Excerpt #2 from the MISTY FAC Book

    At some point in time, someone has to tell the complete story of the KID ON THE KARST.   Unfortunately, I am not familiar with all of the escapades of the kid and the Mistys, but I did hear some funny stories.

    At a time in your life when you are dodging the bullet right and left it seems that black humor takes over, at least for a few pilots.  When you should feel fear, anger, or sorrow; the mind goes silly and you see the dark side.  For example, you may remember the F-105 Bear pilot who ran out of fuel in early '68 just as he was hooking up to the tanker.  Shortly after he radioed: "Bear 2 punching out," some unknown voice on Guard said: "I guess he had less fuel than the "average bear."  This was said about the time the guy's canopy is opening!

   The Kid on the Karst was a good black humor story and one that I tell when the mood is just right.  You can't tell this story when you speak in lofty terms of the war effort, bombing restrictions, or the micro-management of individual bomb runs....etc.., but you can tell it after a few drinks when people are looking for some humor.  My connection with the Kid on the Karst came this way, before my first trip up North.

   It happened during my orientation and target study period getting ready for the first ride in the back seat.  I had barely been introduced to the operation and the pilots that made up the crew - thirteen of us as I remember.  Early one afternoon when things were getting boring, creating the TACAN arcs on my map, when the door to the Misty operation burst open.  I mean it BURST open, door slamming against the wall.  Two Misty's rushed dramatically through the door crying out: "The Kids Dead ! !  The Kids Dead ! !  Jonesy Shot the Kid on the Karst ! ! !"

   I tried to make sense out of this outburst of tragic information.  Who is the Kid?  Where is the Kid?  What did Jonesy do to it?  I had met Eben and he didn't look like a guy that would shoot a kid.  After much excitement, loud accusations and a rousing good laugh, somebody explained to me who the Kid on the Karst was.  You remember the North Vietnamese gunner that went to gunnery school shooting at stationary targets?  Apparently not leading the target at all, the tracers ended up at the 6 o'clock at 100 yards.  The Kid was careful.  The Kid did not shoot at a Misty if he could see the canopy, so you had to troll for him by turning away from him then rolling rapidly back to see the show.  Well, it seems that Eben Jones was trolling one day and the Kid erred and got too close!  You can't let that sort of breech of protocol go unanswered.  As it turns out Eben had a couple of F-105's to expend later in the mission, and he put them in on the Kid on the Karst.

   What can be the harm in shutting down the gun sight, I wondered out loud.  "Hey, they will send someone up there now that knows how to USE THAT GUN ! ! "  "Woe is Us !" was the comeback.  You get the picture, we have now set in motion a personnel request to the chief gunner of the North Vietnamese, and they will send a fellow who just graduated from the ground to air gunnery school.

   There were loud cries for punishment and condemnation for Jonesy: "Now we are in trouble ! !  They are going to replace the Kid on the Karst! !  Jonesy, how could you?"

   Well, as things turned out, the Kid was quiet - maybe even dead and no gun fire came from the lonely karst south of Mu Ghia Pass for quite awhile.  I had actually forgot about the lonely kid on the karst - reminded only once in awhile during story telling at the O club.  Since he was 'dead', I wasn't privy to the keen exhilaration of watching those tracers - although I remember a lot of others.

   Finally, one day, I was again in the office doing some boring stuff when the door BURST open again!  Two guys were shouting, "THE KID'S BACK!.  THE KID'S BACK!."  "We found the Kid on the Karst !!"  After much exuberance and a good laugh, they explained that they went by the favorite karst and zip ! the tracers come up at the 6 o'clock.  They go back and troll, and sure enough the tracers come up again.  THE KID WAS BACK ! !

   Later we would check on the Kid to confirm he was still there and to allow him to expend some ammo.  He seldom wavered in his procedure - shoot only when you see the belly.

   Charlie Summers had a good understanding of the Kid and his operation.  Charlie felt the fellow was a Sergeant and had two or more assistants up on the karst.  Charlie believed that if the fellow had to walk down the karst to get his own ammo, he would have been more frugal, which translates to the Privates being there.  After an encounter with Misty, Charlie opined that the Kid on the Karst would turn to one of his Privates and say: "Go down and get another hundred rounds of ammo."

              Don Jones, Misty 35