Wounded Sniper Plays Dead as Enemies Approach [Vietnam War Veteran] 🇺🇸

and then the next day of going on an ammo run and we got ambushed with chikon they were throwing grenades the two guys in front of me got blown in half and I got wounded knocked unconscious um this second or third day of the operation and we're rolling how's it going RJ I'm doing doing fine Josh thank you for being here sir my pleasure um how about this start off just uh introduce yourself tell us your name uh the branch of service and the years you served Jeff yeah RJ Jackson United States Marine Corps uh 1966 and 1968. and what was your job I was a scout sniper of course in the Marine Corps you're all o311 grunts but uh my real title was a 8541 scout sniper wow wow um let's just start off with uh talk to me about uh where are you from and what was your upbringing like yeah my uh parents we were in Los Angeles I was born in 1947 I was the the youngest of five to had two brothers and two sisters and my father had come to California to join the military and the 40s but he had health issues and couldn't do it and we lived in an area called Glassell Park near Atwater in Los Angeles and I grew up on the same street West Avenue 33 pretty much till I was 17 years old oh wow wow um so you were with both parents growing up yes yeah my my father had a family and children prior to my mother and he getting together and uh and my mother I was I was an only child of my mother but I had the two brothers and two sisters that my father had so um what what inspired you to go into the Marine Corps well uh his history my I had my two older brothers or 13 years and 11 years older than I am uh respectively and they are in the Marine Corps in the 50s after Korean War they were peacekeeping times they were in Korea and also in Japan and uh it was just something that uh it was instilled in me I saw how they were and my eldest brother got injured in training it was in Balboa Hospital in San Diego and we drove down every Saturday to go see him oh wow and that was really the main driving force to to be in the Marine Corps what happened to him in training they were having hand grenade training and somehow a live one got involved and he was next to it he was adjacent to a tank and it bounced off and and he had his left his face was scarred and his left side in his leg oh wow he was in the hospital probably three months I believe on his recovery oh wow that's unfortunate um so uh what was boot camp like in uh what when did you go to boot camp boot camp October of 1966 yeah so when you went in did you uh did you get to pick your job no uh actually they at the time during Vietnam they had uh what was called a delay program to join they didn't have boot camps open but you did a 90-day delay program so I actually signed up in August of 1966. but uh they load you on the bus down at the induction Center they dropped you off downtown San Diego and the DI showed up in the bus and the rest is just grueling for for 19 weeks yeah but but during boot camp they had interviews they did testing and I suppose they used that for some kind of criteria for what your assignment your MLS is going to be so did they did they select you to be a scout sniper or did you try out for that uh I shot expert I shot in the 230s with the at the time we were qualifying with m14s and uh following boot camp then we had basic infant training and then we had Advanced infantry and following that we're getting prepared to go to Vietnam and a sergeant came in from the sniper school and took the top four in our in our platoon and told us we had an opportunity to be to be Scout snipers it was actually the second class since the Korean war is what we attended oh wow and and so then you then you go off to scout sniper school yeah it was really it was on base in Pendleton I believe it was four weeks and uh I had never shot a high-powered rifle never shot a rifle with a scope and uh but I had still nerves and uh I I did I shot a perfect score actually in the at the uh the qualifying and great training all the way from range finding and distance in the winds and aperture and all that it was just incredible short training so when you get done with scout sniper school then did you get stationed somewhere or what ended up happening after that after that they had what they they set up a jungle training area for um for Vietnam and uh which was somewhat effective and after that then it was go to El Toro and catch a flight on to uh Okinawa uh and give some blood and then get to domain you know for our assignment you signed up wanting to go to combat or yes I knew it was I had a friend in high school I played baseball and basketball with and he was killed um in February of 1966 and that resonated with me and um and we were shooting pool in Glendale we go downstairs and then next door they had the recruiter recruiter and there was a sign that said two-year enlistment's now available and I walked in and I told the recruiter I'll take I'll take that and then he signed me up and the rest was uh waiting for the boot camp to open up on October 6. what did your uh what did your parents and your your brothers think about you going in at this time um I didn't tell anyone um how I worked it I sold my car and bought a motorcycle for the summer and I asked a friend to drive me to the induction Center downtown and I didn't tell them where we were going and nobody knew actually any friends family or anybody knew until um they got Letters From Me from boot camp really so your family just receives letters like oh crap RJ's in the Marines yeah yeah actually yeah my my father asked me to leave when