May 6, 2025 • 60 mins
Born on Veterans Day in San Antonio, Raul Herrera never expected his Navy enlistment for educational benefits would lead him into the heart of Vietnam's maritime battlefield. In this powerful conversation, Herrera takes us aboard PCF-79, one of the Swift Boats that fundamentally altered the course of the Vietnam War yet remains largely overlooked in military history.
Herrera's vivid recollections transport listeners to July 15, 1967, when his six-man crew intercepted and captured an enemy trawler attempting to deliver supplies to Viet Cong forces. This high-profile mission earned them recognition from South Vietnam's highest leadership but also placed a bounty on their heads. Just months later, an ambush would claim the life of Boatswain's Mate Bobby Don Carver, Herrera's tough-love mentor whose death would haunt him for decades.
Most compelling is Herrera's forty-year journey to document this overlooked chapter of military history, a process that ultimately provided healing from undiagnosed PTSD. His book "Capturing Skunk Alpha" stands as both personal catharsis and historical preservation, ensuring the contributions of Swift Boat sailors won't be forgotten as their numbers dwindle.
For anyone interested in untold military stories, the personal costs of war, or the healing power of storytelling, this episode offers profound insights from a veteran who transformed personal trauma into historical legacy.
For book purchases, presentations, or to contact Raul Herrera, visit skunkalpha.com or email raul@skunkalpha.com.
Please like share and follow..
Support@CharlieMikeThePodcast.com
Website
https://www.facebook.com/CharlieMikeThePodcast
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNyGgJYIgU8b02NypoJgHAg
Charlie Mike Military Apparel
Veteran Owned & Operated
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Charlie Mike the podcast Veterans helping
veterans.
Talking about things happeningin the veteran community, Things
we've experienced and overcome,such as addictions, PTSD,
depression, legal trouble, andwe also promote veteran-owned
businesses.
If you're talking about it,we're talking about it.
(00:24):
This is Charlie Mike thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yo, what's going on?
Welcome back to another episodeof Charlie Mike the podcast.
As always, I'm your host, raul.
Today I have a special guest inthe house.
You know, know I want tointroduce you to Raul.
How you doing, raul?
So this is Raul Herrera.
(00:53):
We've been trying to get youknow, linked up so we can do do
something together.
You know, reading your storyand and hearing a lot about you
as a person and what you'redoing out in the community is
moving and you know, let's startoff a little bit Will you do me
a favor and tell the people whoyou are where?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
you're from.
Yes, again, my name is RaulHerrera.
I'm from San Antonio, texas,born and raised, born November
the 11th 1946.
It's Veterans Day, huh, you bet?
Yeah, my mother had said thatthey threw a parade in my honor
of arrivals because it wasVeterans Day and, of course, san
(01:36):
Antonio is a military town.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So there were parades going on and the drums were
playing.
It was great.
My mother was happy that theywere celebrating my arrival.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
That's awesome.
Yeah, so San Antonio.
How was life in San Antonio?
Oh, of course.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I was from the barrio and I lived closer to downtown
than far west San Antonio, butstill part of the barrio.
I went to Catholic school,sacred Heart Elementary, and
from there I went to Holy CrossHigh School.
My mother had wanted me tocontinue a Catholic education,
(02:18):
but my father, he wanted me togo to a school called Fox Tech.
It was a technical school andthey had a high-rated
architectural class program.
But no, my mother went out andso I wound up for another four
years at Catholic Education atHoly Cross High School.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Okay, so with that I got to ask okay, so what did
your father do for a living?
My father was a painter.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
He was a painter.
He painted houses as well, buthe worked for a contractor and
did industrial painting and soon.
I recall interesting, youmentioned this my father taught
me what not to become.
Aside from personal issues thathe had, he taught me that you
need to find an indoor job.
So in order to teach me, I rodemy bicycle.
(03:11):
It's got to be at least eightmiles to where he was working at
this schoolhouse elementaryschool and back in those days
they had no air conditioning andso there was a lot of hardware
involved in painting the door,the trim and so on, so he needed
some help.
Those days they had no airconditioning and so there was a
lot of hardware involved inpainting the door, the trim and
so on.
So he needed some help and sohe put me to work there.
But of course the boss camealong and said who's he?
(03:32):
I said that's my son.
He said, oh, okay, well, keephim working then.
So they hired me.
Actually that was my first job.
Of course I became a gopher.
The painters okay, soft drinksfor lunch, but not, so I had to
get on my bike and go to thegrocery store and bring them
(03:55):
some cold soda pops.
So then eventually I became aspray painter's helper and I'd
come home with my hair justpainted.
I remember my father shovingVaseline up my nose because of
all that spray paint.
They had no masks at that timeright.
(04:16):
So Vaseline was the best way toprevent all that hair from
getting in your nostrils andyour lungs.
And I told my father.
I said I'm not going to be apainter.
I promised no, I don't thinkyou've learned.
So I worked for two more yearsduring the summer months as a
painter and I said that's it.
So that's why I studied hardand I wanted to become an
architect, but that didn't work.
(04:38):
I wound up going into the Navy.
Why the Navy?
Well, first, primarily becausemy parents couldn't afford a
college education.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So you initially enlisted for the education.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah, specifically for the education.
I didn't know about Vietnam.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I had, you know, a high school kid.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, yeah, you didn't pay attention.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
You see the news, but you turn the channel, don't?
You don't want to hear it andso, yes, I.
I finally decided, after asummer program that I worked for
for the city, um, I decided Ineeded to find a way to further
my education in the navy.
They didn't just offer it, theypromised me drafting school.
(05:26):
A little story about that onceI got into boot camp.
And I had boot camp in sandiego, california, after I
signed and I left.
By the way, uh, yes, he saysseptember.
September, the 16th is when Itook over.
That's a mexican independenceday okay yeah, so, um, but.
But I wound up going to bootcamp and during boot camp they
(05:48):
have what they callclassification.
Classification is where youtake a battery of exams to
figure out what you're bestsuited for, and then they throw
you into a big auditorium andthe chief man in charge up there
on the stage had handouts forall of us, and those handouts
listed the schools that were nolonger available, and Draftsmen
(06:10):
Class A school was no longeravailable.
So, seaman, recruit RaulHerrera raised his hand and the
man says what do you want, son?
I said well, chief, I joinedthe Navy because I was promised
drafting school.
And everybody started laughingand I couldn't understand why.
(06:31):
To me it was the most difficultnews I've ever had, because
that's what I joined the Navyfor to further my education.
And coming out of classification, a lot of fellow recruits were
disgruntled about the news oftheir school being closed, et
cetera.
The upperclassmen were waitingfor us outside.
(06:53):
Upperclassmen, I mean, by thattime we were wearing dumb little
old ball caps and we lookedlike death warmed over.
You know, boot recruits rightRight right right.
And so the upperclassmen alreadyhad their little sailor hats on
the white ones and they'd comein and break into a jingle and
they'd say mothball, mothball,don't feel blue.
(07:15):
Our recruiter screwed us too,and, by the way, mothball was
what they called us bootrecruits, because our uniforms
were stored with mothballs tokeep the silverfish from eating
the material Right.
And so we reeked like mothballsand that's why we got that name
.
It was the funniest thing.
(07:36):
But eventually I told the manin charge of our crew of our
group, the man in charge of ourcrew of our group and I told him
that in high school I had beenawarded first place for
architectural contest, and withthat my parents sent me the
drawing plus three letters ofrecommendation, and with that in
(07:57):
hand I went back toreclassification and they
offered me drafting school.
All of a sudden it was openonce again.
You know what they saw?
This?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
guy's capable.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
But they also offered me door number two two years
on-the-job training in San Diego, california.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
And hey, sunny California, the beach is right.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I took door number two.
Food for thought never pass upan education.
So because my two years on onthe job training turned out to
just over a year, a little bitfew months over a year.
And then I got orders to swiftboats so, um, so what year was
(08:43):
this?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
did you enlisted in?
1965, was.
Excuse me for not knowing this.
I should know this, but Vietnamwas Vietnam in the it was going
.
Oh yes, vietnam was a pretty,it was quite a few years correct
.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
It was already getting very heavy because, just
like I said in, 66 is when Igot orders for swift boats and
67 January is when I went for aswift PCF crew training and
nobody knew what a PCF was.
Pcf stood for Patrol Craft Fastand that's what this is right
(09:27):
here.
Right, this is a model of theswift boat that I served on, pcf
79, patrol craft fast.
So, yeah, but no, I, I didn'tknow anything about vietnam or
what it was and the, the chiefsthere in the drafting section,
because I got orders to uh two,two years on the job training in
San Diego, and he eventuallytold me he says, son, you're
(09:48):
going to Vietnam.
And it kind of like hit me, youknow, cold blast of air hit me.
And I said, my God, what'sVietnam?
There's a war going on overthere.
So I started paying moreattention to the news and geez,
it turns out, throughinformation researching the book
there is there had been overhundreds of actual resupply
(10:18):
vessels that had successfullyentered South Vietnam to carry
on their campaign of the VietCong and the North Vietnamese
regulars operating in SouthVietnam and they didn't realize
that the arms were coming infrom the sea.
They thought they were allcoming in from the Cambodia side
(10:39):
, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, untilan event of the Vung Ro incident
took place and that was inFebruary of 65, if I'm not
mistaken, and that was in 65,february of 65, if I'm not
mistaken A helicopter pilot wasflying a non-urgent medical
(11:05):
patient along the coast andsouth in mid-country of South
Vietnam and as the helicopterturned inland to go to the
hospital base, they flew overthis peninsula and in the bay
they noticed what appeared to bea floating island Because
(11:25):
greenery, but it looked like itwas moving.
So they went in for a secondlook and couldn't determine what
was going on.
And when they went down for amuch closer look they noticed
that it was the decks, werepotted plants and palm trees and
shrubbery and machine gun firestarted at them.
Yeah, it was an enemy ship, itwas a steel haul trawler and
(11:48):
that was the first one.
It was called a very famousincident.
That's what turned everything.
That was the catalyst tobringing about Swift Boats and
Operation Market Time.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
So with that order to Swift Boats, did you know it?
So what order did that consistof?
Was that like an MOS, or was itjust that Orders?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, just orders, just orders.
Yeah, and did they train youfor?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
what you were going to be doing on the boat.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yes, when we went to Coronado in January of 67, we
formed a crew and that was thefirst thing they did when they
mustered us in front of theSwiftport headquarters and this
is in Coronado, in Coronado,california, that's where the
SEAL team trains.
(12:36):
Well, they told us that wewould be assigned crews and so
the officers, the boat officers,the junior grade officers,
lieutenant JGs, lieutenantJunior Grades they'd call out
individuals, grades, they'd callout individuals and they'd call
(12:57):
out the boat officer's name andthe boat officer would raise
his hand and the individualwould go towards that skipper.
