George Shoener was born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Army at age 17, trained as a combat medic, attended West Point, graduated and received his commission in 1968. After completing Ranger School and Airborne School, he commanded a platoon at Fort Hood, then took command of a company of construction engineers. He deployed to Vietnam in 1970 where he commanded A Company, 7th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized). Shoener remembers the drug problems and lack of discipline when he arrived, and making his presence as a new commander known. He describes life at Camp Red Devil and the equipment used by the engineering battalion. He discusses Mustangs and Shake-n-Bakes, Operation LAM SON 719 and Operation DEWEY CANYON II, Vicks inhalers and heroin, water purification, road building, and a basketball court. He recalls the Rock Pile, shape charges, Sheridan tanks, and dynamite; and accomplishing great things and losing good men.
Key Words: Scranton, Pennsylvania, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, medic, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, US Army Prep School, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, US Military Academy, West Point, Ranger School, Airborne School, wings, Fort Hood, Texas, 75th Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, company commander, Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base, Tiger Airlines, Quang Tri, I Corps, DMZ, A Company, 7th Engineer Battalion, Camp Red Devil, combat engineer platoons, bridge platoon, armored personnel carriers, bulldozer, concrete mixer, M4T6 bridge, armored vehicle-launched bridge (AVLB), armor, mechanized infantry, ground infantry, cavalry, 155 millimeter demolition guns, Dong Ha, Khe Sanh, C2 (McNamara’s C line of defense)), A4 (McNamara’s A line of defense), QL-1, QL-9, Ho Chi Minh Trail, mine detectors, water purification, APCs, .50 caliber machine guns, M60 machine guns, basketball, USO, Bob Hope Christmas Show, ROTC officers, Reserve Officer Training Corps officers, OCS officers, 90-day Wonders, Mustang officers, NCO School, Shake-n-Bakes, Vicks inhalers, heroin, all-terrain crane, lowboy truck, CBS, McNamara's 100,000, Operation LAM SON 719, Operation DEWEY CANYON II, Laos, Sheridan tanks, Rock Pile, shape charges, C4, dynamite, RPG, rocket-propelled grenade, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Key Names: John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Colonel Traynor, Brigadier General John G. Hill, Jr., Captain Leon Ryno Yourtee III, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, President Richard M. Nixon, General William Westmoreland, First Lieutenant Dalton Murayama, General Norman Schwarzkopf, Kenley Timms