I was 14. and it was a strained relationship but um I I managed to you know work through that get through High School played a little baseball uh at La State uh when I was a freshman but then I I felt I felt the need with everything going on with the friend that had passed yeah in in combat um it was a natural decision for me with my brother's history yeah um so talk to me about that what was it like uh what was your experience like going into Vietnam yeah it's as I mentioned uh we go from El Toro to Okinawa that was the first time I'd ever been on an airplane I didn't know where Vietnam was on a map never had that in history class and but we landed in Danang and we were in a great big concert area tenant area and for hours they were reading off the names and when they called my name out 8541 scout sniper um the the staff sergeant said okay get on a truck go to the Y on the road jump off and wait for the next truck to take you out to regimental headquarters which I was assigned to oh wow first impression was uh was interesting yeah at best I had I had one magazine of ammo and and then M16 wow wow so um and when you finally get to what where you're going uh what happens from there well they had the snipers in the regimental headquarters they had we had our own hooches and we had our we had our sign out front the grim reapers Knights of death and which I figured that was appropriate but there was really there was no indoctrination no introduction it was here you're sleeping there and within three or four days I was going on the first operation I wasn't this lead sniper I was a scout and my partner was from Detroit and and his name was Harlan Carter he uh actually LED our team and the first first operation was Operation uh Union two which was uh in the chulai area which was one of the toughest ones we had ever gone into really what what unit were you with I went with we were the first Marine Battalion uh Charlie Company and primarily the whole time I was in Vietnam I worked in first Battalion and I was more or less adopted by by the uh the officers within uh Charlie Company we all worked well together and it was good Comfort level yeah so you said the mission was called Union two Union two yeah um talk to me about that what was that like it was uh in as a as a as a as a boot I had still had leather leather boots I didn't have jungle Utes and I had two magazines of M16 ammo that was what they gave me but as I learned historically what was happening was the Green Beret had been surrounded in the chulai area and first Marines were going in to to break through and rescue them but it was uh pretty much from the time we were out there there was there was uh there was Battle um how old were you at this point I was 19 19. uh do you recall the the first time you got contact got into contact with the Enemy yeah it was a um it was it was called a killer Patrol and there were laying mines out um we knew that and so um as Scout snipers we'd go out with with another team with a machine gun team be six of us total and uh we we got to a berm and then we saw them they were actually laying the laying the the mines they had their AKs swung over and we took them out without casually hmm wow um how did it how did that uh do you recall how you felt at that point like you know you're you know you're you're young and you're like in the middle of Vietnam and you know now you know you're realizing yeah you're really in combat yeah it's um the first battle Union two they were you were shooting but you may have hit something but may not necessarily know you did it well this was a little bit different we could almost see the whites of their eyes and and uh we were successful and I was successful in my Target and but the sergeant looked at me I couldn't I was lying lying down the sergeant said uh you got to be careful what you're doing because you were doing stuff that's a little bit dangerous and and you don't have an s on your chest but I couldn't sleep the first night um I got over that very quickly though because we were regularly we were we were in some kind of skirmish or or Search and Destroy yeah what was it uh uh so were you just constantly going on missions every day patrols or no um there were some times there were there were company operations Battalion operations but generally it would be a smaller unit um and they had what they called a scorpion we'd go out with maybe a platoon and um and then later in the day we would set would settle in and right before right before dusk um they would leave the most people would leave they'd leave my partner and I in in a machine gun team and we were the tale of the Scorpion usually people think the Scorpion's head is scary but it's the tail that's going to get you so right right um did you ever get to utilize your uh uh sniper skills in Vietnam yes yeah how so um well again we go out the we were fortunate we had a colonel Lieutenant Bell it was very famous they they called him ding dong but he would call us in even at 19 years of age I'd go in with my partner and he'd tell us what he wanted and we were actually Scout snipers and they sent us out on reconnaissance and uh charting and charting things and um the goal was was to get intelligence and secondarily if we got a shot take the shot but several times he'd go out we the shots weren't were practical but there were there were several times that we'd be able to be in a position where we we had three or four ways of escape and and we'd take our shot confirmed kill and then and then go back wow and were you doing this with an M16 still or did you have a now it's a Remington 700 it was uh it was a 