Last train trip, the cond was ex-military & after discovering I am a Viet Nam vet, asked after a few things he had heard of - one of which was mad minute. He was a gabby sort of fellow & even if I had been able to get a word in edgeways, I did not feel like elaborating in any case
But the topic must have stuck in my dome as I dreamt of it last night.
I try to never tell "war stories" as so many are bogus, the actual ones are given little credibility. Well, since this was not an actual shoot-out & therefore not an actual WAR story, I'll attempt not to try anyone's imagination.
Mad minute was a drill where every one in the compound went to the line and fired any weapon full auto or as rapidly as possible for exactly one minute. Seen from a couple klicks away, it's quite impressive.
This was normally done at night, and for halfway good reasons. Firstly, it was a good drill for discovering which machine guns needed to be in the armory for repairs. Secondly, it was meant to discourage Uncle Ho's Boyz from any surprise ground assaults. Thirdly, it was a great way to keep from nodding on bunker watch that night.
It was supposed to be done once every 30 days. The grunts at Con Thien a couple miles to the north of Cam Lo were religious about it, and all the tracers made quite a light show.
I don't recall that we did the drill EVERY 30 days, but one remains vividly imprinted upon my memory. For some obscure reason, we were called for mad minute at dusk... still light enough to easily spot a person @ 100 meters. It was supposed to happen at night & I cannot recall why this drill was at dusk.
We only had about one direction in which to shoot - straight south. North was just enough of the village of Cam Lo that it was obviously not the choice - straight west was a cemetery & that was right out. Straight east was a half mile bend of Rt 9. No dice there, either.
So one of the NCOs fired a couple flares in a shallow arc & they landed far enough out that they made good aiming points. Guys in south facing bunkers did not need to leave the comforts of home, while the rest of us knelt behind the berm & blazed away. ( no one was stupid enough to stand ON the berm!)
So rat-a-tat-tat with an exponent.... but wait!!! For some reason, the afternoon ammo convoy to Rockpile or VCB was late returning and passed our little fort at that precise moment. Every semi tractor had a 50 cal on a ring mount & a couple grunts a lot of the time, too.
So they are blasting by & see everyone shooting wildly to the south... and opened up with everything theyhad!!!
Shooting right over our heads!!!
Which raised the pucker factor from negative numbers right into 3 digits!
The convoy was preceeded & followed by MPs in the Cadillac armored cars they had & while also firing over our heads, passed word by some means to kick it in the butt & un-a$$ Cam Lo post haste! So off the convoy went to Dong Ha having SAVED the grunts at Cam Lo from an imminent commie bayonet attack!
It wasn't too funny at the time, but does seem a LITLE humorous now.... I think... well, you had to be there to appreciate it.
**Every day there was at least one - often more - ammo convoys to Rockpile or VanDeGrift CB farther up Rt 9. I never bothered to count how many semi loads of artillery rounds were in each but it was a large-scale affair. As mentioned above, a 50 cal BMG on each semi tractor & if hostilities were anticipated, a few grunts to boot.**
Thus endeth another pointless story. SW
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