[OOC] Jungle Fever: A Vietnam War Survival RP

[Byrd Man]

<Snipped quote by Byrd Man>

Shoulda gone for Morpheus though.

"What if I told you... that there are Cong in those trees?"

@TomeBinder

Cowboy Curtis saw some heavy shit in the Mekong back in '68

[idlehands]

Oh my god, now I'll be thinking of him when your character is rattling off that M-60.

[HeySeuss]

I might switch my character around and make him black too. That's mostly because it's a reality of Vietnam; the closer to the front you got, the blacker the faces were.

Edit: Requesting approval on the changes.

Barnes

Name: Anthony Barnes
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Rank: PFC
Ethnicity/Nationality: African-American

Physical Description:

Skillset:

He attended basic training and AIT at Fort Benning and Fort Polk, Louisiana (the infamous "Tigerland") before being deployed to Vietnam. He's about a third way through his tour and has seen some combat so that he's considered a veteran. Favors the shotgun in a fight because he and Derricks had a close encounter once and his M16 jammed; he broke it over the cong's head.

Serves as the assistant machinegunner for PFC Derricks, helping haul the ammo and keep the gun running.

Barnes is particularly notable for having a hell of a throwing arm.

History:

From the Bronx, his father is a cabbie and he was trying to get into CUNY (but didn't have enough money) to get in before the draft got him; as he likes to put it, "The army was there with a stage hook, waitin' for my black ass to graduate from high school."

He was drafted in late 1966 and put through Benning, then Polk, and then sent to Vietnam as part of the First Cavalry Division.

Equipment:

• Winchester 1200 Shotgun, loaded with #4 buckshot (standard issue ammo in the era)
• Jungle Fatigues, boots, and so forth. Threadbare looking because Vietnam is hot and humid and quickly wears down the clothing. His have some holes in them.
• GI towel, extra pair of socks, foot powder and so forth. A lot of this goes in a buttpack.
• M1956 suspenders/web gear with two canteens and other sundries.
• Steel pot with cover, "Too Young To Vote; Ain't Too Young To Die" written on cover
• Three M26 frags
• M1942 Machete
• E-tool, canteens,
• Buddhist prayer beads. Not precisely frowned upon, but not entirely considered on the up and up by more officious officers.
• Extra ammo for the pig.
• Tape player and a fine collection of Motown and, gold in Vietnam, James Brown's latest stuff, including the funky "Cold Sweat." Prized possession.
• Other equipment as necessary. I'm positive I left some out.

[TomeBinder]

I might switch my character around and make him black too. That's mostly because it's a reality of Vietnam; the closer to the front you got, the blacker the faces were.

Edit: Requesting approval on the changes.

Barnes

Name: Anthony Barnes
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Rank: PFC
Ethnicity/Nationality: African-American

Physical Description:

Skillset:

He attended basic training and AIT at Fort Benning and Fort Polk, Louisiana (the infamous "Tigerland") before being deployed to Vietnam. He's about a third way through his tour and has seen some combat so that he's considered a veteran. Favors the shotgun in a fight because he and Derricks had a close encounter once and his M16 jammed; he broke it over the cong's head.

Serves as the assistant machinegunner for PFC Derricks, helping haul the ammo and keep the gun running.

Barnes is particularly notable for having a hell of a throwing arm.

History:

From the Bronx, his father is a cabbie and he was trying to get into CUNY (but didn't have enough money) to get in before the draft got him; as he likes to put it, "The army was there with a stage hook, waitin' for my black ass to graduate from high school."

He was drafted in late 1966 and put through Benning, then Polk, and then sent to Vietnam as part of the First Cavalry Division.

Equipment:

• Winchester 1200 Shotgun, loaded with #4 buckshot (standard issue ammo in the era)
• Jungle Fatigues, boots, and so forth. Threadbare looking because Vietnam is hot and humid and quickly wears down the clothing. His have some holes in them.
• GI towel, extra pair of socks, foot powder and so forth. A lot of this goes in a buttpack.
• M1956 suspenders/web gear with two canteens and other sundries.
• Steel pot with cover, "Too Young To Vote; Ain't Too Young To Die" written on cover
• Three M26 frags
• M1942 Machete
• E-tool, canteens,
• Buddhist prayer beads. Not precisely frowned upon, but not entirely considered on the up and up by more officious officers.
• Extra ammo for the pig.
• Tape player and a fine collection of Motown and, gold in Vietnam, James Brown's latest stuff, including the funky "Cold Sweat." Prized possession.
• Other equipment as necessary. I'm positive I left some out.

