the usual trauma of our war experiences, caused many Vietnam veterans to crawl into a mental hole, and to not reflect on our experiences. The result was later related to PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder (or syndrome). You will find some on this net who have had that experience previously or currently. You will find some who are just now beginning to crawl out of the mental hole and peek around at their post-combat world. You will find some who never did crawl into that hole, who have already worked through the facts and feelings, and who have somehow not only survived but thrived. By the grace of God, I count myself as one of those lucky ones. Some are “lurking” in a listening and observing mode, but not saying much. Your uncle may be in any one of those categories.
I had never talked much about my Vietnam experience until the Gulf War in 1990-91. My daughters, who were born in 1966, 1967 and 1976, then asked me about my experiences in Vietnam. Two of them had wanted to attend the Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy to become fighter pilots. Although I had stuffed most of my thoughts and feelings about combat, I was surprised how easy it was to talk about with someone who really wanted to know, without an ulterior motive (I could never be a Press Secretary). That same experience of openly talking about combat is what the FACNET is for many of its members, although it is something very different for each of us. It is a way for us to learn about ourselves and our fellow members of the brotherhood of war. It is a way to safely relive something that mostly can’t be understood by those who weren’t there. It is a safe place to admit past mistakes, to sometimes brag, and to get an observation or opinion from those who understand at a cerebral and gut level.
The net is also a way for us to simply learn. The FAC mission had so many dimensions. Because we didn’t have instant communications back then, we couldn’t use technology such as the internet and cell phones to find out what other people were doing. We are only now learning what World War II, Korea, Vietnam and modern war FAC jobs were. We are surprised to learn how different life was for an OV-10 pilot at DaNang in 1973 vs. an O-1 pilot at a remote base in 1966. We are learning who the people were on the radios – mere voices at the time. And the people behind those voices are just learning who the pilots were, what they were thinking, and what those voices meant to them in the heat of battle. We are just learning how dedicated our crew chiefs and maintenance people were, and what they thought of us pilots and navigators. CC Bob has stimulated a lot of conversation by simply asking about things that many of us took for granted. He learns, and the rest of us learn. We learn what the Australians were doing and thinking then and now, and how their own patriotism and ours merged. We learn what our jobs meant to the poor grunts (Army and Marine) on the ground, who may have desperately needed a FAC to help keep them alive while they were staring at the enemy troops. Sometimes it has taken 35 years to hear from those whose lives you saved. Sometimes we hear from the relatives of those we knew, but who went home as cargo, to have their names inscribed on the Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
You will notice that we have our own language. Most of it is from our common wartime aviation experience, sometimes the staccato of terse words or abbreviations used on the radio. Sometimes it is an implied wink from insider satire. You will encounter terms such as “b/c,” which means back-channel. Our common radio frequencies were rather cluttered, which could constitute a hazard in a dangerous situation. So we used b/c to mean go to a backup, more one- on-one frequency where not everyone could hear. For the net, that means clicking on the person’s individual email address to communicate with them individually, not posting on the net. At times you will hear about a Nail, Raven, Covey, Rustic, etc. Those were our call signs based on the geographical area where we flew or worked, and based on the missions. Some of us flew interdiction on the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos – i.e., we destroyed trucks bringing supplies to the enemy. Some of us flew in direct support of U.S. troops, or Australians, or Cambodians, or Laotians, or South Vietnamese. We use the term TIC, which means troops-in-contact. Some of us flew in operations such as Prairie Fire, which were in support of special operations teams. You will hear the vile reference to a “REMF” (rear-echelon mo-fo). Those were the staffers who tried to drag the peacetime, stateside bureaucracy into the war zone. We had about as much respect for them as we did for the contents of a latrine. The term “SAR” means Search-And-Rescue, a mission when any of us would put our lives on the line more so than usual to rescue a fallen brother, as we knew he would do for us. Also, some of what we did was classified at the time, but no longer is, so we can only now talk about it.
We have mostly matured, and reined in our Tom Cruise Top Gun smugness from those days – well, mostly. Some of us have strong opinions; some are more reflective. We often challenge each other on comments we make, but we also respect each other’s rights to have different opinions. Most of us have lived enough life to no longer have an ulterior agenda. We are confident enough in ourselves to just be what and who we are. You will find some of us are doctors, lawyers, retired colonels, airline pilots, rednecks, golfers, and just about everything in between. Most of the time we are not judgmental; we simply respect each other as brothers in arms. As we did back in Vietnam, we often cross the line past political correctness, occasionally speak with the crudeness that we enjoyed as youth, and invoke a great deal of humor, which can seem to the uninitiated as inappropriate at times.
As you lurk, listen, or lunge right in, remember why we started the FACNET, what it is for us, and why we express ourselves as we do. I also recommend that you check out the web site for Jennifer Martinez (www.jenmartinez.com). Her father was a Vietnam combatant, and she joined the net as you did - to learn more about his experiences from those who shared it. She also contributes some sage insight when we need it most. Enjoy with us the comments by Karen, who flies her own O-2, while we old FACs can only wish we were flying it. When you ask questions, don’t be surprised that you get different answers from different people. That is how we ourselves learn. I would recommend that you sit back, note the entire ambience of our discussions, learn by discovery, ask respectful questions, and absorb the meaning of the brotherhood of war. Your uncle may or may not be ready to participate, but you will be able to understand where he has been, maybe where he is now. I have never replicated the daily excitement of my Vietnam experience; however, I do recapture some of it, and share my brothers’ sense of worth, every time I log into the FACNET. You will find that we are aging, we are all different, we are opinionated, we are bold or shy, we are at times critical, we are proud of what we did in Vietnam . . .
. . . but mostly we are fiercely patriotic.
Ed Kalkbrenner, Covey 188/288, Sleepytime 10