308 and it was nine power we had a red field scope you know today's Scopes are far superior but we had a three to nine variable red field bull barrel floating stock and match ammunition and we had to keep that dry and clean every night we had to we we had to massage the rounds and make sure they were clean wow um how long did you spend in Vietnam one year one one year one tour yeah one tour okay um uh what other missions you recall in Vietnam what stands out to you yeah um we had gone we'd gone from south of domain and and they flew us up to dong hop which is at the DMZ and then we came South and then we were on an operation Medina in October of 67. and um really we didn't have much intelligence but it was a Ho Chi Minh trail there was a triple canopy Forest they couldn't take aerial shots um there was really it was um just trailblazing and we were there with I was with Charlie Company Delta and then I think there was some Second Marine uh platoons or companies there and uh the first day was just making our way through there was machete we were my partner and I were considered the the point of the spear we were number three and four back on the front and uh we got down on a trail and then and then opened we were to ambushed um the whole the whole group got ambushed and the two in front of us got killed and my partner Rod Lewis and I we jumped over there was a log we jumped over the trail into the over the log and uh and spent uh pretty much half the night there until we rallied oh wow um this was Operation Medina yes yeah you were telling me about that earlier right yeah but oh man um and what was the mission for this uh the mission was that there was allegedly there were battalions as a training area and where the NVA with North Vietnamese Army the the Communists would come down and they would train the local the Viet Cong and they had Munitions and they had it was it was a it was a boot camp that they had and uh so we knew we'd made contact obviously but we didn't know where we didn't know what the force was and then during the night um we were he and my partner and I were still behind the log separated from everybody and then um the Captain Jack Russ Lieutenant Jack ruffer started singing the Marine Corps hymn it was Pitch Black we didn't know where anybody was until then at first we thought it was the enemy trying to get us to give our position away oh wow and we got up and walked and found the crew we set up our perimeter and then the next day of going on an ammo run and we got ambushed with chikon they were throwing grenades the two guys in front of me got blown in half and I got wounded knocked unconscious um this second or third day of the operation oh wow how long did the operation last um I was involved about four or five days and I think it went another three or four days after that we had the reinforcers had to come in and they did body counts and and we succeeded in prevailing but it was uh it was tough going and they found they did find the um the cache of weapons and they found ammo and and uh further back they found there was actually Trails where trucks could drive on but where we've been ambushed initially it was just it was a footpath yeah when uh when you uh got hit with that grenade did you uh what what injuries did you sustain did you get shrapnel or what happened yeah I guess my my my hand my arm my shoulder my chest and and concussion and um I had looked up and they were coming it was down a slope they were the enemy was coming down and because they thought I was dead they were shooting over me and then we got superiority we got the Firepower and a corpsman yelled at me to come on down they you know try to get to his position because there was a trench and I told him no and he said why not he said because they're not shooting at me I stayed there another half hour 45 minutes making sure that I was I was going to make the Fatal mistake yeah so you just stood there you're playing dead essentially it sounds like yeah my arm I thought I lost my left arm because it was underneath me I couldn't feel it because I had nerve damage and um my weapon was away from me but the years you know it was perforated eardrums as it turned out from the chi-com and check on grenades they put everything in it everything metal and it's very devastating they kept it on them how close did they get to you uh that's 40 or 50 feet yeah looking up at and I I to this day I know they were Chinese because they were too big for Vietnamese really yeah and then and the lieutenant confirmed that later on really wow is that was that a common thing no no further north she went towards the DMZ could be likely but I'd never heard until that point it was just uh Viet Cong and and our and and the Republic of Vietnam wow um so what what did uh what did they do with you after that uh after you're eventually obviously you're able to move and yeah I can I could walk and they and they staged me that night there was no we had no LZ everything was taken and captured and so the next day they started bringing medevacs in and we had a we had a trail that we all laid at and uh they got us all out and the most serious first and I wasn't the most serious so they put us on the little Grasshoppers and got us out and then I imagine he went to a clinic or something medical facility yeah I was transported today to ding which is South where we were Danang and and uh spent I think four or five days they were making sure all the shrapnel was out and the nerve damage they wanted they were a little concerned about but it managed it all healed pretty good yeah how uh uh how long had you been in Vietnam when