Folks,

Following is an excerpt from the draft "Unofficial History of the Red Marker FACs" recounting a battle in February 1965 when the Red Markers were represented by a TDY Skyraider pilot, Lt. Buck Rennick. It's long, but I think a pretty good story ...

During 1965, the Red Markers would become a full fledged combat unit with permanent FACs and aircraft assigned along with ROMADs and crew chiefs. Operations intensified during the year as the Airborne increased its aggressiveness. Near the end of the year, two additional battalions were added to the Brigade's manpower and its designation was upgraded to Division, befitting its increased strength.

But the year did not begin that way. Captain Paradis' tour was extended by four weeks as the Air Force worked on finding a suitable replacement. They found 1 st Lt. Alan L. (Buck) Rennick . Buck was a young, cocky A-1E pilot assigned to the 1 st Air Commando Squadron at Bien Hoa. He had also attended jump school and the Air Ground Operations school, so he was clearly qualified for the slot. But the 1st Air Commando would only let him go temporarily. When approached by his commander with the idea of working as a FAC on a TDY assignment, Rennick's decision swung on the fact he would be paid $16 per diem tax free. [1] This would amount to $1,440 for a 90 day stint, equal to almost 30% of base pay.

Lt. Col. Robert Losik , USA (Retired), recalls that when a Task Force of two battalions deployed in February, Rennick was their ground FAC for the operation. [2] Losik, at the time a captain and senior advisor for the 6 th Battalion, remembers that his unit and the 5 th Battalion air assaulted by helicopter into an area called Cu Bi in Phouc Tuy Province south-south-east of Saigon . It was generally north-west of the village of Binh Ghia . The operation developed into a huge battle. The two battalions were attacked 17 times from 1800 hours on the evening of 9 February 1965 to 0600 the next morning, in addition to receiving numerous mortar rounds and other indirect fire through the night. Losik recalls,

"Our final perimeter was about 30 yards deep and about 80 to 100 years wide, so it wasn't like Buck had a good deal. He directed strikes all night from a pinned down position. Buck controlled all the air assets supporting us, including flare ships, A1E's, and armed helicopters. He personally directed all the strikes and saved our asses. I thought he deserved the Silver Star; he got a Bronze Star with V."

For the helicopter assault, the Task Force used two LZs separated by about several hundred meters of thick woods. The 6 th Battalion used LZ One (cleverly named since it was the first LZ used in the operation) and were inserted unopposed in two lifts beginning in the morning. When the first half of the 5th Battalion was inserted into LZ Two about 1100 hours, all hell broke loose as the troopers unassed the choppers. About seven choppers were hit, three or four disabled. The 5th Battalion was pinned down on the LZ, receiving heavy fire from VC emplacements on the south side.

The LZ's south perimeter had been prepped with napalm before the insertion, but the pilots didn't skip it up under the trees so it hadn't really done the job. Major Troung, the battalion commander, directed the troopers to fix bayonets, prepare grenades and attack directly into the dug-in enemy. The 5th Battalion took a lot of casualties, but they would have had many more had Troung not ordered the frontal assault. Incidentally, Troung rapidly rose to become a four star general and commander of I Corps. He was one of the most brilliant and courageous officers in the Vietnamese Army.

At the same time the 5th battalion was attacking the southern end of the LZ, the 6th Battalion was hauling ass on a dead run from LZ One to reinforce the 5th battalion. The 5th overran the enemy just as the 6th arrived on the scene. Two companies from the 6th Battalion were immediately attached to the 5th Battalion to beef it up.

Sometime thereafter, the other half of the 5th Battalion with 1st Lt Mick Bartelme was inserted unopposed into LZ One. They also ran like hell through the woods and joined up with the remainder of the 5th Battalion's on LZ Two. Bartelme was the only uninjured advisor to the 5th Airborne Battalion. Captain Throckmorton and Sergeant Rowe had come in with the first half of the battalion and were both wounded in the initial battle at LZ Two.

Bob Losik and SFC Erich Dippel were with the 6th Battalion. The battalion had no Lieutenant advisor present, theirs having been wounded in the An Lao Valley in January. Wesley B. Schull was the Task Force Senior Advisor and of course Buck Rennick who landed with the 6 th Battalion represented the boys in blue. So, as night fell, there were 5 Am ericans on the ground with about 900 Vietnamese Paratroopers.

All of the dead and wounded from the 5th battalion were evacuated during the afternoon. At around 1800 or so, the bad guys counter-attacked. Buck called for immediate air support, and a flight of four Skyraiders answered. But there was a problem. They were dry, having already dumped all their ordnance on an earlier target. So Buck asked the flight leader to bring the A-1E's in a tight four-ship formation, with wheels lowered, at tree top level from North to South in an attempt to scare the shit out the attackers. It worked; the bad guys hesitated giving the Airborne a chance to reorganize and get ready for the fight of their lives.

At 1830 hours, the picture looked like this:

§ The 5th battalion with its own depleted four companies and reinforced by two companies of the 6th battalion was on the south side of LZ Two;

§ The two remaining companies of the 6th battalion were on the north side of the LZ;

§ The downed Hueys were in the middle of the LZ.

Not knowing what was going to happen next, a decision was made to blow up the Hueys at around 2100. At about 2130 the 6th battalion hauled ass across the LZ and joined the 5th battalion, giving a tighter and more defensible perimeter.

Buck had a pit dug that was about 3 feet square and 3 feet deep during daylight and had lined the bottom with C4. When it got dark, he lit the C4 bricks casting an eerie bluish-green glow, visible from the air. That became the reference point for the air support. Every pilot could look down and see that glow. Buck in effect ran Ground Controlled Approaches from that reference all night long, giving downwind, crosswind, and final approach headings for the flareships, armed Hueys and A-1E's. Repeatedly, during enemy attack after attack, Buck directed ordnance onto the attackers, helping to break each assault

In a few months, Lt. Rennick went back to flying A-1E's. Colonel Bob Webb, US Army Retired, also remembers Buck Rennick as serving for a period of time. Rennick was the assigned ground FAC on a couple of operations with the 1 st Battalion when then Major Webb was battalion advisor. But after Rennick left, Webb recalls that one day a flight of four A-1Es came in so low over Webb's field camp that tents were blown down and papers sent flying. As the Skyraiders climbed out, Webb's radio crackled. It was Buck who just wanted to say "hi" and to make sure that Webb knew who was leading the flight. Rennick also made it clear he had a couple of Captains and a Major on his wing … and, most importantly, that he was the flight leader because he was the best damned pilot of the bunch!

[1] Alan L. Rennick, interview 10 January 2011.

[2] Description per e-mails with Robert Losik, November 2010.