John Bahnsen - Vietnam, Second Tour

Vietnam, Second Tour

During his first tour, the combination of Bahnsen and a helicopter gunship became one of the most lethal weapons systems of the Vietnam War. He had the uncanny ability to be where the enemy least expected him to be, finding and killing them, then looking for more. Bahnsen exploited that instinctive sixth sense with a combat effectiveness that knew no peers. A warfighter with the warrior ethos, Bahnsen was always, always on the attack-attack-attack. His tactics, techniques, practices and procedures literally re-wrote the book on the fly for future army aviators to seize and surge to even higher levels of combat effectiveness. And that warrior ethos grew stronger during his second tour, when his 24/7 willingness to join or start an enemy contact and his combat leadership carved out new thresholds of armored cavalry and air cavalry combat effectiveness, almost beyond emulation or replication by his peers In combat.

Arriving in Vietnam on 14 October 1968, Doc was soon reunited with his mentor, Colonel George Patton IV (son of the famed World War II general), who was then commanding the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (Blackhorse), the largest independent armor unit to serve in Vietnam. As previously agreed, Patton appointed Doc to command the regiment's Air Cavalry Troop. The troop was composed of UH-1 slicks, OH-6 scout helicopters, AH-1 gunships, a platoon of crack-infantry known as ARPS, along with administrative and support elements. Under Doc's leadership, the Air Cav troop quickly became one of the regiment's prized fighting forces. Elements of the troop saw action daily, one of its ARPs (Specialist Four Jim Weller) was involved in 300 enemy contacts during his 13 months in Vietnam. Heroism within the 11th ACR was a daily occurrence, and Doc and his troopers provided more than their fair share of it. Doc not only fought from the air in his UH-1 command and control helicopter, he often joined his troops on the ground to lead them in infantry operations. Witnesses, and they were numerous and not all Bahnsen admirers, attested then, and have so since, that Doc Bahnsen's combat leadership and courage under fire was without peer.

During this tour of duty, Doc began a relationship with Phyllis "Fif" Shaughnessy, a civilian employee of the International Recreation Association under contract with the U.S. State Department. Their relationship wasn't a hush-hush affair. After Doc and Pat divorced on his return from Vietnam, Doc and Fif were married.

Mid-way through this tour of duty, Patton rotated out of Vietnam for a stateside assignment. Before Patton left he wrote an Officer Efficiency Report on Bahnsen. In this report, Patton observed: "The rated officer (Doc Bahnsen) is the best, most highly motivated and professionally competent combat leader I have served with in twenty-three years of service, to include the Korean War and two tours in Vietnam. It is emphasized that the fine reputation this Regiment now enjoys is due primarily to the actions, reactions, and methods of operation of Major Bahnsen . . . He is one of those rare professionals who truly enjoys fighting, taking risks and sparring with a wily and slippery foe. He is utterly fearless and because of this, demands the same from his unit. . . . I cannot praise Major Bahnsen too highly for his fantastic performance in battle."

Patton was succeeded as "Colonel of the Regiment", as the commanding officer of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment is often called, by Colonel Jimmie Leach, a battle-hardened veteran of World War II and Korea. Bahnsen and Leach got along famously, and within a very few days of assuming command of the regiment, Leach gave Bahnsen command of 1st Squadron. Bahnsen was the only major to command a squadron In the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment during the Vietnam War. First Squadron consisted of a headquarters troop that included an aviation section, three armored cavalry troops, a tank company, a howitzer battery, and an attached platoon of combat engineers.

Under Bahnsen's command, 1st Squadron was engaged in enemy contacts over a broad area of the Third Corps Tactical Zone, the military region between Saigon and the Central Highlands, particularly in the Iron Triangle, the K4 Woods, the Fish Hook, and the Michelin Rubber Plantation. Elements of the squadron were often opconned to elements of the 1st Infantry Division, the 1st Cavalry Division, the 25th Infantry Division, and the 18th ARVN Division.

Although his troops operated across a wide area, Doc was never far away, leading his squadron from the air in his UH-1 command and control helicopter, or riding in his command and control armored cavalry assault vehicle (ACAV), and not infrequently with boots on the ground. Indeed, Doc was always eager to engage the enemy. His squadron rarely stood down, elements of it in constant contact with Viet Cong and NVA regulars.

Bahnsen's reputation as a warrior made him something of a legend In his own time. It was not uncommon for Doc to arrive on the scene and be given tactical command of a battle in progress despite being outranked by the commander of the principal maneuver element. This due to his uncanny talent for orchestrating a combined arms assault (fighter bombers, attack helicopters, armored cavalry, artillery, and infantry). His remarkable leadership of the Blackhorse's First Squadron is perhaps best related in remarks made on a special officer effiency report. In that report, Colonel Leach observed: "Major Bahnsen is the most outstanding combat commander I know. He is intelligent, aggressive, persuasive and extremely efficient. A dynamic young officer who excels in everything He does. The bravest soldier I've ever seen." Major General Elvy B. Roberts, the 1st Air Cavalry Division commander, added his own observations to that report: "Unquestionably the finest combat leader-commander in the regiment. An alert, tenacious fighter with an abundance of ideas and common sense. At the forefront of all enemy contacts, night or day".

Bahnsen rotated out of his second tour in Vietnam on 8 September 1969, the day after his squadron had a major enemy contact in the Michelin Plantation, an action for which Bahnsen received his fifth Silver Star.