The 1099th Medium Boat Company was called the "River Rats." The "Mike" boat I was assigned to finally arrived at Cat Lai, and I went on board to replace the engineer that was leaving the country. I had never been on an LCM-8 before, but it was equipped with four 6-71 Jimmy engines that I had been taught to work on back at Ft. Story. Each pair of engines drove two screws.
This particular boat had a crew of four: two seaman, the coxswain, and an engineer. The seamen were responsible for securing and releasing the boat and managing the loading and unloading of cargo. The coxswain drove the boat, navigated, and operated the radios. The engineer was responsible for the care and feeding of the diesel engines and the other mechanical systems. The boat was about 75 feet long and could haul about 60 tons of cargo that were either loaded by crane or via the ramp that could be lowered and raised at the bow.
The vessel was well-armed. Each member of the crew was issued an M-14 rifle. There were M2 .50 caliber heavy machine guns mounted on tripods welded to each side of the quarterdeck, and each boat was issued an M60 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun also. The coxswain on this boat had an M79 grenade launcher that he kept in the wheelhouse. I am not sure where he got this weapon, but I am pretty sure it wasn't from the Cat Lai armorer. The boat was well-armed, but not well-armored. The hull could easily be penetrated by small arms fire, so an L-shaped wall of 1/2 inch steel armor plate was welded to the quarter-deck at the location of the M2 machine guns. This armor was about waist high so that the guns could be operated above it. This gave the crew some protection from small arms fire but not much else.
There was a wood and canvas shack (or hootch) built on the stern on top of the lazarette. This is where the crew's bunks were located and storage for food and water. There were no cooking, laundry, or toilet facilities on board. When the Company's boats were at Cat Lai, the crews made use of the base facilities. However, when in the field, the crews ate C-rations or noodles from the locals, peed off of the side of the boat, shit in a bucket while sitting on a purloined toilet seat, and washed clothes by dragging them behind the boat with bars of soap buttoned up in the pockets.
Next up - Let's go to the boonies!
