Thanks guys !
Never thought this would be so appealing to so many,thanks for the comments really appreciate it.
Maarten
Ps
Correction to the amount of putty use ,it should be 3x 8 oz (227 g)
I had to do seven lonely days in one of those towers. I still have a bad dream about it every now and then. You actually have a very nice start on hand Sir. Don’t forget to add protection to the flooring.
gary
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here is a hint for the masses. You can fill the fuel drums with just about anything that fits inside, but only use FUEL DRUMS! The ones with an orange triangle or orange band need to be avoided! There was also supposed to be drums with green, blue and yellow bands (I never saw them). The contents were known to be extremely lethal to humans.
An Army engineer came up with a new way to use them in the fall of 68. You place green bag powder tubes inside the open barrel top. The tubes are filled with sand and gravel. Then the area around them is also filled in. I can’t remember how many tubes it takes per barrel, but you literally had to drive the last one in the a hammer and block of wood. The power cannisters seriously increase the lateral strength. The green bag tubes are the long slender ones for the 155 howitzer. By mid December we were sending them all over I-Corp as the engineer’s idea seemed to work well. White bag tubes won’t work as they are too short. Concrete in bags was always hard to get unless you knew where to trade whiskey for it. Even then it often was hard to get.
The powder tubes should have the end caps reinstalled as this also made the system stronger. You cut the tops off the fuel drums with two wraps of det cord. Looks like the after burner from an F4 at midnight! I can safely tell you that these drums will take a solid hit from just about anything they threw at us (75mm recoilless rifle for sure).
If you happen to be around a 105 howitzer unit, you always grabbed the wooden crates their ammo came in. Same for the 4.2" mortars. Filled the insides with red clay soil, and stacked them. Then add your sand bag walls to the outside. Seen them all over the place. Usually the insides of a bunker (if it was of any size) had a post and beam network. Usually 8" x 8", but have seen a few that were built out of 12"x 12" timber. Kinda like living in a cave!
gary
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Interesting architecture style on the bunker, sandbag modern? LOL, great work, Maarten. The mortar emplacement is equally impressive, I want to see more!
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Personally, the Nam is my favorite era.
Our research for the FSB RIPCORD diorama showed that the US Army had a robust operation to construct bunkers using pre-fabricated heavy timber frames. These frames were often built off-site to standard sizes (our research suggested interior dimensions were based on multiples of 4’x8’ to fit common sized sheets of plywood). These pre-fab frames were then sling-loaded into firebases and dropped into trenches bull dozed by combat engineers. They were then sand-bagged or walled up with earth filled ammo crates and / or planked over with rough-milled 2" thick boards.
Another very common bunker construction method (so common as to almost “standard”) were similar dozed trenches (or dug by hand or backhoe) with bunkers made from earth filled ammo crates supported with U-shaped pickets. Often, the alternating corners were made with doubled-up steel .50 cal ammo cans. These bunkers often had roofs beamed over with tree trunks cut from trees felled at the firebase or planked over with rough milled lumber choppered in.
A third very common “small” bunker type was a small trench or position, revetted with earth filled ammo crates (or crate lids and boards held to the walls with U-shaped pickets). These were very often roofed over using segmented corrugated culvert pipes. These culvert pipes were manufactured in halves that were bolted together in the field when used as actual culverts, but the half pipes could also be used as semi circular roofing material or, when set vertically on their ends, as fighting position revetments.
Here are some of the reference photos we found showing various construction methods and materials. These are just some of the clearest photos, but we found many others that showed these same methods and materials employed at other sites, enough, that I think these are pretty representative of the most common methods. Note that these photos were taken all over the theater and at various times.
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We built basically the same thing as pic #1 at 29 Palms but deeper in the ground as our watering hole. I am sure the powers that be would not be happy with it. When done with the exercise we filled it back up with all sand bags we made during that exercise with intent of reusing them the next time we went out. I don’t think we found it again.
