The following is an actual account of the "Battle of Saigon." Courtesy of MBP Militia's Captain, Tom Bolton; June 10-11, 2006. Written on June 12th, 2006, the day after the event.
To start off.... WOW! This was most likely the sickest experience of my life to date. Now that it's a day after, I can sit back and try to reflect on the warfare we went through at Saigon, it was pretty intense and incredible.
Despite some setbacks, we arrived at USANA around 1 am on Friday and set up camp. We wound up getting to sleep probably around 2-3am and got woken up by Jack (Czarnota) at 6 am instead of 6:30! But it was for the best.... because we were all registered at headquarters and ready for action hours ahead of schedule. After pounding down some energy drinks and some quick food we soon heard the helicopters and tanks beginning to head into battle, soon we would be at the front line waiting for the orders to enter.
The table was set for an insane weekend when we got the orders to use the 3rd insertion point instead of the 1st (the main one). So picture our group of 13 plus maybe 5 others who joined us randomly headed into the deepest part of the woods with no idea what to expect; except a strong enemy with overwhelming numbers and already positioned for attack, basically we walked into an ambush. That didn't stop us from advancing 1/2 way to their capital within an hour causing all kinds of havoc on the way. We got past "Hamburger Hill" and eventually were surrounded and shutdown due largely in part to idiotic refs closing off our exit point, so we fought till the last man with no where to fall back to.
All in all, we fought like warrior poets all day Saturday and did alot of damage to the VC. However, due in large part to a scattered American Army, the VC beat us down. Around 7pm on Saturday the tides turned though, news from around the American Camp was that we had pushed the VC back to the Burms near Hamburger Hill (a key area to the war) and totally out and away from Saigon (our capital city). Not to mention the completion of many missions, including a ground shaking explosion, which happened to be a WMD blowing apart much of the VC army and their General.
Around nightfall our group once again took it upon ourselves to lead a platoon deep into the woods this time to Hanoi (VC capital). We got as far as we could along the railroad until the road was blocked off so we decided to trek through the woods instead. We wound up sniping out some VC and took back the refinery for the American side but were soon turned away by several night-time snipers. We exited the woods lucky to be alive, but soon joined back up with the American Army in the pitch dark to defend Saigon which was being overtaken by VC. Let me tell you, the night time battles were some of the most intimidating experiences I've ever encountered. There were more friendly-fire kills than anything else and you couldn't see more than two feet in front of you. Basically you shoot what moves; imagine an all out firefight at the forefront of the battlefield, yea it was insane. Not to mention, once again snipers in guillie suits equipped with night vision that were creepin around the tree line picking people off one by one with one shot head kills. I was one of those unfortunate victims, Scott (Pagnotti) and I actually got shot in the same exact spot in the face within 20 minutes of one another.
Saturday night ended with Saigon being swarmed with VC. The cease fire was drawn around 1:30-2am, but once again when Sunday morning came and the fighting resumed we began kicking the living hell outta the VC again. Despite them sending their entire army to try and take over Saigon, and after wave after wave and push after push from overwhelming VC forces, we held them off. It was a really rough couple of days and many were injured during battle including Greg who was taken to the hospital after taking a severe headshot. Greg is being reccommended to receive the Purple Heart for his service and injury in that battle. MBP Militia fought extremely well all weekend, but by this point in the war we were beginning to be recognized for our hard work. Infact word was going around that the VC was saying, "damn that MBP is holding their own out there" and "whichever team that was, they stuck together and they held it down over there." Other teams were also asking me for our team information and web address and such, it makes you proud after a while, especially since this was our first scenario event ever together.
In the end it was announced that the VC had taken the War by the slimest of margins, just like in the real Vietnam I suppose. This was kind of hard to understand for some of us since information was being spread around that we killed their general and commanding officers. Not to mention held off Saigon, and completed many missions. I smell a rematch and a second tour of duty next Spring!
All in All it was quite an experience and I want to thank all the members of MBP Militia for working so well together, fighting tooth & nail all weekend, spilling blood and scarificing ourselves while going all out for victory.
MBP Militia: "MVT (shared) at Saigon 2006." Tom Bolton, Marc Bolton, Jack Czarnota, Rob Goody, Steve Hanley, Mike Jaconetti, Steve Kee, Jack Lin, Dennis Link, Justin Mausner, Mike Monaghan, Scott Pagnotti, Greg Wirth.
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