John Rixley Moore; embellishing SF Vietnam vet
Scotty sends us his work on John Rixley Moore, another secret squirrel who won’t answer questions about his service, well, except in a book.
Moore was actually a special forces qualified soldier in Vietnam for a little over 5 months. He was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. But all of that wasn’t good enough for him. He had to go and claim a Distinguished Service Cross (there are three John Moores who were awarded a DSC, but during WWI), two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts. And, oh, yeah, he claims that he was promoted to E-7 with only 2 1/2 years in service;
His 2-1 says that he was serving in E-7 slots, but it’s what’s in your paycheck that counts. Moore also claims that he was Ranger qualified, but there’s nothing in his records that support that. When questioned about the discrepancies, Moore claims that the CIA awarded him all of those medals, not the Army. Anyone who spent a day in the military knows that’s bullshit. Moore claims four years in Vietnam, but he didn’t even have four years in the active Army.
I’m not up on Vietnam era Special Forces, maybe some of you old guys can tell me if the C&C designation on his 2-1 means that he wasn’t in an A Team. I’m thinking it means he was a 5th Group HQ weinie in a command & control slot (not that there’s anything wrong with that unless you’re claiming to be more than what you actually were). I know his hair looks too good in some of those pictures at Scotty’s place to be a ruck rider.
There are other things to wonder about – like him spending more time qualifying for special forces than he spent operating as a special forces soldier. And why his active duty enlistment was cut short. But I’m not going to speculate.
Category: Phony soldiers
TOTALLY LEGIT
/I mean come on….*SWEET* Porn-stache
Yeah, it should’ve been flying dawn patrol versus the boche in World War One, too…
I rarely saw a SF troop when I was there. They kept to themselves and did their own thing. Most everyone left them be. Having been a low grade leg, 11B I have no idea what his C&C designation claims mean, except…he IS claiming Silver Stars, Bronze Stars, Purple Hearts and a DSC he doesn’t warrant. That’s enough for me to say ass hole. On top off it all, the guy writes a book about his bung holery. So we know for sure he is full of his own shit and likes the smell. Correct me of I am wrong but his moustache is outside the corners of his mouth in the photo. So while that says suave and debonaire, it’s also called, “out of regs”. Maybe SF guys get away with more shit than grunts. I don’t know. A cocky looking bastard isn’t he?
One minor correction, Sparks. I’m pretty sure “bungholery” is one word, not two.
Other than that, IMO you’re dead on target. (smile)
Hondo…Thanks I was thinking about that as I wrote it and didn’t want to take the time to Google it. Thanks my man. I will remember now. :S
Continuing the theme, I’ll just leave these here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBAUGxj-lPo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASUecMKbfkQ
I think Moore here would fit right in, don’t you? (smile)
Hondo…Roger that!
And piling on….
You forgot to add that “asshole” is one word.
Just sayin’ 😉
Yeah, clams – I missed that one. It’s also one word.
Good catch. (smile)
Hey guys….thanks for the heads up of my cussing. 😀 😀 😀
I didn’t know “bungholery” was even a word.
Well, I learn something new everyday. 😀
“Cocky bastard”…..yeah, I bet he likes the cock.
After reading Scotty’s write up, which I should have done first, and the excerpts from Moore’s book, he makes mention of a scene right out of John Wayne’s “The Green Berets”. “We called in the air force and the C-47 Spooky’s came in and worked the perimeter. I think we killed them all” (paraphrased to that effect). More, higher and deeper, smellier, BULLSHIT! At least be original is you bung holery Moore.
Correction thanks to my bud Hondo. It should read above, his “bungholery”. I love that word now! 😀
Huzzah!!
Another colorful addition to the English language.
Well done, sir!!
for the first year I was in, “corners of the mouth” even in training environments was interpreted to mean the horizontal plane, not the vertical. The semi-Hitler ‘stache appeared about 1979.
“Bung Holery”
Awesome.
…Correct me of I am wrong but his moustache is outside the corners of his mouth in the photo….