And came time for me and theysaid Seaman Herrera, and I
raised my hand and said point toan officer over there,
lieutenant JG Edward Bergen.
(13:19):
So I marched over there andthere was a gruff stout chunking
boatswain's mate standing nextto him, and so I saluted Mr
Bergen and then he introduced hesays this is our boats' mate,
(13:39):
this is boats.
And I went to shake hands withCarver and he just looked at me
up and down, just looked at meup and down and he had a
reddish-brown hair and he had ahandlebar mustache and he
twirled his mustache and he justlooked at me and he says
whatbar mustache?
And he twirled his mustache andhe just looked at me and he
says what's going on, bean?
And just like you're standingthere, you know, bean, that's a
(14:07):
slur right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah but that was alittle bit too big for me to try
to do anything about it, rightyeah?
And it turns out that Bean hasbeen my call sign for the
longest time In recent years.
Even some of my fellow SWIFTmates officers and enlisted as
(14:31):
well they seem to shy away fromcalling me Bean, and I don't
like that.
I enjoy when my friends and myfellow SWIFT mates call me Bean
because it was given to me by mymentor and my nemesis, bobby
Don Carver.
(14:52):
And he's the one that's picturedhere on this 8x10.
And that's Bobby Don Carverright there, the one that's
pictured here, right here onthis 8x10.
That's Bobby Don Carver, rightthere.
I'll tell you more about thatlater on.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I got questions Okay so in a boat, in a Swift boat.
So this was Swift boat 79,.
What I see?
You had three .50 Cals.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
We had .250 Calibers in the gun tub up front on top
of the pilot house.
Okay, .250 caliber machine guns.
Back in the fantail after asection of the swift boat was a
single .50 caliber machine gunmounted atop an 81-millimeter
mortar.
Oh, and our ammo-ready box wasback in here where we had all
the mortars.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
We had illumination rounds, high explosives, white
phosphorus rounds as well, 81millimeter mortar, and my job
again, I was a designated.
I was designated a draftsman astriker they call it because I
wanted to be a draftsman, sothey called draftsman striker.
But they picked me up just thesame and threw me on a shipboat,
(15:58):
and so they needed a radioradar man, and so I wound up
becoming the boat's radio radarman.
What is a okay?
So what does that consist of?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
You are basically looking at radars.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Well, yes, there was a radar in the pilot house and a
photometer to measure the depthbelow us.
See, our swift boat was part ofOperation Market Time, which
was coastal surveillancepreventing enemy ships from
infiltrating resupply vesselsfrom infiltrating supplying the
enemy forces in South Vietnamresupply vessels from
(16:34):
infiltrating supplying the enemyforces in South Vietnam.
Well, my job was to stand nextto the person that was driving
the boat.
Typically it was my boatofficer, lieutenant JG Edward
Bergen, but oftentimes therewere other instances where I
didn't have to be there 100% ofthe time.
When we're on a patrol out inthe ocean, going back and forth
(16:56):
in our patrol area, well, it wasvery relaxed and you know there
may be somebody else drivingthe boat, but at all times we
had our different stations thegun mount on top of the paddock
house behind the 250s.
Someone would always be thereat the ready and we'd only
uncover the aftermath when goingto the general quarters or
(17:18):
something Right.
We had an engine man.
We had the boatswain's mate.
He's the one who basicallyhandles the maintenance and sees
to it that the boat is in topshape for patrol.
That's the boatswain's mate andthe engine man.
Then we had the gunner, whohappened to be a torpedo man.
That was his MOS, as you say.
(17:39):
His rate was at a third classtorpedo man, bob Middleton, and,
as I said before, theboatswain's mate was Bobby Dunn
Carver.
Our engine man was RonaldReinhardt and we trained those
individuals, trained together inSan Diego and Coronado, and
when we got to Vietnam we pickedup our fifth enlisted man, the
(18:03):
deckhand, the seaman.
That was Timothy McNamara.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
So in a boat this size in the water?
How many people consist of thecrew?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Five enlisted and one junior grade boat officer.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, Okay, right, and so when you're on the like,
okay, is this a 24-hour station?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Yes, we leave in the morning, I'd go out and gather
stores, as we call it groceriesRight For the 24-hour patrol,
most of the time sandwiches,right it groceries Right For the
24-hour patrol.
Most of the time sandwiches,right, you know, okay.
And soda pop, or we call it bugjuice, which is Kool-Aid, yeah,
you know.
And so we had a refrigerator,we called it a reefer.
Inside the cabin we had arefrigerated storage area.
(18:52):
So we kept the food there, butsometimes we'd wind up getting
steaks or something by chance,or we'd put it alongside a
destroyer.
We'd get some ice cream andsome good meals off of them.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Now, raul, I have to ask.
You are a published authorCapturing Skunk Alpha.
How did it come about?
What was the point?
What made you write this book?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
This man right here, bobby Dunn Carver, was the
reason why this book came topass.
Was the reason why this bookcame to pass when I returned
from Vietnam.
Let me go back just a littlebit.
That first chapter, spirit,took place on December the 6th
(19:55):
1967.
Well, that's when he was killed.
When we captured the ship thetrawler on July the 15th 1967,
carver was the individual righthere on the fantails after Mount
52.
(20:15):
He was standing behind themachine gun and the mortar, and
this mortar was unique.
You know how mortars usually upand down, right, you drop it,
and the higher the angle, thecloser the enemy is, right,
right?
Well, this mortar had theability to go to trigger fire
mode.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
I've never heard that .
Yes, sir, that was the thing.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
So, as we're attacking the trawler and we
were within 75 yards ultimatelywe were within 75 yards of the
enemy ship as it approached themouth of the Saki River on the
Batangan Peninsula and this issouth of Da Nang and south of
Chulai as well Our boat officerand I was standing right next to
(21:01):
him in the pilot house makingsure that we were getting close
to some hazardous areas.
So I had to make sure that Iwarned him to be careful in
those areas and kept my eyes onradar and radio communications
as well.
But he ordered the bosom mateto fire a round of high
explosive and he missed.
He loaded, hand-loaded, a roundof 81-millimeter white
(21:28):
phosphorus, lowered the barrel,took aim and fired that round
and it went directly in thepilot house of that ship on the
left-hand side, which is theport side, and that thing I mean
.
I was in the pilot house and itwas ahead of us.
The trawler was ahead of us andI saw the explosion.
(21:48):
It turned into just a whiteball of flame and we figured no
one could have survived that noone could have survived that.
No one could have survived that,and it forced the vessel to run
aground and we was able tocapture it.
But long story short, the VietCong knew that it was PCF-79 who
(22:08):
had brought that trawler down,and so they had a bounty out for
us, and on December the 6th, wewere ordered to do a
psychological warfare missionwhich was called Chuhoy give up
your arms.
It was broadcast.
We had speakers on theleft-hand side, on top of the
(22:30):
cabin, and they werebroadcasting the propaganda
aimed at the enemy to lay downtheir arms and come to our side
as we approached.
You may or may not have heardof the my Lai Massacre.
It was a very difficult,terrible situation where an army
(22:53):
officer and his men massacredsome civilians.
It was a my Lai massacre, avillage of my Lai.
You said my Lai, yes, m-y-l-a-i, two words, m-y-l-a-i.
Well, there was a river southof that area, and again, this my
(23:14):
Lai village is just south ofwhere we captured the ship, and
just south of that area was ariver, sang Tra Kuk.
It was the river that led toQuang Nai City.
Well, just right north fromthat entrance, that river
entrance, were three littlehamlets, three little groups of
(23:38):
huts.
It was called Kole, kole 3, kole2, kole 1, south to north, and
ultimately we passed once, wepassed twice and on the second
pass between Kole 2 and Kole 1,we got ambushed by three bunker
(23:59):
positions ahead of us, in themiddle of us and behind us.
And Carver took a round throughhis right eye and he still had
a pulse when he was in thehelicopter after he evacuated
but he passed.
And bringing back to when thechapter Spirit I read, that took
(24:27):
place not the night of Decemberthe 7th, it took place the next
night, because the first nightwe got back to base and we were
so torn up that we drankourselves to sleep.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, yeah, it's understandable.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
And the following night, as I lay in bed, is when
Chapter 1 takes place.
Spirit, our boat officer wastransferred to separate duties
because he was going to beleaving country soon, and the
rest of the crew was split upthe gunner, bob Middleton, and I
(25:04):
.
We stayed on the 79 boat andanother crew came on, a new boat
officer, an engine man, and soon.
Months passed, time came close.
It was time to leave.
May of 68.
April of 68.
Late April of 68.
And by that time, yeah, I haddifficulty going on the back of
(25:30):
the fantail, especially at night, because, knowing he had died
on this boat, that I was stillon patrol.
So it was a difficult time.
But I came home and I feltfortunate that I hadn't
experienced any physical, nobullet wounds.
(25:51):
I don't have a purple heart andI gave thanks for that because
you know, I said, wow, I'm back.
But I'd see vets obviouslyVietnam War veterans in San
Antonio, long hair and wearingtheir greens and bush hats and
(26:12):
their jungle boots, and theylooked a little disturbed from
my point of view Right, and Ithank God that I survived all
that mental anguish.
What brought this book about isthat little by little, I
started having difficulty takingshowers.
(26:34):
I couldn't go to the bathroomand close the door.
Fright came over me, chillscame over me.
I felt the bosun's makepresence around me.
I felt it.
I mean it would make my hairstand on end and back in those
days there wasn't anythingcalled PTSD.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
And so you just don't talk about those things with
even your buddies, you justdon't, much less your spouse or
anyone else.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
And eventually I wound up.
Not I wouldn't take showersbecause I didn't want to close
my eyes and shampoo my hair,because I knew that the minute
I'd open my eyes I'd seeCarver's bloody face, just like
I'm seeing you face to faceright now, and that just
destroyed me.
(27:27):
I just kept dealing with it.
That's what you did.
You didn't seek help.
I just kept dealing with them.
That's what you did.
You didn't seek help.
It wasn't until, at then, myfirst wife's mother, my children
five children that I have.
(27:47):
her grandmother took the entirefamily to Greece, to the island
where her house was a littlevillage, and I was sitting on
the beach with my son and I sawout in the GNC beautiful ocean.
I saw a tattered fishingsailboat tattered sails and a
(28:11):
flashback.
I don't know if you've hadflashbacks yourself.
Yes, sir, my flashbacks arediesel fumes because the back of
the Swift boat the smell if Igo behind a diesel, I mean I'm
back there again.
And so again I flashback toCarver and you know, I kept
(28:34):
questioning in my mind Carverboats, why are you doing this to
me?
You know, why are youtormenting me?