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Some real nice pics ,thanks for posting 
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Incredible job! I sure would hate to be the pvt’s building that damn thing!
nice photos! Love to have that small dozer in kit form. There were three or four in I-Corp, and we used the one based in Chu Lai a lot of the time. Barely big enough to clear firing lanes, but still got the job done. The timber frames for every new bunker I was around were cut on site. They had the electric chain saws that worked fine on eight inch beams, but when you got to ten inches and bigger they had a rough time. Been inside a lot of bunkers over my time, and it was amazing how they varied, I was in one that was actually in Playboy Magazine once. It was the usual timber frame construction with the bottom half underground. They must have known somebody in the right place in 1967, as the walls were covered in plywood! Only one I ever saw. Then those guys had the plywood walls covered with the Playboy center folds from one end to the other! Spent a month inside that bunker, and it was agonizing.
first bunker I operated out of was kinda narrow, but probably 24 foot long. Maybe close to 30 feet if all told. Half to two thirds of it was underground, and must have had a foot and a half layer of bags on the roof. It actually had a concrete floor! Next one was probably sixteen feet square, and mostly above ground. Was only in it for a month, but it was like the Hilton. That would have been on Dottie, and after that things went down hill fast. Dottie was a serious cess pool. The further south I went the worse things got. Once we got done with that series of strikes we headed back home to do a complete refit, and it was good to have a nice dry, and snake free bunker. The we headed out west, and remember sleeping under metal culverts and in ditches rolled up in a wool Army blanket. get up in the morning, and shake yourself awake. You went one way ad the rats went the other way. Never take your boots off after dark because of the centtipeds and emerald vipers. Gets cold up on them mountain tops when the rains came. From there we kinda figured out that we were never going home again (Gator), and had been up and down the Lao border too many times by now. Besides we once again were running short on warm bodies, and we also felt it was some other fool’s turn. (196th Infantry) The Division had been in talks with the SF C-Team in DaNang about placing a regular unit with one of their A-Teams out our way, and we came recommended by the folks that ran heavy team OP’s out of MACV (we’d done a few with their guys). So we headed due east to A102 just below the Hiep Duc Ridge line. What a pretty place to be! Or die in! Place was fairly large, and had it’s own Alamo. We took over the western half that gave us a 300YD. x 400yd. area. They told us where to never walk, and it didn’t seem bad at all. Of course there was no PX’s, no USO shows, but at least it was a home. We brought in the dozer, and several CH46 loads of timber. No concrete was anywhere to be found, so you make do. Built the powder bunkers first, and the ammo bunker next. Slept in them for a couple weeks. A team of Sea Bees and some engineers helps us out. I knew from the get go that our emplacement wasn’t gonna hold up. Soil was too soft. We were shooting every night all along the way, and probably caught three hours sleep a night on light days. Once were seriously up and running; things seriously picked up. SF was running two and three teams 24/7 as they now have ammunition to play with. Then we have a big week, and the NVA have developed a serious heart throb for us I guess. Bunkers took hits and some were un-phased, and a couple were in need of a complete rebuild. Ours was one, as it took at least one 122 rocket cracking the beams. Sometime I’ll tell you how we fixed it, as it’s pretty funny.
We got pretty good at stealing truck tarps in DaNang. And the Sea Bees would get us all the steel roofing material on the planet for a couple bottles of Canadian Club! We then split up in three gun units that were subleased to other units. Some Colonel in the 101st thought we could walk on water. Went thru half of I-Corp with that guy, but I must also tell you nobody treated us anybetter. I did a couple OP’s with Marines, and they made a serious effort to keep you alive and well fed. Can’t say that for the 196th or even the 198th. When you went out with the 101st, you wrote a new will, and told everybody this and that was theirs if you bought the farm. Everytime you packed up, you knew you had to build bunkers and ammo shelters. It gets seriously hot on those mountain tops (think 140 degree powder temps in the shade). Projo’s don’t seem to care if they’re wet or dry, or cold or hot, but powder does. I’ve set up with the 101st, and the put a half a platoon to help us get up and running. 196th wouldn’t lift a finger!
