Walt Wise had this report:

OIC Walt Wise and NCOIC Robert Steinberg arrived in Reno on 6 July, 2010.
On 7 July, a temporary LZ for the hospitality hootch (ready room) was established
in room 1434 of the Grand Sierra Resort. Hootch was open for business at approx
1200 hours on the 7 July.

8 July, 2010, the hootch was moved to the permanent LZ in room 1234.
Daryl Riersgard, Jim & Audrey Smith were working diligently at
15525 Donnybrook Ct, getting ready for an "All Hands" Barbeque at their home that evening.
Almost 100 Purple Foxes showed up for an outstanding meal at the Smith's home. The Smith's
were assisted by the following neighbors: Big Ed & Laura Ferencik, Diana Callahan,
Larry & Shirley MacNeil. It was a very pleasant evening for all!!

9 July, 2010, the hootch was fully operational as our Purple Foxes showed up, getting
ready for our squadron dinner at the CalNeva that evening. Some last minute show ups
were: Hayden Wilbur (Hondo), Neddy Dautriel, Victor Donovan (Pat's youngest brother),
Randy & Connie Breeding.

We were to be joined at the CalNeva by 24 active duty enlisted Marines from HMM-364 and
their 5 officers. However, they put the wrong coordinates in their GPS's and ended up at
the Club CalNeva in downtown Reno. Eventually the 5 officers did make it to the CalNeva
and received a standing ovation from the 100 Purple Foxes present. Led by OIC Capt
Zane Running, the 5 officers each gave us a quick bio on their USMC careers.

However, they missed a great motivational speech given by Richard Bianchino that
left everyone in tears including his honor Judge Donovan. Some notable attendees:
Roscoe Combs--MG (retired), Big John Lavoy--Col (retired), Papa Fox-- Gene Brady--Col (retired),
Sid Gale--Col (retired).

10 July, 2010, active duty USMC aircraft arrived at the Grand Sierra parking lot for static display.
The Osprey was not allowed to land there and was on static display at the Reno airport.
The Sat night banquet was well attended, however, many individuals reported that the presentations
were quite lengthy and not really very interesting. We had beer & pizza at the hootch and most
of the active duty Marines were in attendance.

11 July, 2010, all Purple Foxes returned to their point of origin. Mission Complete.
Semper Fi.
Walt Wise

Mike Tennent's After Action

Afternoon Gentlemen, The Reunion was great. Roscoe and Gloria were there....1st time I have seen Roscoe since Quantico. They are a great pair. Roscoe seems to be doing very well today, much thinner than 40 years ago but the mind is still quick and the sense of humor is definitely still there.

Also saw for the first time since Nam,. John Staples, Doug Orahood, Rick Grimstead, Daryl Riersgard and Tom Nolan.

Pete Baron and his wife Carol were there and Pat Kenny and Nancy, Maj "J" and his wife, Mark Bumm, Rich Biachaino and wife,. Jim Buckland, Randy Breeding, Gary Radliff (all crewchiefs) and "Gunny Ward were also present. Charlie Rodenburg, Don Zeller and Larry Bancells, Paul Wilson.... all from 263 were also there.

Judge Pat Donovan (2 Navy Crosses, Silver Star, 2 DFC's) and Col Dunbaugh (5 DFC's in 7 months) were also with us.....talk about war stories.50

Jim and Audrey Smith had a great Bar B Que at their home Thursday evening.

We are beginning to get quite a few new members. I believe we had over 30 active duty crew members from HMM-364 at the reunion. There were young Marines from all Marine Helo types, Hueys to Osprey and everything in between.

By the way, next reunion is in Orlando, FL. I was hoping for something in the middle, Denver, Chicago or even St. Louis myself.

The hotel was fair at best...getting rather run down I would say.

It was great as far as I am concerned. Didn't get too drunk, didn't eat too much, already looking forward to 2012. Hope all of you can make it to Orlando.

Festus

Daryl Riersgard had this to say.

I wanted to share my appreciation for the planners who made the Reno reunion
a success.

With four days of reunion there were many memorable moments. One of the
most touching was the warm reception that was given to our active duty
aviators. They deserve every bit of that welcome. This was the reception
that we never got.

There was one special moment that I though was worthy of mention.

During the pre-party at Jim Smith's house, we all managed to find our way to
a given round table. Once parked, the food, drink and conversation kicked
into high gear. While enjoying the meal and the great company, it dawned on
me about the significance of the particular table I was parked at.

Without any coaching, the Purple Foxes that sat down were very special to
me. It was a wonderful cross section of the Lieutenants (1970-71) who
carried the weight of "our war". It took a while for this fact to set in,
but I will say this was my high point of the four day get together.

