The Mighty Ninth

Strive To Reach The Summit


LZ_Tuffy_-_Sikorksky_Crane_arrives.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_Sikorksky_Crane_arrives.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970The Sikorsky Skycrane unloads a huge log, almost as long as the LZ. Many hooches used it as a foundation.
LZ_Tuffy_-_1970_HiAngle_Fire.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_1970_HiAngle_Fire.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_Moving_In.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_Moving_In.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970LZ Tuffy now has our CONEX landed.
LZ_Tuffy_-_New_Home.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_New_Home.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970Finished. A real tropical resort; the sand is mud. Home-No-So-Sweet-Home at LZ Tuffy.
LZ_Tuffy_-_A_Dozen_Eggs.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_A_Dozen_Eggs.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970 Breakfast coming upGotta love the Army's massive tail, they know just what the tooth needs. Carl and (I think) the Chief picking up rations - raw eggs. They sent us thousands of raw eggs. Just what you need when you can't get a fire going and there is nothing larger than a canteen cup to cook in. Unfortunately Jim Hurdle's stainless steel pot went back to the World with him. Necessity is truly a mother, excess powder bags burn and helmets hold water. Soft boiled or hard?
LZ_Tuffy_-_Mike_Medley.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_Mike_Medley.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970My arrival at LZ Tuffy. This is the FDC share of the big log with me sitting on it over a rubber lady.
LZ_Tuffy_-_Carl___Denny.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_Carl___Denny.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970Carl (?), a new guy from Georgia, and Denny Mrowczynski, working the sandbagging detail.
LZ_Tuffy_-_Million_Dollar_view.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_Million_Dollar_view.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970Million dollar views from Tuffy - this slide and next. Unless, of course, you looked 1800 mils and saw the ridgeline lurking over the firebase. It was a mother to try to hump trunks up the steep sides of those hills to use for overhead cover. The mountaintop was so small and steep that we could only fire the full battery (I think we were still down a tube at that time) on high angle. {continued next slide}
LZ_Tuffy_-_Civilized.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_Civilized.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970{continued from previous slide} From memory, both the 101st and 1st CAV had previously inhabited the LZ and both had the same problem we did exiting based on the evidence of Arc Light strikes and downed chopper husks in the jungle below the LZ. Like an idiot I decided I needed a break and chose to go out on the last chopper for a change instead of the usual Advance Party. So I got to party with the gun the dinks couldn't see from the ridgeline and didn't know was there when they opened up on the Chinook carrying Pineapple's crew and gun.
LZ_Tuffy_-_Built_up.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_Built_up.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970Radio City Music Hall. Nah, the dinks will never recognize the cleverly disguised antennas.
LZ_Tuffy_-_Jarisch_and_Medley.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_Jarisch_and_Medley.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970Clean up time. (L to R: Eugene "George" Jarisch and Mike Medley). When those of us in the advance party (that didn't find the punji stakes) out of the 4 slicks that made it, we were stranded in the clouds without commo, in the mud inundated with 50 gallon drums of persistent CS. Each morning, a dink from the group on the overlooking ridgeline would come up the draw and let off a clip trying to get us to fire back to locate our 60s. It was only fitting that the three-holer (top left in photo) was placed in that shitty location. I was hesitant to use it since it was on the draw and left one's backside facing the dinks on the opposing ridgeline.
LZ_Tuffy_-_Mike,_Carl_and_George.JPG
LZ_Tuffy_-_Mike,_Carl_and_George.JPGLZ Tuffy - 1970Mike Medley, "Carl the FNG" (but great guy who saved my butt on the Advance Party going into the cluster at Susie Pig), and Eugene "George" Jarisch getting cleaned up in front of our hooch.
85 files on 8 page(s) 6