Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
6:30 | When he saw the weapons the Vietnamese infantry had, American Advisor Nat Robb thought he was in World War II. M-16's were on the way but, in the meantime, the untested unit had to fight. There was little activity at first, but it was just a matter of time.
Keywords : Nat Robb Vietnam advisor Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) carbine M-16 AK-47 AR-15 Highway 13 Thunder Road Ben Cat Iron Triangle Viet Cong (VC)
As a Citadel graduate, Nat Robb had a good chance to make a career of the Army, so he took the commission. After a tour in Germany, he got the assignment to Vietnam. Once there, he was reassigned as an advisor to a South Vietnamese unit, something he was disappointed in, at first.
The Vietnamese troops had their families living with them in the fort, and once American Advisor Nat Robb got to know them, he was glad he got the assignment he did. This was a change of heart for the infantry officer. He bolstered his defenses with some salvaged fifty caliber machine guns, but he had a dilemma. How was he going to get the ammunition?
Nat Robb was advisor to a South Vietnamese unit guarding a highway outside Saigon. In preparation for the Tet Offensive, their base was attacked to clear the way for infiltration by the enemy into the city. The fierce battle required that he call for multiple sources of firepower, artillery and gunships.
American Advisor Nat Robb was glad his men had their new M-16's when the Tet Offensive happened. Once the American and South Vietnamese forces regrouped, they began to surround Saigon in order to trap the enemy. Robb's unit took part in an ill fated river crossing that was salvaged by massive air power.
Nat Robb got to know the efficiency of different weapon systems when he called in fire support to the South Vietnamese unit he was advising. He would work his way through various types of artillery until he got to what worked every time, big bombs from the air.
On a sweep through a rubber plantation, the South Vietnamese unit made contact with the enemy and the fighting became fierce. American Advisor Nat Robb fell behind with one of his men and he had one thought. This was it. It was be killed or be captured and he knew which it would be.
Once the Tet Offensive was beaten back, Nat Robb was on a Saigon highway with the South Vietnamese unit he was advising when he saw a funny sight. The first supply trucks that were allowed to move after the massive attack had an interesting cargo.
American Advisor Nat Robb did not run the South Vietnamese unit, but he controlled the fire support that sustained it. He spent his entire tour in the field with them except for a couple of leaves. He wonders if the way the Army rotated troops in and out of the war was the best way to fight it.
Nat Robb carried a can of his favorite food for six months in Vietnam until the anticipation was just too much and he ate it. He should have just kept looking at it.