And as I'm sitting therewatching the sailboat, that
fishing boat, well, it justdawned on me like an epiphany.
He wants me to tell the story.
He wants me to tell the story.
(28:54):
He wants me to tell his story.
He wants me to tell our crew'sswift boat story on PCF 79 and
the overall swift boat storywhich, to date.
I feel very disappointed that,unfortunately, vietnam War
history tends to exclude theNavy's participation and
(29:18):
accomplishments during theVietnam War and in particular
the swift boats, because we shutdown that North Vietnam mission
of resupplying their troopsthrough the sea and that's why
the story came about.
I came home, my mother gave meletters that she had saved.
(29:40):
I numbered the letterschronologically by date order
one two, three, five.
The last letter that I wrote tomy parents turned out to be 79.
That's my boat number.
Oh wow, pcf 79.
Yeah, I gathered information.
I wrote to the governmentasking under the Information Act
(30:06):
.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, the Freedom Act right.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah, freedom of Information Right and I started
receiving documents,confidential, declassified
confidential documents.
I did a chronology of theevents taking place in the
United States the race riots atthat time, turmoil, anti-war
(30:28):
protesting, everything.
I did an outline but when Istarted actually writing the
first chapter, what I thoughtwould be the first chapter when
I started writing the story, allthose episodes in the shower
stopped and I haven't had themsince.
It was your therapy.
(30:50):
It was a catharsis, a majorcatharsis.
The day doesn't go by, I mean,look at us, here we are.
I'm talking about Bobby DonCarver, my mentor, my nemesis.
I've got a story to tell youabout.
You know how I wished deathupon him once before for the
things that he did to me.
I mean, he was constantlypicking on me, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
With love though.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Well, no, not at that time he was was constantly
picking on me, you know, withwith love, though, well, no, not
at that time he was.
If I'm any part of the french,yeah, he was a hard-ass boss,
was made a salty sailor, I meanjust uh.
But, like I said, he was mymentor, he was my nemesis, uh,
and I I owe it to him and I'm,as a tribute to him, I've
(31:33):
dedicated the book and his honorand his name, and to the honor
and memory of the 50 swift boatsailors who lost their lives
while serving on swift boats.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
So that's, that's what the story is about you know
, if I'm being 100 honest withyou, um, raul, I didn't.
I didn't know how big of animpact the Swift boat was during
Vietnam.
It's something that was neverbrought to the attention as far
as media.
When you think of Vietnam, youmainly think of an army.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
The ground forces, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
So that's what I thought about until we met.
And then I started to do moreresearch and I was like golly.
And then I started to do moreresearch and I was like golly,
you know, you filled it in forme.
Now, it's just so with writingthe book.
How long did it take you towrite this?
I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Oh, you took me by surprise with that question.
Well, I tell you, it took me toget it published.
I started this journey morethan 40 years ago, forty, forty
years ago.
My children, my son Anthony hewas gosh, I guess maybe two, two
(32:55):
and a half years old, and I hadan older daughter, odessa, and
then Angela.
There was three of us that wenton the trip.
Later I had Michael and Eileentwins, but it took me that long.
Like I said, when I came backfrom Greece, my mother gave me
those letters that I had written.
Right and I started doing allthe research back then.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
But a lot of personal matters in my life that forced
me to put the book on the shelf,and I've always thought and
I've always believed that whenthe man says it's time, it's
time the granddaughter that Ihave, camila she says, grampy,
(33:45):
it's God's plan and it is, it is.
You just have to listen to whenhe you know the spirit, like
they say.
The spirit moved me Right andit finally came to pass and
things fell in place.
And thankfully Texas TechUniversity Press are the
(34:05):
publishers of my book and ofcourse you know they have the
Vietnam Center there at Lubbock.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Right, right right.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
And that's the second largest depository of
memorabilia from Vietnam War.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Is the other one in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I don't know, I haven't heard about the one in
New Orleans, but Texas Tech isthe largest next to Washington.
The archives, okay yeah, and bythe way there's two for anyone
who is interested there were 104Mark I swift boats manufactured
(34:48):
out of Louisiana.
Seaward Seacraft were themanufacturers, and these boats
were already on the water andthey had.
There was no cabin, it was justa pilot house and a flat after
section, and they would usethese boats to take crews and
equipment to the oil rigs out ofLouisiana.
(35:09):
Oh, wow.
So then the government ordered104, what became 104 Mark I
swift boats?
Pcf number one is a staticdisplay at the Navy Yard in
Washington DC, pcf 104, the lastone found in Washington and it
(35:35):
wound up being in Coronado.
It's part of a three-boatstatic display.
There were three operationsnaval operations.
Task Force 115 was the swiftboats.
Task Force 116 were the gamewardens.
Those were the PBRs, the onesthat were in the rivers.
They had jacuzzi engines, nopropellers, it was jacuzzi
(35:59):
driven propulsion.
And then Task Force 117 werethe riverine force and they had
monitors and they'd go and taketroops along the canals and the
rivers Vietnamese troops, armytroops, whatever.
So it was those threeoperations that took place in
(36:21):
Vietnam.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Well, in front of us we have a couple of things.
I want to be sure to talk aboutthem.
Well, first we have the picture, and the picture is of Bobby,
that's Bobby Don Carver.
Bobby Don Carver.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Both were made first class.
Bobby Don Carver, which, by theway, I don't know, the picture
shows him holding an AK riflethat was taken off of the
trawler.
That was taken off the trawler.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
The one that was captured.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yes, we captured the trawler on July, the 15th, 1967.
Days later, on the 19th of julyof 67, we were ordered to get
in our dress uniforms and headto north, to danang, the largest
harbor in north vietnam for anaward ceremony.
(37:17):
We wound up getting personallydecorated and congratulated by
premier nuguyen Cao Ky and Chiefof State, the President of
South Vietnam, nguyen Van Thu,and you'll see him.
He's got a floral lei.
Yeah, this is after theceremony took place and that's
(37:38):
why he's pictured there carryingthat rifle taken off a trawler.
Do you remember that day?
Oh, yes, yes, as a matter offact, for those interested, I've
got a YouTube channel calledSkunk Alpha and I've got
numerous historical documents inthere.
Cbs News crew was there and I'veresearched and I've found and I
(38:01):
received from CBS.
They were there at that day,yes, and ABC was there.
As I've researched and I'vefound and I received from CBS.
They were there at that day,yes, abc was there as well.
In this video that's on myYouTube channel, you'll see that
the two gentlemen, key and Two,were being interviewed by CBS
and then the ABC newsman putshis microphone up to listening
(38:27):
and it says ABC, but thereporter was from CBS and it was
awesome.
It was really something real.
The Stars and Stripes PacificStars and Stripes.
The stars and stripes pacificstars and stripes ran a a full
(38:50):
page section of of that eventthat took place, but that's
that's where that was, thatplace.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
There we got, uh, the american flag up up in the
front.
What, what?
What's the significance of thatamerican flag right there?
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Well, this is the flag that our boat PCF-79, was
flying the night that wecaptured Skunk Alpha.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
The actual flag.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Yes, this is the flag right here, the one that was
flying those colors, and you'llnotice the tattered.
Yeah, the flag is rathertattered but that's because of
all the salt and battering thatwe had during the patrol periods
that we were out at sea.
But I was very proud to havethat.
(39:30):
Another sideline of a number ofthings that I brought back from
Vietnam I don't know how, butthe actual combat and it's in my
book, a picture of it, theactual combat chart for our
patrol area when we captured thetrawler.
That includes the BatanganPeninsula where we captured the
(39:52):
vessel and also the locationwhere Carver was killed.
That combat chart wound up inmy sea bag.
I brought it with me.
Another thing is I brought backwe were given permission when
the ship was brought from wherewe captured it, north to Chulai,
our base, because I wasstationed in Chulai, coastal
(40:15):
Division 16.
We were given permission toboard the trawler and one of the
artifacts I took off of it wasthis right here you can spot
that quite well this isbinoculars Zeiss binoculars that
were taken off of the trawler.
You'll see a huge hole right inhere in this one.
It may have been possibly atleast a .50 caliber round.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Hey, those are some heavy duties too.
Wow, got him around.
Those are some heavy duties too.
Wow.
If somebody was reading thebook, what would you say?
Do you have a favorite chapter?
Is there something that youalways say start off at this
chapter if it wasn't the first.
No, not really.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
I mean, I hadn't the foggiest idea.
I wasn't born an author.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Oh, right right right .
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Yeah, you know, I was forced into it and I learned
along the way.
I was fortunate to be able todevelop the talent of writing
with an Hispanic magazine out ofHouston.
It was called Nuestras Vidas.
I wrote numerous articles forthem and then I also have
(41:27):
written articles about the swiftboat, about the trawler
incident, sea Classics magazineand a number of magazines that
I've written for as well NewYork Times, as a matter of fact,
I had an article publishedthere with New York Times.
As a matter of fact, I had anarticle published there with the
New York Times about thisincident.
(41:49):
But it's been a long journey, along, long journey.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
So tell us a little bit about the you said 40 years.
Tell us a little bit about theprocess of writing the book.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
I will, but I recall what you asked about the
previous question you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Dead zone dead zone.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Okay, the journey I was fortunate enough to have I
mentioned.
Okay, back to the trawlercapture.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
We were the last line of defense swift boats, because
we were shallow draft right.
The next line of defense fromthe beach out towards the ocean
were Coast Guard cutters andthen, further out from them,
were the larger vessels, thedestroyers, okay, and the
minesweepers.
It happened that thisparticular trawler we knew that
(42:56):
it was coming in Aerialsurveillance aircraft spotted it
on July, the the 11th, and itmaintained contact aerial
surveillance.
And then the destroyer, the usswilhoyt.
They wound up catching up tothe trawler.
The trawler went dead in thewater the following morning and
(43:18):
that's how the title Skunk Alphacame about.
In the Navy, an unidentifiedseaborne vessel is called a
skunk.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Is it an acronym?
No, skunk.
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Oh, okay, it's just a name given to an unidentified
contact.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
Unidentified, and the first one after midnight is
Alpha, then followed by Bravo.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Charlie.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
So Skunk Alpha, Skunk Charlie, Skunk Alpha.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Out at sea.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
You got a bunch of skunks all over the place.
They're identified.
So that's how the title cameabout.
But it turns out that on theway back there was a
psychological chief for I-Corps.
There were four corps sectors,war zone sectors in Vietnam
(44:08):
I-Corps on the north, next onesouth, i-corps two and then
three and then four down on theMekong Delta area.
The US Coast Guard, the PointOrient, was on the right-hand
side of the trawler.
As we were coming in, as wefollowed it coming in, we were
(44:32):
on the left side, the port side,on the board the Coast Guard
cutter.
They had loudspeakers andduring the middle of the night,
because the trawler came in inthe darkness of the moon right,
it approached the BatanganPeninsula.
