GRUNT. The roleplaying game of jungle warfare. Sample file

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1 2 GRUNT The roleplaying game of jungle warfare CREDITS AUTHOR Paul Elliott MAPS & ILLUSTRATIONS Paul Elliott SPECIAL THANKS Private First Class Conrad Dietrick, Staff Sergeant Jesse Mendez, Staff Sergeant Edward Quichocho, Chris Veysey, Deric Bernier, Al Livingstone, Erik McGrath. CONTENTS 1: IN-COUNTRY 4 2: BOOT CAMP 13 3: THE MISSION 28 4: COMBAT 49 5: SOUTH VIETNAM 61 6: RESOURCES 74 INDEX 82 GRUNT 2011 Zozer Games. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work by any means without the permission of the publisher is forbidden. Zozer Games can be reached via zozer@talktalk.net, or by post: 151 Sewerby Road, Bridlington, East Yorkshire, England, YO16 7DX.

2 3 Terror. Sheer blind terror sublimated and spat back out of the barrel of an M16. The fear and isolation. The desperation to get out alive - just to get out and get home. A green hell populated by a people who despise you and want to kill you. Or maim you. Or send you mad. This is the Vietnam War. This is GRUNT. It is my attempt to use the medium of roleplaying to bring the despair and horror of Vietnam to you in a far more immediate way than any book could. I've really studied the war, written a book about it, and I've often tried to imagine what it must have been like to be there. I'll try to pass on a lot of what I've discovered. Straight up front I'd like to recommend two slim books that cut away all the olive drab trappings of war and lay bare the terrible experiences of soldiers in the Nam. They show you the reality, and make you wish you could look away. Dispatches, by Michael Herr and Nam by Mark Baker. Don't rent out Vietnam movies - read these! GRUNT attempts to be historically realistic, claustrophobic and packed with a great deal of nervous tension. There are no Rambos or John Waynes here, no daring commando raids and white-toothed grins. You're approaching the heart of darkness, a world of fear and anxiety, booby traps and ambushes, where your body rots in the rain and you're dead beat all day, every day. "You're in the Republic of Vietnam," said an infantry officer at Bien Hoa to his new recruits. "This is the programme for the day: You're going to get killed in Vietnam." There it is. Paul Elliott zozer@talktalk.net

3 4 1:IN-COUNTRY "You wish it were all over. You begin the countdown. You take the inky, mildew smell of Vietnam into your lungs". If I Die In A Combat Zone, Tim O'Brien American troops really began arriving in Vietnam as advisors and clandestine commandos in substantial numbers during By 1965 more direct action was required to prevent North Vietnam invading South Vietnam and regular US Army and Marine units moved in to try and push back the North Vietnamese Army and the South Vietnam guerrillas called the Viet Cong who were supporting them. It proved to be a bitter and bloody struggle, one that the US would bow out of in 1972 when the last US units headed back for the States. Vietnam was left to its own fate. GRUNT focuses on the great military build-up from 1965 onwards and the player characters are members of a newly created 'airmobile' unit, the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). VIETNAM OVERVIEW The nation of South Vietnam is a puppet US state, a supposed bastion of democracy standing against cruel communist infiltrators (the Viet Cong, or VC) and the armies of communist North Vietnam (the NVA). The country is essentially a rugged mountain chain running from north to south in a narrow strip with the South China Sea on its eastern side and the jungleclad mountains of Laos and Cambodia on its western side. The northern border of South Vietnam butts up (naturally) against North Vietnam and is separated by the De-Militarised Zone (DMZ), actually a highly militarised region with the Marines poised to counter any and all NVA invasions. The Marines have fought numerous battles and skirmishes up in this northern border region (officially known as I, or 'eye' Corps). Unfortunately the NVA do not play by the rules and instead of crossing the DMZ and squaring up to the massive Marine presence, they sneak into Laos and Cambodia in the west and enter South Vietnam across the western border. They bring weapons and supplies for the Viet Cong as well as technical and political personnel and of course entire military units. One of the main routes into the country has been through the Central Highlands, a foreboding highland plateau in which the 1st Air Cavalry are located. Here too are a number of Green Beret fighting camps from which the special forces soldiers train local tribesmen to defend against the NVA raiders. The network of jungle trails that side-steps the DMZ and passes through Laos and Cambodia is known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, named after the North Vietnamese leader currently in power and spearheading the struggle. As the mountains peter out south of the Central Highlands one enters the flatter fertile region at the southern tip of the country dominated by the Mekong Delta. This is one of the great rice growing areas of the world, full of villages and small towns and a soggy land of swamps, channels and rivers. The Mekong River flows out of Cambodia. The South Vietnamese capital, Saigon, is situated just north of the Delta. Other important cities of the country include Kontum, Ban Me Thuot, and Pleiku (in the Central Highlands), My Tho (in the Delta), Quang Tri (up near the DMZ) and a number of settlements situated on fertile plains on the coast where the mountains don't reach the sea. Of these latter cities Hue, Da Nang, Qui Nhon, Nha Trang and Cam Ranh are the most important.

