Cool to read the lyrical commentary by ex - San Diego, California MCRD DI Marine Gunnery Sergeant Dale Hatten -- of Recruit Platoon 1025 fame! --

-- immortalized by us -- in some such online classic as "The (allegedly!) Mother - fixated Bright Boys of the Summer of Nineteen Sixty - six " --

on how his one little 'ole 81 mm Mortar Platoon -- Jimminy Christmas! as he assures us! -- cranked off 11,000 rounds in support of the Marines attacking those world - class NVA / PAVN dug - in combat troops at the Battle of Hue City --

First class fighting men described elsewhere as big, tough guys five foot - ten, six  foot etc...

Communist Tet Offensive January - February 1968.

Viet Nam War.

D*mn fine gentleman and scholar, you bet!

It's all in that fantastic 2011 edition of  The Soldiers' Story...

Which is based in turn on the History Channel version of October 1998 that we referred to in our story online -- where we saw Gunny Hatten live!