In 1979 I had a bit of a handlebar moustache as an NCO:
http://i1024.photobucket.com/albums/y306/rgr1480/Handlebar-Sgt1979_zpsdb4c71c9.jpg
I think I was just barely out of regs by a few months and had to shave later. Regs changed around that time period; as I recall, the former reg said something like you had to shave a horizontal line at the corner of the mouth … which would allow a handlebar. I remember seeing some army waxed staches.
The USAF had the “Hitler Moustache” reg where the ‘stache could not extend beyond vertical and horizontal lines at the corners of the mouth.
rgr1480….
I bet you sported one of these when off duty…
http://www.tshirtbooth.com/productimages/designs/mrf2.gif
😀 😀
They didn’t have the T-shirts then … but the phrase was well-known then.
I was just searching around to find the pre 1979 grooming standards and can’t find them. AR670-1 was newly implimented on 1 Jan 79 (combined male/female uniform standards, but no grooming that I could see) … so I was then outside the new AR.
Hooah!
rgr1480…I think the regs changed because some of the gals were growing better moustaches than the guys. 😀 😀 😀
When I was in, the question always asked by buddies after a pass or leave was, “Did you earn your red wings?” 😀
Yup, earned mine while a HS student in Bangkok.
Errr …. that carries over into the military, right?
ghp95134…We are da men! Got mine in Bossier City, LA outside Barksdale AFB. Yes it carries over for the rest of your life!
Never wanted to earn those, thankyouverymuch.
But I was able to floss once in a while.
Hooah!
Does give a new perspective on the Zappa tune “Montana”, doesn’t it? (smile)
As I recall 1971 the mustache reg was basically not below the corners of the mouth. Length was not a issue. We had a huey pilot named Jack Parr who had a beaut of a handle bar mustache.never a issue. “I kid you not” WO Parr was one funny guy. With a name like that how could you forget the guy.
Geez – served in combat with SF, BSM, PH. And yet he still had to lie about what he did, and claim sh!t he never rated.
Sounds kinda like someone else we know. Except that other guy was never SF.
Sad. Just freaking sad.
Hondo, that’s what I don’t get and NEVER will about him and others like him. To be a Special Forces Green Beret says a hell of a lot, all by itself. To have earned a Purple Heart and been awarded a Bronze Star are big pluses in anyone’s service and again say a lot about the man. Why the need for all the extra? I didn’t have the motivation to apply to Airborne. I didn’t believe I had it in me to be a Ranger, much less a Green Beret. To any and all here, who were Airborne, Rangers and Green Berets or any combination of those, my hat is off and in my hand, in honor and respect to you. This guy doesn’t appreciate in his self centered mind, that he takes far more away from and denigrates his fellow SF soldiers, far more than he adds to the their legacy with this buffoonery. If I had accomplished a quarter of what Moore “legitimately” accomplished, I would be one proud individual, even without his legitimate awards. I JUST DON’T GET IT.
I agree with Sparks. He is very disrespectful of those holding those medals legitimately. I also don’t understand douche bags like him. Or should it be “douchebags”?
Taurus USMC 0302…Wiktionary says, douchebags. They got you too eh? 😀
Secret squirrel? More like Blue Falcon!
He was an operations and intelligence sergeant, what is currently called a Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant (18F). Methinks with how little time he actually spent in country, he was politely asked to leave since there is nothing in the record to indicate he was wounded so badly that he needed evacuation.
I am just spit balling here, but I am thinking this guy might just be full of fecal matter. Right up to his eyeballs. Either that or he is a friggin’ hero among heroes.
OK, I am going with the first one. Full of shit.
For those who know the old Army stuff; his 2-1 shows he went to Vietnam as a “SpOpnsAug.” Would that be as an augmentee? Previous to that his 2-1 shows that he spent roughly 8 months in “Wpns Tng (SF).” Is that about the right amount of time for SF qualification back then? I would have though it to be longer. The question I’m getting at here is, was he really SF, or did he take some SF training to be a staff augmentee?