that happened right at five six months so then you so you eventually recovered and went back out yeah they recycle wow really yeah was that a common thing in Vietnam yeah they they had a rule um two if you're wounded two times and you're you're taking care of for 48 hours each that's the that's the the two 48 hours and then they won't put you back in the field but I um I had the one and then I was in Tet Offensive in way in in February and I got wounded there my second uh again you got wounded yeah my second opportunity yeah oh what happened there well if you're familiar that Ted offense have happened it was the last of the last of January of 1968 and it was all over the country every it was synchronized and and um we were how we got to fubai was that there was a Coast Guard ship that got got uh taken by the North Koreans and they were staging first Marines to go to North Korea they told us to send home for all clothes that can keep us warm and we were waiting at fubai to actually fly fly to North Korea or fly to South Korea and then and then take the ship back but in the meantime the Ted offensive broke out and nobody knew what it was it was everybody was talking about it and we couldn't we couldn't chop her in because of the fog the fog was the air was too thick but on February 1st I think it was we we actually went down trucks and we went into into way into the new city and um and we were there I was thinking I think I was there 24 days and it lasts a little bit longer than that wow and what was it called t-e-t that's that's the Chinese New Year oh okay and it was a Tet Offensive but it was coordinated up and down the country they they had built uh Armament uh their tunnels yeah Saigon got hit really hard to name and then way um the way had the Citadel which was that was the religious capital of way that was the old city and they took that over and then we were across the river and then we were once we had some aerial we had some some gunships could come in after after the clouds got away but my partner and I would we were going straight to Street door to door it was um we'd never been never trained or never had had door-to-door building fighting so it was just one sometimes one building at a time sometimes 50 yards and and then we would uh we set up a site at it it was by the water treatment and they had a tower and he and I set up there my partner and I I was a lead and we had shots under the into the other side of the river where the bridge has been taken down he went from jungle warfare to Urban Warfare yes yeah it was uh it was interesting because you didn't know every every place you went there were doors and there were hideouts and actually the water commissioner away we found his NVA North Vietnamese Army communist uniform oh wow and we captured him and took him back for interrogation but he didn't make it um how did you end up getting wounded when we were staging they they'd uh the enemy had taken an antos from from the uh the South South Vietnam Army and uh that's a six six gun uh regardless rifle 106. and so the lieutenant we were we were in a in a building that was Secure and he was telling us to get The High Ground and take it out take take them out and there was an explosion and shrapnel came through and and hit me in the right calf and uh I didn't know what it was I felt warm yeah and the corpsman was going to put a tourniquet on us no you're not we just put pressure on so that I wasn't disabled at that time and so since that was your second time did did you have to leave Vietnam well it took it took two days to bring the chopper in to get me but I actually it was it was I found out later on but it was it was a white helicopter you know it was a turbo and I found out later on it was the CIA I was the only one on it they flew out they flew me out to Danang and did some triage stuff on it and then they flew me I went down to Cameron Bay Air Force Base hospital and I was the only Marine wow that was there I was there about two or three weeks because they they had to leave the plug in the leg for the drainage and try to get the shrapnel out oh wow um what kind of things did you uh uh did you did you have much down time out there in Vietnam yeah there were times and particularly during the monsoons yeah um I remember Christmas of 67 we were at the Battalion headquarters and we we had the concertina up and we had had all the watch out and everything and but just poured rain for for about two weeks and it was during the time that they were doing the Paris peace talks and when it started unless the rain let up a little bit then they sent us on patrol just to go out and check the perimeters but because the Paris peace talk and the and the and the politicians they told us we couldn't leave the we couldn't leave the perimeter with a round of the chamber had to be safety on and no round in the chamber oh wow but as soon as we got 50 yards out of the everybody was cranking one of the chamber and and safety was off yeah yeah but during the high during the high rains even their side there was nothing you couldn't see anything there were some there were some battles but not not many when it was really torrential downpour like that you couldn't see anything what uh what what kind of things uh would you do during that time during your down time to pass the time stay dry yeah you know we we'd have the um make our own little tents and make sure it was trenched properly you know clean the weapons and and uh it wasn't much to do really it was uh you know a week or two of just you know wringing out your underwear and your socks and yeah trying to stay as dry as you can