Larry and Carol Brown

I doubt that there is anyone in the VHPA  that doesn't have some idea who Larry G. Brown is.  COL (ret) Larry G. Brown was the lead scout in Charlie Horse and instrumental in the quality and accuracy of the Scout Platoon’s proficiency. BG Hill summoned him directly on numerous   occasions to clarify points of intelligence. Even the steady drumbeat of armed conflict did have its lighter moments. One of the finest was the marriage of Carol and Larry Brown. CPT Carol was an Army nurse at the 24th Evac Hospital at Long Binh. Carol and Larry had an ongoing romance spanning the length of Vietnam and she finally made an honest man of him. COL (ret) Carol dedicated her life to saving the human wreckage we so often brought to the Hospital. Heroic efforts by the Medical Staff saved so many wounded that our gratitude can only hopefully be enough. Larry spent his time with the "Hunter Killer" teams bringing death and destruction to the NVA. A dichotomy of extremes to say the least. When Charlie Horse was in III Corps it was relatively easy for them to see each other. Once in I Corps, Larry jokes that the Troop CO and even BG Hill often “sent him TDY” to Saigon on some business. The 24th Evac Hospital Chaplin married them. Officially Carol couldn’t  leave III Corps, so the honeymoon venue was Hawaii. After the wedding, they caught a U-21 for Quang Tri out of Saigon. There is a PARTY at Quang Tri. The mess hall produced a wedding sheet cake. Not only is BG Hill present but offered his dress sword to cut the cake. Some mutual leave is arranged. They have a few days’ honeymoon in Quang Tri. Two people take a little time off from the war.

LS 719 Preparation:

It had all the appearance of a large Artillery Raid. What else could it be? The Troop was assigned specific missions in the early days of Jan 1971. We were to conduct route reconnaissance and support the Engineer's assessment of the washouts, culverts and bridges along the cratered road that led from Quang Tri to the Laotian border. It was apparent that we were providing inserts and extracts along with security by our ARP Platoon plus the P/75th Rangers for some very nervous Engineers. These missions only reinforced the scuttlebutt that it was a big artillery raid to Khe Sanh and a severe pounding of the "bad guys" to look forward to. In addition to the road recon, a great deal of attention was directed toward the area just to the west of where QL-9 turned south after passing the Rockpile and headed toward Vandegrift. This was going to be some expensive real estate soon as a "Pioneer Road" was cut through it to provide a back door for American forces at Khe Sanh. The Troop referred to that valley as the "Punch Bowl" and the Engineer road became "Red Devil Road," but to the 1/5th it was known as the "Yellow Brick Road." It led to a 3/5 Cav blocking position north of Khe Sanh, the "Emerald City." Of course, the 3/5 Cav’s CO, LTC Osborn, acquired the label "The Wizard of OZ."
Starting in mid-Jan, almost overnight, large numbers of units and aircraft started arriving at the Quang Tri Combat Base airfield. CH-47 (Chinook) units, Aerial Rocket Artillery (ARA) and Assault Helicopter units arrived from all points south crowding the airfield. It was becoming abundantly clear that this upcoming operation wasn't going to be just an artillery raid to Khe Sanh. Rumor had it that we were going to invade North Vietnam. I believe collectively to a man, the Troop was amazed that the mission was to move west, re-occupy Khe Sanh Combat Base, and support the ARVN Forces on an incursion into Laos. ARVN Forces were arriving in large numbers along with more helicopter units. Unfamiliar faces crowded the small ‘O’ Club we shared with A/2/17th Cav, our neighbor across our Troop street. I believe that aviators are by nature an adventurous breed, but we felt compelled to inform these I Corps newcomers that there was a very willing enemy out west. As recent arrivals ourselves, a fair warning was in order of what they would encounter. A special concern was the UH-1C Gunships. Several members of our Troop had flown "Charlie" Model Guns and had a fair idea of what it was going to be like trying to employ these old helicopters with southern (flatland) tactics in the mountains and the high-density anti-aircraft. Some paid attention but most didn't.

The SWITCH        C/3/17 Cav <-> D/3/5 Cav:

5 Feb 1971 was the first day of the LS 719. At that morning's briefing, we were informed that the Troop was now redesignated Delta Troop, 3/5 Cav and our call sign was going to change.   (NOTE: 1 Feb 1971 is the official date for “the switch” between these two Troops. The Light Horse guys in Vinh Long had been D/3/5 Cav in III and IV Corps for many months. Charlie Horse had been C/3/17 Cav in III Corps since they got off the boat in 1967).  The Operations Officer along with the Platoon Leaders decided at that moment that the call sign would remain as always "Charlie Horse.” There was already a confusing cacophony of strange call signs and the established callsign would aid our coordination with the units familiar with the Troop. The units we dealt with daily, the Artillery, the USAF OV-10 "Barky", "Batman", "Cat Killer", P/75th Rangers, Quang Tri Tower and the Base Operators were all familiar with us as Charlie Horse. The Troop, even as D/3/5 Cav, retained that call sign up until stand down in Feb 1972.
Charlie Horse may well have been assigned to 3/5th Cav as its organic DELTA Troop, but that was for administrative convenience only. This change-of-designation certainly did nothing to make the records keeping or Awards and Decorations any clearer or better. Operationally we were still attached directly to the 1/5th and BG Hill who didn't want any of his subordinate commanders involved with the Troop's mission tasking. We may have become D/3/5 Cav, but BG Hill still owned Charlie Horse.
The Troop's LS 719 mission was to remain generally east of the Laotian Border with the major concentration of effort in the Tri-Border area plus supporting the defense of Khe Sanh against any effort the NVA might make against the Combat Base and the American Forces there. Portions of the eastern DMZ responsibility was shifted to F 1/10th Air Cav. [NOTE: There was no such Air Cav Troop in Vietnam. The name of the real Troop is unknown at this time.] This enabled the concentration of the Troop's reconnaissance from FSB Fuller westerly along the DMZ to the Tri-Border area. Additional reconnaissance effort extended south to the northern limit of A/2/17's area of responsibility in the northern A Shau Valley plus screening the QL-9 route That tasking was always coupled with the catch phrase, "And anything else BG Hill so designated" as a special assignment.