As a follow on; did SF back then go overseas as a group or did they augment the teams with new people as needed after they went down range? It makes no sense to me that a tight knit group that has trained together for months would accept an unknown element into their midst in the form of a unfamiliar, untested augmentee. It would seem that he would have been more of a staff weinie or in some other support function rather than a full fledged team member.
ATC, you’re right about the tightness of the units but they accepted replacements because they had no choice. I went over as a replacement NCO in December ’65 as a battalion CBR NCO (now called NBC). The battalion commander personally welcomed me aboard and then promptly reassigned me to a line company, “because they needed NCO’s.”
And as it so happened, the company commander assigned me as a fire team leader in a platoon that was preparing to move out on a night patrol at dusk. I was quickly issued a weapon, ammo and gear and found myself the NFG in a battle-hardened unit on a very dark and scary mission. Except for damned near killing me physically, it was an otherwise uneventful rite of passage.
Fortunately for me, that company, Bravo, 2d 327th Abn, was the old Echo Company from the 1st Airborne Battle Group in which I had served in 61-62. A few of the old guys were there as NCO’s so I wasn’t a complete stranger but I still had to prove myself. Having been a staff wienie for a while, it damned near killed me to keep up but I did and all that staff blubber burned off very quickly.
And yes, several months later, when I was about forty pounds lighter, the battalion needed someone to get their CBR equipment ready for a CMMI inspection, so I finally got my staff job back.
The exigencies of war, you know…
I’m betting that Jonn is right about the C&C designation being command and control. it was a designation used back in those days. Under the old Pentomic organization, my unit, the 101st MP Detachment was part of C&C Battalion as were division recon, Troop B, 17th Cavalry, and Recondo School.
And in fact, Maj. Lewis Millett, founding CO of the Recondo School,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recondo
did in fact sport a magnificent handlebar mustache extending well outside the corners of his mouth. But then Millett was an MoH holder and a favorite of then 101st CG, Westmoreland, and Division CSM, Paul Huff, another MoH holder. Now that I think about it, Huff also sported a full mustache but more neatly groomed than Millett’s.
I do not remember seeing any other mustaches in that division in those days (early 60’s). I can’t swear to that being true but as an MP, I patrolled the entire post including the division troop line and I don’t remember any facial hair being authorized. It was strictly white sidewalls and hairless cheeks and chins.
As for this turkey, Moore, he clearly realized that a book about an E-5 intelligence NCO operating in the rear area wouldn’t sell many books so he juiced it up to get it published. However, it should be sold under the heading of War Fiction.
I met Col. Millett in 1969. His son (Lew III) and I both attended the International School of Bangkok. I was over at his house a few times and met his father — who then was a full colonel and sported a white waxed moustache. When I got home I told my father that I met Col Millett and he stopped in his tracks and asked, “Did he have a large red moustache?” I said no, it was white. He then told me about then Captain Millett’s “bayonet charge” in Korea and that he earned the Medal of Honor.
I thought that was the last US bayonet charge, but wiki says he led a second bayonet charge later that month and got a DSC for that action.
rgr1480
Bronze Star, CIB, Purple Heart and the douchebag has to embellish? Durn few soldiers carry those three medals and that isn’t good enough for him, he has to be a secret squirrel? CIA issuing medals? I think he reads his own books and treats them as truth.
Dirtbag.
That’s the part I don’t get. I mean, what the hell is wrong with what he actually earned? Absolutely nothing to be ashamed of until the embellishment crap kicks in.
This is the only article I could find with the “C&C” as related to Vietnam, and Jonn you are right in the article it is command & control.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Assistance_Command,_Vietnam_%E2%80%93_Studies_and_Observations_Group
I’m trying to remember when the “green beret murder” scandal happened, wasn’t it in the ’68-69 time frame or was it later than that?
From what I recall reading (I was in first grade in ’68-’69 so I wouldn’t have any direct memory) much of the 5th SFG Chain of Command ended up getting relieved or reassigned and they needed bodies to fill slots, pronto. I’ve heard (second hand) that there was a lot of rubber stamping and generally relaxed standards to get people assigned so I wonder if Moore slipped into SF that way?
martinjmpr: mid- and late 1969, actually.
