SHALLOWS

War in the Shallows
reality of what we were going to face. But again, once you’re there, it’s a whole new on-the-job
learning experience.” 34
The heart and soul of NIOTC training was gunnery. No skill was more important for the
MRF, and every TF 117 sailor had to be able to competently fire any weapon on the ATC plus a
variety of small arms. Electrician’s Mate Lester Schneider fondly remembered firing round after
round of .50-caliber and 20mm munitions at a gunnery range near San Clemente Island. Harris
also found weapons training to be “pretty intense.” 35 Lieutenant (j.g.) Walter F. Lineberger III,
the chief of staff for River Assault Division 91 in late 1968, was amazed by the gunnery abilities
of enlisted NIOTC graduates. “One of my 40mm gunners, a guy named William Zachmann,
could launch an ice box target into the air with a well-placed round and then hit the box again
as it fell to the ground. Another guy fresh out of NIOTC spotted three VC on a distant riverbank
one day, grabbed an M16, and dropped all three in a matter seconds.” Lineberger, who served
with the MRF during 1968–1969, also praised NIOTC for its ability to transform civilians into
warriors. “Some of the guys coming from the States had long hair, wore beads, and displayed
peace symbols. I thought they were going to get us killed, but all it took was one firefight and
these people were instantly turned into killers. It was an amazing transformation! It was scary.
They were so well trained—a real testament to NIOTC. What a bunch of tough guys. The ability
of the human spirit to adapt to circumstances was amazing.” 36
Harris concurred: “We adapted extremely well. I mean, you had a job to do and you had a
machine gun and ammunition and you knew how to tear it apart, and the rest was just practical
experience. When you got in an ambush you operated the gun.” Harris also noted that by
early 1968 many of the NIOTC instructors had served with the MRF and had a lot of practical
experience on the rivers.
Because they had been there, we trusted them, and I mean if you ever wanted to be
attentive in your life, that’s the time to be attentive because these men were conveying
stuff that could save our lives and save the lives of others. . . . I remember one instructor
addressed the class and said, “Look at the man next to you, on each side. Some of you
are going to be wounded; some of you are going to be killed”; and he was right. We
got over there and there were wounded and killed in our own class, many of them. 37
Besides gunnery, the segment of training perhaps most responsible for imbuing sailors with
a warrior ethos was SERE training (usually conducted at Warner Springs, California, or Whidbey
Island, Washington). Some sailors resented the harsh treatment they received at SERE, but
others looked at it as part of the mental and physical conditioning process required for combat.
Part of SERE training involved living off the land with just a survival knife, eating berries, small
mammals, and whatever else could be scrounged. The other part was POW training in a mock
prison camp, complete with barbed wire, watchtowers, and guards dressed in Soviet uniforms.
According to Gunner’s Mate (Guns) 3rd Class John L. Green Jr., “SERE was a wonderful experience.
They’d strip you down in your underwear and put a hood over your head, and ropes
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