User talk:TexasTanker

Delete statement  and  reference to  Dustin  book  stating  5 sherdian  tanks  were lost  to rpg attacks all on one  day in  March 1971  email  from  11ACR  veitnam  veterans

Hello Ken, You have asked an EXCELLENT question, regarding the action described in Dunstan's book. I asked COL Bill Stokes about that very report (which was the month before he assumed command from LTC John Ballantyne, the CO at the time of this reported action. COL Stokes was in direct contact with now LTG Ballantyne (ret) when I asked about this a couple of years ago and Ballantyne consulted his orders, commander's notes, journal and every other relevant document related to this time period and he reported no such incident from either his documents or his memory. The loss of five major combat vehicles in a single day is not an event likely to escape the attention of a Sqn CO in memory or in documentation. It would be a huge deal in the annals of the unit and the commander. I have seen the extract from the Dunstan book, and the "references", which I recall were notably vague, something along the lines of "per statements by unnamed troopers claiming to have been present". As Dunstan's sources are not identified or documented, and we have an excellent source in the CO at the time (as well as his immediate successor, who likewise had never been advised of such a calamitous action only a month before...highly unlikely) I regard Dunstan's report with extreme skepticism. And I'm being polite.