Although some of Project Gamma’s sources began to disappear in early 1969 – and photos possibly incriminating Thai Khac Chuyen were found that spring – he wasn’t summarily executed until June of 1969. Most of the 5th Group’s chain of command was arrested over the next month. SECAR Stanley Resor ordered charges dropped that September.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_GAMMA#Green_Beret_Afffair
I don’t think this tool was involved in that. He appers to have departed the RVN long before the photos pointing at Chuyen as an enemy agent ever surfaced.
Sorry if I was unclear – I don’t think Moore was involved in any of the killings, what I’m thinking is that there was a time when the SF in VN was in turmoil, morale was low and they just needed bodies to fill slots, so they were passing people with questionable skills off as “Green Berets.” (I seem to have read that the commander of the 5th SFG wasn’t even SF qualified, he was an infantry officer who was essentially granted an INE green beret.)
I’m wondering if maybe that explains Moore’s spending more time in training than actually serving in an SF capacity.
Elaborating, do we have a DD-214? I’m wondering if he ever got the S identifier that they would have used back then to identify SF qualified personnel.
SOG had 3 CC’s, I think they were CCN, CCC and CCS (North, Center and South) for controlling cross-border operations. I don’t know where they were physically located but I’m sure that info can be found on the internet.
As for the part of the text that was quoted, I’ve done a bit of reading on Vietnam and I don’t recall ever hearing about an SF base attack that killed 100 Americans. I think most of the SF camps that were overrun had a couple of A-detachments or maybe a B-detachment at most, maybe 30 – 40 Americans and the rest Vietnamese, Hmong or others.
Here’s a reviewer’s quote on Moore’s website:
“Some men lead an exciting, stimulating life of high adventure. John Rixey Moore has somehow packed at least three of these lives into one.”
His own, and two others, perhaps?
Can I order a pizza?
Did he have to pull a bernath with that photo? Was that really necessary?
Frankly, it’s awfully ghey, on top of the other crap he’s concocted out of whole cloth about himself.
I guess the idea with this guy’s story-telling is that most people won’t/don’t know what happened ‘over there’ because he thinks they’re all dead or something, and we all know that’s not true.
But pulling a bernath on top of it? That is just tasteless.
OMG well at least it’s his own photo…am I right guys? Guys?!?!
It’s the mustache, ChipNASA. It looks like he ‘borrowed’ it from one of the Village People, or maybe Uncle Ho. But when you take a closer look at his real portrait in black & white, next to the other portrait in a weird green tone, there are differences.
1 – The brow ridge between the eyebrows has a faint shadow in the ‘green’ portrait. There is no shadow in the B&W portrait.
2 – A nasolabial crease (smile line) runs along the right side of the ‘green’ portrait sitter’s nose. There is no smile line in the B&W portrait.
3 – The ‘green’ sitter’s right eyebrow is just slightly different.
4 – The ‘green’ sitter’s sitting angle in the ‘green’ portrait is not the same as the B&W angle sitter.
Okay, maybe the ‘green’ portrait IS him, but there are enough differences to have me wondering if he really did pull a bernath. That’s all.
Another funny thing about his photos. On Scotty’s site there’s a pic of an E-7 that Moore claims as himself. But one need only look at the nametape to see it doesn’t say Moore.
Can someone jog my gray matter and tell me what a “M-1 Foot Mine” is..? I’m as confused as Rixey is.. … ..
Claymore, I had to go look that up because while I know about Claymore mines from (all that time I spent in-country in) Vietnam (in my imagination), I am unfamiliar with an M-1 Foot Mine.
So, from Wwwwwiki: The M1,M1A1 and M4 are circular steel cased U.S. anti-tank blast mines with a distinctive cross shaped pressure spider. The mine was used during the Second World War and a copy produced in Argentina was used during the Falklands War. Another copy is produced in China. designated the No.4 mine. Variants of the mine have also been deployed in Chad and Tunisia.
I don’t see any M-1 Foot Mines there, do you?
Tilt rod check.