@HeySeuss

Changes are fine. I've got no problem with people wanting to depict the ongoing social/racial issues of the time. If anything, I'd encourage it.

[HeySeuss]

<Snipped quote by HeySeuss>

Changes are fine. I've got no problem with people wanting to depict the ongoing social/racial issues of the time. If anything, I'd encourage it.

@TomeBinder

I thought you might say that. I even feel like the Newports are especially authentic fuckin' kit. ;)

[idlehands]

Dude has the tunes, I know where Chris will he hanging out.

Former gas station employee, can confirm Newports are authentic as fuck.

[HeySeuss]

Yeah, I needed something to characterize him a bit more, and adding the music and the New York thing worked. That and throwing in some of the civil rights stuff and generally keeping the situation in America in mind. Vietnam wasn't the cause of everything going on in terms of social upheaval in the era, but it certainly added to it. I wanted a little more depth than the first character offered and it makes sense that, given the sometimes ugly racial politics of Vietnam that could flare up, that the MG guys might be the same 'color' and in a sense, probably think that they can rely on each other the best out of the rest.

[idlehands]

Made a slight edit to the pack of Kools my character has on him. He does keep it hidden and doesn't smoke anything but cigarettes in the field.

Definitely, especially among draftees where the percentage of non-whites sent into combat was fairly high compared to the actual percentage they made up in the American population.

[HeySeuss]

Incidentally, if you have Comcast/Xfinity, Tigerland is available to watch. Highly recommended.

Edit: In addition to Vietnam in HD, which was mentioned in the interest check. ;)

Edit 2: We Were Soldiers, Rescue Dawn, Bat 21, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, the Boys in Company C, Hamburger Hill, Platoon. Sorry, no Chuck Norris. I tend to rate "Platoon" as the most interesting movie; fictional story based on factual death (as Sam Fuller put about his movie, the Big Red One; WWII) as it was done by a veteran of that war based on his visceral impressions. (Like Fuller and BRO)

@idlehands That bit about the special cigarettes reminds me that you can use a shotgun for that too. Added to the sheet.

[Rare]

The medic is here!

[RoadRash]

Sarge is present and accounted for. Found a "Vietnam Airsoft" image.

EDIT : Okay, CS corrected. I somehow had it in my head that we were set in 1970, not 1967. Should all be corrected now.

[idlehands]

The Sarge is gonna have his hands full with this bunch.

[Mr_pink]

Sorry but Ive got to drop out of this

[RoadRash]

Characters are all looking good. Excited to kick this off, and get our boys into the shit.

[Bee]

Shout out to @idlehands for the character from San Jose. That's where I am! xD

[Tearstone]

Okay, I think Eli is ready for a review

[TomeBinder]

Sorry but Ive got to drop out of this

@Mr_pink

No problem. I'm actually grateful you've said this now, rather than a few posts into the IC.

All the best.

Characters are all looking good. Excited to kick this off, and get our boys into the shit.

@RoadRash

There will be shit a-plenty. We'll give it a few more hours, to let peeps finish their sheets/join. After that, I'll launch, and any stragglers can catch up later on.

Oh, and accepted by the way :)

Shout out to @idlehands for the character from San Jose. That's where I am! xD

@QueenOfTheBee

I'm allowing an ARVN translator to tag along with the survivors, if you're interested. After some extensive research, one being there seems perfectly plausible.

[Tearstone]

@TomeBinder

I thought about making an ARVN translator. I dunno if you're cool with doubling... Not sure I wanna try to pick up an extra character for this. It usually doubles my workload. So... I'm not going to claim 'dibs' on it or anything.

[RoadRash]

I'm digging this. If I might make a suggestion?

The M203s weren't fielded until 1969, so it would help if one of our troops was carrying an M79 in addition to their M16. It will give us more firepower, since they won't have M203s.

EDIT : I'd suggest either @HeySeuss or @Tearstone as the grenadier. The gunner, radio cat, and medic are all going to be carrying a shit load of extra weight already, and the Platoon Sergeant and Platoon Leader wouldn't be the ones to carry that sort of weapon, since they'd be doing command/control.

[Tearstone]

I'll take a M72. Having 2 in the unit wouldn't hurt.