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OUR UNIT: Mobile Support Team Two, Detachment
Alpha
Boat:
Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM-6) (MIKE)
Call
Sign: KANUTE ONE ONE for the Mike Boat and Sierra One for
SEAL
Assault Boat (14' Boston Whaler or IBS Inflatable Boat Swimmer
Base:
March 1967 at Cantho
April-August
at My Tho
Two
units comprise MST-2
1.
SEAL Team Two
2.
Boat Support Unit One (BSU-1)
Detachment
Bravo
Boat:
Landing Craft Personnel Light (LCPL)
Base:
March-August 1967 at Cantho
Units
Involved
1.
SEAL Team One
2.
Boat Support Unit One (BSU-1)
BSU-1 PERSONNEL ASSIGNED TO DETACHMENT ALPHA
LT. Sam W. Braly CO
BM1 John H. Harrison (Boat Captain)
EN2 Richard L. Settle (Chief Engineman)
GMG2 Wallace E. Knuteson
EN3 John W. Warden (Assistant Boat Captain on Assault Boats)
BM3 James T. Born (Assistant Boat Captain on
Mike Boat and Captain on Assault Boats)
EMFN Joseph W. Raffell
SN George C. Bosserdet
BSU-1 PERSONNEL ASSIGNED TO DETACHMENT BRAVO
LT Stephen W. Baumgart XO
ENC James W. Rose (Chief Engineman)
BM2 James R. Owen ( Boat Captain)
EN2 William E. Mount
EN2 "K" "T" Raines
ETN3 Therle W. Lawrence
BM3 David F. Goff
SA Dennis W. Thompson
NOTE'S: 1. BSU-1 is now called Special
Boat Unit Twelve, in Coronado, CA.
2
MST-2 was originally called "Project
Zulu" The members were hand selected and trained with
SEAL Team One for six months before going into combat
together. This marked the first time in Naval history that the
SEALS trained in this manner and allowed someone other than
there own to go into combat with them. Every man was swimmer
qualified, sent to Marine Engineman's School, Survival,
Evasion, Resistance and Escape Training, Weapons School (30
and 50 cal. Machine guns, 106mm Recoilless Rifle, AR-15, 9mm
pistol, hand grenades etc), Self Defense, Ambushes, Booby
Traps, Explosive Ordinance training, Patrol Tactics,
Communications, and a host of additional SEAL type training. I
was sent to Assault Boat Coxswain School and was required to
be an underway qualified coxswain on the PTF (Patrol Torpedo
Fast), LCSR (Landing Craft Swimmer Recovery), PBR (Patrol Boat
River), SWIFT boat and Boston Whaler. MST-2 was one of the
most decorated units in the Delta and yet it is little known,
because of the secrecy that lasted until recent
declassification of the unit.
Second Email for
JT Born
MIKE BOAT
Was received brand new from the Navy in 1966. It still had the
breaking in engine oil in her. She was placed on wooden rail
road blocks in a protected area near Pier 13 at the (BSU-1
Compound) Naval Amphibious Base in Coronado, CA. Modifications
of the craft came in the form of first time ever special armor
plating made from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. They
were 4'x4' 15/16 ceramic plate glued to 1/4" armor plate
and each weighed 456 pounds. They were placed two feet back
from the bulkheads in the well deck. Two were made into a
swing out door on the bow and the con had a double layer of
them, spaced apart , to absorb rocket hits. Slits were cut
into the plates that allowed the coxswain to peer through when
under fire and trying to operate the craft. At first we
sported a canvas top over the well deck and after it got shot
down we built a wooden platform. The weapons consisted of 6-
50cal machine guns, 2- 7.62 machine guns, 5 Honeywell 40mm
grenade launchers, 81mm mortar, 106mm Recoilless Rifle, 8- AR15
rifles, 8- 9mm pistols, grenades of every assortment
(percussion, fragmentation, gas etc.) and what ever the SEAL's
came on board with. Our unit enjoyed "Priority One"
status and were able to divert any resource (air support,
Destroyers stationed off of Yankee station - 5" guns,
etc.) as necessary. What this amounted to for Charlie was a
very bad mistake when he engaged our boat. With few exceptions
we operated alone and were out for days at a time. During the
time of our presence we completed 39 combat missions. At times
the Mike would insert the SEAL'S but for the most part I
inserted and extracted them by a tag along 14' Boston Whaler
or our rubber boat. Using the rubber boat in crock infested
areas in the back waterways was not my preferred method of
travel. On one occasion a crock attacked a SEAL in the water
and he had to shoot it. Our boats top speed was 12 knots. When
going against the tide we had to tac like a sailboat or we
would go backwards. Our typical insertions were made in the
early am hours, during rain and on darkened (moonless) nights.
The Mike boat would launch the whaler about two or three miles
up or down stream from the insertion point and guide me in by
the Mike's radar. Picking up the SEALS was accomplished by pre
designated red lens flashes. It was not uncommon to
pick them up after they just made the natives unhappy, red
tracers coming out of the jungle meant that they were in front
of them and a drive through them and into the direction they
were coming from was in order.
Awards:
U.S. Navy Presidential Unit
Citation with two bronze stars Army Presidential Unit Citation with two Oak
Leaf Clusters Meritorious Unit Commendation Navy Unit Commendation with
"V" device South Vietnam Gallantry Cross with palm
Photos:
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page for photo album
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