Walt Philbin Remembers (continued)
The “Gut-Watchers” in the Rear
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I remember that even at this later LZ, how pissed off Major Lynch still was about LZ Margo.
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He called the people back in the rear “gut-watchers.”
A stone for gut-watchers. This diagram of a sheep's liver carved on stone was used by a "haruspex" -- an ancient Etruscan official -- to predict the future by examining the entrails of sheep or poultry.
By calling the planners in the rear who controlled our fate "gut-watchers", Major Lynch was saying that decisions like the one that left us exposed on LZ Margo were no better than those you'd make if you looked at a sheep's liver instead of a map.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
He had almost gotten himself court-martialed for what he told the general about making the line companies return to the LZ.
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I heard him say over the radio, “Nobody’s gonna watch out for ole John Brown’s ass except ole John Brown himself.”
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I remember someone saying how typical that, as effed-up as we were by Margo, losing so many dead and wounded, that what do they do but fly us even closer to the DMZ [LZ Susan], then after that, into the very place itself [LZ Duster].
But after all that, I heard a grunt company from 2/26 patrolling out of LZ Susan came across 1/9 [1st Battalion, 9th Marines, “The Walking Dead”], and they were in even worse shape.
Which figured.