When you sleep under metal culverts, and you been there awhile. You learn to sleep in the fetal position, and dig out the place under it. Will save your skin in the end. Old folks knew this and newbies didn’t. I was an old man at 21 years of age.
gary
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Some very interesting and informative stories here. Great tidbits that only those who have been there can share. As we are very near Veterans Day a big thank you for your service and sacrifice. You are much appreciated by many. 
every unit is assigned a Postal Clerk. Least they are supposed to have one. Ours did for the first four months I was in country. Supply Sargent in the rear took care of our mail after that, and he did a fine job. I the Battallion area in the rear they had regular post office. It was run by a fat dead beat medic, who was caught throwing away mail by the acting Sargent Major. Hate to think about the whooping he got!
To a 19 year old kid 12K miles from home; mail is his only link to home. Don’t let the First Sargent get a Red Cross letter from your Mother wanting to know where the mail is. That’s also not a real good thing!
Never saw Conex Containers that small. Most were about sixteen feet long, and you saw them being used out on LZ’s everywhere. Mostly buried deep in the ground.
gary
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“Post Office” on FSB RIPCORD… Note the wooden ammo crate nailed to the stump with the words “US MAIL” painted on the front!
BTW, the lean-to structure to the rear is the sandbagged awning over the stairs leading down into the main TOC bunker. This was early in the occupation of the base. Later, this (and all the other stairs down into the main bunkers) received a blast wall in front of it made from stacked, earth filled ammo crates.
The sign over the entrance is written in English and Vietnamese dedicating the base to both the US 101st ABN and the ARVN 1st INF divisions (with flashes in the respective national colors along with the two division shoulder sleeve insignia). FSB RIPCORD was originally opened with both US and ARVN artillery batteries. Later, the ARVN battery was moved to another FSB nearby and replaced with second US battery.
Another very interesting detail scene in the background are two, logarithmic progressive dipole antennas (look like old school TV antennas) that were used for directional encrypted voice FM communication (with the PRC-77 radios and the new, classified KY-38 NESTOR (predecessor to the more familiar KY-57 VINSON.
Once you look hard, there’s all sorts of cool stuff to find in some of these photos!
Also visible is the balum and coax cable for the long-wire dipole antenna used by the infantry battalion’s RAT rig (radio telegraph transmitter / receiver), ground mounted in the commo bunker that extends off of the main TOC bunker.
In the foreground is one of the mortar platoon’s M29 81mm mortar aiming posts with its night light on top.
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Sadly there out of stock
There’s a similar mail box visible in the b&w view of Khe Sanh (on the right), but it looks larger…
H.P.
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Great pictures and story’s keep em coming !
I have a buddy who was the F.O. working mainly with the 155 howitzers on Ripcord. The events we read about happened after I was out of the Army. Many fire bases had a radio relay setup if they were in a remote location. We had one, and the next closest one was probably on Baldy. Then there was somekind of a signal device used to orientate aircraft when headed to the border region. Once again how it worked I just don’t know. I know the jets would make three to four low level passes, and then head out in some direction. OV1’s usually made one and sometimes two passes, then headed for Laos. The guys that ran the relay station were from a different unit.
SF used the the radios with the satellite link. Had a key board and would transmit a long message in about five seconds. Once again, where to I have no idea. I thought it was interesting in that they could also down load a message at a certain time of day. They didn’t seem to care if they were classified or not. but almost always kept them hidden. Mostly used them with teams to the south, and out near where Maryanne was later built. Not a good place!
Find the American flag interesting. We built a flag pole out of a piece of bamboo. Maybe 16 feet tall. Hung the flag, and some ARVN Colonel made us remove it! Next day they had their flag in it’s place. Some dubious person wrapped det cord around it at two in the morning. Top love it!
gary
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