M-15 Mine detonator. You da’ man Green Thumb!
Nope, sure don’t.. It’s the “Foot Mine” part that was so taxing.. If he had left it at M-1, I would thought he had tripped over his weapon..
Hello Frank.. … ..
Mebbys he meant the M16 antipersonnel mine?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M16_mine
I remember the M16Ai Bounding Antipersonnel Landmine from Basic & AIT, more popularly known as a “Bouncing Betty”, once tripped, it basically chucks a frag grenade about 3′ from ground level and detonates, there are different versions of that worldwide. The “Toe Popper” was another. Ours is plastic and contains about 4 ounces of C4, it’s made to blow a Troop’s foot to confetti and thus takes three troops out due to the victim having to be carried once he’s wounded.
You are all basically correct, go to Amazon , look up the title of his BS book, ” the Squlmish disclousure “and see some of the many lies he tells, I suspect a REMF, the Bronze star has no ” V”, the one Purple Heart is for the first night assigned to SOG, that base did get hit, mortars and 3-4 sappers inside the wire, total casualties about 7-8 KIA, only three of which were green beanies and a few Nungs. I was 101st/82 nd , 1966-68. C Company 1/327, Dak To to Phu Bai. Ran one of the recon teams, the missions are all BS that he writes about! and his facts are all wrong. Welcome home everybody on this list.
Frank Dunlevy…Thanks for the info. If you’re new here, (my memory sucks) welcome aboard and thank you for serving. Welcome home to you too sir!
Aha, another Phu Bai 101 Airborne Troop in the mix. Welcome Aboard, Welcome Home and Good Hunting.
Welcome Frank. 1/101(SEP) then 3/82nd(SEP) in’68
Still waiting on this ass clown to surface with an explanation/excuse
Which will he do first ? Claim the records are classified . Or threaten lawsuit.
I know, The CIA has all of his info.
Scotty,
The photo says it all!
Who ever takes such a photo?
Yeah … We already know!
You can smell and see these guys a mile away … Good thing we don’t taste them for surely it would taste like sh!t!
He sure does have purty hair, though.
I can see it now. John Rixley Moore meets up with J. Max Taylor (the Ice Man) at the Bunghole bar. Purpose: to collaborate on a combined work of fiction that will replace the ACA Handbook currently being utilized in farm outhouses all over America. Rumor is that it will be a best seller, especially in the DC area.
The might want to check with “Ranger” Burrell; the only real CIA operative.
Oops, yeah, forgot about him. That would be a menage a trois of cornholiness to behold. Oh, to be a fly on the wall.
CLAW131 Ranger Burrell is the real deal, “CornHolio”.
Isn’t the “Cio” in the world’s fourth most dangerous man’s name the proper abbreviation/acronym for Cornholio?
If the measurement of truth was the “mustagee index” you guyz would have to apologize to this goon!
Looks like he’s just trying to out sKerry the sKerryman.
Is that possible? 😎
Perhaps not in our universe, but would that keep some folks from trying?
Since someone secretly told Rixey that he had the highest score ever on the SF Intelligence Test, that surely qualifies him for 9 months with the 52nd. Inf. driving a “light truck”.. … ..
Claymore…you caught that little tidbit too. Kinda strange huh?
Uh huh.. Not really coming from Rixey..
Did you catch the “John R. Moore” “USMC”, twice.. … ..
Claymore…Yep I did.
Then you need to remind him that SF is not Semper Fi, it’s Special Forces.. Go on, do it.. … ..
Unless there is something I missed along the way, Vietnam is no longer considered a classified subject, not even the POW stuff or the Chinese ships that were spying on US ships over there.
Vietnam has been over with for 39 years now.
Anyone who uses the ‘classified’ excuse is as full of shit as Witless&Wandering the Clowndog not-a-LRP.
I worked on Secret materials at the Nave Photo Center. THEY AREN’T SECRET ANY MORE.
Also, he says he ‘came home to England’. What does that mean? He abandoned the USofA after Vietnam? Or he didn’t face the draft in the first place? Which is it?