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5 6 US FORCES IN VIETNAM The central headquarters for all US military activity in Vietnam is the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) based in Saigon and working closely with the American ambassador at the US embassy in Saigon. From 1964 up until replacement by General Creighton Adams in 1968, the commander of MACV was General William Westmoreland. Part of MACV's duty is to help train the army of South Vietnam and provide US equipment and weaponry to this army (known as the ARVN, pronounce this arvin ). MACV has divided Vietnam into 4 military zones: I Corps, II Corps, III Corps and IV Corps. I ('eye') Corps - Headquarted in Da Nang, I Corps is responsible for the northern-most part of the country. It is at the sharp end. The Marines are stationed here (the Third and First Marine Divisions) and later in 1967 the US Army's Americal division also moved in here. The biggest battles of I Corps were the Siege of Khe Sanh (1968), the liberation of Hue (1968) and the A Shau Valley (Hamburger Hill) in 1968/69. II Corps - Headquarted at Pleiku in the Central Highlands, II Corps is responsible for the defence of the central portion of South Vietnam. By the end of 1965 the following Army divisions had units in-country in II Corps: the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), the 25th Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division. The 4th Infantry Division joined the fray in late The biggest battle of II Corps included the Ia Drang Valley (1965) fought by the 1st Cav in the days before its re-deployment to III Corps in III Corps - Headquarted at Bien Hoa, several miles NE of Saigon, III Corps covers the approaches to and the defence of Saigon, the capital and prize of the NVA. A major VC base area called the Iron Triangle sits within III Corps, NW of Saigon. Plenty of US Air Force squadrons are stationed in the III Corps area at Bien Hoa and Tan Son Nhut. Major US ground forces include the 173rd Infantry Brigade and the 1st Infantry Division (by the end of 1965), and the 25th Infantry Division, the 11th Armoured Cavalry Regiment, the 9th Infantry Division and 199th Light Infantry Brigade (by the end of 1966). Numerous large scale operations were conducted in III Corps to try and root out the VC in the Iron Triangle, as well as two other base areas named War Zone C and War Zone D. The heaviest fighting occurred during the Tet Offensive in early 1968 which tore Saigon and the surrounding towns apart. IV Corps - Headquarted at Can Tho, the IV Corps was responsible for the defence of the Mekong Delta. The terrain is difficult for major military operations. Mobile riverine operations are conducted on the waterways from Dong Tam, near My Tho, and US Navy riverine craft (always heavily armed) assist in transporting grunts of the 9th Infantry Division into battle. There are also a number of Special Forces Green Berets camps in IV Corps to block infiltration from Cambodia. The greatest enemy strongholds of IV Corps are found in the U Minh Forest and the Seven Mountains area as well as the Plain of Reeds and the infamous Rung Sat Special Zone (known as the 'Forest of Assassins') that flanks the main waterway into Saigon. HOW THE ARMY WORKS A grunt is at the bottom of a huge organisational table, from fire-team to squad to platoon, to company to battalion and so on. For most grunts the real identity of their parent unit lays with the division. Much like the British regiments, the US divisions have very distinct identities and their own distinctive shoulder patches. A division is essentially a complete army ready to go to war. All are given some orientation, there are airborne divisions and cavalry divisions as well as the more numerous infantry divisions. But each has an HQ, its own artillery, transport assets, choppers, engineers, medical units and so on (many will be assets from other branches especially assigned to the division). The squad of grunts in this game will be members of Echo Troop, 1 st Squadron, 7 th Cavalry Regiment (known as the Headhunters ) - a part of the renowned 1 st Cavalry Division.