As it approached midnight andbefore that it went within five
miles from the coast, the CoastGuard cutter came close enough
(44:58):
to the trawler.
The trawler had no radar, noradar, so they couldn't tell who
was out there, right?
They thought the coast was clear.
The Coast Guard cutter cameclose enough.
With their loudspeakers theyblasted a give up your arms
message that was recorded by thepsychological team in
(45:22):
Vietnamese, in Vietnamese, andthey ignored it.
Well, the gentleman, theofficer, the US Navy officer who
had headed up thatpsychological team on the Coast
Guard cutter, once the actionstarted he rewound the tape and
(45:42):
started recording thecommunications.
So the details that I put inthe book of the actual
engagement is based on actualradio communications of that
event.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
You also put that in the book trailer, correct on
your YouTube.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Well, yes, there's a small.
My son, michael, stripped partof the full book trailer that I
have out there on my YouTubechannel.
Again, the YouTube channel iscalled Skunk Alpha, but there's
(46:19):
a three-and-a-half-minute fullbook trailer extensive, lengthy
but my son captured part of itand he also used the audio from
that audio tape that I have ofthe actual combat engagement.
This took place over 50 yearsago and I still have that actual
(46:40):
audio, combat audio.
Not too many people have thingslike that and so he used it and
he has a penned video, if youwill, of that particular book
trailer.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
Yeah, the book trailer that you have on YouTube
is quite powerful.
So was it yours or your son'sidea to no, his?
He surprised me, michaelsurprised me.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (47:04):
He didn't tell me he was doing it, he just wanted to
learn more.
He found out that I had anaudio and he said send it to me
Dad.
So I sent it to him and he saidthis is a good idea.
He's good at doing that.
He helped me a lot with my bookevent flyers as well.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
So, with all that, I forgot where I was going.
I apologize.
So was it important to you touse?
I see that you used a lot ofthe historic footage not footage
as far as, but the actualarticles and things that you
have you incorporated.
(47:49):
It Was that important to you inbringing the story to life.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
What's in the book you?
Speaker 2 (47:57):
mean Right, yes, or in the videos, both actually.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
Well, in the book, obviously, yes, I wanted to be
as accurate as I could indescribing it.
Not only do I go into detailabout the capture of this enemy
ship, skunk Alpha, but I alsofound it very important for me
to tell the overall Swift Boatstory.
(48:21):
The overall Swift Boat storybecause there were numerous
trawler incidents that tookplace even before we got to
Vietnam.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Right.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
And some of them before the swift boats got there
.
The Coast Guard cutters wereinvolved in the capture and the
sinking of these enemy ships.
So I wanted to highlight thoseaccomplishments seaborne units,
coast Guard and Navyaccomplishments and that's in
(48:53):
the book.
That's in the book as well.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
So do you think how is telling your story and
writing this book?
Well, you spoke on it a littlebit earlier.
It's impacted your life as faras a positive thing.
It's impacted your life as faras a positive thing, so you
mentioned that it was kind oflike on a therapeutic side of it
.
Did you have to seek anyone'spermission?
(49:22):
No, no, no, okay, I was justcurious.
Speaker 3 (49:25):
I didn't know.
It's all fact.
I don't know that anyone'sgoing to come back and tell me
what you wrote is incorrect.
Right, right right right,because I've got the data to
support it.
Right.
I've got the documentation tosupport all of what's in the
book.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
So so far reading, how is the overall?
I guess what?
What's the overall people whohave read the book?
What kind of reviews, what kindof feedback are you getting
back?
Speaker 3 (49:59):
all positive, all positive.
Uh, you know things like gosh,I didn't know you guys did that
much or you were involved inVietnam.
Some ladies actually come andbuy the book because their
nephew or their son was in theNavy.
And you know, a lot of timespeople come and buy the book as
(50:20):
a gift to their grandparentsBecause nowadays, you know the
grandchildren are, you know,already up and married as well.
And hey, grandpa was in the Navyand maybe he liked this, so you
know.
One interesting thing visitingwith VFWs or American Legion
posts.
I always start off with howmany of you honestly know what
(50:46):
SWIFT posts were about inVietnam.
Even military types, even vetsthat served in Vietnam, didn't
know about swift boats or Navy.
Like you mentioned earlier,it's the ground forces.
All credit given to the groundtroops and their efforts and
(51:07):
accomplishments.
Ground troops and their effortsand accomplishments, you know
it's time to bring news about.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
Hey, navy was there as well.
If there was one thing youwanted your readers to take away
from the book, what would it be?
Speaker 3 (51:26):
Basically sharing that swift boats service right
Service to your country, apatriotic duty, and I didn't
even consider going to Canada oranything like that.
It's it's.
It just was what's within theeach individual and for me, I
(51:49):
again I served, I joined theNavy to get a further education.
I wanted to be a draftsman.
Speaker 2 (51:59):
But yet when I was called, I answered.
That's awesome.
With you being a publishedauthor, have you been able to
connect with people that haveexperience, or any of your old
Swift Boat members?
Speaker 3 (52:18):
Experience in what Were you able to just
communicate.
I'm a former president of theSwift Boat Sailors Association.
That was again perhaps.
Maybe that caused furtherdelays in advancing the book as
well.
Right, right I was heavy intoit for a number of years, and so
(52:40):
Swift Boat membership is sadlydwindling.
It's sad to see messages comeacross almost on a weekly basis
now that this so-and-so has goneon his final patrol.
(53:00):
As a matter of fact, we've gotonly two more reunions that are
scheduled for our organizationbecause our numbers are
dwindling, difficulty with ourmedical conditions and many of
our swift boat sailors are intheir mid-80s the officers in
particular, you know, and so itmakes it difficult for them to
(53:22):
plan reunions or go to reunions,Right?
So we've got one more reunionscheduled somewhere towards the
East Coast not necessarily onthe East Coast and then the last
one will be back in San Diego,where it all began.
Wow, I was fortunate to.
I was the president of theassociation at the time when the
(53:45):
dedication of the Vietnam UnitMemorial in Coronado was
established.
I may have mentioned that InCoronado there is a three-boat
display static display and alsoa memorial wall that has the
names of all Navy and CoastGuard personnel that died in the
(54:08):
Vietnam War.
It's a tribute to them, so I'mvery proud to have been able to
be a part of that.
Speaker 2 (54:16):
That's amazing.
So what's next for your mediatour?
What do you have coming up?
Speaker 3 (54:24):
Well, you know, I'm of the viewpoint that the book
stays alive, as long as I stayalive.
Speaker 2 (54:31):
Right, hopefully, after this one.
Speaker 3 (54:34):
As a matter of fact, I just recently last week I
mailed a book to a news anchorin San Antonio at KSAT-TV, and
so hopefully I'll hear back fromhim.
I'm doing my best to try andreach out.
I'd love to be able to.
(54:55):
I have this grand idea ofhopefully.
My goal is to share the SwiftBoat story.
A lot of people say, yeah, yeah, he's just trying to sell his
book.
Well, okay, that's the SwiftBoat story.
(55:17):
I'll never be able to recoverfinancially from all that I've
put into this effort.
Speaker 2 (55:23):
I understand.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
Never it's been a.
It came from the heart, notfrom my pocket.
It's been a.
It came from the heart, notfrom my pocket.
That's what it's for.
And now what happened?
What I'd like to do is A coupleof years ago I saw on a news
(55:45):
report of the NASCAR 600, Ibelieve it's called the NASCAR
600 race.
It's always held on Memorial Dayand it brought a tear to my eye
because the premise of this onenews report was this guy was
taking an older gentleman and ateenage boy or a young
(56:11):
adolescent giving a tour of thegarages for the race cars and
they came and stopped upon oneof the race cars but it was
covered.
It had a cover over it and thereporter was explaining that the
purpose behind the NASCAR 600,600 miles of remembrance or
(56:35):
something along that line, iswhat the event is called.
Well, they took the cover offof the vehicle and in front of
the driver, at the bottom, onthe windshield, it had that
older gentleman's loved oneetched in the glass.
(56:58):
Oh, wow.
And I said Bobby Don Carver.
Yeah, you know.
So I'm trying to see if I canreach out to somebody that can
perhaps consider maybe it's waytoo late for for this year, but
maybe for next year's race.
Try to reach out to someonethat has connections with nascar
(57:21):
.
600 miles of remembrance and,and and pitch the idea to them
to reflect on his contributionand the Swiftfold contribution
at large.
So perhaps it.
I know the book is sold outsideof the United States.
Oh yeah, oh yes, I wassurprised.
(57:43):
I've been contacted by somepeople that have purchased the
book, navy-related individualsthat got wind of it somehow and
enjoyed the read.
So it's out there but it couldgo further than beyond Houston
and Paralympics and Texas andbeyond that's where my hopes are
(58:05):
.
Speaker 2 (58:07):
So what's next for you?
What do you got coming up?
Speaker 3 (58:11):
Well, this weekend I'll be in Rockport Fulton Book
Festival.
I'll have a table thereoffering my book as well, and
I'm scheduled in June to do abook signing in Austin as well
Lone Star Festival.
It's a book signing in Austinas well.
Speaker 1 (58:32):
Lone Star Festival it's a book festival there's an
indoor festival as well, so I'mlooking forward to that.
Speaker 3 (58:37):
But any opportunity.
I have a PowerPointpresentation to offer veteran
organizations or any civicorganization that's interested
in learning a little bit aboutswift boats.
It runs about maybe 30 minutesand I have a slide presentation
with that, that PowerPointpresentation.
Speaker 1 (58:55):
And so.
Speaker 2 (58:56):
I'd be happy to hear from anybody, yeah, so how would
people reach out to you if theywanted to?
Speaker 3 (59:02):
I can be reached at Raul at skunkalphacom, raul at
skunkalphacom, raul atskunkalphacom, and that's
A-L-P-H-A.
Speaker 2 (59:13):
Now, if people are interested in finding your book,
how are they able to purchaseit?
Speaker 3 (59:18):
I've got.
If you go to my website again,if you would just Google
skunkalpha by itself, justskunkalpha by itself you'll get
about three or four or fivepages of links related to my
book.
But one of those links willtake you to my website, which is
skunkalphacom, and in thatlanding page you'll find a QR
(59:44):
code or a Buy Now button and Ican sign the book and ship it to
you as well.
Speaker 2 (59:52):
That's amazing, Raul.
I really appreciate everythingthat you've done to bring the
Swift Boat story to life.
And do you have anything thatyou would like to say before we
close out?
Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
No, thank you very much for giving me the
opportunity to take the SuperBowl story far and beyond.
Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
Well, Raul, one thing I do want to say is thank you
for your service, sir Proud tohave served, Thank you for
everything you've done.
Likewise Welcome home.
