Camp Duc Hue, 5th Special Forces Group

Camp Hoa Binh in The Red Dragon is fictional. While in Special Forces I spent seven months at Camp Duc Hue in Hau Nghia Province, III Corps, South Vietnam. The team designation was A325, it belonged to B32. This camp was located on the Cambodian border under the border feature named The Angel Wing. It was located in Duc Hue District but the district seat, the village of Duc Hue, was located across the Vam Co Dong River. On the west side of the river where the camp was located there were no populated areas. Basically this was a free-fire zone. Anyone moving through the area was considered to be an enemy. When I was there, from September, 1968 to April, 1969, enemy meant the North Vietnamese Army. The border was about five clicks or about three miles away. The area where the camp was located was some sort of farming area when the French controlled what was then Indochina. The area was named "Agroville" on the maps. There were some man-made features there. I remember at least one lake that was square in shape and some roads. I also remember a derelict piece of road equipment abandoned by the road. I assume there was once a bridge across the Vam Co Dong River that allowed vehicular traffic to reach this area. Our attention was always toward Cambodia, I never saw the river. Our operational area consisted of abandoned rice fields. When you left camp on an operation you went into the water and stayed in the water unless you came upon an abandoned 'tree square', a place that once was a homestead. These tree squares are where we normally stopped to eat or remain over night (RON). They were also the most likely place to be booby-trapped. As you approached parts of the border you would find vegetated areas and dry ground. I live in northern Alabama. As I cross the Tennessee River going north, there are two areas that always remind me of Vietnam. One is a wet area surrounded by trees that reminds me of my second tour in Vietnam, served in Mekong Delta. A bit north of the Tennessee River is a cotton field with a tree square in the middle of it. It too is abandoned, once being a homestead. Everytime I see that, whether there's cotton planted or not, it reminds me of the tree squares we saw on operations at Duc Hue. There's still a hint of uneasiness in me, not as strong as back in those days, but still a hint, that danger lurks there.

5th+Special+Forces+Group A325 Agroville B32 Duc+Hue Hoa+Binh North+Vietnamese+Army The+Angels+Wing The+Parrots+Beak The+Red+Dragon Vam+Co+Dong+River NVA 5th+SFG