From my vantage point (verified by smart phone video thanks to John
Staples), the round table looked as follows..............

To my immediate left was Mark Bumm, all the way from Chicago. Mark is still
the hard drinking, hard smoking, hard living wild guy. He did slow down
enough to come visit my ranch after the event. I took him on a quad ride
through a mountain stream and got his $150 dockers soaking wet.

Next to Mark was Pat Kenny (Swift Chuck). Always equipped with a warm smile
and a good story, he has been good about keeping in touch. I remember that
Pat always handled himself professionally during our combat tour.

Next to Pat was Mike Tennent. It was great to see Mike after 30 years. He
looks fit enough to go immediately back to combat. I must say that when I
approached him for a hand shake he admitted that he had no idea who I was.
Mike is quite close with his residence in Boise. That is closer to my ranch
than Reno. If only Boise could ever get a decent football team.

Next to Mike was Pete Baron. If there was an award for youthful old guy I
would have to put Pete in the same impressive category as Major "J". Unlike
Mike, Pete did recognize me.

Next to Pete was Tom Nolan. Tom is a special old friend as we first met
during early OCS in 1966. This reunion was special because we took the time
for a quiet sustained visit. We hit the GSR steak house for a special
dinner. It was our chance to catch up on old news. We managed to recount
both some good news stories and some stories that did not have happy
endings. Tom has always been a top notch guy. Some of us had the chance to
question him on his role with the DaNang orphanage.

Next to Tom was Roscoe Combs. This was my first chance to have a good chat
with Roscoe in 30 years. I asked if he could refresh my memory on his old
Vietnam chant about the "south bound coast of Costa Rica". He recounted the
long version of that cute chant like it was yesterday. For a bunch of wild
and wolly Lieutenants, Roscoe was the one to find promotional success.

Next to Roscoe was Rick Grimstead. I think the world of Rick. We have not
only kept in touch over the years, we have competed together in the
International Police Winter Olympics. He convinced me to be brave enough to
cross country ski against some professional guys from Austria, Australia,
New Zealand, etc. It was not only good clean fun, I drug home a couple of
Bronze metals. See what can happen when you live in the mountains and ski
on a regular basis. I pay tribute to Rick for his quest to be a Western
Sheriff. We also had some bad humor jokes at the chin up bar at the
helicopter fly in.

Based on the John Staples video, the next guy in the round table was Doug
Orahood. My fondest memories of Doug were related to posing photos for the
Purple Foxes cruise book. I needed some high speed and low level action
shots and Doug was my guy. His little air show was somewhere between scary
and impressive. A couple of times he was dragging the rear rotors in the
dirt just for effect. Doug and my wife had a good conversation during the
dinner session. Doug and I agreed about the special appeal of rural living.

Over my shoulder was the party host, Jim Smith. Jim had helped me during
the Tahoe pre-party, so I owed him a little ground support. Jim and I try
to keep in touch on a regular basis since we are both Reno guys. Jim was
one of many scheduling offices in country that managed to find the right
combination of strong pilot with weaker co-pilot or weaker pilot with
stronger co-pilot. Somehow it all worked as we all came home alive.

The other guy over my shoulder was John Staples. John capture the round
table image with his smarter than average, smart phone. John and I were
hootch mates in Nam. We have kept in touch over the years. John even
invited me to Marine Night at the Bohemian Club in S.F. It was fun getting
better acquainted with his son, Will. John seems to be enjoying his 900
s.f. Cabin in the high ground over Carmel. It is too bad that guys like
John and Jim Smith have to live in such tough neighborhoods. You just never
know who might bust through your front door.

Now with the introductions out of the way, I should share the emotional part
of this round table. It dawned on me that while some of our senior officers
were looking for excuses not to fly, we lieutenants never turned down an
opportunity to get famous. I said earlier that we carried the weight of
that air combat. I was proud to serve with these brave guys. They were
great pilots all, who served our country well. Many of use learned to fly
to survive thanks to one field grade guy that we all love and that would be
Duane Jensen. Major "J" looks better at 70-some than most guys look in
their 40's and 50's. Major "J" thanks for teaching us how to fly right.

We all had our scary moments over the combat year, but somehow we managed to
get home in one piece. These experiences create a special bond that I have
never found elsewhere in the real world. I guess this is why I try to come
back to as many reunions as I can afford. I love the fact that we all
shared a quest for adventure when we signed up. Little did we know how much
adventure we would find.

I was thinking of an old line that asked the question.........Did the war
protestors every have reunions? If so, what did they talk about?

Thanks guys, it was great seeing all of you.

Daryl Riersgard
Swift 22