Likewise brother.
Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
Yeah, likewise Thank you as always.
Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
You guys, thank you for tuning in to an episode of
Charlie Mike the podcast.
Remember, if you're in a crisisor you need help, please dial
988.
You can also text 988.
If you call 988, press 1.
If you're a veteran, you knowwe love you, we want to see you.
If you're in a fight, you know,please reach out for help.
As always, thank you for tuningin.
(01:00:47):
And Charlie Mike, that's it.
Man, how do you think you did agreat job?
This is Charlie Mike the podcast Veterans helping
veterans.
Talking about things happeningin the veteran community, Things
we've experienced and overcome,such as addictions, PTSD,
depression, legal trouble, andwe also promote veteran-owned
businesses.
If you're talking about it,we're talking about it.
(00:24):
This is Charlie Mike thepodcast.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yo, what's going on?
Welcome back to another episodeof Charlie Mike the podcast.
As always, I'm your host, raul.
Today I have a special guest inthe house.
You know, know I want tointroduce you to Raul.
How you doing, raul?
So this is Raul Herrera.
(00:53):
We've been trying to get youknow, linked up so we can do do
something together.
You know, reading your storyand and hearing a lot about you
as a person and what you'redoing out in the community is
moving and you know, let's startoff a little bit Will you do me
a favor and tell the people whoyou are where?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
you're from.
Yes, again, my name is RaulHerrera.
I'm from San Antonio, texas,born and raised, born November
the 11th 1946.
It's Veterans Day, huh, you bet?
Yeah, my mother had said thatthey threw a parade in my honor
of arrivals because it wasVeterans Day and, of course, san
(01:36):
Antonio is a military town.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So there were parades going on and the drums were
playing.
It was great.
My mother was happy that theywere celebrating my arrival.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
That's awesome.
Yeah, so San Antonio.
How was life in San Antonio?
Oh, of course.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I was from the barrio and I lived closer to downtown
than far west San Antonio, butstill part of the barrio.
I went to Catholic school,sacred Heart Elementary, and
from there I went to Holy CrossHigh School.
My mother had wanted me tocontinue a Catholic education,
(02:18):
but my father, he wanted me togo to a school called Fox Tech.
It was a technical school andthey had a high-rated
architectural class program.
But no, my mother went out andso I wound up for another four
years at Catholic Education atHoly Cross High School.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Okay, so with that I got to ask okay, so what did
your father do for a living?
My father was a painter.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
He was a painter.
He painted houses as well, buthe worked for a contractor and
did industrial painting and soon.
I recall interesting, youmentioned this my father taught
me what not to become.
Aside from personal issues thathe had, he taught me that you
need to find an indoor job.
So in order to teach me, I rodemy bicycle.
(03:11):
It's got to be at least eightmiles to where he was working at
this schoolhouse elementaryschool and back in those days
they had no air conditioning andso there was a lot of hardware
involved in painting the door,the trim and so on, so he needed
some help.
Those days they had no airconditioning and so there was a
lot of hardware involved inpainting the door, the trim and
so on.
So he needed some help and sohe put me to work there.
But of course the boss camealong and said who's he?
(03:32):
I said that's my son.
He said, oh, okay, well, keephim working then.
So they hired me.
Actually that was my first job.
Of course I became a gopher.
The painters okay, soft drinksfor lunch, but not, so I had to
get on my bike and go to thegrocery store and bring them
(03:55):
some cold soda pops.
So then eventually I became aspray painter's helper and I'd
come home with my hair justpainted.
I remember my father shovingVaseline up my nose because of
all that spray paint.
They had no masks at that timeright.
(04:16):
So Vaseline was the best way toprevent all that hair from
getting in your nostrils andyour lungs.
And I told my father.
I said I'm not going to be apainter.
I promised no, I don't thinkyou've learned.
So I worked for two more yearsduring the summer months as a
painter and I said that's it.
So that's why I studied hardand I wanted to become an
architect, but that didn't work.
(04:38):
I wound up going into the Navy.
Why the Navy?
Well, first, primarily becausemy parents couldn't afford a
college education.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So you initially enlisted for the education.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Yeah, specifically for the education.
I didn't know about Vietnam.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I had, you know, a high school kid.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Yeah, yeah, you didn't pay attention.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
You see the news, but you turn the channel, don't?
You don't want to hear it andso, yes, I.
I finally decided, after asummer program that I worked for
for the city, um, I decided Ineeded to find a way to further
my education in the navy.
They didn't just offer it, theypromised me drafting school.
(05:26):
A little story about that onceI got into boot camp.
And I had boot camp in sandiego, california, after I
signed and I left.
By the way, uh, yes, he saysseptember.
September, the 16th is when Itook over.
That's a mexican independenceday okay yeah, so, um, but.
But I wound up going to bootcamp and during boot camp they
(05:48):
have what they callclassification.
Classification is where youtake a battery of exams to
figure out what you're bestsuited for, and then they throw
you into a big auditorium andthe chief man in charge up there
on the stage had handouts forall of us, and those handouts
listed the schools that were nolonger available, and Draftsmen
(06:10):
Class A school was no longeravailable.
So, seaman, recruit RaulHerrera raised his hand and the
man says what do you want, son?
I said well, chief, I joinedthe Navy because I was promised
drafting school.
And everybody started laughingand I couldn't understand why.
(06:31):
To me it was the most difficultnews I've ever had, because
that's what I joined the Navyfor to further my education.
And coming out of classification, a lot of fellow recruits were
disgruntled about the news oftheir school being closed, et
cetera.
The upperclassmen were waitingfor us outside.
(06:53):
Upperclassmen, I mean, by thattime we were wearing dumb little
old ball caps and we lookedlike death warmed over.
You know, boot recruits rightRight right right.
And so the upperclassmen alreadyhad their little sailor hats on
the white ones and they'd comein and break into a jingle and
they'd say mothball, mothball,don't feel blue.
(07:15):
Our recruiter screwed us too,and, by the way, mothball was
what they called us bootrecruits, because our uniforms
were stored with mothballs tokeep the silverfish from eating
the material Right.
And so we reeked like mothballsand that's why we got that name
.
It was the funniest thing.
(07:36):
But eventually I told the manin charge of our crew of our
group, the man in charge of ourcrew of our group and I told him
that in high school I had beenawarded first place for
architectural contest, and withthat my parents sent me the
drawing plus three letters ofrecommendation, and with that in
(07:57):
hand I went back toreclassification and they
offered me drafting school.
All of a sudden it was openonce again.
You know what they saw?
This?
Speaker 2 (08:04):
guy's capable.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
But they also offered me door number two two years
on-the-job training in San Diego, california.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
And hey, sunny California, the beach is right.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I took door number two.
Food for thought never pass upan education.
So because my two years on onthe job training turned out to
just over a year, a little bitfew months over a year.
And then I got orders to swiftboats so, um, so what year was
(08:43):
this?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
did you enlisted in?
1965, was.
Excuse me for not knowing this.
I should know this, but Vietnamwas Vietnam in the it was going
.
Oh yes, vietnam was a pretty,it was quite a few years correct
.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
It was already getting very heavy because, just
like I said in, 66 is when Igot orders for swift boats and
67 January is when I went for aswift PCF crew training and
nobody knew what a PCF was.
Pcf stood for Patrol Craft Fastand that's what this is right
(09:27):
here.
Right, this is a model of theswift boat that I served on, pcf
79, patrol craft fast.
So, yeah, but no, I, I didn'tknow anything about vietnam or
what it was and the, the chiefsthere in the drafting section,
because I got orders to uh two,two years on the job training in
San Diego, and he eventuallytold me he says, son, you're
(09:48):
going to Vietnam.
And it kind of like hit me, youknow, cold blast of air hit me.
And I said, my God, what'sVietnam?
There's a war going on overthere.
So I started paying moreattention to the news and geez,
it turns out, throughinformation researching the book
there is there had been overhundreds of actual resupply
(10:18):
vessels that had successfullyentered South Vietnam to carry
on their campaign of the VietCong and the North Vietnamese
regulars operating in SouthVietnam and they didn't realize
that the arms were coming infrom the sea.
They thought they were allcoming in from the Cambodia side
(10:39):
, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, untilan event of the Vung Ro incident
took place and that was inFebruary of 65, if I'm not
mistaken, and that was in 65,february of 65, if I'm not
mistaken A helicopter pilot wasflying a non-urgent medical
(11:05):
patient along the coast andsouth in mid-country of South
Vietnam and as the helicopterturned inland to go to the
hospital base, they flew overthis peninsula and in the bay
they noticed what appeared to bea floating island Because
(11:25):
greenery, but it looked like itwas moving.
So they went in for a secondlook and couldn't determine what
was going on.
And when they went down for amuch closer look they noticed
that it was the decks, werepotted plants and palm trees and
shrubbery and machine gun firestarted at them.
Yeah, it was an enemy ship, itwas a steel haul trawler and
(11:48):
that was the first one.
It was called a very famousincident.
That's what turned everything.
That was the catalyst tobringing about Swift Boats and
Operation Market Time.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
So with that order to Swift Boats, did you know it?
So what order did that consistof?
Was that like an MOS, or was itjust that Orders?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, just orders, just orders.
Yeah, and did they train youfor?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
what you were going to be doing on the boat.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yes, when we went to Coronado in January of 67, we
formed a crew and that was thefirst thing they did when they
mustered us in front of theSwiftport headquarters and this
is in Coronado, in Coronado,california, that's where the
SEAL team trains.
(12:36):
Well, they told us that wewould be assigned crews and so
the officers, the boat officers,the junior grade officers,
lieutenant JGs, lieutenantJunior Grades they'd call out
individuals, grades, they'd callout individuals and they'd call
(12:57):
out the boat officer's name andthe boat officer would raise
his hand and the individualwould go towards that skipper.
And came time for me and theysaid Seaman Herrera, and I
raised my hand and said point toan officer over there,
lieutenant JG Edward Bergen.
(13:19):
So I marched over there andthere was a gruff stout chunking
boatswain's mate standing nextto him, and so I saluted Mr
Bergen and then he introduced hesays this is our boats' mate,
(13:39):
this is boats.
And I went to shake hands withCarver and he just looked at me
up and down, just looked at meup and down and he had a
reddish-brown hair and he had ahandlebar mustache and he
twirled his mustache and he justlooked at me and he says
whatbar mustache?
And he twirled his mustache andhe just looked at me and he
says what's going on, bean?
And just like you're standingthere, you know, bean, that's a
(14:07):
slur right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah but that was alittle bit too big for me to try
to do anything about it, rightyeah?
And it turns out that Bean hasbeen my call sign for the
longest time In recent years.
Even some of my fellow SWIFTmates officers and enlisted as
(14:31):
well they seem to shy away fromcalling me Bean, and I don't
like that.
