[scJazz]

Hey WB,

MV with 61 US/ARVN casualties (KIA/WIA) versus a body count of 330 VC.

TO: MACV HQ
FROM: Lt Colonel Watson
RE: Enemy Action During Tet

Our base near Ben Tre came under heavy attack by main force VC elements along with infiltrators and ARVN traitors. The attack lasted for around 1 hours and only timely intervention by patrol boat units and Navy SeaWolfs prevented my HQ from being overrun. During the attack General Kao (referred to as Warlord Fat Cat in earlier reports) was successfully evacuated along with his family (wife and 3 mistresses). The evacuation resulted in the destruction of two SEAL teams (3 KIA, 5 WIA, none expected to return to theatre). Actually to be honest it was the overly aggressive nature of the teams as they tried to counter-attack the assassination team sent after Kao. The local ARVN commander Sergeant Lon Than and his HQ team were all killed by ARCN infiltrators. Lon Than's CO Lieutenant Gi has not been seen in weeks. While we managed to hold the base and the bridge over Ben Tre the total breakdown in morale and command around here is becoming epidemic. Neither of our APC crews had full loads of ammo aboard a fact that cost the lives of more than a few good men. I would like to recommend the crews of PBR Hard Times and Lady Luck for posthumous awards, details to follow. You may be receiving reports of US MPs forcing ARVN units to advance over the Ben Tre bridge at gunpoint. This is untrue. The MPs were pinned by enemy fire earlier in the fight and the ARVN squads managed to get to the bridge and begin crossing first sadly the ARVN squads managed to get caught in a crossfire with main force VC on the east side of the bridge and ARVN infiltrators (using M-16s) on the SW side). The ARVN squads took severe casualties re-taking the bridge.

Thank God my tour is nearly up! I'll be back in civilization in 3 weeks.

Godspeed an end to this waste of good men,
Lt Colonel Watson