6 7 General Custer is one of the 7th Cavalry's most illustrious soldiers and the unit fought in the Indian Wars on horseback. In 1965 the division began to go to war in helicopters - the very first military unit to totally embrace air mobility. The division has since proved a fantastic success. It transports its troops by chopper, supports them with aerial artillery (gunships), uses chopper-borne recon, and flies in howitzers via chopper. Contrary to popular belief not everything moved by chopper in the Nam, but in the 1st Cav it nearly always did! By those who favoured the 1 st Cav, it was known fondly as the 'First Team'. By the end of the war the division's mobility and firepower had proved so successful that it had fought in every military region. As a fire-fighting bunch of kick-ass trouble-shooters the 1st Cav could not be bettered, much to the chagrin of the Marines who had to be 'rescued' from Khe Sanh by the 1st Cav (or so the 1 st Cav portrayed it). Check out the 1st Cav in Coppola's tremendous movie Apocalypse Now and in Mel Gibson s more realistic portrayal, We Were Soldiers. The 1 st Cavalry Division ( ) is commanded by Major-General John Norton, and is composed of three brigades (as well as additional supporting units). Brigades are led by colonels and are composed of three battalions. Battalions are commanded by lieutenantcolonels and consist of an HQ (with its own troop unit) and (usually in Vietnam) five frontline cavalry troops. Each troop is commanded by a captain and consists of three aero-rifle platoons and a HQ with two officers and 10 men. Now we're getting down to the level of foxhole units. Aero-Rifle Platoons The focus of roleplay within GRUNT is a single platoon of Echo Troop, 1 st Squadron, 7 th Cavalry Regiment within the 1 st Cavalry Division. Like most airmobile units, the troops were choppered into action and supported in the field by helicopter gunships and observation helicopters. Used almost as troubleshooters, the airmobile division was frequently transferred to the hottest of combat zones. Their aero-rifle platoons could be dropped behind enemy formations, or into remote areas to conduct search and destroy operations. They proved to be a rapid reaction force with a high degree of aggression and tenacity - perfect material for roleplaying! An aero-rifle platoon is the 1 st Cav's basic fighting unit and at full strength (rare in the Nam) will have 44 men and one officer commanding (usually a lieutenant). The 1 st Cavalry's aerorifle platoons typically have four rifle squads (each with 8-10 men) and a platoon HQ (a separate squad with the lieutenant and platoon sergeant and 3 other enlisted men). The squads are led by staff sergeants and each is transported into the field by a UH-1 Huey helicopter. The complete platoon, then, moving as one, travels in five UH-1 Hueys, typically with a pair of heavily armed UH-1B gunship choppers flying as escort. Ranks The rank system of the US army enlisted men hangs on a framework of pay grades running from E-1 to E-2 onwards. Most squad members will be PFCs, privates first class (grade E-3). Those men who have responsibility for a particular weapon or technical aspect will be specialists (E-4, known as Spec 4s ), they do not have any command responsibilities. The team leader (assistant squad leader) will be a sergeant (E-5) and the squad leader will often be a staff sergeant (E-6). When there are casualties or incidents of sergeants leaving to train as officers or to work in newly formed units, the gaps might be filled by other squad members. The senior Spec 4 might command the team, the E-5 sergeant might step up as the team leader. In the field the unit has to adapt to manpower shortages however it can. Replacement squad-leaders are not always on tap. The three squads that make up the player character s platoon are commanded by Captain Borman (O-3), who is accompanied into the field by an RTO, a couple of riflemen and his platoon sergeant, Sergeant Gardiner (E-7).

7 8 Long time gamer and US Army Private First Class (E-3) Conrad Deitrick has summed up the way in which rank actually works in the field for a small unit. I m an E-3, a PFC. My team leader is a Specialist E-4. My squad leader is an E-5, a sergeant. I consider both to be my buddies. They ve got more experience than me; I trust their judgement often more than I trust mine, but they re friends and we re in everything together. I ve got buddies who are Staff Sergeants, E-6. Its not basic training; we re not talking about Drill Sergeants. Squad leader sergeants don t yell all the time in the regular army. They re too busy looking out for the guys in their squad. You work together and live together, you are friends and battle buddies.

8 9 BASE CAMPS Unlike other wars, the Vietnam War saw the use of in-country base camps. Instead of deploying from outside the combat zone, grunts in the US Army and Marines were stationed within the combat zone. This meant that bases were under constant attack from Viet Cong irregulars and were therefore heavily defended. Base camps ranged from huge seaports (such as Cam Ranh) to airbases (such as Da Nang) to up-country base camps providing billets for troops along with chopper landing pads, hospital facilities, officers and enlisted mens' messes, weapons and ammo stores, supply centres, workshops, command posts, and miles and miles of perimeter fence, and barbed wire supported by gun towers and bunkers. Usually the perimeter beyond the wire was cleared of jungle by Agent Orange defoliant. These base camps provide rest and relief from tough field conditions, but must be constantly garrisoned and ready to repel a VC or NVA attack. Sniper attacks and quick-fire mortar barrages are a constant threat, especially during the hours of dark. Sometimes a Landing Zone (LZ) used during an attack is fortified and resupplied so that it becomes a permanent feature, ie. a small base camp or a Fire Support Base (FSB). An FSB is a complete artillery fortification used to provide fire support for patrols in the vicinity. Often these FSBs are constructed on hilltops deep in the wilderness and require an infantry garrison for protection. The NVA and VC try hard to overrun these FSBs, often forcing the artillerymen to lower the cannon tubes and fire beehive munitions directly at the on-coming enemy. FSBs usually have minimal facilities and a chopper landing pad. The larger base camps are usually built near a local South Vietnamese village and often hire locals to work within the fortress carrying out menial tasks (cooking, laundry, cleaning, etc). Some of these may be VC informers, spies or saboteurs. The local village often gives the base camp its name (eg, Lang Vei) and also provides the bored and frustrated grunts with a place to spend any R&R with the Vietnamese setting up brothels, bars, bath houses and markets especially for them. The grunts might build up a relationship with the villagers, but are always on their guard. The VC have infiltrated every population centre and love to strike at GIs who are vulnerable. For the locals, the grunts are a source of revenue., and they will offer all kinds of money-making services, from haircuts to prostitution, jeep (or tank!) washing to boot-shine, laundry to tailoring, good drinks, local food and bathing. At night when the mortar shells come whistling in and VC sappers try to pick their way through the concertina wire grunts wonder who could do this night after night. Sometimes when bodies are pulled out of the wire it happens to be the barber who cut your hair, or the villager who sold you cigarettes last week. You can never tell. You must always be on your guard. Trust no-one.