Sergeant Walker > Quotes

“Within a week of trudging around searching for Charlie, everyone looked the same. Drab, nervously depressed, even ill, and bent to near double under overloaded rucks, those dusty bundles held everything in life for them. It seemed incredible that such a set of tired exhausted men could within seconds become alert to do at times brave or at other times truly dreadful things.

The author to French journalist, Saigon, in the summer of 67.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys

“When visiting “The Wall” in Washington, DC, it comes as a bit of a shock to realize so many were killed. When walking along it looking for the name of a friend here and there you come across a familiar name, or one you think you ought to know, you remember some and how they died whilst with others there is a failure to recall. Then, on finding the name looked for you suddenly find yourself with a feeling of nearness, and saying Hi in greeting to that friend who did not survive.”
― Sergeant Walker

“It wasn’t the dead that got to you, for they were still; it was the screaming of the wounded that emotionally punched you in the guts.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys: 2

“The salient point of the war was the fall of Saigon, it being a wasted lonely end for the allies. A futility lay within the dusty ashes of our defeat when the communist world gained over the free world.”
― Sergeant Walker

“We have several sources of fire support available to help you complete this mission. All you need do is give us a call with a target indication and we will blast the gooks. If your coms are down and can’t call for fire support, just fight it out as best you can. You ask of me and then what? Oh that part is real simple, you will indubitably be fucked.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys: 2

“Yep, as my old pappy used to say, every man living has at least one flaw in his character and some have many for the perfect human is yet to be born. But a guy’s courage is a different matter aint it, a guy without courage is fucking useless in the same way as one who can’t keep his word is fucking useless. I guess what I am talking about here is honor, and a guy without honor just aint worth a goddamn to anyone.”

A sage-like moment, courtesy of Corporal "Bayou" Lejeune.

VC Lake, D 10 Special Zone, South Vietnam, in the fall of 67.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys : Forest of Assassins - to - City of Hong Kong.

“There is great disadvantage in seeing the past as clearly as one sees the present, carrying in the mind visions of the past as vivid as on the day they happened.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys : Forest of Assassins - to - City of Hong Kong.

“For those of you who survive, the weight of war will be carried throughout life.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys: 2

“During the South Vietnam war, grunts when out in the boonie lived closer to the enemy than anyone else in an area of operations, and being in almost continuous fighting a grunt could only cling to his buddies and they to him for psychological comfort. Arising from that reliance was a very special comradeship termed “the brotherhood”. In essence, “the brotherhood” served as a vital coping mechanism for the fighting grunt.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys

“Combat stress, PTSD, is debilitating and can lie dormant, and then erupt again at the most unfavorable of moments for the sufferer.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys

“Black guys and white guys who had lived and clung to each other like twin brothers out of the same womb when in combat and the air was thick with flying metallic crap didn’t cease being so when off the gun line, for everyone knew they were there to kill or be killed. However, blacks and whites when on liberty in Saigon did not tend to hang out together, a part of it being a taste in music, and as the black guys said, “ole whitey don’t wanna hear no soul, whitey only digs that bronco redneck hillbilly crap”. So, the black dudes headed for Khanh Hoi, their soulville of the southland and free of “Sylvesters” white dudes, and the white dudes headed for Tu Do on the hunt for booze and “flatbackers”, prostitutes. Therefore, in Saigon there was an unofficial and mutually respected “Mason Line”, a demarcation line between a Black area and a White area. Fact was, when on or off the gun line folk’s personal survival rested on a state of mind and not a skin color.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys

“The Ho Chi Minh Trail was not as most folk imagined it to be for the use of the term “trail” conjures in the mind a winding at times narrow path something like the Appaloosa Trail, whereas the “Ho Trail “covered 10,000 miles and was in fact a network made up of roads, paths, and at times rivers. Thousands of “pioneers” that made up the North’s Group 559 maintained it. To us it was the “Ho trail”; but to the VC and the North’s Communists it was “Hanoi’s Road to Victory”.
Sergeant Walker, author of Southlands Snuffys.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys

“The vast majority of those who served alongside a Special Forces unit in the Southland of Vietnam during the war returned to the world forever hyper-suspicious of everyone and closed-mouthed as to what they had been doing out there in the shit. It would take many years, decades even, before they opened even a splintered crack of insight as to what they had endured, had suffered. Many never would, just carried their secrets from the war along with them to the grave.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys : Forest of Assassins - to - City of Hong Kong.

