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Date Posted: Mon, January 12 2009, 12:22:36
Author: ROBERT J. ARCHER (I NEED YOUR HELP)
Author Host/IP: c-24-23-234-140.hsd1.ca.comcast.net / 24.23.234.140
Subject: MY EXPERIENCE, REGRETS

SUBJECT: Suffering from PTSD and need letters vouching for my service as a Lancer who served in combat

Dear Fellow Lancer,

This is Bob Archer (formerly Lt. Robert Archer, Lancer 24) . I NEED YOUR HELP.
Unless I can find one or more of my fellow combat veteran Lancers to vouch for my service with the Lancers in one or more combat assaults, I have very little chance of receiving any monetary aid for PTSD. I am sure that many of you have experienced the same thing.
I also have reoccurring skin cancer, but because it is not multiple myeloma, they do not recognize it as associated with the fact Camp Evans and Quang Tri were cleared by heavy spraying with Agent Orange which contained Dioxin, a cancer agent. I did not know that until 2008. Originally, the areas that we occupied were heavily forested. The military cleared that whole area by heavy spraying with Agent Orange (2,4,5-T). Agent Orange has a long residual life (half life). So the soil in the areas we occupied were heavily contaminated with Agent Orange for years. That is why it was such a great defoliant.
I have been disabled since 2006, and trying to prove to the VA that I served with the Lancers from Jan through most of May, 1970, and, most importantly served in combat. They rejected my appeal for monetary assistance because I could not prove to them that I was in combat.
Since I do not have any medals of Valor nor Purple Heart, I am having trouble proving that I was in combat. I suffered brain damage during “routine” brain surgery several years ago, and my memory was affected. I can no longer work nor support my family. I have gotten some help from the City to fix my leaking roof, but that does not pay the bills. All my Social Security goes to the mortgage and property taxes. We have taken on one renter to help pay for the food; but it is not enough.
I have the Lancer blue year book. Unfortunately, many names were left out; with the first or last name or both often missing. I still have the memorial pamphlets from James Burton (Twiggy), Bob Kirk, Bill Weisse (spl) and several other Lancers that were killed during one of our Bn combat assaults. I remember that the Cobras were firing so close that some of the tree limbs almost struck my helicopter and others. I remember one of the pilots shouting to the gunships to back off a little bit lest they bring one of our choppers down with flying trees limbs!
I remember one of the Warrant Officers taped a combat assault. I am not sure if it was this one or not. I remember listening to it. It would probably be one of the best documentations of what was going on (at least for him) during one of those assaults. At the time, we listened to the tape and just laughed it off.
I remember we sometimes referred to pilots and crew killed in a burning aircraft irreverently as “crispy critters”. I think we did this to get on with our lives. Even though is seems so irreverent today. We did not have time to brood over the dead. We had to get on with our lives. Taken out of context, that could sound calloused to an outsider.
My description of my combat experiences were not enough because I could not remember the name of the mission nor the month that it occurred. All I could tell them is that it all occurred between Jan 3 and late May of 1970. That was not enough to prove that I was in combat. I remember my crew chief and flight engineer having to beat off excess ARVN’s on one mission where there were fleeing the NVA. I could not get off the ground with so many ARVN’s handing on to the skids and trying to get into the chopper even though we could not get off the ground with so many ARVNs hanging on. Then we had to go back (I’m not sure if it was the same mission, and pick up a bunch of dead ARVNs. They were still dripping blood. One of them was lying over a log and had rhigormortis. So we could not get him in the chopper easily. We had to put him in last. We flew back maybe once or twice to pick up bodies. Then the Crew Chief had to wash out the helicopter because the deck was covered with blood. I remember the blood (lots of it) running out the doors.
I had a great deal of respect for all the Crew Chiefs and Door Gunners who worked long hours just to make sure that the aircraft was safe to fly the next day. They worked long hours. And were all good men. We did not have a big problem with drugs. I only had one “temporary reassigned crew member” who I know used drugs. He was not even supposed to be in our unit. He did not show up for a flight. So the Crew Chief and I went to get him. That was my first look at how destructive drugs could be. He as lying dead in his bunk from an overdose. It was awful. He had pissed his pants and snot was coming out of his nose. I will never forget that.
I AM LOOKING FOR SOME “LANCER COMRADES” TO VOUCH FOR ME. WHO THINK THAT I AM WORTH THE EFFORT.
I feel very guilty even asking for this request because I did not do anything to help support or communicate with Lancers very much over the years. I would get too depressed. I quit communicating onsite to put it out of my mind. So many people were still talking about the difficult time they had adjusting to back home.
