Rash 31: Fly to the Sound of Battle

INTRODUCTION

In Rash 31: Fly to the Sound of Battle, Colonel Don L. Brooks takes readers into the cockpit and the chaos of combat, capturing the grit, precision, and camaraderie that defined his service. With a storyteller’s eye and a warrior’s heart, he recounts the mission with clarity and respect for those who flew beside him — a vivid reminder of the courage it takes to answer the call when the stakes are highest. This is an extract from Colonel Don L. Brooks' first book, “Fly to the Sound of Battle.”

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❝ Steel Six, this is Rash 31.

Pop some smoke — I’ll be over you in thirty seconds. ❞

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Colonel Don L. Brooks, USAF (Ret.), is a decorated fighter pilot and combat veteran whose career spanned over two decades of service. He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy Class of 1959. In this particular story he was an ALO/FAC flying the OV-10 Bronco. He flew multiple aircraft in high-intensity operations, commanded at the squadron and group levels, and later contributed his expertise to training and leadership development. His writing preserves the history and lessons of air combat for future generations.

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A MISSION REMEMBERED

Our incursion into Cambodia during May and June of 1970 yielded significant dividends. If for no other reason, the number of enemy arms we captured in the various caches we uncovered made the trip well worthwhile. It is truly a shame that political pressures forced our troops to withdraw before the job was done.

Now, I don’t intend to “grind my ax”—and I’m not—but I must state a fact. I know this is a fact because I witnessed it firsthand because I saw it with my own eyes. The requirement for our guys to leave Cambodia by a set date caused a lot of American soldiers to die. The enemy was aware we were going to pull out within days, so they fought to preserve anything we hadn’t yet discovered. During the final week or so of our operations, the bad guys fought with an intensity unlike anything we'd seen during the previous weeks of our time in Cambodia.

THE FOG OF WAR: A CLOUDED MORNING

I was the first one up on this one particular morning, just a couple of days before the grunts were set to leave Cambodia. The entire southern part of our Cambodian AO was socked in with low clouds. I was in the clear up above, but I couldn’t see shit below me. I flew around for about an hour, doing radio checks with the various ground units, relaying messages as necessary, and hoping the clouds below would burn off. No such luck—it was solid undercast.

I was about ready to head back to my base at Quan Loi, as the weather made it seem impossible to accomplish much. Then, one of the ground units reported that it appeared the ceiling was raising a bit, he said the clouds were now definitely above the treetops. I decided to drop down through the clouds to see just how much airspace we had, with the thought that if it really looked bad, I might cancel the next FAC that was scheduled to fly. I wasn’t too worried about hitting anything, as the terrain was quite flat in this area, and I knew how high the treetops were. I slowly let down through the undercast, breaking out about 150 feet above the trees. Just as I leveled off below the clouds, I heard a panicky call on the radio:

❝ Rash, this is Steel Six, if you can hear me, we need immediate help.

We are under heavy attack from three sides! ❞

STEEL SIX UNDER FIRE

I had worked a bit with Steel Six just the day before, so I knew approximately where he was. From the limited landmarks visible below the clouds, I could tell I was only a short distance away.

❝ Steel Six, this is Rash 31.

Pop some smoke — I’ll be over you in thirty seconds. ❞

He couldn’t believe I got there so fast—neither could I. It just so happened that I was in the right place at the right time. It was time, once again, to “Fly to the sound of battle.”

I flew right over the battle scene, seeing a lot of smoke from gunfire and explosions. The VC were firing automatic weapons and B-40 rockets into the friendly position. Steel Six cheered me on as I circled back for another pass over their position. I guess just the sight and sound of my plane renewed their spirits.

I identified Steel’s yellow smoke, and he told me the enemy was positioned to the north, east, and west of him, within twenty-five meters. I began to fire my rockets into the enemy positions.

Due to the very low ceiling and limited airspace I had to work in, I couldn’t achieve much of a dive angle to get the rockets down through the trees. About all I could do was lower the nose slightly and put my rockets into the trees above the enemy’s heads. I’m fairly sure they didn’t do much damage, but the immediate boost to the morale of the friendly troops was undeniable—there was finally some fire going into Charlie’s backyard! The troops on the ground reported a marked decrease in the intensity of the enemy attack as a result of my efforts.