um uh were you able to uh did you guys receive mail out there yes so yeah did you were you communicating back and forth with your family or anybody while you're out there yeah um in particular when we were South and we were by Danang and chulai in in Barrier Island and that yeah you'd be out if you're out there long enough then there'll be a mail call they bring the mail but usually it's stacks of five six seven days and um and if you're in the rear area I went back to the rear area not very often regimental because there was nothing to do there you know it's I I was more comfortable with the Battalion and the in Charlie Company but the rear you got mail really regularly yeah and I'd you get a c ration box and you write a note and just put free on it and that they that's how it got delivered they take it air mail to San Francisco and distributed are you just write free free yeah they got it you know they'd see ration you know they knew it was coming from a marine so yeah yeah uh what kind of food did you eat out there um in the field yeah see rations yeah Korean War sea reactions oh really yeah yeah what do those have in them uh cans of beef steak or ham and lima beans we had another name for it they'd have fruit cocktail they have some kind of fruit they'd have a thing of peanut butter or cheese okay and always a hard hard piece of bread and after a while we learned how to just open the can a little bit put a little water in and get C4 and heat the can up and it would soften the bread it was really good oh wow yeah make sandwiches you get real creative huh had to yeah it sounds like they weren't much uh you know I was I wanted to know just to compare of you know the MREs that we got they're so Advanced now they come with Skittles and all kinds of crap now so yes I was just curious no we did actually yeah we were getting this the uh the holdover from Korean War and uh but they have spaghetti I mean you get truthful you got used to it the only time you got we rarely had Chow in the field you know hot Chow I know the Army sometimes they got their Caravans of food and mess all we got sea rations and then we ate at Battalion or regimental we'd get we'd get a meal yeah yeah um did you uh did you lose any close friends while you're out there uh yeah yes yeah it's um actually it was a uh he was a cook um at regimental and he wanted and he was a good shot so he went and convinced him to let him go out and and then he went up first operation I had to identify his body in the in the cooler room he got hit right between the eyes first first operation uh yeah he um yeah he'd never yeah he was a little bit older I say older he's probably 30. yeah at the time and and then there was a there was one uh Corporal day um he stepped on a mine and lost everything you know below his waist what was the first guy's name I know I can't remember his name he he was he was a cook he was someone that we helped Orient to the rifle on that but I don't recall his name he had been a in the mess hall yeah yeah um and so uh did you that second time that you got wounded is that did you end up going back out or was that it um from Cameron Bay they sent me back to fubai that's where the first first Marines was located and um I was at that time Marines had 13 months of tour Duty and I had there may have been 30 days left of that and they decided to send me back to Okinawa because they couldn't technically they couldn't and I and I was still limping I had uh I had damage in my right calf and yeah so they flew me to Okinawa and um you know I was going to be there they were going to make me a clerk typist for a while but then they came up and said no we have a flight going out get ready pack your stuff we're going to get you back to Kanas um um any other uh uh stories that stand out uh to you from uh that tour in Vietnam well well there's a lot there's a series of stories but it just it was just seemed like one continual Saga it's a from the time you get there until you leave you're counting the days it was just uh um a lot of guys had short-timers calendars real early but not it was the camaraderie was good especially when I was with Charlie Company yeah it was just we knew each other we had each other's back um and there was no um there was no messing around it was very serious yeah I know a lot of stories come back that everybody was doing cocaine and marijuana our unit didn't I never did um and I suspect there was but um what we did you couldn't go out you couldn't you couldn't do what you were doing and be limited like that yeah so you we make sure everybody's very careful we took care of each other watched out for each other as well yeah I have heard stories about that uh you know uh Coke and heroin and all that stuff to keep people going but yeah no it just um maybe when they were down by Danang you know you go to China Beach or something but uh our group you know we we took it really seriously and um respect of what we were doing um so when you got back uh uh from Vietnam did you get did you get promoted out there at all no I went over as a PFC and came back as a PFC really um the problem was was that I was technically assigned to First regiment but I was working with first Battalion and and so I was out of sight out of mind I never worried about it they were going to put me up the little tennis in the field we're gonna put me up meritorious stuff and I just go do my thing and and then when I got out I got back to Pendleton they said how come you're still a PFC I said look at my record I didn't have any problems yeah and so I made Lance corporal before my second years up oh yeah so is that what you