I enjoy when my friends and myfellow SWIFT mates call me Bean
because it was given to me by mymentor and my nemesis, bobby
Don Carver.
(14:52):
And he's the one that's picturedhere on this 8x10.
And that's Bobby Don Carverright there, the one that's
pictured here, right here onthis 8x10.
That's Bobby Don Carver, rightthere.
I'll tell you more about thatlater on.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I got questions Okay so in a boat, in a Swift boat.
So this was Swift boat 79,.
What I see?
You had three .50 Cals.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
We had .250 Calibers in the gun tub up front on top
of the pilot house.
Okay, .250 caliber machine guns.
Back in the fantail after asection of the swift boat was a
single .50 caliber machine gunmounted atop an 81-millimeter
mortar.
Oh, and our ammo-ready box wasback in here where we had all
the mortars.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
We had illumination rounds, high explosives, white
phosphorus rounds as well, 81millimeter mortar, and my job
again, I was a designated.
I was designated a draftsman astriker they call it because I
wanted to be a draftsman, sothey called draftsman striker.
But they picked me up just thesame and threw me on a shipboat,
(15:58):
and so they needed a radioradar man, and so I wound up
becoming the boat's radio radarman.
What is a okay?
So what does that consist of?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
You are basically looking at radars.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Well, yes, there was a radar in the pilot house and a
photometer to measure the depthbelow us.
See, our swift boat was part ofOperation Market Time, which
was coastal surveillancepreventing enemy ships from
infiltrating resupply vesselsfrom infiltrating supplying the
enemy forces in South Vietnamresupply vessels from
(16:34):
infiltrating supplying the enemyforces in South Vietnam.
Well, my job was to stand nextto the person that was driving
the boat.
Typically it was my boatofficer, lieutenant JG Edward
Bergen, but oftentimes therewere other instances where I
didn't have to be there 100% ofthe time.
When we're on a patrol out inthe ocean, going back and forth
(16:56):
in our patrol area, well, it wasvery relaxed and you know there
may be somebody else drivingthe boat, but at all times we
had our different stations thegun mount on top of the paddock
house behind the 250s.
Someone would always be thereat the ready and we'd only
uncover the aftermath when goingto the general quarters or
(17:18):
something Right.
We had an engine man.
We had the boatswain's mate.
He's the one who basicallyhandles the maintenance and sees
to it that the boat is in topshape for patrol.
That's the boatswain's mate andthe engine man.
Then we had the gunner, whohappened to be a torpedo man.
That was his MOS, as you say.
(17:39):
His rate was at a third classtorpedo man, bob Middleton, and,
as I said before, theboatswain's mate was Bobby Dunn
Carver.
Our engine man was RonaldReinhardt and we trained those
individuals, trained together inSan Diego and Coronado, and
when we got to Vietnam we pickedup our fifth enlisted man, the
(18:03):
deckhand, the seaman.
That was Timothy McNamara.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
So in a boat this size in the water?
How many people consist of thecrew?
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Five enlisted and one junior grade boat officer.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Yeah, Okay, right, and so when you're on the like,
okay, is this a 24-hour station?
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Yes, we leave in the morning, I'd go out and gather
stores, as we call it groceriesRight For the 24-hour patrol,
most of the time sandwiches,right it groceries Right For the
24-hour patrol.
Most of the time sandwiches,right, you know, okay.
And soda pop, or we call it bugjuice, which is Kool-Aid, yeah,
you know.
And so we had a refrigerator,we called it a reefer.
Inside the cabin we had arefrigerated storage area.
(18:52):
So we kept the food there, butsometimes we'd wind up getting
steaks or something by chance,or we'd put it alongside a
destroyer.
We'd get some ice cream andsome good meals off of them.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Now, raul, I have to ask.
You are a published authorCapturing Skunk Alpha.
How did it come about?
What was the point?
What made you write this book?
Speaker 3 (19:26):
This man right here, bobby Dunn Carver, was the
reason why this book came topass.
Was the reason why this bookcame to pass when I returned
from Vietnam.
Let me go back just a littlebit.
That first chapter, spirit,took place on December the 6th
(19:55):
1967.
Well, that's when he was killed.
When we captured the ship thetrawler on July the 15th 1967,
carver was the individual righthere on the fantails after Mount
52.
(20:15):
He was standing behind themachine gun and the mortar, and
this mortar was unique.
You know how mortars usually upand down, right, you drop it,
and the higher the angle, thecloser the enemy is, right,
right?
Well, this mortar had theability to go to trigger fire
mode.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
I've never heard that .
Yes, sir, that was the thing.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
So, as we're attacking the trawler and we
were within 75 yards ultimatelywe were within 75 yards of the
enemy ship as it approached themouth of the Saki River on the
Batangan Peninsula and this issouth of Da Nang and south of
Chulai as well Our boat officerand I was standing right next to
(21:01):
him in the pilot house makingsure that we were getting close
to some hazardous areas.
So I had to make sure that Iwarned him to be careful in
those areas and kept my eyes onradar and radio communications
as well.
But he ordered the bosom mateto fire a round of high
explosive and he missed.
He loaded, hand-loaded, a roundof 81-millimeter white
(21:28):
phosphorus, lowered the barrel,took aim and fired that round
and it went directly in thepilot house of that ship on the
left-hand side, which is theport side, and that thing I mean
.
I was in the pilot house and itwas ahead of us.
The trawler was ahead of us andI saw the explosion.
(21:48):
It turned into just a whiteball of flame and we figured no
one could have survived that noone could have survived that.
No one could have survived that,and it forced the vessel to run
aground and we was able tocapture it.
But long story short, the VietCong knew that it was PCF-79 who
(22:08):
had brought that trawler down,and so they had a bounty out for
us, and on December the 6th, wewere ordered to do a
psychological warfare missionwhich was called Chuhoy give up
your arms.
It was broadcast.
We had speakers on theleft-hand side, on top of the
(22:30):
cabin, and they werebroadcasting the propaganda
aimed at the enemy to lay downtheir arms and come to our side
as we approached.
You may or may not have heardof the my Lai Massacre.
It was a very difficult,terrible situation where an army
(22:53):
officer and his men massacredsome civilians.
It was a my Lai massacre, avillage of my Lai.
You said my Lai, yes, m-y-l-a-i, two words, m-y-l-a-i.
Well, there was a river southof that area, and again, this my
(23:14):
Lai village is just south ofwhere we captured the ship, and
just south of that area was ariver, sang Tra Kuk.
It was the river that led toQuang Nai City.
Well, just right north fromthat entrance, that river
entrance, were three littlehamlets, three little groups of
(23:38):
huts.
It was called Kole, kole 3, kole2, kole 1, south to north, and
ultimately we passed once, wepassed twice and on the second
pass between Kole 2 and Kole 1,we got ambushed by three bunker
(23:59):
positions ahead of us, in themiddle of us and behind us.
And Carver took a round throughhis right eye and he still had
a pulse when he was in thehelicopter after he evacuated
but he passed.
And bringing back to when thechapter Spirit I read, that took
(24:27):
place not the night of Decemberthe 7th, it took place the next
night, because the first nightwe got back to base and we were
so torn up that we drankourselves to sleep.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, yeah, it's understandable.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
And the following night, as I lay in bed, is when
Chapter 1 takes place.
Spirit, our boat officer wastransferred to separate duties
because he was going to beleaving country soon, and the
rest of the crew was split upthe gunner, bob Middleton, and I
(25:04):
.
We stayed on the 79 boat andanother crew came on, a new boat
officer, an engine man, and soon.
Months passed, time came close.
It was time to leave.
May of 68.
April of 68.
Late April of 68.
And by that time, yeah, I haddifficulty going on the back of
(25:30):
the fantail, especially at night, because, knowing he had died
on this boat, that I was stillon patrol.
So it was a difficult time.
But I came home and I feltfortunate that I hadn't
experienced any physical, nobullet wounds.
(25:51):
I don't have a purple heart andI gave thanks for that because
you know, I said, wow, I'm back.
But I'd see vets obviouslyVietnam War veterans in San
Antonio, long hair and wearingtheir greens and bush hats and
(26:12):
their jungle boots, and theylooked a little disturbed from
my point of view Right, and Ithank God that I survived all
that mental anguish.
What brought this book about isthat little by little, I
started having difficulty takingshowers.
(26:34):
I couldn't go to the bathroomand close the door.
Fright came over me, chillscame over me.
I felt the bosun's makepresence around me.
I felt it.
I mean it would make my hairstand on end and back in those
days there wasn't anythingcalled PTSD.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
And so you just don't talk about those things with
even your buddies, you justdon't, much less your spouse or
anyone else.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
And eventually I wound up.
Not I wouldn't take showersbecause I didn't want to close
my eyes and shampoo my hair,because I knew that the minute
I'd open my eyes I'd seeCarver's bloody face, just like
I'm seeing you face to faceright now, and that just
destroyed me.
(27:27):
I just kept dealing with it.
That's what you did.
You didn't seek help.
I just kept dealing with them.
That's what you did.
You didn't seek help.
It wasn't until, at then, myfirst wife's mother, my children
five children that I have.
(27:47):
her grandmother took the entirefamily to Greece, to the island
where her house was a littlevillage, and I was sitting on
the beach with my son and I sawout in the GNC beautiful ocean.
I saw a tattered fishingsailboat tattered sails and a
(28:11):
flashback.
I don't know if you've hadflashbacks yourself.
Yes, sir, my flashbacks arediesel fumes because the back of
the Swift boat the smell if Igo behind a diesel, I mean I'm
back there again.
And so again I flashback toCarver and you know, I kept
(28:34):
questioning in my mind Carverboats, why are you doing this to
me?
You know, why are youtormenting me?
And as I'm sitting therewatching the sailboat, that
fishing boat, well, it justdawned on me like an epiphany.
He wants me to tell the story.
He wants me to tell the story.
(28:54):
He wants me to tell his story.
He wants me to tell our crew'sswift boat story on PCF 79 and
the overall swift boat storywhich, to date.
I feel very disappointed that,unfortunately, vietnam War
history tends to exclude theNavy's participation and
(29:18):
accomplishments during theVietnam War and in particular
the swift boats, because we shutdown that North Vietnam mission
of resupplying their troopsthrough the sea and that's why
the story came about.
I came home, my mother gave meletters that she had saved.
(29:40):
I numbered the letterschronologically by date order
one two, three, five.
The last letter that I wrote tomy parents turned out to be 79.
That's my boat number.
Oh wow, pcf 79.
Yeah, I gathered information.
I wrote to the governmentasking under the Information Act
(30:06):
.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, the Freedom Act right.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Yeah, freedom of Information Right and I started
receiving documents,confidential, declassified
confidential documents.