Ex-PH2 Here-Here. The “classified” crap was a worn out excuse long ago.
Ex-PH2 To further your Naval “classified” experience. When I left the Air Force in I had to attend a SAC “Classified Materials & Information Debriefing”. The same film as the annual one about espionage and the threat of lost information. Plus the “orders” regarding everything I had heard, talked about, was trained on, etc. regarding the Titan II Missiles, silos and program. Then sign the document promising prison and my first born, if I violated what I had signed. Then, in ’84 the Titan II Missile program went inactivate. Now there are several web sites about everything I signed that piece of paper for, including the Crypto equipment! There’s even a silo, Number 571-7 of the old 390th SMW at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona that gives tours by the old, retired operators. My point, so much for all the “classified” BS we still hear.
Wiat, wait, wait a minute, PH. The “Phoenix Project”! You fergot about that one. Why, it was sooo supa secret that even the squirrels had no idea. Ask my old pal n bestest buddy eva…Bill “ASSASSIN” Perry!
Oh, yes, good ol’ phung-hoang, Street.
That ended in 1972.
Didn’t Colby get in trouble for that? It wasn’t very secret after those hearings started.
Not really, Ex-PH2. Colby headed Phoenix from 1968-1971. By 1973, he was the CIA’s Director.
He was replaced by President Ford during the “Halloween Massacre” in 1975 for reasons unrelated to Phoenix.
Was that the secret mission to deliver mail from 5th graders to POW’s that were only being held for 9 hours, or was that another secret mission that we’re not supposed to talk about.
It was the original license to kill program.
Perhaps not. Some of the World War II OSS operations were pretty much that as well. They predated Phoenix by 2+ decades.
Hondo, I was being snarky. 😉
(chuckling) Should have seen that. Mea culpa.
Post-VN SF here. The assignment in his records (Spec Ops Aug (C&C) 5th Group indicates an assignment to MACV SOG. That was the cover assignment (As you probably know, anyone assigned to a classified unit in the real world has a cover assignment on paper). That’s all legit.
There’s no 100% comprehensive and accurate listing of SOG vets, but Steve Sherman’s Who’s Who from MAC-V SOG is based on orders that Steve has been collecting for maybe 30 years, so it’s pretty good.
Sherman has a MOORE JOHN R assigned to CCN with no dates or specific assignment. He is also listed in the CCN-specific booklet as “assignment unknown” with a date of 01/01/69. (This usually means that Steve has some roster or other official document placing Moore in the unit, in this case CCN, sometime in 1969).
Most first-tour guys in CCN ran recon or ran with a reaction force, but there were all kinds of other assignments.
I don’t have all the volumes of Hardy’s MACVSOG: Team History of a Clandestine Army here in the office, but he’s not in Volume V or VI. (These books are basically a team-by-team who’s who and highlights in extremely high quality, coffee table limited editions). I can check the other volumes later.
Based on my experience with the Sherman books, I would say there is an extremely high probability that Moore spent his one tour with CCN in MAC-V SOG. The books are not error-free but they are the best thing there is for authenticating Vietnam SF.
If SGT Moore subsequently exaggerated his service I’m disappointed in him. There was no call to do that! He was part of a unit that earned the PUC! (That one’s probably not in his records, because it was only awarded as the declassification of SOG missions was winding up, long after Moore’s DEROS and REFRAD.
Just to add — none of that stuff is classified any more, with the possible exception of some specific intelligence sources and methods that were and are compartmented, then and now. All the big secrets of SOG are long since declassified and published.
I do run into old timers who are unaware of what is and isn’t classified. They usually err on the side of quietude.
Ya know, if you REALLY look at those PR shots of him in utilities, the background looks a whole lot like a stage, movie or TV set.
When I worked on the ice shows at my local rink, the backdrops were ordered and rented from a company that provides stage settings to theatrical groups. They did everything from painted backdrops to life-size photos printed on canvas.
Whatever, in the photos you see from Vietnam actual, there were lots of people in the images, whether they were official photos or personal stuff. There are no close-ups where you can’t see someone’s feet, which appear to be staged. There’s nobody there. Where are the rest of the troops?