My job kept my mind off the subject for years. But now that I am stuck at home every day except when I go to the VA for medical care, I have felt very guilty for not doing anything to help any of my fellow aviation crew members or pilots. It was thoughtless and selfish.
I had made a promise to myself that I was going to call Gene Miller’s parents when I got home to tell them that he was a swell guy, a brave soldier and leader and a good friend. I NEVER DID THAT. I finally did take a trip to the WALL in DC. I walked up to the wall and touch each name of the fallen Lancers who I knew. I cried without shame.
My son is a combat medic in Mosul on his second tour. He goes out with the infantry motor platoon on patrol several times a week. He does not have to do this because in his the medic in charge since his boss and good friend was badly wounded when his MRAP was struck by two Russian RPG’s two months ago. He is coming home sometime in February after 15 months on his second tour. But he is already having some problems. When he can get to a public phone, he calls me. Losing his best friend (who is at Walter Reed recovering) has affected him more than the loss of any other medic. He is a brave soldier. He does not have to go on patrol; but if he does not take a turn, he feels is puts too much pressure on his fellow medics. There are only four or five medics supporting his company. And there are one or more patrols going out on a daily basis. He is assigned to the 101st Airborne Division even though his Division is the 4th Infantry.
SGT Gregory Archer, my son in Mosul, has promised me that the first thing he is going to do when he gets home is go visit THE WALL in Washington D.C. and pay for me to go with him. I have written letters to all those guys who died when I was a Lancer. I am going to place each letter in plastic, and leave the letter and flowers to thank them for giving their lives at such a young age. Most of them were in their early twenties. They had their whole life ahead of them. And I am filled with guilt for doing nothing to honor them or contact any of their friends at home and tell them that they were great and brave soldiers who I highly respected. It took me years to realize that I loved all you guys. I was 25 when we were at Camp Evans and Quang Tri. I remember flying Rangers into North Vietnam at tree top level. Those guys had balls. I looked up Bruce Haskell this year. I did not realize that he had died at the early age of 39! Bruce gave me my orientation flight. It was not a very long orientation because Bruce responded to a LOH pilot calling for help. His Crew Chief has been shot while they were hovering around a tree line (scouting). He had fallen out of the LOH, so the pilot needed help retrieving him. We got three within five minutes. The Crew Chief jumped out and drug the wounded guy to our chopper and we did our first medivac. Bruce was “short”, but he did not hesitate to respond to the cry for help from that LOH pilot. I was too new to be afraid or even think about how many more enemy might be in that tree line. Fortunately, with the door gunner and LOH pilot firing into the tree line, we took no fire. That took balls. Bruce got nothing for it. But that was typical as you would know. It was expected.
I remember hearing from one of my friends that Dan Lanier had rescued a Navy pilot in the Ashau Valley (right after I left in late May 1970). Dan was an excellent pilot. I heard that he received the Silver Star from the Navy pilot’s based on the Navy Pilot’s write up. That pilot figured he was a goner. There were NVA everywhere. I had just been reassigned to the 478th Heavy Lift Company in Red Beach, DaNang. CPT Gene Miller, our XO, was suppose to stop by and see me on his way out on R&R. He was killed right before he was scheduled to go on R&R.
For some reason the VA is telling me that I did not participate in combat! I was a 1st Lt and Major Grant S. Green was the Company Commander. I can't remember the names of any of the combat assault operations and apparently, the VA review group won't or can't look them up. I was a Lancer from Jan 3rd to mid to late May before I was transferred to the 478th in Red Beach.

I remember one LZ where we landed in a very large crater with the woods in front of us. The cobras were firing their rockets so close that some pilot complained of tree branches nearly hitting their choppers. Another combat assault, one of the Warrant Officers taped the radio conversations. Can you help me out. Even if all you remember is that I was there and worthy of your vouching for me.

Warm Regards and Happy New Year.

Bob Archer (1st Lt Robert J. Archer, Lancer 24 and Lancer 11)
Home Phone: 925-855-0885
Cell Phone: none
P.S. Thank You for Your Service. Please feel free to pass on this letter to anyone who might remember me. My memory is not good anymore. VA has taken me into their medical program. I did not have any money to keep up my wife of 38 years insurance and my medical insurance and pay all the deductibles and prescriptions. I contracted spinal meningitis in 2006 during brain surgery which did a lot of damage to my sleep ability and memory.

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