I did a chronology of theevents taking place in the
United States the race riots atthat time, turmoil, anti-war
(30:28):
protesting, everything.
I did an outline but when Istarted actually writing the
first chapter, what I thoughtwould be the first chapter when
I started writing the story, allthose episodes in the shower
stopped and I haven't had themsince.
It was your therapy.
(30:50):
It was a catharsis, a majorcatharsis.
The day doesn't go by, I mean,look at us, here we are.
I'm talking about Bobby DonCarver, my mentor, my nemesis.
I've got a story to tell youabout.
You know how I wished deathupon him once before for the
things that he did to me.
I mean, he was constantlypicking on me, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
With love though.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Well, no, not at that time he was was constantly
picking on me, you know, withwith love, though, well, no, not
at that time he was.
If I'm any part of the french,yeah, he was a hard-ass boss,
was made a salty sailor, I meanjust uh.
But, like I said, he was mymentor, he was my nemesis, uh,
and I I owe it to him and I'm,as a tribute to him, I've
(31:33):
dedicated the book and his honorand his name, and to the honor
and memory of the 50 swift boatsailors who lost their lives
while serving on swift boats.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
So that's, that's what the story is about you know
, if I'm being 100 honest withyou, um, raul, I didn't.
I didn't know how big of animpact the Swift boat was during
Vietnam.
It's something that was neverbrought to the attention as far
as media.
When you think of Vietnam, youmainly think of an army.
Speaker 3 (32:09):
The ground forces, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
So that's what I thought about until we met.
And then I started to do moreresearch and I was like golly.
And then I started to do moreresearch and I was like golly,
you know, you filled it in forme.
Now, it's just so with writingthe book.
How long did it take you towrite this?
I'm curious.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Oh, you took me by surprise with that question.
Well, I tell you, it took me toget it published.
I started this journey morethan 40 years ago, forty, forty
years ago.
My children, my son Anthony hewas gosh, I guess maybe two, two
(32:55):
and a half years old, and I hadan older daughter, odessa, and
then Angela.
There was three of us that wenton the trip.
Later I had Michael and Eileentwins, but it took me that long.
Like I said, when I came backfrom Greece, my mother gave me
those letters that I had written.
Right and I started doing allthe research back then.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
But a lot of personal matters in my life that forced
me to put the book on the shelf,and I've always thought and
I've always believed that whenthe man says it's time, it's
time the granddaughter that Ihave, camila she says, grampy,
(33:45):
it's God's plan and it is, it is.
You just have to listen to whenhe you know the spirit, like
they say.
The spirit moved me Right andit finally came to pass and
things fell in place.
And thankfully Texas TechUniversity Press are the
(34:05):
publishers of my book and ofcourse you know they have the
Vietnam Center there at Lubbock.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Right, right right.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
And that's the second largest depository of
memorabilia from Vietnam War.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Is the other one in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
I don't know, I haven't heard about the one in
New Orleans, but Texas Tech isthe largest next to Washington.
The archives, okay yeah, and bythe way there's two for anyone
who is interested there were 104Mark I swift boats manufactured
(34:48):
out of Louisiana.
Seaward Seacraft were themanufacturers, and these boats
were already on the water andthey had.
There was no cabin, it was justa pilot house and a flat after
section, and they would usethese boats to take crews and
equipment to the oil rigs out ofLouisiana.
(35:09):
Oh, wow.
So then the government ordered104, what became 104 Mark I
swift boats?
Pcf number one is a staticdisplay at the Navy Yard in
Washington DC, pcf 104, the lastone found in Washington and it
(35:35):
wound up being in Coronado.
It's part of a three-boatstatic display.
There were three operationsnaval operations.
Task Force 115 was the swiftboats.
Task Force 116 were the gamewardens.
Those were the PBRs, the onesthat were in the rivers.
They had jacuzzi engines, nopropellers, it was jacuzzi
(35:59):
driven propulsion.
And then Task Force 117 werethe riverine force and they had
monitors and they'd go and taketroops along the canals and the
rivers Vietnamese troops, armytroops, whatever.
So it was those threeoperations that took place in
(36:21):
Vietnam.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Well, in front of us we have a couple of things.
I want to be sure to talk aboutthem.
Well, first we have the picture, and the picture is of Bobby,
that's Bobby Don Carver.
Bobby Don Carver.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
Both were made first class.
Bobby Don Carver, which, by theway, I don't know, the picture
shows him holding an AK riflethat was taken off of the
trawler.
That was taken off the trawler.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
The one that was captured.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Yes, we captured the trawler on July, the 15th, 1967.
Days later, on the 19th of julyof 67, we were ordered to get
in our dress uniforms and headto north, to danang, the largest
harbor in north vietnam for anaward ceremony.
(37:17):
We wound up getting personallydecorated and congratulated by
premier nuguyen Cao Ky and Chiefof State, the President of
South Vietnam, nguyen Van Thu,and you'll see him.
He's got a floral lei.
Yeah, this is after theceremony took place and that's
(37:38):
why he's pictured there carryingthat rifle taken off a trawler.
Do you remember that day?
Oh, yes, yes, as a matter offact, for those interested, I've
got a YouTube channel calledSkunk Alpha and I've got
numerous historical documents inthere.
Cbs News crew was there and I'veresearched and I've found and I
(38:01):
received from CBS.
They were there at that day,yes, and ABC was there.
As I've researched and I'vefound and I received from CBS.
They were there at that day,yes, abc was there as well.
In this video that's on myYouTube channel, you'll see that
the two gentlemen, key and Two,were being interviewed by CBS
and then the ABC newsman putshis microphone up to listening
(38:27):
and it says ABC, but thereporter was from CBS and it was
awesome.
It was really something real.
The Stars and Stripes PacificStars and Stripes.
The stars and stripes pacificstars and stripes ran a a full
(38:50):
page section of of that eventthat took place, but that's
that's where that was, thatplace.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
There we got, uh, the american flag up up in the
front.
What, what?
What's the significance of thatamerican flag right there?
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Well, this is the flag that our boat PCF-79, was
flying the night that wecaptured Skunk Alpha.
Speaker 2 (39:08):
The actual flag.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Yes, this is the flag right here, the one that was
flying those colors, and you'llnotice the tattered.
Yeah, the flag is rathertattered but that's because of
all the salt and battering thatwe had during the patrol periods
that we were out at sea.
But I was very proud to havethat.
(39:30):
Another sideline of a number ofthings that I brought back from
Vietnam I don't know how, butthe actual combat and it's in my
book, a picture of it, theactual combat chart for our
patrol area when we captured thetrawler.
That includes the BatanganPeninsula where we captured the
(39:52):
vessel and also the locationwhere Carver was killed.
That combat chart wound up inmy sea bag.
I brought it with me.
Another thing is I brought backwe were given permission when
the ship was brought from wherewe captured it, north to Chulai,
our base, because I wasstationed in Chulai, coastal
(40:15):
Division 16.
We were given permission toboard the trawler and one of the
artifacts I took off of it wasthis right here you can spot
that quite well this isbinoculars Zeiss binoculars that
were taken off of the trawler.
You'll see a huge hole right inhere in this one.
It may have been possibly atleast a .50 caliber round.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
Hey, those are some heavy duties too.
Wow, got him around.
Those are some heavy duties too.
Wow.
If somebody was reading thebook, what would you say?
Do you have a favorite chapter?
Is there something that youalways say start off at this
chapter if it wasn't the first.
No, not really.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
I mean, I hadn't the foggiest idea.
I wasn't born an author.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Oh, right right right .
Speaker 3 (41:04):
Yeah, you know, I was forced into it and I learned
along the way.
I was fortunate to be able todevelop the talent of writing
with an Hispanic magazine out ofHouston.
It was called Nuestras Vidas.
I wrote numerous articles forthem and then I also have
(41:27):
written articles about the swiftboat, about the trawler
incident, sea Classics magazineand a number of magazines that
I've written for as well NewYork Times, as a matter of fact,
I had an article publishedthere with New York Times.
As a matter of fact, I had anarticle published there with the
New York Times about thisincident.
(41:49):
But it's been a long journey, along, long journey.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
So tell us a little bit about the you said 40 years.
Tell us a little bit about theprocess of writing the book.
Speaker 3 (42:00):
I will, but I recall what you asked about the
previous question you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
Dead zone dead zone.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (42:18):
Okay, the journey I was fortunate enough to have I
mentioned.
Okay, back to the trawlercapture.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (42:31):
We were the last line of defense swift boats, because
we were shallow draft right.
The next line of defense fromthe beach out towards the ocean
were Coast Guard cutters andthen, further out from them,
were the larger vessels, thedestroyers, okay, and the
minesweepers.
It happened that thisparticular trawler we knew that
(42:56):
it was coming in Aerialsurveillance aircraft spotted it
on July, the the 11th, and itmaintained contact aerial
surveillance.
And then the destroyer, the usswilhoyt.
They wound up catching up tothe trawler.
The trawler went dead in thewater the following morning and
(43:18):
that's how the title Skunk Alphacame about.
In the Navy, an unidentifiedseaborne vessel is called a
skunk.
Speaker 2 (43:29):
Is it an acronym?
No, skunk.
Speaker 3 (43:32):
Oh, okay, it's just a name given to an unidentified
contact.
Speaker 2 (43:35):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (43:35):
Unidentified, and the first one after midnight is
Alpha, then followed by Bravo.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
Charlie.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
So Skunk Alpha, Skunk Charlie, Skunk Alpha.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Out at sea.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
You got a bunch of skunks all over the place.
They're identified.
So that's how the title cameabout.
But it turns out that on theway back there was a
psychological chief for I-Corps.
There were four corps sectors,war zone sectors in Vietnam
(44:08):
I-Corps on the north, next onesouth, i-corps two and then
three and then four down on theMekong Delta area.
The US Coast Guard, the PointOrient, was on the right-hand
side of the trawler.
As we were coming in, as wefollowed it coming in, we were
(44:32):
on the left side, the port side,on the board the Coast Guard
cutter.
They had loudspeakers andduring the middle of the night,
because the trawler came in inthe darkness of the moon right,
it approached the BatanganPeninsula.
As it approached midnight andbefore that it went within five
miles from the coast, the CoastGuard cutter came close enough
(44:58):
to the trawler.
The trawler had no radar, noradar, so they couldn't tell who
was out there, right?
They thought the coast was clear.
The Coast Guard cutter cameclose enough.
With their loudspeakers theyblasted a give up your arms
message that was recorded by thepsychological team in
(45:22):
Vietnamese, in Vietnamese, andthey ignored it.
Well, the gentleman, theofficer, the US Navy officer who
had headed up thatpsychological team on the Coast
Guard cutter, once the actionstarted he rewound the tape and
(45:42):
started recording thecommunications.
So the details that I put inthe book of the actual
engagement is based on actualradio communications of that
event.
