Watson was nicknamed "Doc", because he had a Ph.D. I was and still am called "Robby", because it is a contraction of my last name. Allen's nickname was special!
We trained some of the Chopper crews in one of our methods of exfiltration, the STABO rig. STABO operations consisted of using four, 120' ft. ropes attached to the floor of the helicopter and each rope secured to one of the STABO harnesses that each team member wore. On this training day, Jon Caviani and Allen Lloyd decided to train with the chopper crews. The helicopter ascended, dangling two crewmen, Caviani and Allen on the ropes below. Allen didn't weigh as much as the others and his rope didn't stretch as much as did the other three. Consequently, he was about five feet higher than the rest.
The pilot decided to give his "passengers" a bath! The training area was on the ocean near Danang, the chopper flew over the breakers and slowly, gently, lowered his cargo into the warm waters of the South China Sea! Three of the "trainees" found themselves standing, knee deep, in the charging surf, with Allen suspended above them! A large wave rushed at the helpless men and broke where they were standing. A turquoise wall of briny water slapped them in their chests! The water washed over their heads and cascaded down their backs. Allen only got the bottoms of his boots wet.
The chopper hauled them back into the air and ferried them back to the camp. When the camp residents saw these "drowned rats", one of them asked how Allen had managed to stay dry. Caviani replied, "Hell, that's baby Jesus! You know that he walks on water!" The name stuck and Allen Lloyd wore that appellation with pride and good humor. "After all," he exclaimed, "if you are a member of RT Intruder, you're expected to walk on water."
Unlike most units, the officers on CCN recon teams did not segregate from the troops. We lived in the same small "hootch", laughed together, drank together and learned to anticipate each others actions. Rank was immaterial in the hierarchy of Recon Company. The position of "One Zero" went to the man with the most experience or demonstrated the most ability. We became closer than brothers. CPT Watson, SGT Lloyd and I quickly became best friends.
On 18 February 1971, we pulled our final mission together.
RT Intruder was being considered for a HALO mission. For this reason, our performance was to be evaluated on a road interdiction mission in the Ashau Valley. SFC Sammy Hernandez and SFC Charles Wesley joined our team as "strap hangers". They would determine if we got the nod for the HALO training and subsequent missions. Both of these men were already HALO qualified and needed team members that they could trust for these difficult missions.
The A Shau was probably the most NVA infested area south of Hanoi! This valley was not a place for amateurs, and a road interdiction mission was doubly hazardous. RT Intruder was judged to be ready. The mission of road interdiction required that we go in a little heavier than usual so, the addition of two Americans was welcomed.
The ten of us choppered in to a small clearing, west of the Ashau Valley and just over the Laotion border. We waited for the choppers to leave and tried to attune our ears to the jungle noises. Threading our way through the lush jungle growth, we disappeared into the forest. Travelling east, we soon crossed the Vietnamese border and arrived at the westernmost ridge of the Ashau.
The ridgeline was heavily canopied and there, hidden by the overhanging boughs and safe from aerial observation, was the road! This wasn't just a trail. A large truck could travel on this veritable highway!
We crossed the road and that's where we ran into trouble. We made contact with a small element and quickly put them to flight. All around us was enemy movement from a much larger unit. We decided to call for a STABO extraction. I had captured an NVA couriers rucksack that had several documents so, it was decided that I would go out on the first bird with Wesley and two of the Bru. The chopper struggled to lift us in the thin, mountain air and almost crashed. Because the first bird had so much trouble, only three Montagnards were extracted on the next lift. This left Watson, Lloyd and Hernandez for the last helicopter.
Wesley and I didn't know that anything had gone wrong until we started to land at a 101st ABN DIV firebase. Instead of lowering us to the pad, the helicopter made a flared landing. The chopper slammed us into the ground outside of the perimeter and dragged us through the concertina wire. An engineer stake pierced me and left me unable to walk. Another helicopter evacuated us to the hospital at Phu Bai.
After being released from the hospital, I learned the horrible truth. The last helicopter had crashed! A Bright Light Team had gone in and found Watson and Lloyd, dead in their STABO rigs, hanging over the side of a cliff. The chopper crewmen were also killed in the bird. Sammy Hernandez was not with them. The Bright Light Team came under intense enemy fire and were not able to recover the bodies. Sammy was found back at the infiltration LZ. His STABO rope broke, during the exfiltration and dropped him 30-40 feet, to the ground. NVA pressure forced him to evade the area. He didn't realize that the chopper crashed until he was rescued.
Later missions to the area, located the helicopter but, the bodies were not there. Presumably, they were taken by the NVA. I think about Lloyd and Watson quite often. I wish that I could bring them home.
In 1991 Dave Demsey, the brother of Walter Demsey a helicopter crewman who was lost on this mission, made a trip to Vietnam to find his brother. He almost succeded in finding and recovering the missing men of RT Intruder. His story, "The Long Journey Home", can be found by clicking on the title of his page, "The Walter E. Demsey Memorial Gallery". There are a lot of pictures on this page so be prepared to spend some time there.
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