And then, there’s that set of camo with the knit cuffs. The name tape says ‘Goldie’, not ‘Moore’. I’m not sure about the camo pattern for that period, but none of the photos I’ve seen from in-country had the guys wearing belts without stuff hanging on the belt.
I’m just saying those photos all look staged.
Re the image
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-owL0pHsEQLs/U4O1X3k0NDI/AAAAAAAAJnM/8BxRIP1kb3U/s1600/JOHN+RIXEY+MOORE+-+PHOTO+-+1.jpg
Observations:
1. Uniform: Looks like Woodland Pattern BDU that was fielded in 1980; pocket flaps on the level, not angled.
2. Knit cuffs: No; he’s wearing the OG sweater under his BDUs.
3. Name: Concur, looks like Goldie.
4. Rank: Master Sergeant. You can clearly see three rockers when you increase the gains.
5. Thai jump wings; black [post 1970?].
6. US basic or senior jump wings; black subdued [post 1970?]
7. Looks like a black-subdued Jungle Expert patch worn on his left breast pocket (some were worn there).
8. Beret is worn more or less correctly as was done prior to the 1980s when the new “pulled-down-over-right-ear-pancake” fashion took off.
9. Beret flash: either Training Group (solid white) or 1st SFG after the black border was added (post 1964). The flash is too light (in B&W) to be 10th SFG green or 7th SFG red. Then again … there appears to be yet another darker area just under the the SF crest pin.
10. Web belt. Yeah, worn as a garrison belt, probably a cadre NCOIC. Looks like the Gabriel Training area or other such training location. Note the grounded rucks in the background. Nope — not Gabriel as it is too large and not surrounded by trees. However, that definitely is a training area.
rgr1480
I wonder if this clown can be found on Copperhead Road?
Nope. This tool only had 1 tour of duty in Vietnam.
This is a message from Rixey after being questioned about his service and awards.. I really like the tid-bit below.. Full context below that.. Key word “handlers”.. … .. “As for the citations, most of mine came down through the “handlers” who generated our assignments, conducted our debriefings, and processed requests upward. I suppose you could try the Central Intelligence Agency, as their protocols were kept separate from the Army’s and from me as well.” From: John Moore Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2013 2:53 PM To: Subject: Hostage Mr. Lauderdale Media has forwarded your email to me. Thank you for reaching out, and I am very sorry that my memoir has hurt you so much. I understand your concern about the record, and I don’t blame you for your pursuit of the facts. It all happened a long time ago, and I have no wish to deceive. As you may have gathered from the book, the mission of FOB 4 was kept so dark that I was not the only one who never learned exactly what it was or how to put it in a simple declarative statement. I was put in charge of just one of the teams, and I did nothing deserving of recognition. Some of my experiences there scare me still today, and it was only through requests from friends that I even undertook the effort to write about them. As for the citations, most of mine came down through the “handlers” who generated our assignments, conducted our debriefings, and processed requests upward. I suppose you could try the Central Intelligence Agency, as their protocols were kept separate from the Army’s and from me as well. Further to that, I had an interesting experience some years ago at a gun show. I met an ex-Marine who was a collector of world medals. In talking with him, I mentioned that most of the contents of my footlocker had been destroyed by fire, but that my mother had always wanted to be able to assemble the things I’d lost in a shadow box. He asked a few questions and… Read more »
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Present, BOOTS!
Order, BOOTS
Don, BOOTS!!!
Parade, REST!!
(*rests for a minute*…tries not to snicker in formation. )
Atten-HUT!!!
Fall out!!
/with LAUGHTER.
ಠ_ಠ … ◔_◔
Shoot. For a minute there, I thought we were about to have a “line up and whiz on the poser, by-the-numbers” formation.
I was kinda looking forward to that.