“The average grunt when not out in “the shit” the boonie thought about all the “Ball Games”, the battles, he had fought, all the narrow escapes from death, of buddies who had fallen one by one and wondered just how long his luck would hold. It came from knowing that a grunt could not fight in many “Ball Games” before he became a casualty. The general thinking was that if a grunt fought in say six without being hit he would not last another six, for there was a feeling that, sooner or later, death caught up with you but it was not what actually happened. There was a near-truism that if a grunt remained in the shit for a long time without a break he was almost certain to become a casualty, but casualty and death are not synonymous. A more realistic calculation was between three to six people wounded for one “kool aid”, killed in action. Nevertheless, it sure was unsettling to think that the best to hope for was receiving a wound.”
― Sergeant Walker

“Regardless of all its faults, failings, or anything else, the United States of America is not a nation an enemy should ever underestimate, for it will destroy anything that comes at it.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys

“The United States Marine Corps survives on a diet of traditions and discipline, and relies on a Marines natural love of country, of the flag, for the boosting of his morale, and when merged together they make a powerful combination that can overcome anything.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys: 2

“When I heard that Saigon was on the verge of falling to the Communists I felt a lump in my throat for I knew we were going to do damn all about it, and to me it had a bitter air of political appeasement attached to it.

Sergeant Walker, author of Southlands Snuffys.”
― Sergeant Walker

“The quotes found within the Southlands Snuffys books pages powerfully convey the long-lasting psychological toll of the war on those who served in elite units. They highlight the often unspoken psychological burdens many carried during the conflict and long after the conflict ended.”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys : Forest of Assassins - to - City of Hong Kong.

“There was a mortar barrage and shellfire during the night from 82mm type 67 mortars and most likely either old French 75mm cannon or M2A1 howitzers both of which Charlie had quite a few, and in the course of which we sustained casualties. One was a new kid who was smashed by a shell round termed as “one all to himself” within a few hours of joining our group. All that was left of him was a heap of flesh and uniform, and so mangled that had it not been for legs protruding from the awful mess it would have been difficult to determine what lay there was a human being.

Sergeant Walker, author of Southlands Snuffys.”
― Sergeant Walker

“We were advancing at good speed up a wide track towards a village when the VC and NVA laid down a very heavy mortar bombardment, at the same time they opened up with medium machine guns in enfilading fire. We saw the South Viet Marines to our left break for the rear. Then amidst the dust and smoke came quite a number of VC and NVA infantry yelling and brandishing Ak rifles with bayonets fixed and throwing grenades. As the South Viets were running we bolted too, for the mortar rounds were dropping thick and fast on the track behind us and among the trees. Then down came our own fire mission, quickly followed by our guys and the South Viets rushing to counter-attack with lots of rifle fire and the throwing of grenades. The VC and NVA scuttled off to the village, and the situation restored.

Sergeant Walker, the author of Southlands Snuffys, after- action report, Forest of Assassins, 1967.”
― Sergeant Walker

“To more than one it seemed fruitless to attempt a mission, for but one day earlier; we had been in the same area of operations only to find the assertion that the VC had “their backs to the wall” was but fantasy. The VC had come at us with a wild ferocity reserved for those spiritually married to a cause and that made our losses climb. Sure, we weathered the onslaught but the truth was apparent, the VC was proving to be a force to be reckoned with, an enemy by no means near defeated.

Sergeant Walker, author of Southlands Snuffys.”
― Sergeant Walker

“The best plan in the world will fail if you cannot communicate it. Similarly, a
poor plan can be saved by good confident orders. Only competent orders will
leave a Marine in no doubt as to what is expected of him”
― Sergeant Walker, Southlands Snuffys