Cry Havoc: The story of the modern Rangers first combat actions

[sandwarrior]

The book Cry Havoc is out..Written by Joe Muccia and Tom Greer I found out on the eve of Memorial day or this post would have come sooner. . They collaborated a lot until Tom's passing in 2016. Prior to his passing, Tom sent all of his work to Joe and said he needed to get this written. Something I have noted through the years at various Memorial Day services, is that The Grenada invasion seems not to get mentioned. We lost 18 service members in that conflict and, I believe, about 54 wounded. I was a part of that invasion and lost two good friends there. When you honor servicemen, please keep these people in mind.

Contrary to popular belief, this was not some unfounded 'Keystone Cops' type operation. We rescued over 500 medical students and staff from that island in two different campuses. Not wanting to have a repeat of the Iranian hostage situation. Not to mention stopping the spread of communism in the western world. A cache of weapons and ammunition was found that would supply a Russian brigade in combat for three months. As mentioned this was the first combat action of the modern Ranger Battalions founded in 1974.

For the book contact ssgtmooch@aol.com He takes paypal, personal checks and money orders.

Thank you

Added: This book is written mostly in the personal accounts of over 100 Rangers, 82nd Airborne soldiers, Marines and Navy who were on the ground during that invasion.

 

[rebs]

TTT

 

[Fuj]

We lost four Navy Seals in the initial drop. They were claiming
over geared drownings and chutes not opening at 500 ft drops,
in heavy squalls. Lots of good reading by looking up anything
about operation "Urgent Fury".

 

[ggshoots]

I was a 19yr old when I was at Pope AF base (stationed next door at Bragg) getting geared up with a number of men from my unit and other various units. We were to jump into Grenada, at night with the initial phase to clear equipment off of a small runway to allow birds to land. A few of us lower enlisted were pulled from the mission and the bird did not end up dropping anyone, they said because of groundfire. The only way to hit a small narrow target with the chutes we used at night is to drop very low. We went in right afterward but there were a number of people lost there. I believe some Seals were beat up on the rock shore on the initial phase, could have been the same ones Fuj mentioned as being over geared. I always wondered how long it had been since a sizable unit had done a combat night jump.

I can vouch for the quantity of weapons that were there. When we were getting ready to leave we walked around the stacks of all kinds of weaponry sitting close to the runway to be hauled out and disposed of.

We have lost numerous people in small conflicts that most people never pay much attention to. I often think about those people. I make sure my son that has always wanted to be a Navy Seal and may finally go in possibly another Elite unit always remembers that people die. It is real and not some show.

 

[Fuj]

My information source is from the Navy Seals Museum archive.

 

[ggshoots]

Thanks Fuj, I've never read that. What we were dealing with back then was nothing much had changed since Vietnam. Technology, weapons, gear and most everything was still the same. Doctors etc weren't the greatest because the memories of Vietnam were still strong and nobody wanted to deal with that. This article really shows how it was, far cry from what there is today.

They talked about the tower and Cubans being set up off the end of the runway. That is exactly where we were supposed to drop so it is understandable why they called off the drop on the runway. We would have been easy targets. Also doing a low altitude drop of 500ft or a little less you really don't even have time to deploy a reserve if something goes wrong. I can't imagine doing a water drop in rough conditions.