got out at E3 yeah E3 E3 they offered me um because I test I tested really high they offered me an opportunity for OCS because you had to be 20 and a half and I was and they told me and I said well tell me about it so well you go to OCS and you get out your your lieutenant and I said well what do you do then well you get trained and then you go to Vietnam I said so let me get this straight I'm training to be a lieutenant to go back to Vietnam yes so I'll tell you later you know I never got back to the captain how long that how long uh did you stay in the Marines after that you got back um I got back I got back the day Martin Luther King was killed oh wow and I was in the cab we were flying from Norton Air Force Base or driving from Norton Air Force Base to um El Toro for about four months four months I had four months at Stateside and then I got out on August August 30th um so uh what what made you uh decide to get out uh did you have anything lined up or were you just over it done I had uh I'd gone I had three semesters of college before I went in I was still 18. I graduated high school very young and I put in for a school uh deferment not deferment an early out I was going to Pasadena City College I enrolled okay and I was going to get I was just going to go back get my grades up so I go to a four-year school so I got out of school so you got out and went to Pasadena City College yeah so I just can't imagine uh you know what's it like having gone through that you know everything that you went through in Vietnam and then all of a sudden you're sitting in a class full of college students yeah well the first day they had a student area there was where they all gathered and I heard a megaphone or big bull horns and that and I went to the crowd because there were young ladies there and so I was going to go see you know what everybody looked like and I got there and they were hanging a soldier in effigy in the courtyard and then I basically did the moonwalk and got away and that affected me adversely so I'd stayed to myself as a school was related I had my core of friends I had my tribe yeah you know that I hung with but uh that was uh disturbing that was my first touch with uh yeah with how they felt about us right right um what was the transition like for you you know back in the civilian world uh it was difficult but I know that it's not as difficult as some of the guys had because I I stayed in sports I I played baseball I played on a semi-pro team I went to I went to Cal State Northridge and was going to plan on their team nice and so I stayed active I played basketball played Church League's basketball industrial league basketball uh and go to the beach I had a job but go to the beach play volleyball so I stayed active physically go to the gym a little bit in those days there wasn't like the gyms you have now and uh but keep my mind my mind still my body working were you uh were you living on your own at this point yes okay so you got out and you got your own place well I had a family that I had lived with before I went in that wanted me to stay there while I was adjusting and it really worked out well they were nice family and uh had my own room come and go as I wish no other you know obligation other than to be neat you know and not make a mess and and then after that I I um I went to Cal State Northridge for a while and then I sold a car went to Hawaii stayed there six months worked and enrolled at University of Hawaii but I got a I got a message from my mother my father was dying went back to LA um and uh at that time he wasn't she just wanted to chase me back and I'd been not really in touch with them for a long time and then my brother in Missouri the one that the oldest brother was in the Marine Corps he told me to come back and go to school there and stay with him so I did that um from 70 to 71. okay um do you feel like uh do you feel like you were a changed person from uh before joining the Marines uh to to you know uh getting out yes and did you did you notice anything uh maybe catching up to you like you know I I talked to a lot of combat bets that you know after being in combat like that they have difficult time sleeping you know just you know all the stuff just doing different things were you experiencing any of that yes yeah I had I no I couldn't sleep and I know a lot of guys have the recurring dream the same one and I just had flashbacks I and I did it would startle me noises um cars backfiring and all that kind of stuff but but uh I managed that I I looked at I was kind of I was in good control but I knew I knew I had a lot of things that I needed to work on and um but absolutely I had more confidence yeah having gone through the training the Marine Corps training obviously and survived what we survived and um I had a lot of confidence there was really nothing I couldn't do I wasn't going to jump off a cliff think I could fly but but yeah but they instilled those leadership skills and uh you know everything you accomplish just I mean just becoming a Marine in and of itself yeah right uh um so what did you do with those skills did you uh yeah the when I got out I got out in 68 and then in September of of 68 I got a letter from the city of Los Angeles uh police department and they wanted me to be a part of their counter Insurgency team at the time there was racial issues and there were pinning riots and and I thought about it because I I didn't I didn't have a good job but I didn't want to jump from Vietnam to you know sniper rifle in in the city and so I um I I didn't do that but I eventually moved to San Diego and and became a police officer and