I continued to make passes, alternating between rockets and strafe. I would have loved to put some TAC AIR on Charlie’s head, but there was no way I could coordinate fighter strikes under those cloud conditions. Truth be told, I probably shouldn’t have been there myself—there was only 150 feet between the cloud base and the treetops! On each pass I was receiving enemy ground fire, but due to the thick jungle and my low altitude, it was hard for them to get an accurate shot off at me.

Steel Six advised me that to steer clear of the northwest portion of his position, as artillery fire from a firebase would be incoming from that direction. I thanked him for the information and adjusted my run-ins accordingly to avoid flying through the artillery fire.

Several minutes later, I received a call on the radio from a Cobra gunship: “Rash, this is Snake 23, a flight of two Cobras. Where are you? We're here, ready to go to work, but don’t know where the action is. We can’t see shit down through these clouds. Can you help us?”

I responded, “Snake 23, this is Rash 31. I’ll be right up to get you.”

I broke off my attack and popped up through the clouds. The Cobras and I spotted each other right away, and they joined up on me. I led them down through the soup, briefing them on the situation as we penetrated the cloud deck.

❝ Snake flight, the friendlies are popping yellow smoke. The bad guys are to the east, north, and west, within twenty-five meters. There is arty [artillery] incoming from the northwest, so I suggest you make your runs from the southeast to northwest on alternate sides of the friendly position, with your breaks away from the arty. I’ll be making my runs right along with you. ❞

They went to work right away. It was good to have some additional firepower to bring in on the bad guys. I continued to make attack passes along with the two Cobras, but some of mine were dry or strafe-only, as I was almost out of rockets by then.

About then, a rather strange thing happened. As I said, I couldn’t get much of a dive angle, but even with the little descent I managed, I was pulling out right above the treetops. I raised the nose, jinking right and left a bit, scanning through the trees. There, down below me, as plain as day, was an enemy soldier—looking right back at me! He was wearing the standard black PJs, with a cone-shaped straw hat, and was holding an AK-47. It was over in a flash, but it's one of those memories I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.

Shortly thereafter, I received another radio call—this time from the local battalion commander. He was in his Huey, trying to reach the battle scene, but like the Cobras, couldn’t find it through the clouds. I climbed up through the overcast and located him, then led his pilot back down to where the action was. After that, I rejoined the two Cobras in making attack runs over the enemy troops.

Then, my radio came alive once again.

❝ Rash FAC, this is Dust Off 44. I’m trying to get in to pick up some wounded troopers down there, but I can’t locate where the contact is. Can you lend a hand?”

“Roger that, Dust Off, this is Rash 31. Stand by just one—I’ll be right up to show you where to go. ❞

Once again, I went up through the cloud deck and got the Dust Off on my wing so he could follow me down to where he needed to go.

❝ Dust Off, look for the yellow smoke. Approach from the southeast, as artillery is firing to the northwest, and a couple of Cobras are working on the northeast and southwest of the friendly position. ❞

I then went back to making more passes over the bad guys.

By now, I was out of rockets and almost out of strafe, plus my fuel was running low. I called back to the Rash radio operator and had him scramble the next FAC so I could show him where the action was before I had to go home. The weather was finally starting to break a bit, and it looked like he would be able to work some TAC AIR before too long—so I had a set of fighters sent up as well.

I don’t remember how many strikes we put in supporting Steel Six during that day, but I know we were busy until well into the late afternoon. Quite a few U.S. troops were killed and wounded, especially during the opening moments of the attack. As I stated earlier, I firmly believe this attack would have never taken place had the enemy not known we would be leaving in just a few days. They were desperate to protect the supplies we hadn’t yet found and saw this as an opportunity to do so.

There was talk of submitting me for a Silver Star for my work during this mission. But, of course, it would have undoubtedly led to scrutiny—revealing the risks I had taken, and the rules broken by flying so low beneath the cloud deck. Would I get a nice decoration, or would I be officially reprimanded, fired from my job, probably grounded for the rest of my tour—or worse? We had seen it happen to others, and given my strained relationship with the Division ALO, I really didn’t want to take a chance. So, I just ended the episode with the satisfaction that I had probably made a difference in whether some American GIs would survive their tour in SEA.

-- Colonel Don L. Brooks

Bio for Don L. Brooks

Interesting in learning more about the OV-10 Bronco flown during the Vietnam War? Check out this article written by Robert F. Door.