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Howie Bachman

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Howie Bachman had his sights set on Annapolis but their football recruiter didn't talk to him. West Point did and so he switched his allegiance and managed to get an appointment there. He says it's a great place to be from but being there was different. (8:28)

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It was decided that all West Point graduates would go to Ranger school. Howie Bachman was in that first class of non-volunteer candidates. When he led the last patrol exercise, he out foxed the opposing force and they weren't very happy about it. He got married and shipped out to Germany. (5:16)

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Young lieutenant Howie Bachman was at the East German border when he found his name on the list of officers that Robert McNamara was poaching from the unit there to go to Vietnam. He helped build up a cavalry troop from scratch and shipped out with them to Vietnam but, when he got there, his promotion to captain was accelerated and he had to leave that unit, winding up as advisor to an ARVN armored cavalry unit. (10:06)

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Howie Bachman had no training as an ARVN advisor but there he was, advisor to a Vietnamese armored cavalry unit. They were based in the lowlands between the mountains and the sea. Their primary vehicle was the M113 armored personnel carrier, tricked out with extra machine guns. (7:35)

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The first activity of note, after Howie Bachman joined the ARVN unit he was advising, was a devastating friendly fire incident. No one in his unit was hurt, but there were scores of casualties in the infantry unit they were reinforcing. (10:12)

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ARVN advisor Howie Bachman returned the fork his counterpart gave him at chow time and asked for chopsticks, since everyone else was eating with chopsticks. This gained him a lot of respect. When they were at a village, two laughing little girls were doubtful that he was a real American and their reasoning surprised him. (6:04)

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Near the end of his tour, ARVN advisor Howie Bachman was patrolling in an unfamiliar area when the vehicle in front of him was hit by an anti-tank rocket. A platoon of Montagnards was wiped out and when the Vietnamese wouldn't touch them because of cultural prejudice, he had to step in. (8:13)

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Howie Bachman didn't experience any anti-war protests when he returned from his first tour of Vietnam but he did drop to the floor when his wife scared him at home. A little adjusting was needed. He got command of a tank company at Fort Hood but was then tapped as an aide-de-camp, a job he was not suited for. He started making it known to armor branch that he was available for another combat command. (6:11)

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Howie Bachman arrived well prepared and experienced but his second tour of Vietnam was not starting off well. He was locked into an insulting job and reluctantly put his head down and worked. In the course of his mundane duties, he met Mustang, the commander of the 3-5 Cavalry. Sir, I'm a prisoner at a staff job. I will take any position in your fine unit. (11:29)

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Rescued from his lowly staff job, Howie Bachman visited each company of his new unit, the 3-5 Cav. The last one was actually an attached company, Dreadnaught Charlie. It's commander did not run a tight ship and his job was in jeopardy. (8:44)