in 1972 nice um and you did that for a little while right yes five years and then what happened there um I was on SWAT I I was jumping through the ranks and I had my sergeant exam um on on the seat next to me I was working graveyard and I was taking a transporting a young boy home that had been siphoning gas and and he told me he says please don't take me to juvenile hall I go why he said you take me home my father's a marine and he's going to beat me I said what's your address so I'm taking them on the 805 north and I will sit head on by a drunk driver under under drugs and she was trying to commit suicide and my car caught on fire and my body was hurt oh wow wow and then you ended up uh retiring up out from that yeah that was August of uh August of 76 and they retired me in April of 77. and they just didn't there was no light duty I I couldn't I could rehabbed or I could walk but I couldn't be a b cop and they wouldn't they wouldn't let me do anything the city wouldn't allow Police Department would have yeah but the city refused so from that I went I became the first probate investigator for the um for San Diego County oh wow and uh that was interesting I got to interview uh people that have been put under conservatives and guardianships I was investigating attorneys and the mistreatment and all that it was very interesting very enriching when you when you got got some results on the yeah on the effort from your investigations yeah wow how long did you do that did it right about four years and then what'd you do after that well then I I um I had an opportunity to go to Nevada Las Vegas but for the State game control board the gambling Commission and a friend of mine from San Diego PD that had retired he was there and so I interviewed and they hired me and I did that for three years and the last two Undercover the covert um primarily with with organized crime we were we were doing some stuff with the feds yeah um because they they organized crime you you were mentioning they ran the casinos back then right yes yeah they um and they would have shills they'd have the people that would say they'd have no record so they could be the general manager but the people behind the scenes was either Chicago Kansas City or or Florida mob and um and they actually I told you they they ran a pretty good business the food was good it was cheap and uh yeah but they didn't want to pay taxes they were doing quite collar crime they were they were skimming and not paying federal federal taxes did you ever get a chance to uh interview any of those guys or interrogate um well there was one old guy that was uh he was a cat burglar from San Francisco and he was used to to set up a 1.7 million dollar jackpot in Tahoe and my partner and I we got we were shifting every every two weeks we would watch him and then uh we had a chance to talk to him but but he was part of organized crime but he was on a lower level yeah and um but generally when we when we got to that point if we as as a game control which we controlled the state um once we got it to where it was certain there's a federal crime then the feds would come in and we do our witness statements and and they would take it and go from there because that's where the that's where the leverage was getting them for tax evasion and all that yeah yeah um as you're as you're you know working all these assignments you know San Diego Police uh probate investigator um and then with the casinos um uh did you ever link back up with uh any bets um you know a lot of vets you know we talk about the camaraderie and stuff like that um being hard to find uh once you transition out um how was it for you um I had my the last partner I had when I got wooded in in Whey Jeff Clifford we communicated he came up and spent some time um where I was living but never continued the dialogue um and there was another one um that he became he was with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an investigator Tim Dunn he was Irish from New York and he and I had done some stuff in Vietnam together nice and we chatted but everybody was out of out of geographic location for me yeah and as time went on you know I I I was I had I had another one or the partner I had when I was on operation Medina Rod Lewis he wanted to connect and it ended up that he had gone through three marriages and he had really sad had real serious medical issues and emotional issues very severe wow and I chatted with him on phone he lived in Washington and uh did your uh did your guys's unit or anything uh ever throw any type of reunions um no and I just asked because I know now like you know my unit has a Facebook page I know there's a lot of you know military units uh with Facebook pages and they throw these yearly reunions and stuff it you know it's pretty cool to get back with everybody that you served with obviously and go back and shoot the you guys and never did any of that now in our ear we there were no cell phones it was dial phone yeah and uh no contact in that fashion and and being in the platoon I was with I wasn't with a lot of the guys in the platoon I was with my partner at the time and then we'd be out in the field but we really weren't absolutely connected to the Battalion or to the company we're with right so a great relationship it was for battle I mean it was we needed each other they liked what we did and the in the colonel like our intelligence we brought back so really there was I know a lot of guys in the Vietnam group I'm with um like the Airborne they have their annual um get-togethers in Vegas or or Florida and all that we didn't yeah and I imagine you weren't attached