Vietnam vets share Khe Sanh experiences with air station

Story by Story by Lance Cpl. Josue Aguirre

Battle of Khe Sanh veterans Robert Arrotta and Glenn Prentice spoke to station retired Marines at the Sonoran Pueblo Friday, sharing their combat experience and providing a glimpse of the Corps' past.

Arrotta and Prentice focused on the air to ground communication employment of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force on Hill 881, one of several strategically important hills surrounding Khe Sanh in the western Quang Tri Province.

When Arrotta's forward air controller was wounded and evacuated, he took control and directed more than 300 close air support missions, medical evacuations and resupply missions.

He earned the nickname "The Mightiest Corporal in the World," due to the vast amount of firepower he called in against the North Vietnamese Army.

The presentation included a slide show with photos the Marines in Vietnam and sites where fighting took place and the equipment used, along with sketched maps of the landscape and even some of the explosions were caught on film.

"It's great to hear some firsthand accounts," said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Russell Ramos, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron 1 signals intelligence officer. "It's important, because the communications we have today evolved from what we had before, sort of trial and error, and you see the concept in actual use and time."

Retired Marines, such as Capt. Frank Skibmore, also attended the event and saw the progress in radio communications since Vietnam.

He realized how technology has helped communications advance, Skibmore said.

"It's a big difference from back then," he said.

Higher accuracy on weapons and the ability to make instantaneous calls has changed air-to-ground coordination dramatically.

Skibmore said he enjoyed the event, because Marines told their stories.

Telling their story makes people aware of what they did and what happened out there, he said.

The speakers, who travelled from San Diego, were more than willing to participate.

"I'm happy to be here, it's an honor to come out and talk to the aviation

association," said Arrotta.

Although MAWTS-1 organized the event, the speakers were sponsored by the Tom Miller Squadron here which is chartered by the Marine Corps Aviation Association.

The squadron was named after Marine Lt. Gen. Thomas H. Miller Jr., who last served as the deputy chief of staff for aviation at Headquarters Marine Corps and was the first American to fly the Marine Corps' AV-8A Harrier jet.