Oh from the look of that photoshoop…
I’d say he’s already into something like that Hondo 😀
Are you trying to say this could be his theme song, ChipNASA?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUq_T_Bhau8
Warning: may be NSFW for work. Definitely is inappropriate around prudes, small children, or clergy. (smile)
First of all, fellas, Mr. Moore in his salad days was quite a looker. Now, if you pay attention to his photos, he was quite blondish with a rather caterpillar-like ‘stache under his nose in the photos on Scotty’s blog. However, in that portrait of him, his ‘stache has not only grown far more magnificently thick than it was in the ‘hootch’ photos, but also is considerably darker. For that reason, I question the photos and the ‘stache.
Second, being familiar with the AP, UPI, Reuters, Agence France Presse and Getty photos from Vietnam correspondents, as well as the large crop of personal photos now showing up on the internet, my reaction to Mr. Moore’s photos (by comparison) was that they look as though they are staged and posed, for the sake of his book.
I have a few pictures of me at work in uniform, and they look quite different from that portrait of me that is in the Members’ Gallery. (See for yourself.)
Carry on.
P.S. – Sheep, hogs, cattle and show dogs have handlers. JRM has watched far too many Amerikanische spion movies.
great comments, i read the entire book, it is full of errors and classic B S war stories. several facts, he was in SF for 8 months @ Bragg before being deployed ( not the almost 4 years he describes in the book) i believe all 5 of the basic MOS’s to be in an A or B Team took at least 11 months. he never attended Ranger School or Jungle School as he claims in the book and on his various web posts. he was assigned to SOG @ Marble Mountain, and got 0ne legit Purple Heart the first night there in Aug 68 when they suffered an attack and lost 6-8 guys KIA, not the 100 S F and 200 Nungs that he claims, he also describes killing 3 sappers in individual combat, not bad for an unarmed FNG. he was only in Country 5.5 months, going home in early Feb and being separated when he landed @ Ft Lewis, again 6 months early from a normal 3 year enlistment. his mission descriptions are all clearly fictitious , my favorite was the 16 days wandering around the suburbs of Hanoi ( not sure what they ate, or how they carried enough PRC 25 batteries??) . Truly sad, because he does write well ( if a bit wordy) and had an Honorable enough experience without all the embellishment.
“my favorite was the 16 days wandering around the suburbs of Hanoi”
ROTFLMMFAO.. If I didn’t know ya Frank, I’d thank you was shittin’ us.. Still Classified to this day, I bet’cha.. … ..
I take that comment back.. Yes, it would be funny as hell, if it weren’t so pathetic..
I’ve seen some outrageous claims in my journey into Poser World.. And ya’ll have too.. But Rixey wasn’t part of the Sontay Raid, so what was he doing in Burbs of Hanoi..? Maybe his “handlers” never told him, or he is sworn to silence under the penalty of death..
Three Craps.. This is just so bad, and sad.. So sad to be that stupid too.. … ..
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First off I do know John. I will tell you he is a good intelligent man who comes from a family who has always served in the military. He felt it was his duty to enlist, he’s not a poor kid from the streets who had little choice but to enlist or run to Canada. He is a standup guy who will go out of his way to lend you a hand. He’s far more humble and soft spoken than you might assume for a man who wrote a book. I have no idea if John puffed up his record. Obviously he has a military record and he has been awarded medals… Braggadocio is instinctive to the males and sometimes females of many species; the bass we hooked in the murky waters is always bigger, the girl we convinced to come home with us on a vacation to tropical destination is always curvier, and the fights we win and lose always tends to be against more dramatic foes. Life is always more exciting in hindsight. As humans we are always looking to makes sense of this life and we all want to leave some sort of legacy that say we weren’t simply a footnote. I never found John to be a braggart. I remember the first time I was aware that he had been in the military and was awarded the purple heart, and he was very dismissive about it and in effect said – the brass gave these things out like water during Vietnam, and the real hero’s are the ones that never returned, and I was simply lucky enough to have made it out. Granted John likely used words with a few more syllables than I. I remember back in the early 2000’s when John would read excepts from his book to the small writers group we were part of that met in Studio City across from the restaurant where Robert Blake took his wife for her last meal. I was always impressed by Rixey’s writing (Btw- most people refer to him by his middle name), but I… Read more »