Blair Craig grew up enjoying the outdoors in rural New Jersey. He enrolled in ROTC at Rutgers University, but left college for a while and went on active duty with Company B, 11th Special Forces, Army Reserves. He did basic training, AIT, and BCT at Fort Dix and jump school at Fort Benning, then went back to college and was commissioned through ROTC. After a stint with armor in the 6th Cav, he went to Winter Ranger School, and ten days after graduating he was in Vietnam, assigned to an Air Cav unit in the 101st Airborne Division based at Phu Bai in I Corps. He tells of daring reconnaissance missions, downed aircraft rescue missions, B-52 bomb damage assessments, prisoner captures, and all manner of special operations. Craig describes the events for which he and two others in his unit were awarded the Silver Star, when 110 American Soldiers took on and defeated an entire regiment of 700 North Vietnamese regulars. He also recalls a donut-making mess sergeant, Big T, and tells of an encounter his team had with Connie Stevens, many years after they had missed her at a Bob Hope Christmas show at Camp Eagle.

Key Words: A Shau Valley, Ruong Ruong Valley, Lam Son 719, MACSOG, 3rd Force Recon Marines, L Company/75th Rangers, Silver Star, Hac Bao (Black Panther), Ho Chi Minh Trail, ACOUSIDs, Kit Carson Scout

Key Names: Lieutenant Colonel Bob Molinelli, General Sid Berry, Barry Bridger