PBR: The Making of a Warrior

Bill Quinn

The canal is only thirty yards wide, and like all waterways in Southeast Asia, it is a muddy brown color. One side is the Republic of South Vietnam, the other an expanse of Mekong Delta that ends at the jungle-covered mountains of Cambodia. Cambodia, or Cambo as it is called by the men of the United States Navy Mobile Riverine Force, is a land of mystique. It lies only 7920 feet away from the canal, but it is a different world.

In the Vietnam War, like all wars, there are orders. American fighting forces are not allowed to go into Cambodia. Washington politicians swear that Cambodia does not pose a threat. These armchair warriors claim the Cambodian leaders have given assurances that their country is not being used as a staging area for the NVA and Viet Cong forces. But the men of the Mobile Riverine Force know this is not true.

On a lonely canal, in the northwestern part of the Mekong Delta, sit a pair of MK-II PBRs. They have been ordered to an assigned location by River Command, which is aboard an LST moored in the Bassac River by the city of Chau Duc. River Command has received its orders from MACV in Saigon, which in turn receives its orders from
politicians in Washington, D.C. The PBRs' orders state that they are to take five Special Forces Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol personnel, or LRRPs as they are called in South Vietnam, to a designated area and insert them. The MK-IIs are then to stay "on station" until the LRRP team returns. If at the end of forty-eight hours the team has not returned, the MK-IIs are to go back to their outpost at Vinh Gai and wait for a new extraction time.

On this hot and humid September afternoon, these "River Rats" have a pretty good idea of what to expect. They expect things to change because Charlie, their nickname for the enemy, has a way of screwing up the best of plans. They know this from experience because they have been here before.

The two assigned PBRs sit roughly five "clicks" upstream from Vinh Gai. The "trailing" PBR is on the Cambodian side of the canal, while the "lead" boat is one hundred yards upstream and on the South Vietnam side.

The E-6 bos'n mate everyone calls Boats, commanding the trailing PBR, has orders to keep his bow pointed towards the west. These orders exist for a reason. In the event that they are overwhelmed by enemy forces, the lead PBR will de-de mau past the trailing boat. After the lead boat has passed, the trailing PBR's skipper will swing his MK-II around and follow the lead boat while offering rear cover fire.

The trailing PBR is pulled in under the extending branches of jungle that grow along the edge of the canal. To look at the PBR, this invention of fiberglass, armor plating, and aluminum, one would think it is harmless. But this assumption is far from right. The trailing boat, which is numbered PBR-13, is equipped with the usual armament: twin 50-caliber machine-guns mounted in a revolving "tub" on the bow, a canopy M-60 machine-gun without a scatter shield, port (left) and starboard (right) side M-60s also without scatter shields, and a single long-barreled 50-caliber machine-gun on the stern. And with the twin marine 671 Detroit inboard diesels, PBR-13 is powerful enough that if it has to move out in a hurry, it can do it without a problem.

With the sun still up, the preparations for the long, nerve-wracking night are yet to come. It is also time for the five LRRPs to disembark from PBR-13. As they step over the starboard gunwale, one of them turns and asks the boat crew's leader, "You guys staying here the entire time we're gone?"

Without looking at the man, Boats answers, "Yeah, that's what the orders say.

Just don't make it a long story over there, okay?"

"For you, Boats, we'll try our best."

While the LRRP talks with Boats, the rest of the team make their way up the small embankment paralleling the canal. Once they reach the crest, they stop and make last-minute checks of their equipment and weapons. They are also wearing the standard uniforms of men who do what they do for a living: dark "tiger-striped" fatigues, black boonie hats, and have all their exposed skin covered in black and green camouflage grease paint.

After a couple of minutes, the LRRP who was talking to Boats joins his men. When they have gathered at the top of the canal's embankment, one of the LRRPs turns to the PBR crew and asks, "Hey, Navy, is it true your gook girlfriend's twat is sideways?"

A kid everyone calls Rat answers. "Who the fuck you talking to, LRRP?"

"I'm talking to you, Navy. Well, is it true?"

"Well, hotshot, that's my business. But I'll tell you what. I bet when you get home, you'll find your girl just like you left her. Know what I mean?"

"What the fuck's that supposed to mean?" the LRRP asks.

"It means that when you get home, you'll find your little lovely freshly fucked. Okay?" Rat says.

Through everyone's laughter, the LRRP replies, "Okay, squid, we're even. Good comeback, Navy. Real good."

The LRRP team then descends the embankment that ends at the rice paddies. While the team follows the paddy dike, the PBR crew stand and watch them. When the five men have walked roughly a click, they angle left and disappear into the distant treeline code-named "Tango."

Except for Boats, five of PBR-13's six-man crew begin to lounge around under the jungle trees at the top of the embankment. The men, trying to rest as much as possible, look like a group of college kids killing time between classes. But what these young men kill is not time. One of them is writing a letter home, but he is very careful to follow one of the cardinal rules of the Vietnam War: Never tell the home front what is really going on over here.