Triple Concertina Wire

For awhile in 1968, a good portion of the unit was located at Pleiku, supporting operations up there.  They had just expanded the base to include the Air Force strip north of the main cantonment area, and added some new hooches just outside of what used to be the old perimeter wire.  They called it Pleiku North and that’s where they put us.  To give us access to the main camp area and the “O” Club, they cut a hole in the triple concertina barbed-wire.  It was easy to find the hole during the day, but a little tougher at night, after drinking at the Club.

On this particular evening, we were again celebrating having lived through the day’s adventures.  Jim Broderick and I were tipping them back pretty regularly as we lost our ass playing Liars Dice.  I’m not sure that those Bikini Beach bastards hadn’t snuck some loaded dice into the game.  Anyway, we seemed to be getting called at a higher than usual rate.  At some point it was decided we might want to get back to Pleiku North before the mortars started.  They routinely used the turn-around pad at the end of the PSP runway as their aiming point, and adjusted fire from there.  We had to cross that area to get to our hooches.

As we left the Club, Broderick realized he didn’t have his hat.  He said he’d be along in minute or so and went back to look for it.  I kept going and jogged across the runway, knowing any second I’d be the first one at the scene of a mortar attack.  We couldn’t show any lights, so finding the hole was done by feel.  I got lucky and found it pretty quickly, and I decided to wait there until Jim showed-up so he could find it also.  After about 10 minutes however, I figured he’d found a nice comfortable spot on the Club floor to sleep it off.  Since we had to fly the next day, I couldn’t leave him there so I ran back across the damn mortar magnet to find him.  I never passed anyone coming the other way and when I got to the Club, he was nowhere in sight.

One more time across the target area.  I felt I was stretching my luck, but I got across without incident.  I located the hole and headed for the hooch.  As I found my bunk, I looked across the aisle and saw Broderick stretched-out on his cot and breathing loudly.  How the hell could he have beaten me back here?  He never came through the hole while I was waiting there, and I didn’t pass anyone coming the other way when I went looking for him.  I just had to know, so I went over and shook him awake.  As he sat up, I could see his fatigues were torn and he was bleeding from some scratches.

“How’d you get here”, I asked.

“Through the hole”, he replied.

“I don’t think so.  I was standing there and I never saw your sorry ass come through.”

“Hmmm..”, he thought.  “Maybe that’s why I felt all these things grabbing my clothes and scratching me!”

Triple concertina wire will keep a determined enemy out, but it’s hardly effective against a drunken helicopter pilot.

Fred Harms

Sidekick 3 Pilot

Oct67 - Oct68