Speaker 2 (45:55):
You also put that in the book trailer, correct on
your YouTube.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
Well, yes, there's a small.
My son, michael, stripped partof the full book trailer that I
have out there on my YouTubechannel.
Again, the YouTube channel iscalled Skunk Alpha, but there's
(46:19):
a three-and-a-half-minute fullbook trailer extensive, lengthy
but my son captured part of itand he also used the audio from
that audio tape that I have ofthe actual combat engagement.
This took place over 50 yearsago and I still have that actual
(46:40):
audio, combat audio.
Not too many people have thingslike that and so he used it and
he has a penned video, if youwill, of that particular book
trailer.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
Yeah, the book trailer that you have on YouTube
is quite powerful.
So was it yours or your son'sidea to no, his?
He surprised me, michaelsurprised me.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (47:04):
He didn't tell me he was doing it, he just wanted to
learn more.
He found out that I had anaudio and he said send it to me
Dad.
So I sent it to him and he saidthis is a good idea.
He's good at doing that.
He helped me a lot with my bookevent flyers as well.
Speaker 2 (47:28):
So, with all that, I forgot where I was going.
I apologize.
So was it important to you touse?
I see that you used a lot ofthe historic footage not footage
as far as, but the actualarticles and things that you
have you incorporated.
(47:49):
It Was that important to you inbringing the story to life.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
What's in the book you?
Speaker 2 (47:57):
mean Right, yes, or in the videos, both actually.
Speaker 3 (48:00):
Well, in the book, obviously, yes, I wanted to be
as accurate as I could indescribing it.
Not only do I go into detailabout the capture of this enemy
ship, skunk Alpha, but I alsofound it very important for me
to tell the overall Swift Boatstory.
(48:21):
The overall Swift Boat storybecause there were numerous
trawler incidents that tookplace even before we got to
Vietnam.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Right.
Speaker 3 (48:31):
And some of them before the swift boats got there
.
The Coast Guard cutters wereinvolved in the capture and the
sinking of these enemy ships.
So I wanted to highlight thoseaccomplishments seaborne units,
coast Guard and Navyaccomplishments and that's in
(48:53):
the book.
That's in the book as well.
Speaker 2 (48:55):
So do you think how is telling your story and
writing this book?
Well, you spoke on it a littlebit earlier.
It's impacted your life as faras a positive thing.
It's impacted your life as faras a positive thing, so you
mentioned that it was kind oflike on a therapeutic side of it
.
Did you have to seek anyone'spermission?
(49:22):
No, no, no, okay, I was justcurious.
Speaker 3 (49:25):
I didn't know.
It's all fact.
I don't know that anyone'sgoing to come back and tell me
what you wrote is incorrect.
Right, right right right,because I've got the data to
support it.
Right.
I've got the documentation tosupport all of what's in the
book.
Speaker 2 (49:54):
So so far reading, how is the overall?
I guess what?
What's the overall people whohave read the book?
What kind of reviews, what kindof feedback are you getting
back?
Speaker 3 (49:59):
all positive, all positive.
Uh, you know things like gosh,I didn't know you guys did that
much or you were involved inVietnam.
Some ladies actually come andbuy the book because their
nephew or their son was in theNavy.
And you know, a lot of timespeople come and buy the book as
(50:20):
a gift to their grandparentsBecause nowadays, you know the
grandchildren are, you know,already up and married as well.
And hey, grandpa was in the Navyand maybe he liked this, so you
know.
One interesting thing visitingwith VFWs or American Legion
posts.
I always start off with howmany of you honestly know what
(50:46):
SWIFT posts were about inVietnam.
Even military types, even vetsthat served in Vietnam, didn't
know about swift boats or Navy.
Like you mentioned earlier,it's the ground forces.
All credit given to the groundtroops and their efforts and
(51:07):
accomplishments.
Ground troops and their effortsand accomplishments, you know
it's time to bring news about.
Speaker 2 (51:18):
Hey, navy was there as well.
If there was one thing youwanted your readers to take away
from the book, what would it be?
Speaker 3 (51:26):
Basically sharing that swift boats service right
Service to your country, apatriotic duty, and I didn't
even consider going to Canada oranything like that.
It's it's.
It just was what's within theeach individual and for me, I
(51:49):
again I served, I joined theNavy to get a further education.
I wanted to be a draftsman.
Speaker 2 (51:59):
But yet when I was called, I answered.
That's awesome.
With you being a publishedauthor, have you been able to
connect with people that haveexperience, or any of your old
Swift Boat members?
Speaker 3 (52:18):
Experience in what Were you able to just
communicate.
I'm a former president of theSwift Boat Sailors Association.
That was again perhaps.
Maybe that caused furtherdelays in advancing the book as
well.
Right, right I was heavy intoit for a number of years, and so
(52:40):
Swift Boat membership is sadlydwindling.
It's sad to see messages comeacross almost on a weekly basis
now that this so-and-so has goneon his final patrol.
(53:00):
As a matter of fact, we've gotonly two more reunions that are
scheduled for our organizationbecause our numbers are
dwindling, difficulty with ourmedical conditions and many of
our swift boat sailors are intheir mid-80s the officers in
particular, you know, and so itmakes it difficult for them to
(53:22):
plan reunions or go to reunions,Right?
So we've got one more reunionscheduled somewhere towards the
East Coast not necessarily onthe East Coast and then the last
one will be back in San Diego,where it all began.
Wow, I was fortunate to.
I was the president of theassociation at the time when the
(53:45):
dedication of the Vietnam UnitMemorial in Coronado was
established.
I may have mentioned that InCoronado there is a three-boat
display static display and alsoa memorial wall that has the
names of all Navy and CoastGuard personnel that died in the
(54:08):
Vietnam War.
It's a tribute to them, so I'mvery proud to have been able to
be a part of that.
Speaker 2 (54:16):
That's amazing.
So what's next for your mediatour?
What do you have coming up?
Speaker 3 (54:24):
Well, you know, I'm of the viewpoint that the book
stays alive, as long as I stayalive.
Speaker 2 (54:31):
Right, hopefully, after this one.
Speaker 3 (54:34):
As a matter of fact, I just recently last week I
mailed a book to a news anchorin San Antonio at KSAT-TV, and
so hopefully I'll hear back fromhim.
I'm doing my best to try andreach out.
I'd love to be able to.
(54:55):
I have this grand idea ofhopefully.
My goal is to share the SwiftBoat story.
A lot of people say, yeah, yeah, he's just trying to sell his
book.
Well, okay, that's the SwiftBoat story.
(55:17):
I'll never be able to recoverfinancially from all that I've
put into this effort.
Speaker 2 (55:23):
I understand.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
Never it's been a.
It came from the heart, notfrom my pocket.
It's been a.
It came from the heart, notfrom my pocket.
That's what it's for.
And now what happened?
What I'd like to do is A coupleof years ago I saw on a news
(55:45):
report of the NASCAR 600, Ibelieve it's called the NASCAR
600 race.
It's always held on Memorial Dayand it brought a tear to my eye
because the premise of this onenews report was this guy was
taking an older gentleman and ateenage boy or a young
(56:11):
adolescent giving a tour of thegarages for the race cars and
they came and stopped upon oneof the race cars but it was
covered.
It had a cover over it and thereporter was explaining that the
purpose behind the NASCAR 600,600 miles of remembrance or
(56:35):
something along that line, iswhat the event is called.
Well, they took the cover offof the vehicle and in front of
the driver, at the bottom, onthe windshield, it had that
older gentleman's loved oneetched in the glass.
(56:58):
Oh, wow.
And I said Bobby Don Carver.
Yeah, you know.
So I'm trying to see if I canreach out to somebody that can
perhaps consider maybe it's waytoo late for for this year, but
maybe for next year's race.
Try to reach out to someonethat has connections with nascar
(57:21):
.
600 miles of remembrance and,and and pitch the idea to them
to reflect on his contributionand the Swiftfold contribution
at large.
So perhaps it.
I know the book is sold outsideof the United States.
Oh yeah, oh yes, I wassurprised.
(57:43):
I've been contacted by somepeople that have purchased the
book, navy-related individualsthat got wind of it somehow and
enjoyed the read.
So it's out there but it couldgo further than beyond Houston
and Paralympics and Texas andbeyond that's where my hopes are
(58:05):
.
Speaker 2 (58:07):
So what's next for you?
What do you got coming up?
Speaker 3 (58:11):
Well, this weekend I'll be in Rockport Fulton Book
Festival.
I'll have a table thereoffering my book as well, and
I'm scheduled in June to do abook signing in Austin as well
Lone Star Festival.
It's a book signing in Austinas well.
Speaker 1 (58:32):
Lone Star Festival it's a book festival there's an
indoor festival as well, so I'mlooking forward to that.
Speaker 3 (58:37):
But any opportunity.
I have a PowerPointpresentation to offer veteran
organizations or any civicorganization that's interested
in learning a little bit aboutswift boats.
It runs about maybe 30 minutesand I have a slide presentation
with that, that PowerPointpresentation.
Speaker 1 (58:55):
And so.
Speaker 2 (58:56):
I'd be happy to hear from anybody, yeah, so how would
people reach out to you if theywanted to?
Speaker 3 (59:02):
I can be reached at Raul at skunkalphacom, raul at
skunkalphacom, raul atskunkalphacom, and that's
A-L-P-H-A.
Speaker 2 (59:13):
Now, if people are interested in finding your book,
how are they able to purchaseit?
Speaker 3 (59:18):
I've got.
If you go to my website again,if you would just Google
skunkalpha by itself, justskunkalpha by itself you'll get
about three or four or fivepages of links related to my
book.
But one of those links willtake you to my website, which is
skunkalphacom, and in thatlanding page you'll find a QR
(59:44):
code or a Buy Now button and Ican sign the book and ship it to
you as well.
Speaker 2 (59:52):
That's amazing, Raul.
I really appreciate everythingthat you've done to bring the
Swift Boat story to life.
And do you have anything thatyou would like to say before we
close out?
Speaker 3 (01:00:08):
No, thank you very much for giving me the
opportunity to take the SuperBowl story far and beyond.
Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
Well, Raul, one thing I do want to say is thank you
for your service, sir Proud tohave served, Thank you for
everything you've done.
Likewise Welcome home.
Likewise brother.
Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
Yeah, likewise Thank you as always.
Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
You guys, thank you for tuning in to an episode of
Charlie Mike the podcast.
Remember, if you're in a crisisor you need help, please dial
988.
You can also text 988.
If you call 988, press 1.
If you're a veteran, you knowwe love you, we want to see you.
If you're in a fight, you know,please reach out for help.
As always, thank you for tuningin.
(01:00:47):
And Charlie Mike, that's it.
Man, how do you think you did agreat job?
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.