FAC Memoral

[Dan Morris]

Rocky, you can relate to this one...,Colorado Springs dedicated a memorial ...Saturday...to the 250+ FAC's that lost it in SE Asia.
Thin skinned birds and lil armament. Kinda goes into what the mission was! My congrats to you for surviving it!!!!
'Dan

Being on the ground where some of you were at......please accept a BIG thank you.....................I was Camelot 19 Bravo....

Maj that I asked you about previously was on ground with us.....

[Larryjk]

Dan Morris and Rocky, I don't know if the name Ed "Too Tall" Freeman will ring a bell with you. He was not a FAC, but a Huey pilot. He was given the Congressional Medal of Honor for his action in going back in under heavy fire to evacuate a lot of guys who were hurting after the medivacs were told to pull out because the fire was too heavy. The story was told in the movie "We Were Young Once; and Soldiers."
He lived in Boise and had worked in aviation for the Dept of Interior. He died last week at the age of 80. I knew Ed Freeman and he was a heck of a nice fellow. The world lost a real hero. He told me it was just something he had to do.

[Rocky Raab]

Thanks, Dan. I was there. We based the dedication around our bi-annual FAC Association Reunion. Take it from me, there was not a dry eye in the house when we heard from keynote speaker Bud Day (POW and MOH awardee) nor from a SpecialOps Army Ranger who literally depended on FACs for his life every day.

Most impressive was the half-time at the AF/Navy football game the next day. They devoted five whole minutes of the halftime to honoring us FACs. Read the citations of our three MOH winners, introduced Bud Day (the other two were posthumous awards) and had the entire 60,000 fans stand and salute us FACs. I think every one of us were stopped, hands shaken and saluted - with not a dry eye on either side.

Saturday was also the 89th birthday of our "FAC Emeritus" Gene McCutchen. Gene flew as a B-17 pilot in WWII, flew combat missions as one of the first FACs (a new concept) in Korea, and was in the first batch of ten FACs to serve in Vietnam. He served two tours there. One HELL of a hero to us all, believe me.

[scalerman]

Please forgive my ignorance- what does FAC stand for? I'm sure I will be suitably embarassed once I find out.

[bulletpusher]

Don't worry about it, F.A.C. stands for Forward Air Controller.

Those guys flew very small observation fixed wing aircraft (like very small Cessna's and others) over every hostile part of Nam.

The called in air support, artillery and guided people from one location to another sometimes when the heat (so to speak) was on and soldiers had to evacuate the AO and try to get to safety.

The only thing those guys had for protection was very thin aluminum skin of the aircraft and maybe the seat cushins that they sat on.

The FAC's always flew even when they probably shouldn't have, and they were always there when needed. Sometimes the only link the grunts on the ground had to staying alive was the FAC's.

There was a movie made, based on a true story, called "BAT21" about a FAC and his efforts to help a electronic intellagence Officer that was shot down.

Alot of soldiers and airmen stay'd alive because of these guys.

From a latter generation of Soldier, Thanks to all of the FAC's.

Bulletpusher

[Rocky Raab]

It may serve to illustrate our efforts if I point out that no FAC, past or present, is allowed to buy his own drinks in any Army bar, anywhere, anytime.

At that memorial dedication, James Duffy (the Special Ops poet mentioned above) said, "I always loved it when the FAC showed up overhead, because the bad guys completely stopped shooting at me, and fired at him instead."

BTW, the movie version of BAT 21 with Gene Hackman and Danny Glover was complete and utter Hollywood crappola. For a real insight into that most massive rescue attempt ever conducted, please get my friend Darrel Whitcomb's book.

LINK (http://www.amazon.com/Rescue-Bat-21-Darrel-Whitcomb/dp/0440226546)

[bulletpusher]

Rocky,

I knew the movie was not the way that it really happen'd with BAT21, I just wanted to give him some ideal about that a FAC was and did over in NAM. I saw the movie and its the only referance I could think of at the moment that had something that was suppose to represent what a FAC was.

Sorry if it was an insult, that was the furthest thing from my mind.

Just so you will know, I spent time in the Centeral American Jungles with an A-team squad, by my self and with a spotter a few times. The FAC teams of today were sometimes the only contact with the outside world.

Bulletpusher

[Rocky Raab]

No offense taken, brother. That movie is all most people ever think of when the FAC job is mentioned, and that's a shame.

I much prefer the several specials put out by the History Channel, most notably the one in their "Suicide Missions" series.

(No, there isn't a lot of exaggeration in that - although we lost only about 250 of nearly 4,000 total FACs, that's only because we flew near friendly forces a lot, and when the FAC went down EVERYBODY knew it. Still, we FACs were the only US troops there who had a no-questions live-or-dead $10,000 gold bounty on our heads. And bear in mind that 80% of all FAC aircraft there got shot down sooner or later!)

[Leadbutt]

I don't post much ,, but by god its time for those guys ,

I can't tell you how many times they saved my teams butt, there and outside the reservation.

4th LRP/ STAY ALERT! STAY ALIVE!

[Rapier]

Rocky,
Good for you FAC guys, glad to see you fellas get the recognition.

Bud lives in FT Walton Beach. He is a staunch supporter of the the "troops." I see him now and then in the barber shop.
Best,
Ed