to the platoon because you were a scout sniper right so you were just with the how many people would you go Recon with usually it was a smaller group it would be at least there would be probably four others okay four others but it'd be my partner and I'd be the Scout and myself and and four others and uh just strictly some assigned reconnaissance some we they what they heard and then just you know just get into a spot where you can observe see if there's any foot traffic and uh a lot of times it wasn't for a shot it was for reconnaissance yeah we didn't have we didn't have Recon in our area they may have been in different locations um RJ what do you do uh uh now to to mitigate like the uh I don't know emotional response from everything that you've been through you know earlier you mentioned when you got out you just stayed busy you're going to school you're playing baseball and all that uh is there anything that you do now to uh to help all that yeah uh several things one I I go to the gym I I can't run but I can do the treadmill I can walk and I do some dumbbells and I do I don't do free weights I do the ones just you plug the number in and three or four times a week um but what's really been helpful is that I went to the combat Vet Center in Mission Viejo and I've had several counselors there but the most recent one is Dylan Bender and we have combat Vietnam veterans that meet in a park every Wednesday at 11 o'clock and that's been very cathartic because when I hear what the other guys are saying about their experiences it's it's Bingo that's that's what I've gone through and it makes me feel that I'm not the only one out there and we know we're not but it's nice to confirm it so there's 10 to 15 guys that are saying this is how they've been affected and we're proud of each other because we look around and Dylan star that we're we're successful because we're alive still and um I think all of us are 100 yeah you know rated yeah yeah and uh but we don't no more stories funny you know the funny stuff yeah you know but not not the trenches and right and we look forward to it it's been it's very good and I'm a Christian and I and I have church I have God that's awesome is that the group because Dylan uh he was telling me that sometimes he takes groups out and goes like kayaking or paddle boarding and stuff like that is that what you do yeah we have access to that yeah go down a Dana Point and I know uh some of the leaders at the at the center uh I I went on some long hikes we had six there were a series of six hikes and being another one of the old guys went but very supportive yeah I mean the guys and these are all these are combat veterans these are the guys that have gone through and they're doing counseling Dylan wasn't in combat but he was a marine and yeah he was a marine and um just Aces Recon Marine too yeah yeah he's trained to do the big stuff yeah yeah yeah Dylan's a good good guy I'm glad I'm glad I've met him um well we're getting ready to wrap it up um any last words no yeah I you know I think what you're doing Josh um um at a minimum we'll expose um stories that other people they will see veterans possibly that say well there's someone like me and if you've got 80 or 90 of those or hundreds of them it's nice to know that you're not alone and the younger guys are having the biggest problem with their experiences the suicide ring according to Dylan is just skyrocketing out of Pendleton um the guys that had gone to school for training combat that didn't get assigned but their buddies went and a couple got killed those guys were having just severe disappointment you know and and uh Dylan has a term for it I can't recall but it's I can understand why yeah but I I appreciate the opportunity to tell a little bit of my story yeah and uh and I'm just we're blessed to have someone like you that's gonna you know put it out on on YouTube and whatever means you can yeah and help other help other vets yeah well uh I thank you for for coming and taking a seat uh it's a big deal you know especially with the Vietnam bets you know the old guys yeah a lot of a lot of the you know Vietnam vets and it takes a little bit more um uh energy out of me to get them to sit down and talk you know uh but you know once we get to know each other and stuff like that and they realize hey I'm a marine vet myself it's I think that makes it a whole lot easier than than uh you know a non-military or a veteran and stuff like that absolutely you can you you're one of us yeah yeah um and uh you know but we looked up to you guys you know what I mean like I mean how many times have uh you know we've heard it in plenty of interviews you know uh we've probably watched Full Metal Jacket a hundred times before even going into boot camp you know yeah um so uh it's a real honor to to have you here RJ uh thank you very much and I'm sure you're going to impact a lot of people hi Chris my pleasure Josh anything I do to help you let me know thank you sir [Music] yeah I'm coming back [Music]

Channel: Urban Valor

Views: 285,138

Keywords: vietnam war, military history, vietnam war stories, vietnam war story, vietnam war interview, marine scout sniper, marine sniper, vietnam war sniper, marine sniper vietnam, us marines, vietnam veteran, vietnam combat, vietnam war veteran, vietnam war history, vietnam war documentary, the vietnam war, vietnam war facts, vietnam war stories told by veterans, us military, history channel, rj jackson, urban valor, josh gutierrez, war story, war, war in vietnam, marines

Id: 6j-glrySJwc

Length: 49min 39sec (2979 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 24 2022